Raspberry Pi is locking down RAM upgrades on Pi 5s in firmware.

whats that line from that batman movie that's something like "you either die a hero or spend the rest of your time in the market fucking your customers in the face when you were supposed to destroy the sith not join them" I'm paraphrasing but I think i was close

well not to put too fine a point on it...

Okay I will remove Pi devices from future project plans.

Bro.... People literally buy Raspberry Pi devices for the level of openness you get with the projects you want to conduct with them. We can't have anything nice anymore.

An org that has consistently looked at the concept of goodwill in an industry and said... "Nah" My current pi 4 inventory is the last money they get from me.

Sigh...

The story is supposedly due to resellers “upgrading” cheap units with unknown RAM and then the customer coming to Pi looking for support/RMAs. I don’t like the new policy but I imagine the new support load for Pi due to the bad actors must’ve been incredible for them to make this policy. It’s a bummer.

>Raspberry Pi is perfectly within their legal right to lock down their HARDWARE like this I don't think that's true. Firmware, yes. Hardware, no.

Jfc, it's over for Raspberry Pi at this point

The answer to this is simple, you make the pi model name include the package it comes with and if the model name doesnt align with the ram offered, you know its not stock and to use at own risk.

Whats the fucking point of RPi then?

Wow a 2 year old firmware and people complain now?

People have been complaining a while, but there weren't many official confirmations about why this is the case until a couple months ago.

I read the HN post, and looks like they want to prevent themselves to be the responsible for resellers who upgrade the RAM and sell as if they are genuine products. Can’t blame them for that but maybe there are better solutions, like giving the customers a website to validate.

Nerds should sabotage this bullshit, but dumbasses will keep sponsoring them

This is a horrible policy and I will no longer be supporting them or recommending them.

What’s the smart go to SBC these days for various projects? It seems like hardware support is pretty decent across the board now?

this is just an excuse. Why don’t they simply display an overridable message telling user that the RAM doesn’t match the factory and this message can be overridden if you choose to proceed?

I am happy that I don't even bother with Pi devices for some years now. Refurbished tiny/mini/macro are cheaper and more powerful than a Pi with way more RAM and storage.

The way things are going pretty soon we will have to use ai to design our own custom SBCs 😂

Ram cartels strike again.

Simple solution is a command being run that says what the original specification of the pi was, so both a buyer and Pi can determine if someone has screwed around with the Pi. Dunno why but your video was in real low resolution.

Well, they had a good run. Time to go bankrupt.

Well thrift store computers it is then.

Every shop machine has that trap in it. You own the iron, not the software that runs it, and one update can retire a feature you already paid for. Keep the settings that worked on a stick in the cabinet and a spare controller on the shelf. Then the next update is the vendor's problem, not your afternoon.

i think the executive board misses the part where raspberry pi purchasers are tinkerers

Well - in the end the become all evil. 🤷‍♂️ It is always the 2nd or 3rd gen of engineers who have to do that.

fuck @Raspberry_Pi

It's apple level evil

We all know that argument is giving only the benefit of the doubt. The true reason is money. It always is money. And ram size is the biggest lever to ask for a huge price markup. So of course they don't like people circumventing that. Plus by going that far they proved that they got 0 respect of the costumer by nanying them like that. They don't treat the costumer as an equal anymore but as a necessary nuissance that needs to be undermined at every chance given. That mask has now slipped. They proved what they truly think of everybody.

... aaaand just like that I'm no longer interested in buying a Raspberry Pi for a small NAS once the prices go back down to normal.

It's 2026. Raspberry Pi fell off years ago

Raspberry died when they released the 5. Total waste of money. The only thing worth buying is the pico and the zero

raspberry pi was supposed to be open and all, at this point just getting a minipc is 2x cheaper and more than 2x stronger and beefier. i dont see a reason in buying pi's anymore.

firmware locks on a hobbyist board feels wrong