Pi Zero - a $5 computer!
Leon
Posts: 7,620
The Raspberry Pi Zero, costing $5, has been announced:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-zero/
They can be ordered now, but aren't actually in stock yet (at Farnell, at any rate). I've ordered a couple.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-zero/
They can be ordered now, but aren't actually in stock yet (at Farnell, at any rate). I've ordered a couple.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
I already use Pi in a couple of projects I've done, it's a great piece of kit, not as much fun as Prop though ;-)
It's a mystery to me why Parallax has not had a Raspi form factor P1 board out years ago. That is a huge potential audience out there. And they are both aligned in that education orientation.
http://www.adafruit.com/pizero
???????????????? Where? It seems you can have a bundled starter package for $29 USB, but the$5 bare bones is out of stock. The naughty boys are at it again.
Yes, the pin header is defined, and the form factor looks useful, and P2 can give access to Video options & hard real time options, that Pi does not cover.
Yes, there is a slight element of 'Stone Soup' to this, but there are still some niche areas that could use a PiZero module + header - and that $5 seems simply nuts.
How many layers is that PCB ?
However, they are providing them free with the current issue of MagPi magazine.
They just launched the thing. They have about 10000 units ready. A huge percentage of the 7 million existing Pi owners will want one. Of course it's out of stock.
Distributors will put a mark up on the sale. Adafruit has a huge mark up. That's how capitalism works.
Or you can order a Pi Zero from here: https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/raspberry-pi-zero for 4 quid. That's 6 dollars.
@Loopy, we know you don't care for the Pi, that's OK, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, you can't deny though that it's been a massive success and I believe this will be too.
Keep smilin'
Much as I like Linux.... it is still easier to use a Propeller if I don't require a network and a file system.
Recently in the Taiwan news there was mention that ARM sales are the only sector of the computer industry that is growing these days. So it seems that the SoC devices are here to stay.
And yes, I do wonder if it is too small.
"too small"?
There is no pleasing some people.
What is annoying is to have such a neat small machine and then have to use all those honking big adapters and cables to hook it up.
I think I'm going to bust open a 2 dollar USB/WIFI dongle, rip the USB socket off the Pi and bodge the WIFI circuit directly onto the board. That I'll show it
I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head about why I think it might be too small. By the time I get everything in place to make it work, I end up with something that is too fragile for normal use.
Even my Cubieboard1 is giving me similar trouble. I can't seem to figure out any way to build an enclosure for it that isn't an order of magnitude larger in volume.
I really don't see why a SoC device that supposedly is attached to an HDMI display with keyboard and mouse needs to be so compact.
But I am interested in tiny headless Linux with wifi, like your VoCore boards. Let's just say that some applications are better suited for tiny boards.
Sadly, I am not in the U.K. So I can't buy a copy of Magpi. That seems to be the best means of purchase.
Once bought a box of Alpha-Bits for the copy of "Last Train To Clarksville" embossed on the back. Things have moved on quite a bit.
Can we get power and clock from the RPi board? We ran multiple bare prop chip from a single quickstart, to get 16 and 24 cogs on mulitprop projects, and all we needed was a couple resistors and five wires. Anything to prevent this on Pi Zero?
I'm thinking Pi Zero + P8X32A DIP and a some wires would be a good basis for a school robot project.
We can in fact connect directly to the UART pins on the GPIO header. That is how we program Propellers from the Raspi. All the tools you need, SimpleIDE, PropellerID, prop-gcc, OpenSpin run on the Raspi so it make a really neat self hosted system. Cheaper than a Prop Plug !
It's annoying to need an adapter for a tiny USB WIFI dongle. If it were down to me I would have used the usual USB socket and skipped the micro-usb power port. Why not just power it from the pins on the GPIO header?
Put then we can always attach a zigbee or LoRa module for wireless communications.
@braino,
Certainly take power from the GPIO header. I guess one of those pins can be configured as a clock if need be.
Sorry, but I am still loyal to Cubieboards....less adapters.
http://www.cubieboard.org
http://dl.cubieboard.org/model/cubietruck/Video/Cubietruck Unboxing- German.mp4
A keyboard can be added via the header and a small adapter.
And a really powerful prop plug
It looks even more extortionate now that the things you want to connect to are so cheap!
Luckily all my ARM boards, Pi or otherwise, only need a tiny two dollar USB/WIFI dongle.
This new little Pi may be a challenge though, we will see.
It's OK to be loyal to your Cubie, you will learn
Propeller HAT for Raspberry Pi, I think Parallax are selling them too
Edit: https://parallax.com/product/32230
A reasonable conclusion, particularly when one considers what some idioaudiophiles are willing to pay for cables.
http://www.pollin.de/shop/cp/Raspberry.html
Maybe the $5 simply was a typo and should be $15... :-P
About 5.7 Euro, the price of a pint around here.
Out of stock of course. Hardly surprising, I expect the demand is huge!
Ray
What's up? Everyone around here should be soldering. The smell of flux, the searing pain of scorched fingers, the wife complaining about the burn marks in the table, how else do you know you are alive?