The original Raspberry Pi will always be considered as a revolutionary piece of kit. The bargain priced, credit card sized little computer has managed to ignite the passion and love for computer hardware and programming in a whole new generation of people thanks to its low price and easy accessibility. Now, the Raspberry Pi Foundation is attempting to inspire a whole new subset of people to get involved in what they’re trying to achieve with the introduction of the new Raspberry Pi Zero. It’s cheaper, a lot smaller believe it or not, but is also less powerful than the Raspberry Pi 2, which was released back in February.
It’s difficult to imagine that the Raspberry Pi Foundation could introduce something tangible and worthwhile that’s actually smaller than the credit card-sized Raspberry Pi, but they’ve done it. The Raspberry Pi Zero, which is the latest accessible computer to be added to the range, comes in at the approximate size of a stick of regular gum, and will cost just $5 to purchase. There are of course expected trade-offs that come with the Zero when compared to the Raspberry Pi 2.
In terms of physical appearance and dimensions, the new Zero measures in at an impressively small and light 65mm x 30mm. That tiny little board comes with an integrated BCM2835 chip, which is the same as what shipped with the original Raspberry Pi 1, but clocks at 1GHz. There’s 512MB RAM LPDDR2 SDRAM, a microSD card slot for storage capabilities and an unpopulated 40-pin GPIO connector. In terms of connectivity options, those purchasing the new Raspberry Pi Zero will be afforded with mini-HDMI socket capable of 1080p@60fps, micro-USB for data, and micro-USB for power, all for a measly $5 outlay. As for the OS? it’s the good ol’ Raspbian.
To make the whole prospect of the Zero even more enticing, the little computer is being given away for free with the December issue of The MagPi magazine which should be hitting the U.K. shelves today. As on outright purchase, United States-based patrons can grab the new Raspberry Pi Zero from Adafruit and MicroCenter. Those located in U.K. can source the tiny little computer from The Pi Hut, Pimoroni, element 14, and of course, the always stocked Raspberry Pi Swag Store.
Don’t expect to fill your business or education establishment up with them initially however as orders are limited to just two per person initially.
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