Terminology for distinguishing the microcontrollers from the rest of the product range

[michaelstoops]

I'd like to write some documentation that calls out features of the Raspberry Pi 1, 2B, 3B, 4B, Zero, Zero W, and compute modules, but doesn't include the microcontroller range.

What are we calling the non-microcontroller devices as a group?

• "non-microcontrollers" is accurate at this time, but what about some third group that shows up?
• "full" or other indication of size seems tempting, but the Zero, A, and B variants range widely in their size, so that might not work.
• "Linux-capable" is probably relevant to most users, but is only accurate if you ignore the Linux ports to RP2040.

Do we have a preferred terminology for these device classes?

[lurch]

What are we calling the non-microcontroller devices as a group?

I dunno if it's official nomenclature, but in the documentation repo some pages simply use the phrase "Raspberry Pi computers" to denote this. (which matches the top-level categories displayed at https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/ )

[helenlynn]

Oh look, a neglected issue; sorry. Yes, @lurch is right, we use "Raspberry Pi computers" for the non-microcontroller devices; you are, of course, free to use this or something that seems more suitable for documentation that you are writing.

[aallan]

I... didn't even know this repo existed, or would have been opinionated about this before now!

"Raspberry Pi computers" is certainly what I've been doing/calling them, or "single board computers" if I really have to, while our microcontroller range is "Raspberry Pi microcontroller boards" (or "microcontroller devices" if we're talking chips).

Colloquially I use the term "mainline" for the big boards, or in fact "big boards" sometimes when speaking. But I wouldn't really like to see it written down.

[lurch]

@aallan Is it maybe worth linking to this repo from e.g. https://github.com/raspberrypi/documentation/blob/develop/CONTRIBUTING.md ?