Compute Module 4 for Slice in the near future?

    • Official Post

    I think it was a "timing" problem more than anything else. Not long after Slice launched (late) RPi2 came along, and the lack of CM2 card meant the specs looked weak, and then RPi3 arrived to drive nails further into the coffin. CM3 eventually caught up, but that was some time later again and by that point the day-jobs of the "Five" had also multiplied via Pi success and the company they'd formed hadn't sold enough product volume to really be viable. These days the Pi Foundation owns the IP/designs, but while I think having them create/release an "official" HTPC box would be good for their own sales it would also put them into competition with their ecosystem in a negative way.. but I should ask Gordon anyway :)

    I still deeply love :heart: my Red Slice. It's a very well design product, it feel like a premium device next to the TV.

    Actually the HTPC box would made sense, since they've the IP/design could be reusing part of the Slice tech/design. Hopefully Gordon can give hints :)

    Quote from chewitt

    I think it was a "timing" problem more than anything else. Not long after Slice launched (late) RPi2 came along, and the lack of CM2 card meant the specs looked weak, and then RPi3 arrived to drive nails further into the coffin. CM3 eventually caught up, but that was some time later again and by that point the day-jobs of the "Five" had also multiplied via Pi success and the company they'd formed hadn't sold enough product volume to really be viable. These days the Pi Foundation owns the IP/designs, but while I think having them create/release an "official" HTPC box would be good for their own sales it would also put them into competition with their ecosystem in a negative way.. but I should ask Gordon anyway :)

    That all makes sense - the CM1 vs Pi 2 was very unfortunate timing - and the CM1 was just a little bit underpowered (though with the MPEG2 and VC-1 licences it was still a very capable HD and SD media player).

    ISTR there was an issue with the continued use of the original Slice skin in Kodi - but hadn't realised that the Pi Foundation now owned the IP and designs. I totally understand why the Pi foundation wouldn't want to compete with others in the ecosystem. However they do make the DVB-T2 HAT - and that integrated into a modern Pi 4-based Slice (once the HDR and HD Audio stuff is implemented) would be lovely.

    • Official Post

    Gordon say's it's something that's crosssed his mind a few times on rainy days, but these days the minimum manufacturing volumes the Pi Foundation needs to see from a new product are so stratospheric it would be unlikely to justify the design/support effort. He also commented they had lots of issues maintaining case quality with suppliers that they wouldn't want to repeat at larger scales.

    The original Slice skin contained licensed fonts and images and .. I forget what the issue was, but once Kodi moved from Helix to Jarvis it got broke and noboody fixed it. IMHO the Estuary skin with "midnight" colours is nice tho :)

    The people behind Argon One M.2 and the Desk Pro are already making circuit boards. Maybe one of them could do it. Just modify the design of the I/O board to fit their case.

    I think there was even a post here from Argon Forty about writing a LibreELEC plugin.