why Broadcom BCM2835 SoC for pi?

Question

Why did the Raspberry Pi foundation select "BCM 2835" and not any other SOC for Raspberry Pi? Is any other SOC possible ? If yes , which ?

maybe ask them directly? ;) – Alex Tape Mar 05 '14 at 10:13 — Alex Tape, Mar 05 '14 at 10:13

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 04 '14 at 20:29

1

The developers of the Pi had some connection with broadcom. That's why they choose Broadcom.

There are a lot of SoCs that run ARMv6 (like the Pi) and the more recent ARMv7. Also note that a lot of linux distributions are dropping support for ARMv6

answered Mar 04 '14 at 20:29

Gerben

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I'd also speculate that the Broadcom chip was genuinely quite cheap. RaspberryPi was never about the most open or the best hardware. Their focus was on a reasonably reliable product that could be got into schools at low cost. – Fred Mar 04 '14 at 23:03

why Broadcom BCM2835 SoC for pi?

1 Answers1