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syzygy86
Feb 1, 2008

Chance posted:

I was surprised that they said worldwide shipping and launch before and yet only have european stores, I mean at least one on this side of the ocean would have been nice.

RS Components and Allied Electronics are both owned by the same company, and they have distributors around the world. So even if you order from the RS site, the item could still be shipped from within the USA.

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Social Media
Jan 21, 2010

export.farnell.com should lead to a US distributor but the server is still melted.

e: it probably doesn't

Social Media fucked around with this message at 07:53 on Feb 29, 2012

Rescue Toaster
Mar 13, 2003
Twitter is saying Farnell may aleady be sold out, but I can't imagine how that's possible since the site was dead in less than a minute.

sharktamer
Oct 30, 2011

Shark tamer ridiculous
"We believe Farnell has sold out already. Blimey."

How this even happened is beyond me.

Pweller
Jan 25, 2006

Whatever whateva.

Raspberry Pi posted:

We believe Farnell has sold out already. Blimey.

ComradeCosmobot
Dec 4, 2004

USPOL July

Cuck Everlasting posted:

export.farnell.com should lead to a US distributor but the server is still melted.

I got export.farnell.com to work for a few moments. No US distributor was listed. Only Asia, Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Latin America.

Social Media
Jan 21, 2010

Oh what the hell

ComradeCosmobot
Dec 4, 2004

USPOL July
Helps if you live in Britain I guess.

Factory Factory
Mar 19, 2010

This is what
Arcane Velocity was like.
drat it! The limited-run highly anticipated cheap gadget for nerds sold out quickly! Who would have guessed?

But yeah, sucks to have missed it :(

DrMelon
Oct 9, 2010

You can find me in the produce aisle of the hospital.

Factory Factory posted:

drat it! The limited-run highly anticipated cheap gadget for nerds sold out quickly! Who would have guessed?


I don't think the confusion is over the fact that it sold out fast, but that the site was completely inaccessible - so how did it get sold?

ComradeCosmobot
Dec 4, 2004

USPOL July

DrMelon posted:

I don't think the confusion is over the fact that it sold out fast, but that the site was completely inaccessible - so how did it get sold?

It might not have been as inaccessible from Britain or Europe for example. Lower ping times may have helped.

And even I was able to navigate to the Exports site for a few seconds, so it wasn't completely down.

EDIT: I am stupid and have forgotten how TCP/IP works. Probably some subset of people hammering the site got in (with a Connection: Keep-Alive which allowed them to finish their shopping?) while Apache blocked the others. It happens on heavily loaded sites. It's not like no one gets their requests fulfilled.

ComradeCosmobot fucked around with this message at 07:41 on Feb 29, 2012

Vlogging Queen
Feb 12, 2005

DrMelon posted:

I don't think the confusion is over the fact that it sold out fast, but that the site was completely inaccessible - so how did it get sold?
That's not true. I managed to get far enough for it to tell me "No price was found for product 2081185. Item was not added to basket."

This is clearly a sign of a fully functioning website.

Viktor
Nov 12, 2005

ComradeCosmobot posted:

It might not have been as inaccessible from Britain or Europe for example. Lower ping times may have helped.

And even I was able to navigate to the Exports site for a few seconds, so it wasn't completely down.

Same and I had the option to add to cart but the website blewup under the Ajax call.

Ration
Dec 3, 2005

My mile could not pump the plumb

Cuck Everlasting posted:

export.farnell.com should lead to a US distributor but the server is still melted.

No dice. Their contact form does not say anything about the US.

Viktor
Nov 12, 2005

quote:

Raspberry Pi
@billvinson They're meant to be. They may have chosen to start US sales later in the face of all the EU interest.
from here

They had no idea if they partners had any intent of providing day one US/NA sales

Jigoku San
Feb 2, 2003

^^Wow, good job. I bet when the R-Pi people said high traffic the resellers assumed UK/EU traffic.


Got in to RS... still getting the interest page.

Pweller
Jan 25, 2006

Whatever whateva.
Haha a guy got someone from RS Components on the phone and they told him they won't sell to consumers, only business clients.

Viktor
Nov 12, 2005

Ack that's terrible, but hey i got one in my cart from export.farnell.com site.

DrMelon
Oct 9, 2010

You can find me in the produce aisle of the hospital.
From twitter:

@grumpyoldgit99 posted:

@Raspberry_Pi Spoken to RS sales team. Not on sale until end of week.

Looks like it'll be a while until I'll get one then. :sigh:

Lukano
Apr 28, 2003

As a Canadian, I can only feel hurt and left out - in that the rPi foundation purposely flipped the bird at the US and gave priority to the UK - but somehow left out their confederates just above those who they were pissing off :(

Lukano fucked around with this message at 08:41 on Feb 29, 2012

Toad King
Apr 23, 2008

Yeah, I'm the best
I almost got through on the Farnell site, but ran into errors trying to complete my order. I'm just gonna hold out for the Model A since that has the 256 MB of RAM now, which was the only real reason I was going for a Model B.

~Coxy
Dec 9, 2003

R.I.P. Inter-OS Sass - b.2000AD d.2003AD
Heh, I hate to say I told you so but this really did turn out to be vapour after all!

International availability at launch - lie.
Will distribute it themselves - lie.
Will wait until the units arrive to start selling them - lie.
Won't take preorders - lie.
Reasonable cost-based shipping - lie.

LastCaress
May 8, 2004

bonobo
Really bad launch (for someone in Portugal):

-The $25 PC (which kind of the main point of the project isn't even available).Model A wasn't up for sale

-Why "launching" it at 6 am for the domestic customers? (this wasn't even an official date, just a 'wink wink' get up at this time)

-Chosing distributors that won't even send to non business customers (Farnell only sends to business clients in Portugal, don't know how it is elsewhere, maybe someone who got to the ordering page knows).

-Not having direct links to the product

-Distributors sites always dead

-Not even knowing when it's up for sale on the RS site, some guy just phoned the company and knew more than the rasbperry guys

-Raspberry guys tweeting on how it's entirely the distributor's fault. Come on, you were the ones that chose them, maybe you could've programmed the launch a little better. Also really annoying reading stuff like "well we managed to keep our site up, which isn't true (it was down for a while) and unfair since they reverted to a static page, which the other sites can't do.


But maybe I'm just grumpy because I got up so early :P

ppp
Feb 13, 2012

by angerbot

LastCaress posted:

Really bad launch (for someone in Portugal):

-The $25 PC (which kind of the main point of the project isn't even available).Model A wasn't up for sale
I can't access the old site on archive.org but I'm pretty sure this was known in advance.

LastCaress posted:

-Why "launching" it at 6 am for the domestic customers? (this wasn't even an official date, just a 'wink wink' get up at this time)
This was probably when the site opened, or when they automatically add products to the site, or the earliest someone would get up.

LastCaress posted:

-Chosing distributors that won't even send to non business customers (Farnell only sends to business clients in Portugal, don't know how it is elsewhere, maybe someone who got to the ordering page knows).

-Not having direct links to the product

-Distributors sites always dead

-Not even knowing when it's up for sale on the RS site, some guy just phoned the company and knew more than the rasbperry guys

-Raspberry guys tweeting on how it's entirely the distributor's fault. Come on, you were the ones that chose them, maybe you could've programmed the launch a little better. Also really annoying reading stuff like "well we managed to keep our site up, which isn't true (it was down for a while) and unfair since they reverted to a static page, which the other sites can't do.


But maybe I'm just grumpy because I got up so early :P

It is the distributor's fault. Apparently they asked them in advance if the distributors could handle the network load, and they said yes.

DrMelon
Oct 9, 2010

You can find me in the produce aisle of the hospital.
I dunno why the RasPi guys wouldn't choose Amazon to do this - they have distribution worldwide, very affordable shipping, and extremely large server farms to handle very large amounts of traffic.

Lukano
Apr 28, 2003

LastCaress posted:

-Raspberry guys tweeting on how it's entirely the distributor's fault. Come on, you were the ones that chose them, maybe you could've programmed the launch a little better. Also really annoying reading stuff like "well we managed to keep our site up, which isn't true (it was down for a while) and unfair since they reverted to a static page, which the other sites can't do.


But maybe I'm just grumpy because I got up so early :P

This kind of sums it up for me. I admit, I still *desperately* want one for XBMC purposes - but I also feel like I've been trolled at the same time.

Not only was the launch so EU-centric that it forced their EU buyers to set alarms ~2hrs before normal - they also failed to account for even a fraction of a fraction of the global demand. (Oh right, they also encouraged middle aged GMT- folks to stay well past midnight on a weeknight.)

AAAAAND they naively signed up with mfr/distrib agencencies that were EU-centric (or at the very least, offered portals to buy/ship for everyhwere buy NA (I might add, I as a Canadian am incredibly put out by this) and also 'ran out' and started' build-on-demand orders (ahem, pre-orders) so quickly that it was almost sleight-of-hand.

But really, I'm not bitter or anything :v

Lukano fucked around with this message at 09:27 on Feb 29, 2012

thegoat
Jan 26, 2004
From what I can see the farnell dist in Taiwan lists them as in stock. I'll try and buy when I get home. It also has a page for 2-5, 5-11, etc for volume buying.

berzerker
Aug 18, 2004
"If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all."
This disaster of a launch if really probably in my best interest, give it a month or two and it will have some fully developed software and case options that it doesn't now. Still, very frustrating since I did get up very early.

Lots of people buying this with no idea what it is, too: http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/raspberry-pi-22-computer-starts-29th-6am-1155542?page=1

text editor
Jan 8, 2007
So if I can still add one to my cart on Newark, are they still in stock?

[link

ppp
Feb 13, 2012

by angerbot

DrMelon posted:

I dunno why the RasPi guys wouldn't choose Amazon to do this - they have distribution worldwide, very affordable shipping, and extremely large server farms to handle very large amounts of traffic.

Because Amazon doesn't build things. It's being built by the distributors.

edit:

text editor posted:

So if I can still add one to my cart on Newark, are they still in stock?

[link

Availability: 0

Zahmer
Jan 17, 2011
This is just too good to not post. Someone has listed a Raspberry Pi on Ebay, check out the price.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Raspberry-Pi-Model-B-Ethernet-700MHz-ARM-SBC-/170793413181?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item27c414aa3d#ht_500wt_1415

Oh, and it's a pre-order listing. He will ship it to you when they are in full production and he get's it. Ebay is great for early morning entertainment.

inpheaux
Jul 12, 2001

(re: Model A availability at launch)

ppp posted:

I can't access the old site on archive.org but I'm pretty sure this was known in advance.
Nah, they said both would be available at launch.

Main things that bothered me:
- No direct links. "lol just go to the site you can't access, then search for this search string using a site that's crippled, and then go to the results page that's wrong." The hell kind of distribution agreement did they enter into that didn't let them directly link to their product?
- Distributors clearly had no idea what they were getting into and were in no way prepared for this. I understand the logic of partnering with larger distributors rather than trying to shoulder that yourself, but somehow I think this turned out worse than if they put up their own store -- even if it was just their own preorder site -- and it exploded. If it's their own place it'd be understandable "small company gets inundated by massive demand! they're just too popular!". . . but when it appears they had the foresight to take precautions and then the "big" companies they partnered with flub the launch everyone looks silly.

Totally agree with DrMelon that they should have partnered with Amazon. They might not be the kind of go-to retailer you think of for bare-bones educational/kit hardware and components, but at least then you would've known it would be a true international launch and the problem would've been "aw it sold out" instead of "whoops all the websites have melted".

For anyone who actually got a sale to go through: What's the power supply situation? The old RPi FAQ mentioned you'd have to buy other components like power supply separately, but I can't see anything along those lines on the burnt-out shells of the two distributor sites. Is it just powered by an AC -> MicroUSB connector like my phone's charger?

ppp
Feb 13, 2012

by angerbot

inpheaux posted:

For anyone who actually got a sale to go through: What's the power supply situation? The old RPi FAQ mentioned you'd have to buy other components like power supply separately, but I can't see anything along those lines on the burnt-out shells of the two distributor sites. Is it just powered by an AC -> MicroUSB connector like my phone's charger?
from the manual:

The unit uses a Micro USB connection to power itself (only the power pins are connected - so
it will not transfer data over this connection). A standard modern phone charger with a microUSB connector will do, but needs to produce at least 700mA at 5 volts. Check your power
supply's ratings carefully. Suitable mains adaptors will be available from the RPi Shop and
are recommended if you are unsure what to use.
You can use a range of other power sources (assuming they are able to provide enough
current ~700mA):
• Computer USB Port or powered USB hub (will depend on power output)
• Special wall warts with USB ports
• Mobile Phone Backup Battery (will depend on power output) (in theory - needs
confirmation)

Jamsta
Dec 16, 2006

Oh you want some too? Fuck you!

ppp posted:

You can use a range of other power sources (assuming they are able to provide enough
current ~700mA):
• Computer USB Port or powered USB hub (will depend on power output)
• Special wall warts with USB ports
• Mobile Phone Backup Battery (will depend on power output) (in theory - needs
confirmation)

I plan on using mine at my caravan (for spying on our horses), I'm going to hack apart a car cigarette lighter adapter for USB and wire it to the RPi.

Once I can actually place an order.

sleepy gary
Jan 11, 2006

This launch was truly botched, but the foundation is just a few people who took on massive risk and spent countless hours of their time to do this. Calm down, everyone. If you want one, you'll have one. I think you will survive in the mean time.

CollegeCop
Jul 11, 2005

You're right. I'm not a real cop. Those are imaginary handcuffs. And in a minute, we'll be going to the make-believe jail.

inpheaux posted:

(re: Model A availability at launch)

Nah, they said both would be available at launch.


Nah, only Model B's were manufactured for first run. I won't say that the Model A's were never going to be available at launch, but they have said since the first manufacturing run started that the first batch would be B's only, and A's would come later.

sleepy gary
Jan 11, 2006

inpheaux posted:

(re: Model A availability at launch)
Nah, they said both would be available at launch.

No, they said over and over and over again that only the Model B would be in the first production run.

bolind
Jun 19, 2005



Pillbug

DNova posted:

This launch was truly botched, but the foundation is just a few people who took on massive risk and spent countless hours of their time to do this. Calm down, everyone. If you want one, you'll have one. I think you will survive in the mean time.

This is the truth. All day I've been thinking: "if you're unhappy with your service, you can get a full refund." RPi doesn't owe anyone squat. Relax, people. You'll get your Pi in due time.

sharktamer
Oct 30, 2011

Shark tamer ridiculous
It really was a colossal cock-up on the part of the distributors. Both failed to keep up with their traffic, but more damning is the fact that RS only offered people the opportunity to "register interest" and Farnell completely ignored the one-per-person rule that was established way before the launch. One prick on the irc channel who posted his invoice had bought six of them.

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Loucks
May 21, 2007

I’m perfectly chill. Perfectly chill. The most innocuous comment set you off, not me. People are shockingly stupid, except for me. If that upsets you please shut the fuck up.
Well that's lovely. With any luck someone will tweet the rpi team, and maybe they will pressure the distributor into cancelling orders with multiples or something.

As long as this comes out eventually. I just want a cheap, tiny machine to stream HD content from NAS.

Loucks fucked around with this message at 17:24 on Feb 29, 2012

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