The conversation debates whether the $385 price of the Raspberry Pi 5 16GB model results from rational market forces like AI-driven RAM shortages or artificial cartel manipulation, while users criticize the device for losing its educational value proposition. Participants disagree on the longevity of high prices, with some predicting a crash due to an impending data center bubble collapse and others citing collusion that prevents price adjustments.
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rpi-eeprom
Shell2019–2026
raspberrypi / rpi-eeprom
rpi-eeprom
Installation scripts and binaries for the Raspberry Pi 4 and Raspberry Pi 5 bootloader EEPROMs
14Distinct people
17Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
1.5KGitHub stars
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Installation scripts and binaries for the Raspberry Pi 4 and Raspberry Pi 5 bootloader EEPROMs
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This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 1:49:46 PM UTC.
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HN mentions by year17 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2019-12-01 01:20:15 UTC to 2026-09-21 20:49:25 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
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| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 0 | 5 |
What Hacker News says
17 sourcesDYDylan16807·Sep 21, 2026
I wish you'd be more specific on what link in a different thread you mean. This one? https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/issues/761
That RAM is not fiction, it was working before they updated and worked again when they removed the update. It's failing verification, not failing to function.
In Raspberry Pi blocks changing RAM chipsReading through the EEPROM repo issue[1] makes me a little more sympathetic to the "feature", but I still don't like it at all.
It might help in the short term to stop dodgy resellers who mod the boards with cheap upgraded RAM to make a buck or two...
But the Pi itself is always taking one step forward, one step back in terms of firmware. I've been tinkering with some Qualcomm boards from Radxa and things are slightly better there, though you don't have anywhere near the ecosystem you get with Pi (or onboarding niceties).
[1] https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/issues/761
In Raspberry Pi blocks changing RAM chipshttps://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/issues/761
If someone gets updated in the wild (like this person did without realizing they had a counterfeit board), they'll fail to boot.
In Raspberry Pi blocks changing RAM chipsSo they applied this gate in the rpi EEPROM, which is closed source.
https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/issues/761
In Raspberry Pi blocks changing RAM chipsI think what's giving me more concern is: what if the Pi is embedded in a device and the manufacturer doesn't realize the supply chain got tampered with?
https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/issues/761
One EEPROM update and suddenly you brick the board. It's like the FTDI bullshit. You're going to end up snaring legitimate users that didn't know they had illegitimate boards.
In Raspberry Pi 5 EEPROM update now blocks manual RAM upgradesAvailable as latest in apt now
https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/blob/master/firmwa...
In Raspberry Pi boosts Pi 5 performance with SDRAM tuningI can’t find any evidence that RPi5 supports PPS or that anyone makes a 5V/5A PPS charger, except perhaps a massive 100W charger or something along those lines. It’s a silly voltage/current combination.
edit: PPS is not supported. See:
https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=359918
https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/issues/497
In The Raspberry Pi 5 Is No Match for a Tini-Mini-Micro PCI don't have Pi 5 to check this, but from what I've read, it does not support PPS. And such support is required; otherwise, even with a source that supports PPS, the connection will behave in a non-PPS fashion.
Apparently, cable quality is also demonstrating itself to be a significant factor in the Pi 5 power supply environment.
Regarding both these points:
https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/issues/497
In Going in circles without a real-time clockI think it was this one:
https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/blob/master/firmwa...
I had the same problem as you, updated my eeprom and the problem was fixed
In The Life of Pi: Ten Years of Raspberry PiFrom the github page (https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/issues/28) you can see that this needs an updated firmware which you can install via rpi-update. Never used Ubuntu on the Pi only raspbian, but I am sure they also have those rpi tools.
How does Ubuntu run on the Pi work? I never got passed installation, because after install the first boot just hangs. It seems to me it wants to install additional stuff via ethernet which in my case is not attached and I never had the option to configure wifi....
In Raspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USBRaspberry Pi 4 can finally boot directly from USB
672 points · Open discussionRaspberry Pi4 bootloader EEPROM release 2020-09-14 (Supports booting from USB)
2 points · Open discussionNote that earlier in the beta there was a fairly annoying bug that affected all three of the SATA adapters I had. That bug was fixed just a week or so ago, and now all my adapters work out of the box. They're all cheap ones you can find on Amazon or at Micro Center. Here's the issue, in case you're interested: https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/issues/151#issueco...
In Adventures in booting Linux on Raspberry Pi 4Yes. The Pi3 could always boot from USB once you enable[1] it. The difference with the Pi4 is that it's initial boot eeprom is now updatable. The first release didn't include the option for USB booting. It has just recently been added [2].
[1] https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberry...
[2] https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/blob/master/firmwa...
In I'm booting my Raspberry Pi 4 from a USB SSDShowing the 15 most recent of 17 sources. Enable JavaScript to search and browse every indexed mention.