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Raspberry Pi
Beta board (retail board will not include pin headers)
DeveloperRaspberry Pi Foundation
TypeSingle-board computer
Release dateEarly 2012
Introductory priceUSD $25 and $35
(GBP ~£16 and ~£22)
Operating systemLinux (Debian GNU/Linux, Fedora, and Arch Linux)
CPUARM1176JZF-S 700 MHz
Memory128 or 256 MiB
StorageSD Card Slot
(SD or SDHC card)
GraphicsBroadcom VideoCore IV
Websitewww.raspberrypi.org

The Raspberry Pi is a single-board computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, with the first production units expected to be made available during February 2012. The foundation plans to release two versions, priced at USD $25 and $35 (GBP ~£16 and ~£22). The Raspberry Pi is intended to stimulate the teaching of basic computer science in schools.

The design is based around a Broadcom BCM2835 SoC, which includes an ARM1176JZF-S 700 MHz processor, VideoCore IV GPU, and 128 or 256 mebibytes of RAM. The design does not include a built-in hard disk or solid-state drive, instead relying on an SD card for booting and long-term storage.

This board is intended to run Linux kernel based operating systems.

Foundation

Development of the device is undertaken by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a charitable organization registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Its aim is to "promote the study of computer science and related topics, especially at school level, and to put the fun back into learning computing." The Raspberry Pi Foundation will be promoting learning mainly in the Python programming language, but they also support BBC BASIC, C and Perl. Many other languages that have support for Linux and ARM will be available.

History

In 2006, early concepts of the Raspberry Pi were based on the Atmel ATmega644 microcontroller. Its schematics and PCB layout are available for public download. Trustee Eben Upton assembled a group of teachers, academics and computer enthusiasts to devise a computer to inspire children.

In May 2009, the Raspberry Pi Foundation was founded in Caldecote, South Cambridgeshire, UK as a registered charity that is regulated by the Charity Commission for England and Wales.

The first ARM prototype version of the computer was mounted in a package the same size as a USB memory stick. It had a USB port on one end and a HDMI port on the other.

In August 2011, fifty Alpha boards were manufactured. These boards were functionally identical to the planned model B, only larger to accommodate debug headers. Demos of the board showed it running the LXDE desktop on Debian, Quake 3 at 1080p, and Full HD h.264 video over HDMI.

In October 2011, the logo was selected from a number submitted by members of the community. A shortlist of six was drawn up, with the final judging taking several days. The chosen design was based on a buckyball. During the same month, a development version of RISC OS 5 was being worked on and demonstrated in public.

In December 2011, twenty-five model B Beta boards were assembled and tested from one hundred unpopulated PCB's. The component layout of the Beta boards is the same as production boards. A single PCB routing error was discovered in the board design and fixed for the first production run. The Beta boards were demonstrated booting Linux, playing a 1080p movie trailer and the Rightware Samurai OpenGL ES benchmark.

During the first week of 2012, the first 10 boards were put up for auction on eBay. One was bought anonymously and donated to the museum at The Centre for Computing History in Suffolk, England.The ten boards (with a total retail price of £220) together raised over £16,000, with the last to be auctioned, serial number #01, raising £3,500.

The first batch of 10,000 boards were manufactured in Taiwan and China, rather than in the UK. This is in part because import duty is payable on individual components but not on finished products. Chinese manufacturers also quoted a lead time of 4 weeks, compared to 12 weeks in the UK. Savings can be reinvested in the Foundation's research and development activities.

Features

The foundation plans to release two models at launch. Model A will have 128 MiB RAM memory, one USB port and no Ethernet controller, and will cost US$25, while model B will contain 256 MiB RAM memory, two USB ports and a 10/100 Ethernet controller and will cost US$35.

Though the Model A doesn't have an RJ45 Ethernet port, it can connect to a network by using a user supplied USB Ethernet or Wi-Fi adapter. As typical of modern computers, generic USB keyboards and mice are compatible with the Raspberry Pi.

The Raspberry Pi will use Linux-kernel based operating systems. Debian GNU/Linux, Iceweasel, Calligra Suite and Python are planned to be bundled with the Raspberry Pi.

The Raspberry PI does not come with a real-time clock, so an OS must use a network time server, or ask the user for time information at boot time to get access to time and date info for file time and date stamping. However a real time clock (such as the DS1307) with battery backup can be easily added via the IC interface.

Specifications

Model A Model B
Target price: USD $25 (GBP £16) USD $35 (GBP £22)
SoC: Broadcom BCM2835 (CPU, GPU, DSP, and SDRAM)
CPU: 700 MHz ARM1176JZF-S core (ARM11 family)
GPU: Broadcom VideoCore IV, OpenGL ES 2.0, 1080p30 h.264/MPEG-4 AVC high-profile decoder
Memory (SDRAM): 128 MiB (shared with GPU) 256 MiB (shared with GPU)
USB 2.0 ports: 1 2 (via integrated USB hub)
Video outputs: Composite RCA, HDMI
Audio outputs: 3.5 mm jack, HDMI
Onboard storage: SD / MMC / SDIO card slot
Onboard network: None 10/100 Ethernet (RJ45)
Low-level peripherals: 8 × GPIO, UART, I²C bus, SPI bus with two chip selects, +3.3 V, +5 V, Ground
(GPIO connector is not assembled on the board, see below for details)
Power ratings: 500 mA (2.5 W) 700 mA (3.5 W)
Power source: 5 volt via MicroUSB or optional GPIO header
Size: 85.60 mm × 53.98 mm (3.370 in × 2.125 in)
Supported operating systems: Debian GNU/Linux, Fedora, Arch Linux
Notes
  1. Model A and Model B are cultural references to the original models of the British educational BBC Micro computer, developed by Acorn Computers who originally developed the ARM processors (the architecture of the Raspberry Pi) and operating system RISC OS which will be able to be run on it.
  2. The 26-pin GPIO connector is not assembled on the board. The end-user must purchase and solder a 13×2 pin header with 0.1-inch (2.54 mm) spacing. The pin header can be either a straight pin header, mounted on either the bottom or the top, (to connect to a daughterboard) or it can be a right-angle shrouded box connector for use with a ribbon cable.
  3. At the moment RISC OS (shared source) is not yet supported, as it lacks essential drivers.
  4. On the model B beta boards, 128 MiB is currently allocated to the GPU. The Nokia 701 also uses 128MiB for the Broadcom VideoCore IV.

Reception

Technology writer Glyn Moody described the project in May 2011 as a "potential BBC Micro 2.0", not by replacing PC compatible machines but by supplementing them. It has been suggested that it is the "wrong route" to focus on new hardware like Raspberry Pi, when existing software such as Google App Inventor can be used to return programming to schools.

In the UK enquiries about the board have been received from schools in both the state and independent sectors, with around five times as much interest from the latter (January 2012). It is hoped that businesses will sponsor purchases for less advantaged schools.

Many potential customers have voiced concern over the relatively small amount of memory (256 MiB), which limits the usefulness for its intended purpose of teaching programming, due to the memory needs of modern compilers and interactive development environments. Swapping is an unattractive option, due to the lack of a high-speed swap device. In the same thread, JamesH reported "it took ages" to build the Stellarium app in C/C++ (5 hours on an alpha board, compared to 10 minutes on an AMD Athlon PC with 2GiB). The memory is not user-upgradable, because it uses package on package memory rather than a memory socket. The Model B uses a Hynix H9TKNNN2GDMPLR memory chip, which however is factory upgradeable to the H9TKNNN4GDMPLR with 512 MiB (in sampling status). The difference in contract pricing between LPDDR 2 Gb and LPDDR 4 Gb is about $5.

Similar products

See also

References

  1. ^ Raspberry Pi FAQ. Raspberry Pi Foundation FAQ. Retrieved 2011-12-10. Cite error: The named reference "faq" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ "FAQs". Raspberry Pi. Retrieved November 03, 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  3. ^ BCM2835 Media Processor; Broadcom.
  4. Raspberry Pi: Cheat Sheet
  5. Cellan-Jones, Rory (2011-05-05). "A £15 computer to inspire young programmers". BBC News.
  6. Price, Peter (2011-06-03). "Can a £15 computer solve the programming gap?". BBC Click. Retrieved 2011-07-02.
  7. Bush, Steve (2011-05-25). "Dongle computer lets kids discover programming on a TV". Electronics Weekly. Retrieved 2011-07-11.
  8. ^ Verified USB Peripherals and SDHC Cards; eLinux.org
  9. ^ "1129409 - Raspberry Pi Foundation". Charity Commission for England and Wales. 2011-06-06.
  10. "Raspberry Pi Foundation". Raspberry Pi Foundation. Retrieved 2011-07-02.
  11. ^ Upton, Eben (July 26, 2011). "FAQs". Raspberry Pi. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
  12. ^ Upton, Liz (August 29, 2011). "FAQs". Raspberry Pi. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
  13. "David Braben on Raspberry Pi". Edge. November 25, 2011. Retrieved December 08, 2011. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  14. Wong, George (October 24, 2011). "Build your own prototype Raspberry Pi minicomputer". ubergizmo. Retrieved November 02, 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  15. ^ Moorhead, Joanna (January 09, 2012). "Raspberry Pi device will 'reboot computing in schools'". The Guardian. Retrieved January 20, 2012. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. "Tiny USB-Sized PC Offers 1080p HDMI Output". Retrieved 2012-02-01.
  17. Humphries, Matthew (2011-07-28). "Raspberry Pi $25 PC goes into alpha production". Geek.com. Retrieved 2011-08-01.
  18. "Raspberry Pi Youtube Channel". Retrieved 2011-08-28.
  19. "Full HD video demo at TransferSummit Oxford". Retrieved 2011-09-12.
  20. Humphries, Matthew. "Raspberry Pi selects a very clever logo". geek.com. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
  21. Lee, Jeffrey. "Newsround". The Icon Bar. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
  22. ^ Holwerda, Thom (October 31, 2011). "Raspberry Pi To Embrace RISC OS". OSNews. Retrieved November 01, 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  23. Dewhurst, Christopher (December 2011). "The London show 2011". Archive (magazine). Vol. 23, no. 3. p. 3. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  24. What happened to the beta boards? Dom Cobley (4 February 2012)
  25. We have PCB's! (Raspberry Pi Blog)
  26. More on the beta boards (Raspberry Pi Blog)
  27. Bringing up a beta board (Raspberry Pi Blog)
  28. We’re auctioning ten beta Raspberry Pi's; raspberrypi.org
  29. Williams, Chris (January 03, 2012). "That Brit-built £22 computer: Yours for just £1,900 or more". The Register. Retrieved January 10, 2012. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  30. Cheerin, Iris (January 11, 2012). "Raspberry Pi Goes Into Production". TechWeekEurope UK. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
  31. eBay list of items sold by Raspberry Pi (retrieved 13 January 2012)
  32. eBay item (retrieved 13 January 2012)
  33. ^ Lee, Robert (January 17, 2012). "Raspberry Pi Balks At UK Tax Regime". Tax-News.com. Retrieved January 20, 2012.
  34. ^ Weakley, Kirsty. "UK computing charity opts to manufacture product abroad". Retrieved January 20, 2012. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
  35. ^ SMSC LAN9512 Website; smsc.com
  36. ^ "Q&A with our hardware team". Raspberry Pi Foundation. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
  37. Raspberry PI GPIO Connector; eLinux.org
  38. Final PCB artwork
  39. Williams, Chris (28th November 2011). "Psst, kid... Wanna learn how to hack?". The Register. Retrieved 24th December 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  40. I have a raspberry pi beta board ama
  41. Nokia 701 has a simmilar Broadcom gpu
  42. Moody Glyn (May 09, 11). "As British as Raspberry Pi?". Computerworld UK Open Enterprise blog. Computerworld. Retrieved February 02, 2012. That means that this is not a question of replacing the current IT investment - a forlorn hope - but of supplementing it with something quite different - and better. So, as a potential BBC Micro 2.0, how could the UK government not support it....? {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  43. Armstrong, Alex (January 22, 2012). "App Inventor Code Released - But Still No Service". I Programmer. Retrieved February 02, 2012. We can take the time to talk about bringing programming back to schools. We can even take the wrong route and pontificate for pages on how wonderful new hardware like Raspberry Pi is for bringing programming to the masses, but when there is some software that could really do the job we sit back and watch it whether [sic] due to corporate lack of care and academic sloth. App Inventor is an easy-to-use way to create Android apps. It is based on Scratch and, as such, it is a wonderful way to introduce complete beginners to programming. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  44. design choices behind the rpi affecting C++ and Python
  45. Hynix mobile ddr2
  46. Mobile Dram Contract Price Q4'11

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