Raspberry Pi 3 model B launch is today’s big news. The new Pi sports a 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex A53 CPU with VideoCore IV GPU packaged into the new BCM2837 chip. This 1.2GHz CPU offers ~50% speed improvement over the Pi 2’s BCM2836. Video Overview Pretty much all the information and impressions I have of the Raspberry Pi 3 model B are in this short video… …but if you prefer to read, it’s all here too… Now With Built-in WiFi & Bluetooth The other major news is that the Raspberry Pi 3B now has built-in […more…]
Today I launched the RasPiO Pro Hat on Kickstarter. It’s a Raspberry Pi Hat for GPIO tinkering (it goes perfectly with GPIO Zero). It arranges the GPIO ports in numerical order around a mini-breadboard, which, to my knowledge, has not been done before. It also replaces the RasPiO Breakout Pro (now end of life) because it protects all the ports from over-current and over/under-voltage as well. It should prove a very useful board for GPIO tinkering and education. Have a look at the video and pop on over to the RasPiO Pro Hat campaign page […more…]
The official 7 inch DSI Raspberry Pi screen is now launched and available for purchase. It’s been a long time in the making, but the B+, the A+ and Pi2B have all been responsible for pushing this display to the back-burner. When there finally was some ‘engineering time’ to get on with it, hurdles were faced with EMC compliance and chip availability. But those hurdles are now overcome and the screen is now launched. And it looks great (click any photo for higher resolution). Video Overview Here’s a video overview. There’s more detail in the […more…]
New Raspberry Pi 2 Launched The Raspberry Pi 2 is out today. What? They only just launched the B+ and A+? I know! But you know tech companies like to spring surprises on us. It’s remarkably similar to the B+ in layout (in fact you might say the B+ was a ‘stepping stone’ towards Pi2) but has some significant upgrades… So What’s New With The Pi 2? Actually the video covers it pretty well, but if you prefer to read… It’s a quad-core A7 CPU with the same VC4 GPU as the original Pi. It […more…]
Today the CamJam Edukit 2 is being launched at the first Cambridge Raspberry Jam PiWars event. I’ll be judging the smallest robot and the best non-competing robot categories at PiWars, but today’s blog is about the kit. This is the second kit in the series, which adds some sensors (temperature, light and PIR) into the bundle. The full kit contents is shown and described below. What’s in the Kit? A 400 point bread board including dual power rails Immersable DS18B20 temperature sensor Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) Passive InfraRed (PIR) sensor Piezo buzzer 4 male-male blue […more…]
FLIRC have made a new enclosure for the Raspberry Pi B+, which is going on sale today. The Pi Hut is importing these to the UK and is the sole distributor for UK and EU. Priced at £13 including VAT, it’s an attractive case made of cast aluminium (painted). It has an integral heat-sink, and comes with a thermal pad you can use to ensure good thermal transfer. It weighs 95g. This is what it looks like… It seems to be targeted at media centre Pi owners, which is not surprising given what FLIRC is. […more…]
Today, Raspberry Pi launches its new Raspberry Pi A+. Just like the model B was upgraded to B+, the model A now gets some love. So what’s it like? Essentially, it’s like a model B+ with the USB and networking end cut off. When I was at Raspberry Pi HQ a couple of weeks ago, I was allowed (under strict NDA and embargo) to shoot some photos and video. Here’s what it looks like… So What’s New & Different? The first three are the main changes – size, weight and cost. The rest are pretty […more…]