Raspberry Pi Zero W is a $10 Computer With Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (betanews.com)

On the fifth birthday of the original Raspberry Pi, the foundation has announced the Raspberry Pi Zero W, a slightly more capable variant of the miniature computer. From a report on BetaNews: It's essentially a Pi Zero with the addition of the two features many people have been requesting -- wireless LAN and Bluetooth. Priced at $10, the Pi Zero W uses the same Cypress CYW43438 wireless chip as Raspberry Pi 3 Model B to deliver 802.11n wireless LAN and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity. The full list of features is as follows: 1GHz, single-core CPU, 512MB RAM, mini-HDMI port, micro-USB On-The-Go port, micro-USB power, HAT-compatible 40-pin header, composite video and reset headers, CSI camera connector, 11n wireless LAN, and Bluetooth 4.0.

Comments

Will I actually be able to get this one?

[drinkypoo]

I still have literally never seen a Pi Zero for sale, except for exorbitant markups that make them multiple times their supposed price. I live nowhere near a Micro Center. I am way closer to a Fry's, and several Rat Shacks, but they can't manufacture enough Pis to sell into those channels.

Re:Will I actually be able to get this one?

[ElizabethGreene]

I feel your pain. I live in a technology wasteland too. If I need a 1/4 Watt resistor, it's 25 miles for me to one of the few remaining _Radio Shacks_.

I traveled to Atlanta for work recently and found stacks of the Pi Zero for $5 at the Marietta GA Micro-Center. They had the camera cable in stock too. Unfortunately they didn't have any USB-on-the-go-to-real-USB adapters. Considering how much stuff I bought there, maybe it's a good thing there isn't one in Nashville.

Re:Will I actually be able to get this one?

[RabidReindeer]

Something like this would have gone for thousands of dollars 20 years ago.

Something like this would have gone for millions of dollars 50 years ago.

Seriously. You can emulate an IBM System/370 on a Pi at speeds equal to or greater than the original hardware ran.

It's not 20 years ago. It's today. We're here, please try to catch up.

There are many products where the price of the materials and labor are the smallest part of the price, It's why so much food is so much cheaper per ounce/gram/milliliter/cubix-something in "family packs" than in individual-sized servings.

Be properly awed that computers are now among this assembly.

And seriously, we're talking shipping costs. Buy 10 of them. If the shipping is $7.50 for one, it's probably not going to be a whole lot more than that for a shipment of 10, considering size/weight. Just another "family pack". If you don't ever expect to need 10 and don't have enough friends to chip in on an order, buy one, suck up the shipping costs and don't complain. Even for $12, surely by now enough wealth has trickled down to you that you can afford that.

Re:Will I actually be able to get this one?

[Guspaz]

Every single store listed on whereismypizero is either out of stock or broken (CanaKIT returns a 404 if you try to add to cart), and some of those stores are overseas anyhow. Also, whereismypizero is a broken site that just shows "Checking" for everything.

You're basically just reinforcing his point: the Pi Zero is nearly impossible to actually buy.

Raspberry Pi Zero The Makebelieve Computer

[Oswald McWeany]

I've looked for a Raspberry Pi Zero for years... I've never seen one in stock anywhere.

I'm almost of the belief that they're fake, they don't really exist, just a pretend product put out there for the illuminati but never really stocked. Either that or reptilian overlords stole all the Raspberry Pi Zero.

Whatever the explanation- it's an imaginary product. It doesn't actually exist besides on some stores websites with a big red sold-out next to it. If it were real it would occasionally come back in stock.

Re:Raspberry Pi Zero The Makebelieve Computer

[DontBeAMoran]

I bought two within a month of its initial release. Maybe you're not looking often enough.

Re:Raspberry Pi Zero The Makebelieve Computer

[drinkypoo]

Maybe, I look once every three months or so and when I see everywhere is out of stock, I move on.

So the question is whether the Pi Foundation is just too incompetent to produce enough stock, or whether Broadcom is too pathetic to produce enough SoCs. Either way, you're an idiot if you design something around the Pi Zero... or its successor.

Re:Raspberry Pi Zero The Makebelieve Computer

[TheRaven64]

The Pi Zero was cheap because Broadcom was inventory clearing and sold the Foundation the SoCs (which they'd stopped making) at a bargain-basement price. I don't know where they're getting the SoCs for this one, maybe they didn't use them all in the initial Pi Zero runs.

Re:Raspberry Pi Zero The Makebelieve Computer

[drinkypoo]

The Pi Zero was cheap because Broadcom was inventory clearing and sold the Foundation the SoCs (which they'd stopped making) at a bargain-basement price.

So it's the first one, then. Even by using the shitbags at Sony (who I really don't want to give my money to, which is what happens when you buy a Pi they manufactured) they still couldn't get enough production to meet demand? Or couldn't fill the channel fast enough? Either way, I'm underwhelmed by their performance. The Pi Zero has been useful primarily as a marketing exercise. Meanwhile, I have to wonder what percentage of them are just sitting in a drawer somewhere. I'm sure it's considerable, just like the prior model. They put out a lot of buzz about it, then people buy them, then only a percentage of them get used and a percentage of the people who want to do something with them get shafted.

Well, fuck them. I'll buy Beaglebones, CHIPs, Pines and other devices which I can actually get my hands on.

Re:Raspberry Pi Zero The Makebelieve Computer

[TheRaven64]

The Pi Zero was intended to be a limited edition run to use up excess SoC stock. This was even announced publicly at the launch. I'm not sure where the vitriol comes from.

Re:Nice 10$ computer....

[popo]

Most geeks who are in the market for a Pi have several bluetooth keyboards, mice and other accessories laying around.

But the point isn't to use it as a computer, as much as it is to use it as a component for which you might not need any dedicated accessories.

Re:Nice...

[dave420]

Plenty of other people seem to have managed to get one... You frequently make a lot of sense on Slashdot, but this time something seems to have flipped in your head :) You sound unnervingly similar to a kid complaining about their favourite Pokemon being sold out...

Re:Best uses?

[DontBeAMoran]

The Raspberry Pi is used in a lot of media boxes and arcade machines.

Re:Nice...

[drinkypoo]

You frequently make a lot of sense on Slashdot, but this time something seems to have flipped in your head :)

Your statement only makes sense if you ignore all the other comments in this thread exactly like mine. I am far from the only one who can't get his hands on a Pi Zero for a reasonable price. My biggest complaint, honestly, is the ongoing characterization of the Pi Zero as a "$5 computer" since it is clearly nothing of the sort for the majority of people. It costs more than twice that, shipped, if you can even find one. This new device will be the same story all over again.

Re:Actually,

[hairyfeet]

They removed shell access to the Pogoplug starting in Sept of 2016 so you are stuck with the shit OS they come with unless you break out a soldering iron so I'd avoid the Pogoplug unless you know for a fact its an old one. This is why they are currently selling for $9 on Amazon, once word got out the only way you could flash Linux on them was to break out solder the buyers dried up, they can't give 'em away now.

Re:Best uses?

[hughbar]

Here's what I've made:

1. A system to monitor local aircraft noise (Decibel meter + receiver for aircraft transponders + some integration software)
2. My community currency software https://sourceforge.net/projec... + mobile phone dongle to make a mini bank-in-a-box with SMS payments
3. OpenCV + the little camera module to make a (flakey) computer vision experiment
4. Used a Pi3 as a slow desktop when my main desktop was hosed (by me, unhappily)

OK, I accept that I am old & sad & totally friendless, but these little things are great fun. Some kind of energy analysis for the house is probably the 'next thing'. Hope that helps with some ideas.

Only available 1 per order

[petes_PoV]

In the UK there is one place that sells them - if they haven't sold out. But they only permit Pi Zero (W) to be ordered 1 at a time.

Since these devices are component level products, limiting their availability (presumably because of limited production runs) makes them next to useless. I don't want a single unit to merely flash a few LEDs. I want one in EVERY hobby device I build. Selling them singly and then having none available for months makes them useless to me - as close as it's possible to get to vapourware without actually being non-existent.

Re:Best uses?

[pjt33]

I also connected mine to a camera, but rather than for a photobooth it was to control my Nikon D40 from my phone, using wifi to talk to the Pi and USB from the Pi to the camera. It functions both as a remote trigger and as a way to quickly preview photos on a higher resolution screen than the one built into the camera.

Re:Nice...

[radish]

They're in stock at canakit right now. Stop arguing and go buy one :) And yes, you have to pay for shipping, but when isn't that the case?

Re:Actually,

[drinkypoo]

This is why they are currently selling for $9 on Amazon, once word got out the only way you could flash Linux on them was to break out solder the buyers dried up, they can't give 'em away now.

Well, that's quite shit of them, but I guess it's an opportunity for me since I own a soldering iron. Do I have to do anything special besides hook up to the serial pads? I presume it's 3.3 volt. USB to CH340G is like two bucks, it's cheap enough to just leave it installed. What kind of noob doesn't have a soldering iron, anyway?

Re:The Only Important Thing

[codeButcher]

Can you run Windows 10 on it?

I know you are joking by turning the "can it run Linux" meme around, but the Raspberry Pi org's download page carries a link to "Windows 10 IOT Core". No experience with it though.

Re:Why the HDMI port?

[PReDiToR]

.
I have a collection of Raspberry Pi devices, including one of the first 10,000 run.

My two RasPi Zeros have Kodi on them, I'm going to get a Zero-W for the same reason. They quite happily output 1080 movies on LibreELEC and are powered from the USB port on my TV.
.