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Raspberry Pi A+ Details Leaked
mikejuk writes Despite trying to keep it secret, a major Raspberry Pi retailer has published some details of the upcoming model A+ Raspberry Pi thanks to a product page that went live early. The board layout looks different and is much smaller than the model A or B+. Judging from the photograph, the A+ board encompasses the four standard mounting holes, which makes it approximately 56x65mm — the model B+ is 56x85mm.
The key improvement is the new 40-pin GPIO socket, which makes the model A+ fully compatible with the HAT expansion standard. This means that any new HAT expansion cards should now work with the A+. It also has what's likely a connector for the yet-unreleased Raspberry Pi touchscreen. Another welcome change is the micro SD slot. One downside of the A+ is that it still has only a single USB 2 connector.
The key improvement is the new 40-pin GPIO socket, which makes the model A+ fully compatible with the HAT expansion standard. This means that any new HAT expansion cards should now work with the A+. It also has what's likely a connector for the yet-unreleased Raspberry Pi touchscreen. Another welcome change is the micro SD slot. One downside of the A+ is that it still has only a single USB 2 connector.
I know, the Raspberry Pis are not truly powerful, but because of their low price and easy expandability, they are useful for so many creative projects.
For my own use, I was thinking of turning mine into an airplay-compatible receiver (I found that there is software for for that) and built it together with (wifi dongle and a little amp) into a very old radio cabinet. Nice to put in the kitchen.
The popularity of the arduino shows that CPU performance is not everything. rpi is fast enough to do many tasks, it is small, cheap, widely available, well documented and well supported. That's why its popular.
One downside of the A+ is that it still has only a single USB 2 connector.
There are two down sides worth noting. That's one of them; have they got USB figured out yet? Just one port is bad enough but if they bugger the polyfuses again... But the real problem is the RAM. 512MB is cramped. 256MB is unacceptable.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
"A program written for C64 works on another C64"
Not always. There were enough differences between the revisions to make some programs break. Then you add the C128 and it also added some differences.
The various C64s had different CPUs with different undocumented opcodes, and there were two revisions of the video chip and two of the sound chip (if not more).
Mostly random stuff.
I was under the impression that the Pi is aimed at introductory learners. That is people who will be writing their first "hello world" program and new to the concept of variables. It is cheap as possible so children can buy and play with them.
Even when I kid and learned programming on the Apple II E one did not start with assemble as one's first language and write an operating system as ones first program.
By the time one is advanced enough to want to learn some assemble langue and alter Linux at the level of detail requiring data sheets for the processor, one probable has a target processor in mind. Or at the very least an application which would drive the process of selecting the best hardware. In either case, it is probable the time to speed the money to buy products/tools for professionals not an educational item made for a child's budget.