What is the scrappy super cheap but capable competitor of the pi, like the pi was to average desktop PCs?
I’d say Rock Pi or Orange Pi, if you want something close to capable.
what can do the same as a pi for 30 bucks like 10 years ago the pi was?
Probably the Arduino Uno Q. It’s Qualcomm’s new Arduino board that runs Linux. It also seems to start at around $44 for the 2GB model (I’m guessing they’re making a loss since they’re new to the SBC game, and they’re probably trying to gain market share).
Or if you don’t need a whole general purpose operating system, then there’s plenty of microcontrollers that’ll work fine (ESP32, STM32, etc.).
I’d say Rock Pi or Orange Pi, if you want something close to capable.
Probably the Arduino Uno Q. It’s Qualcomm’s new Arduino board that runs Linux. It also seems to start at around $44 for the 2GB model (I’m guessing they’re making a loss since they’re new to the SBC game, and they’re probably trying to gain market share).
Or if you don’t need a whole general purpose operating system, then there’s plenty of microcontrollers that’ll work fine (ESP32, STM32, etc.).