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Debian Ubuntu Linux

Raspberry Pi Team Launches Pi Store 91

Posted by samzenpus from the pay-and-play dept.
sfcrazy writes "Raspberry Pi developer team has introduced the Pi store, a place to get software for Raspberry Pi, in collaboration with IndieCity and Velocix. The team hopes that the store will become a one-stop-shop for Raspbian Pi users. The store already has 23 major applications available for users including LibreOffice and Asterisk. There are classic games like Freeciv and OpenTTD and Raspberry Pi exclusive Iridium Rising. The team also managed to get 'one piece of commercial content: the excellent Storm in a Teacup from Cobra Mobile.'"
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Raspberry Pi Team Launches Pi Store More

Raspberry Pi Team Launches Pi Store

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  • Wait, what?? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I thought this was all about open source and stuff. Aren't these Apple Stores completely contrary to the spirit of OSS?

    • Yeah, there was me hoping this was a badly written article which had mistaken a repository for a store - but no:

      The team also managed to get 'one piece of commercial content:

      "Managed"? As if it's something to be proud of?

      • Re:Wait, what?? (Score:5, Funny)

        by PPH ( 736903 ) on Monday December 17, 2012 @11:50AM (#42314327)
        Where I used to work, using the verb "manage" was a sign of impending doom.
      • "As if it's something to be proud of"? As if it's something to be ashamed of?

      • Yes, having money to pay the bills is something to be proud of.

        Contrary to popular belief, never has a hippie commune contributed much to the world. Mostly because they end up with 3 people who contribute and 30k who leech.

        What if no one paid for whatever product you are involved in selling and you had no job, how would that work out for you?

        Why are you people so incredible dense when it comes to making money?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by s73v3r ( 963317 )

        Is paying developers now something to be ashamed of?

    • Re:Wait, what?? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by camperdave ( 969942 ) on Monday December 17, 2012 @11:48AM (#42314313) Journal
      It's not an Apple store. It's a Raspberry store. Furthermore, it's not a brick and mortar palace, but an online software repository. Besides, you're not locked in to using it, so no it is not completely contrary to the spirit of OSS. Anyone can "upload their own content for moderation and release".

    • Re:Wait, what?? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Revotron ( 1115029 ) on Monday December 17, 2012 @11:54AM (#42314371)
      Yes, because this absolutely, positively, most certainly prevents you from installing software from any other source.

      Oh, wait, no it doesn't. All it does is allow you to download pre-compiled binaries from a central source. You are still able to pull the source code from the project and view/compile it yourself. So tell me, how does this violate the spirit of open source software? Or are you just inherently afraid of anything called an "App Store"?

      • Yes, because this absolutely, positively, most certainly prevents you from installing software from any other source. Oh, wait, no it doesn't. All it does is allow you to download pre-compiled binaries from a central source. You are still able to pull the source code from the project and view/compile it yourself. So tell me, how does this violate the spirit of open source software? Or are you just inherently afraid of anything called an "App Store"?

        It reminds me more of the redhat rpm repo than one of the app stores for mobile devices.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by s73v3r ( 963317 )

        In fact, for several things, it simply performs the apt commands to download it from there.

    • So? What's the problem? If you don't find what they're offering worth what they're asking for it, then don't buy it.

      It's not like it's an Apple device that forces you to only use their app store.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by jones_supa ( 887896 )

      I thought this was all about open source and stuff. Aren't these Apple Stores completely contrary to the spirit of OSS?

      Then you are talking about freeware rather than open source.

    • Neither calling something a store, nor charging money for software, is against the spirit of OSS. Perhaps you should read up on some of the actual objections to the App Store?

    • Re:Wait, what?? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by itsdapead ( 734413 ) on Monday December 17, 2012 @01:02PM (#42315013)

      I thought this was all about open source and stuff. Aren't these Apple Stores completely contrary to the spirit of OSS?

      Yeah, but the Pi is all about getting kids to tweak and rewrite software, so unlike Apple they probably have a large, enticing "Get the source" button on every app...

      Lets have a look.

      Somewhere around here...

      Where is it...

      On LibreOffice surely, I know that's LGPL...

      You may not modify or redistribute this content.

      Oh dear...

      Never mind, they must be raising money for the Pi foundation - I'm sure this is on the site somewhere, but my browser seems to have a bug causing it to disappear.

      • Re:Wait, what?? (Score:5, Informative)

        by capedgirardeau ( 531367 ) on Monday December 17, 2012 @01:51PM (#42315445)

        The system is brand new and it seems the app store service provider still has some details to work out about the licensing.

        Liz, the head of the Raspbery Pi foundation, is aware of the issue and has already directly addressed it by saying there will be a fix in place by tomorrow to allow the app publishers to properly list the license their software is offered under.

        For reference, here is Liz's statement to that effect:
        http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/2768#comment-37660 [raspberrypi.org]

        • It's not a valid excuse that the system is "new"; legally displaying the proper license is an especially obvious requirement.

          I'm sure it was ignored in the interests of pushing the thing out the door by a certain deadline.

    • I skimmed through the store, and it looks like most of what is up there is FOSS. I think the perceived value in such a "store" is not like that of the App Store or Google Play Store where it essentially represents the one place where you can go and get software, but instead represents a place where you can get software that is known to run well on the Raspberry Pi, which is very limited in resources compared to typical desktop computers.

      Until they decide to restrict you from running software that doesn'
    • OSS was never a primary goal of the Raspberry Pi. Education is. They're quite happy for people to be doing what they like with the device (including commercial applications), so long as the Foundation can keep turning their sales into more devices for schools.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by rephlex ( 96882 )
        The Raspberry Pi as it is today, i.e. underpowered and broken, will never achieve much success in the education sector. The number of Pi's sold to schools so far has been absolutely insignificant. Lack of hardware hasn't been a real problem in those areas for many years anyway and its never been the main problem. The main problem has been and still is insufficient numbers of appropriately skilled teachers. The Raspberry Pi can't solve that.

  • Store? How about a repository? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dizzer ( 251533 ) on Monday December 17, 2012 @11:48AM (#42314309)

    Why do you need an "App Store" clone for every OS now? How is this supposed to make sense for free software in a Debian based distribution? Why don't they just put that stuff into regular apt repo?

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      > apt-get pay
      E: Invalid operation pay

    • It's just a method of presentation that's familiar to casual users. It's not causing any harm if it doesn't hamper other choices.

    • Why do you need an "App Store" clone for every OS now?

      Excatly. Debian is very late to the party with one of these "App Stores". It's a pity because it's good to have access to a large, easy to install, curated repository of quality apps. I think it's sad that Debian deel the need to shamelessly copy Apple in this way.

      They could at least distinguish themselves by using a different name. Perhaps they could call them packages. Then they'd need some kind of Advanced Tool to install said Packages.

      • Re: (Score:1, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Perhaps they should have called it an Apt Store.

      • They could at least distinguish themselves by using a different name. Perhaps they could call them packages. Then they'd need some kind of Advanced Tool to install said Packages.

        Maybe even take it further and compose the system of various little packages so that each individual library can be updated discretely. And then one simple command to upgrade the whole system if requested. That would be awesome!

      • I think that's very apt, I get it :D

    • How about a Raspitory?

    • Why don't they just put that stuff into regular apt repo?

      Let me know when "regular apt repo" supports authentication, which would allow paid downloads of certain types of software [pineight.com] that inherently don't mesh well with the free software movement or open source methodology.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Rufty ( 37223 )
        Could you point /etc/apt/sources.list to an authenticated http://example.com/apt-repo [example.com] and tailor the content served depending on the user???

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by tepples ( 727027 )
          Does /etc/apt/sources.list have a way to specify a user's credentials without allowing everybody on the system to misappropriate a user's password?
      • The Windows, OSX and Android ecosystems are infested with a culture of greed and egoism. Pay $10 for DVD-burning software, $15 for an archive program, $120 for anti-virus, $50 for an SSH client/server, $40 for a media player, and so on and so on.

        If I can contribute to the community in some way, and get free and libre software in return, that seems like a much better deal for everybody. But by all means, if somebody wants to put energy into a distribution which mimics the money culture of Windows and OSX,

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by madprof ( 4723 )

          You make it sound like writing software and charging money for it is inherently a bad thing. (Hint: it isn't)

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by tepples ( 727027 )

          Pay $10 for DVD-burning software

          You can blame the companies that license the patents in MPEG-2 visual and Dolby Digital audio and the patents and trade secrets in the DVD-Video system for the fact that there's no legit free DVD-Video authoring solution.

          $120 for anti-virus

          Even if the scanning software is based on a free engine, how else is one supposed to finance continuing updates to definitions?

          $40 for a media player

          Here again, you can blame MPEG-LA, Dolby, DVD FLLC, Blu-ray Disc Association, and other holders of patents and trade secrets.

          If I can contribute to the community in some way, and get free and libre software in return

          How would you recommend extending this

          • You're absolutely right, a lot of this is due to the patent and copyright shenanigans of the major industry players. They commit fraud and treason against society in broad daylight. So if there was software "that is acceptable to the six major motion picture distributors", I would reject it on principle. Example: I have never, and will never, buy anything related to BluRay.

            As for the tax software, I'm not quite sure what you get from the accounting firms. A list of loopholes? Just some slightly more frien

            • I have never, and will never, buy anything related to BluRay.

              The studios have already phased out VHS, and they're starting to phase out DVD as well: Ishtar skipped DVD and went straight to Blu-ray. So when the studios phase out DVD, do you plan to stop watching movies?

              As for the tax software, I'm not quite sure what you get from the accounting firms. A list of loopholes?

              What you get from Intuit and H&R Block is a machine-readable version of the latest tax code in the form of an expert system [wikipedia.org] that makes sure you haven't missed any required fields or the most commonly used loopholes and makes sure that your calculations are correct.

              In the various countries that I have filled in taxes, the software I used was free of charge

              Incumbent tax firms have fought the

        • Extend your utterly stupid (look up the dictionary definition) thought pattern to your own job.

          How are you going to eat if your job was 'community' based?

          Don't be such an idiot, or you just might get what you wish for.

          • Well, what I wish for already exists, with millions of people benefiting and contributing to many thousand free and open source projects all over the world. If you were not aware of that, I'd suggest you download one of the common GNU/Linux distributions (it's for free), and give it a go. Try to apt-get, or similar, any application you'd like to use, and it will be installed within seconds, without any other action or transaction needed on your part. Even after nearly two decades, the efficiency and quality

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by s73v3r ( 963317 )

          If I can contribute to the community in some way, and get free and libre software in return, that seems like a much better deal for everybody.

          Not really. While I'm sure those developers would appreciate your work, they can't really eat your contributions. And your contributions can't really shelter them.

    • Ease of use?

    • To the casual, new-to-linux users, a "store" is going to be less scary and less intimidating than going through apt-get. Adding the store has not taken away the option of going through the repositories, just added another way of putting extra software on your RasPi.

      That said, I'm not particularly impressed with the current selection of "apps" - even if it has a great time waster available in FreeCiv.

    • With their apps and cloud space and Ajax.

      Back when I was young, we called them applications, servers, and well, soap.

      See also [wordpress.com]

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      If you want to be accessible to younger users, you have to go with models they are familiar with. This platform is targeted towards younger users. An App Store is something they can understand because they've likely had exposure to it.

  • Surely that should be... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 17, 2012 @11:53AM (#42314357)

    "...Mrs Miggins' Pi Shop...." ?

  • How is that different from APT repo? (Score:3)

    by macson_g ( 1551397 ) on Monday December 17, 2012 @01:17PM (#42315157)
    How is that different from slamming a web interface on top of apt repo?

  • Now if only you could actually order a Raspberry Pi to run your software with, now that would be something to post on /. about!

    • You can, go check the distributors. http://raspberrypi.rsdelivers.com/default.aspx?cl=1 [rsdelivers.com] (delivers in about a week)
    • You can. I've ordered 3 on 3 separate occasions and got them in a week from newark/element14. Don't let the 0 next to availability scare you.

      Also, i'd imagine you are trying to grab a bunch of these for your students/class, which may in fact impact the availability for you

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by csumpi ( 2258986 )
      The real question is, why would you want to order something that doesn't work? [slashdot.org]

      • Not working is relative. Raspberry Pi has some issues (for me the main issue seems to be the low powered USB port which in practise requires using it with a powered USB hub), but it seems to work better than I imaged it would work. And it might have some compatibility problems (sometimes I have had to remove and then re-insert an USB device to make it work) with some devices.

        So far, I haven't tried any torture tests or used oscilloscope to check if I am able to detect stuttering when using USB sound card. H

  • ... package manager

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