The Raspberry Pi is a series of small single-board computers developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation to promote the teaching of basic computer science in schools and in developing countries. The original model became far more popular than anticipated,selling outside its target market for uses such as robotics.
The organisation behind the Raspberry Pi consists of two arms. The first two models were developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. After the Pi Model B was released, the Foundation set up Raspberry Pi Trading, with Eben Upton as CEO, to develop the third model, the B+. Raspberry Pi Trading is responsible for developing the technology while the Foundation is an educational charity to promote the teaching of basic computer science in schools and in developing countries.
According to the Raspberry Pi Foundation, more than 5 million Raspberry Pis were sold by February 2015, making it the best-selling British computer. By November 2016 they had sold 11 million units, and 12.5m by March 2017, making it the third best-selling "general purpose computer".In July 2017, sales reached nearly 15 million. In March 2018, sales reached 19 million.
Most Pis are made in a Sony factory in Pencoed, Wales; some are made in China or Japan.
To Set Up & Start your Raspberry Pi
The Raspberry Pi board comes equipped with an SD card. This slot permits us to insert an SD card and that can use it as our devices. The SD card is a main storage device for raspberry pi board like a hard disk of a personal computer. The bootable Linux operating system is loaded onto the card, you are planning to use. The raspberry pi supports Linux, Qtonpi, ARM, Mac operating systems. You can select one OS; you will need to write it to an SD card using a Disk manager application. You can also use other storage mechanism, like USB external hard drive or USB drive. There are a numerous brands of SD cards are available in the market in different sizes. The raspberry pi supports max 64 GB SD card.
Before you start your raspberry pi, you are going to need to connect a display, keyboard, mouse like as a PC. It supports three different O/Ps like HDMI video, composite video, and DSI video, where the DSI video needs some specific hardware. When you buy a raspberry pi board it may sold with or without an SD card. It is a very important specification in raspberry pi board. Because, it keeps its operating system, documents and programs. If your raspberry pi did not come with an SD card, then the min size you should get is 4GB.
Advantages of the raspberry pi is, it is small in size, and it works as a normal computer at low cost server to handle web traffic.
Applications of Raspberry Pi
The raspberry pi boards are used in many applications like Media streamer, Arcade machine, Tablet computer, Home automation, Internet radio, Controlling robots, Cosmic Computer, Hunting for meteorites, Coffee and also in raspberry pi based projects.
Raspberry Pi models comparison
|
Raspberry Pi 3 B+ |
Raspberry Pi Zero WH |
Raspberry Pi Zero W |
Raspberry Pi 3 |
Raspberry Pi Zero |
Raspberry Pi 2 |
Raspberry Pi A+ |
Raspberry Pi B |
|---|
| Source of the list: http://socialcompare.com |
| | | | | | |
|
|---|
Image |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|---|
Release date | 2018 Mar 14 | 2018 Jan 12 | 2017 Feb 28 | 2016 Feb 29 | 2015 Nov 30 | 2015 Feb 1 | 2014 Nov 10 | 2012 Feb 15 |
|---|
Description | | Same as Raspberry Pi Zero W with header already soldered | | | | | | model B mostly w/some model A detail |
|---|
Product details | | | | | | | | |
|---|
Price | US$35.00 | US$15.00 | US$10.00 | US$35.00 | US$5.00 | US$35.00 | US$20.00 | |
|---|
SOC | | | | | | | | |
|---|
SOC Type | Broadcom BCM2837B0 | Broadcom BCM2835 | Broadcom BCM2835 | Broadcom BCM2837 | Broadcom BCM2835 | Broadcom BCM2836 | Broadcom BCM2835 | Broadcom BCM2835 |
|---|
Core Type | Cortex-A53 64-bit | ARM1176JZF-S | ARM1176JZF-S | Cortex-A53 64-bit | ARM1176JZF-S | Cortex-A7 | ARM1176JZF-S | ARM1176JZF-S |
|---|
No. Of Cores | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
|---|
GPU | VideoCore IV | VideoCore IV | VideoCore IV | VideoCore IV 1080p@30 | VideoCore IV | VideoCore IV | VideoCore IV | VideoCore IV 1080p@30 |
|---|
CPU Clock | 1.4 GHz | 1 GHz | 1 GHz | 1.2 GHz | 1 GHz | 900 MHz | 700 MHz | 700 MHz |
|---|
RAM | 1 GB | 512 MB | 512 MB | 1 GB DDR2 | 512 MB | 1 GB | 256 MB | 512 MB |
|---|
Wired Connectivity | | | | | | | | |
|---|
USB Ports | Yes 4xUSB 2.0 | Yes micro & micro OTG | Yes micro & micro OTG | Yes 4 | Yes micro + micro OTG | Yes 4 | Yes 1 | - 2 |
|---|
Ethernet | Yes Gigabit - Over USB 2.0 | No | No | Yes | No | Yes 10/100M | No | Yes |
|---|
SATA Ports | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
|---|
HDMI port | Yes 1 | Yes mini | Yes mini | Yes | Yes mini | Yes | Yes | Yes 1.3 |
|---|
Analog Video Out | Yes shared with audio jack | Yes via unpopulated pin | Yes via unpopulated pin | Yes shared with audio jack | Yes via unpopulated pin | Yes shared with audio jack | Yes shared with audio jack | Yes Composite |
|---|
Analog Audio Out | Yes 3.5mm jack | - HDMI audio | - HDMI audio | Yes | - HDMI audio | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|---|
Analog Audio In | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No USB mic or sound-card could be added |
|---|
SPI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|---|
I2C | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|---|
GPIO | Yes 40-pin | Yes | Yes | Yes 40-pin | Yes | Yes | Yes | - 26-pins |
|---|
LCD Panel | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes DSI |
|---|
Camera | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes latest version include a camera connector | Yes | Yes | Yes DSI |
|---|
SD/MMC | Yes micro-SD | Yes microSD | Yes microSD | Yes microSD | Yes microSD | Yes microSD | Yes microSD | - SD |
|---|
Serial | Yes RX/TX UART | - | - | - | - | - | - | - Through Expansion Connector, needs level shifting |
|---|
Wireless Connectivity (On-Board) | | | | | | | | |
|---|
Wi-Fi | Yes 2.4GHz and 5GHz 802.11 b/g/n/ac | Yes 802.11n | Yes 802.11n | Yes 802.11n | No | No | No | No |
|---|
Bluetooth® | Yes 4.2, BLE | Yes 4.1 | Yes 4.1 | Yes 4.1 LE | No | No | No | No |
|---|
Dimensions | | | | | | | | |
|---|
Height | 3.37 in (85.6 mm) | 1.18 in (30 mm) | 1.18 in (30 mm) | 3.37 in (85.6 mm) | 1.18 in (30 mm) | 3.37 in (85.6 mm) | 2.55 in (65 mm) | 2.12 in (53.98 mm) |
|---|
Width | 2.22 in (56.5 mm) | 2.55 in (65 mm) | 2.55 in (65 mm) | 2.22 in (56.5 mm) | 2.55 in (65 mm) | 2.22 in (56.5 mm) | 2.22 in (56.5 mm) | 3.37 in (85.6 mm) |
|---|
Depth | 0.66929 in (17 mm) | 0.51181 in (13 mm) | 0.19685 in (5 mm) | 0.66929 in (17 mm) | 0.19685 in (5 mm) | 0.66929 in (17 mm) | 0.39370 in (10 mm) | 0.66929 in (17 mm) |
|---|
Weight | 1.58 oz (45 g) | 0.42328 oz (12 g) | 0.31746 oz (9 g) | 1.58 oz (45 g) | 0.31746 oz (9 g) | 1.58 oz (45 g) | 0.81130 oz (23 g) | 1.58 oz (45 g) |
|---|
Website | raspberrypi.org/... | raspberrypi.org/... | raspberrypi.org/... | raspberrypi.org/... | raspberrypi.org/... | raspberrypi.org | raspberrypi.org/... | raspberrypi.org |
|---|
Power | | | | | | | | |
|---|
Power ratings | 1.13 A @5V | 180 mA | 180 mA | 1.34 A @5V | 160 mA | 800 mA | 200 mA | 700 mA @5V |
|---|
Power sources | microUSB or GPIO | microUSB or GPIO | microUSB or GPIO | microUSB or GPIO | microUSB or GPIO | microUSB or GPIO | microUSB or GPIO | microUSB or GPIO |
|---|
Power Over Ethernet | - with PoE Hat | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
|---|
