2021 Bus Pirate v3 or v4?

[nathon]

I'm looking to buy a Bus Pirate. I've been holding on this purchase due to the much better spec'd v4 being developed. However, we're now many years down the road and it is still documented as being experimental, without much of the support of v3.

So, my question is whether folks think v4 is going to materialize anytime this decade or whether I'd be better off going ahead an purchasing 3.x. It's difficult for me to judge from the outside whether any progress is being made or whether it stalled.

[NiHaoMike]

Just get a Raspberry Pi for I2C and SPI, add buffers to allow working with voltages other than 3.3V.

[eti]

I'm looking to buy a Bus Pirate. I've been holding on this purchase due to the much better spec'd v4 being developed. However, we're now many years down the road and it is still documented as being experimental, without much of the support of v3.

So, my question is whether folks think v4 is going to materialize anytime this decade or whether I'd be better off going ahead an purchasing 3.x. It's difficult for me to judge from the outside whether any progress is being made or whether it stalled.

I have the 3, it works fantastically.

[eti]

Just get a Raspberry Pi for I2C and SPI, add buffers to allow working with voltages other than 3.3V.

Poor advice. The bus pirate is a wonderful tool and superb at what it does.  The pi is not a magic solve-all.

[BBBbbb]

About a year or two ago I was in the same place as you, went back and forth which one to buy, and decided in the end to get the 3.
Both projects are out of DP's focus, but v3 is mature and a lot more resources online for it.

I didn't need the extra HW features (pullups seemed convenient) for what I was doing at the time, and didn't want to jerk around with bugs in the tool itself.
My reasoning was - if I was going to debug the BP itself, then I'm better off using one of the SBCs or arduinos I have around the house and go fully DIY (which I do for some cases)