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Raspberry Pi Unveils New $5 Mini-computer
An anonymous reader writes: The Raspberry Pi Foundation unveiled the Pi Zero, a new $5 mini-computer, Thursday morning. The board is the smallest Raspberry Pi yet, containing the first-gen Raspberry Pi's BCM2835 chip (safely overclocked to 1GHz) and 512MB RAM. The latest issue of The Magpi will include a free Raspberry Pi Zero and hits U.K. newsstands Thursday. The announcement came just a few days before the highly anticipated C.H.I.P. $9 mini-computer goes on sale to the public.
puddingebola writes: How can they achieve this price, you may ask? "Its 40-pin GPIO header has identical pinouts, although the pads on the circuit board are "unpopulated," meaning you'll have to solder on your own connector. The same goes for the composite video output: The connection is available, but if you need a socket, you must solder it yourself." Dude, go to Radio Shack.
Some relevant specs besides those mentioned above, from the blog post linked:
- Micro-SD card slot
- mini-HDMI socket for 1080p60 video output
- Micro-USB sockets for data and power
- Identical pinout to Model A+/B+/2B
- An unpopulated composite video header
- "Our smallest ever form factor, at 65mm x 30mm x 5mm"
New submitter graffitiwriter adds a note that the newest Pi has "already been turned into a retro gaming console. It turns out the Pi Zero is more than capable of running Retro Pie and other emulators, and even has a video output that lets you play games on an old CRT TV."
Dude, go to Radio Shack.
Or not. Mostly you can only buy consumer electronics there now.
soylentnews.org
So, I remember when a fairly sizable tower was considered a "mini computer" ... hell, I think it was a friggin' VAX.
And the desktop PC was considered a "micro-computer".
Now we have this mini-micro computer called a mini-computer.
This is all very complicated. :-P
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Take your crying about your submission being ignored to Fark.
Take your whining about my criticism to your mom. Maybe she will dry your tears. Been a Slashdot editor long?
The AC had correct spelling and punctuation. He or she also clearly and unambiguously expressed the intended thought. So, I strongly doubt it was a Slashdot "editor".
"Why isn't it more powerful, I can get a Beaglebone/Banana Pi/Intel board for just a little more money with a faster processor"
"Why isn't it less powerful, the Arduino is more efficient"
"Why can't I have exactly what I imagine in my head for an impossibly small amount of money"
"It doesn't have ethernet/wifi/component video/USB hub so is therefore useless"
"The video code isn't free therefore IT IS PURE EVIL"
A computer as a magazine cover freebie is pretty cool...
5 USD is 3.31 GBP, so it's almost there
As is, this Raspberry is quite useless... You need to add
- a SD card
- some header
- an USB Hub
- Some adapters (micro-USB to USB host, HDMI)
- Some network dongle (Wifi or RJ45)
- You can use the video composite output... but you don't have any sound output so video composite is rather useless and you need to use more expensive HDMI monitors
When you add all these hidden costs, you get a price similar to Raspberry 1 or 2... in a much less practical form.
They stripped the card of everything possible to reach that 5$ price tag... which make me think that they wanted to undercut the C.H.I.P. which is going out in a couple of month and will be 9$...
Useless product... Microcontrollers (AVR/PIC/...) or conventionnal Raspberry/BBB/... are much more useful.
Its cool but, the lack of ethernet for most uses means people will also need to buy a USB network adapter bringing the price back up to $20 or so.
Why is element14 still in business?
SBC, RASPBERRY PI ZERO
[generic broken product image]
Image is for illustrative purposes only. Please refer to product description Manufacturer: RASPBERRY-PI
Mfg Part No: RASPBERRYPI-ZERO
Price: $23.17 (Price is before tax)
Out of Stock
Price: $13.50 (Price is before tax)
0 ship now
So in short, the product is not immediately available (it's sold out in the Swag shop also) and when it is, it won't be $5 unless you order it direct. And then, if you don't live in the UK, you'll have to pay an assload of shipping.
Where can I buy R-Pi in a B&M store in the USA, so that I can actually get it for $5? And when will it actually be available?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
It's not useless as is. If you have one specific task for the Pi then you wont need a lot of that stuff. Why pay for ethernet if you wont be using it? Sure this isn't for everyone but I can see things it would be usefull for and I know at 5 bucks a pop it'll wind up doing a lot of things.
The CHIP has WiFi, Bluetooth, and 4Gbytes of NAND built in, all things you need to add to the Raspberry Pi.