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Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

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K

Kinky John

Member
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-zero/

Today, I’m pleased to be able to announce the immediate availability of Raspberry Pi Zero, made in Wales and priced at just $5. Zero is a full-fledged member of the Raspberry Pi family, featuring:

A Broadcom BCM2835 application processor
1GHz ARM11 core (40% faster than Raspberry Pi 1)
512MB of LPDDR2 SDRAM
A micro-SD card slot
A mini-HDMI socket for 1080p60 video output
Micro-USB sockets for data and power
An unpopulated 40-pin GPIO header
Identical pinout to Model A+/B+/2B
An unpopulated composite video header
Our smallest ever form factor, at 65mm x 30mm x 5mm
Click to expand...

One more thing: because the only thing better than a $5 computer is a free computer, we are giving away a free Raspberry Pi Zero on the front of each copy of the December issue of The MagPi, which arrives in UK stores today.
Click to expand...

It's great to see that they've managed to create something that a child can buy with 1 weeks pocket money! :-0
 
S

Siphorus

Member
That's pretty nuts. Although the power on it might be lacking. (There was some asynchronous indexing I was doing for Emulation Station with the Raspberry Pi that made the 2 worth the money). But this is probably well worth it for some robotic stuff.
 
M

Mepsi

Member
I wish I could find somewhere that sells the magazine today, wouldn't mind having a play with it at all.
 
V

VariantX

Member
Kind of nuts that computer might be as powerful as the first computer our family bought in 2000 for $1000. 15 years is a long, long time in the tech world I guess.
 
Z

Zepp Twofist

Member
The SD card to run the OS from and the power supply are probably each going to cost you more than the actual computer. We live in crazy times.
 
H

HyperZone<3

Member
this isn't for the third world? I mean, schools aren't using these for you know, school stuff?

There's a million practical reasons for a mass produced, ultra cheap computer, and this is selling to normal people for what, novelty value?
 
R

Rich!

Member
HyperZone<3 said:
this isn't for the third world? I mean, schools aren't using these for you know, school stuff?

There's a million practical reasons for a mass produced, ultra cheap computer, and this is selling to normal people for what, novelty value?
Click to expand...

Haha what you on about son

No. Sorry. It's for hobbyists. I built a retro gaming console housed in a PAL SNES with the PiB.

This one I've just put an order in for - itll do well inside a Game Boy shell as a neat homebrew handheld.

I've also bought two more - one for custom lighting and one for a robotics experiment.
 
S

seb_n

Member
I know its only 5 quid but the lack of network port is disapointing, obviously it can be worked around via usb but it just seems like a real killer feature that has been left out. I will still pick one up though, hopefully find the magazine in a shop today.
 
Alx

Alx

Member
HyperZone<3 said:
this isn't for the third world? I mean, schools aren't using these for you know, school stuff?

There's a million practical reasons for a mass produced, ultra cheap computer, and this is selling to normal people for what, novelty value?
Click to expand...

That will be useful for schools, but mostly as a cheap platform for learning developers. That's not really suited as is to be used as a desktop, because it's just electronics. School computers, especially for the third world, also need to meet requirements in sturdiness, power consumption etc.
(as a matter of fact I remember projects of computers for the third world, based on the concept of having a crank included to charge the battery).
 
D

Damaniel

Banned
AxeMan said:
No Ethernet?
Click to expand...

No, but you can plug in a dongle via USB.

It's amazing how much computing power you can get for five bucks these days. I think that CHIP will be the overall better sub-$10 product, but a device with an actual usable processor for less than even the cost of shipping it (and cheap enough to put in a magazine!) is a pretty decent achievement.
 
B

Blizzard

Banned
Damaniel said:
No, but you can plug in a dongle via USB.

It's amazing how much computing power you can get for five bucks these days. I think that CHIP will be the overall better sub-$10 product, but a device with an actual usable processor for less than even the cost of shipping it (and cheap enough to put in a magazine!) is a pretty decent achievement.
Click to expand...
I backed CHIP and some of the modules, but the big thing that bugged me about CHIP was that shipping seemed so high in the U.S., the advertisement of a $9 computer seemed almost misleading.

I also saw a claim that the CHIP modules cost $39 and they're selling them at a loss trying to build a community, but I haven't read further.
 
M

Mindwipe

Member
It's astonishing. My first PC had 16MB of RAM, and I've already spent more than this costs on coffee today.

I do wonder if you could get a wifi adaptor on the board here and what the cost implications of that would be. At that point you'd start getting mass wifi mesh networks in cities at this price.
 
F

Fliesen

Member
seb_n said:
I know its only 5 quid but the lack of network port is disapointing, obviously it can be worked around via usb but it just seems like a real killer feature that has been left out. I will still pick one up though, hopefully find the magazine in a shop today.
Click to expand...

I think making the base unit this thin is well worth the trade-off.
I don't mind them removing legacy stuff like Analog audio / video out for the sake of cutting costs and slimming down the size.

If you want a fully capable / expandable device, it's not like the 'regular sized' is anywhere close to being expensive. Every single Pi model is incredibly cheap. This new one's just ridiculously cheap.

This + microUSB -> USB adapter + wireless adapter should be a nice 'turn any external hard drive into a wireless NAS' kind of package
 
Robin64

Robin64

Member
Definitely going to try and find a copy of that mag.

rsz_img_0661.jpg


And then I'll see how it handles Retroarch.
 
M

Mental Atrophy

Banned
I've been eyeballing Raspberry Pi and similar devices for a long time. I've gotten kind of bored with FPGA boards and want to make something more programming-centric. I don't even know what I want to make next, though.
 
M

Mindwipe

Member
Amazon don't seem to have any micro USB wifi adaptors, running that through an adaptor is certainly a significant extra % cost here.

It's crazy that unlocking the video codecs for this will cost the same as the device.

Also crazy that the magazine with the free Pi is actually a pretty good deal all round, as they won't be required to pay VAT on that so the paper will pay for itself :) There's lots of nice ways to skim around tax at that sort of price.
 
S

Sesuadra

Unconfirmed Member
how does this one compare to the raspberry pi 2?

really interesting :D right now the pi 2 is my media station for anime..
 
D

dity

Member
Saw a video involving this earlier. I was really impressed - I'd probably never have a reason to use one, but it's still awesome.
 
Alx

Alx

Member
Sesuadra said:
how does this one compare to the raspberry pi 2?

really interesting :D right now the pi 2 is my media station for anime..
Click to expand...

Much less powerful... they say the zero CPU is 40% more powerful than the Pi1, but Pi2 was said to be six times more powerful than Pi1. Also Pi2 has twice the RAM.
 
S

Sesuadra

Unconfirmed Member
Alx said:
Much less powerful... they say the zero CPU is 40% more powerful than the Pi1, but Pi2 was said to be six times more powerful than Pi1. Also Pi2 has twice the RAM.
Click to expand...

I actually used a pi 1 bfore I got the 2 as a media station. the only reason I got the 2 is for a more fluent kodi :D

maybe I'll create a "take with me" kodi..mh. god i love the raspberry pi.
 
L

lenos16

Member
That processor is leagues better than my first with a laughable 100 MHz in 1997. The improvements are ridiculous. I wonder what we will get once we reach the 10 nm limits though.
 
S

Sesuadra

Unconfirmed Member
Dinokill said:
I want one as a webserver to store pics. Is this ok?
Click to expand...

friend of mine uses his pi 1 as a print server..

this one is 40% faster..yes you'll be alright afaik

Fliesen said:
you guys, i've used a Pi 1 as an XBMC media center that played 1080p h264 mkv files without an issue. I think you'll be fine :p
Click to expand...

should have read my earlier post where I said that I used my p1 as a XBMC as well :p
 
F

Fliesen

Member
Dinokill said:
I want one as a webserver to store pics. Is this ok?
Click to expand...

you guys, i've used a Pi 1 as an XBMC media center that played 1080p h264 mkv files without an issue. I think you'll be fine :p

Sesuadra said:
should have read my earlier post where I said that I used my p1 as a XBMC as well :p
Click to expand...

which i did, which is why i unquoted you, which is why we're having some weird "edit: edit: edit:" conversation right now :)
 
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