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Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi Model-B Beta
DeveloperRaspberry Pi Foundation
TypeSingle-board computer
Release date29 February 2012[1]
Introductory priceUS$25 and $35
Operating systemLinux (Debian GNU/Linux, Fedora, and Arch Linux)[2]
CPUARM1176JZF-S 700 MHz[3]
Memory256 Megabytes
StorageSD Card Slot
(SD or SDHC card)
GraphicsBroadcom VideoCore IV[3]
Power3.5 W (model B)
Websitewww.raspberrypi.org

The Raspberry Pi is a single-board computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The Foundation's goal is to offer two versions, priced at US$25 and $35 (plus local taxes). The Foundation started accepting orders for the higher priced model on 29 February 2012.[4] The Raspberry Pi is intended to stimulate the teaching of basic computer science in schools.[5][6][7][8][9]

The design is based on a Broadcom BCM2835 system on a chip (SoC),[3] which includes an ARM1176JZF-S 700 MHz processor, VideoCore IV GPU, and 256 Megabytes of RAM. The design does not include a built-in hard disk or solid-state drive, instead relying on an SD card for booting and long-term storage.[10]

The Raspberry Pi Foundation plans to support Fedora Linux as the initial system software package/distribution, with support for Debian and Arch Linux as well. [2] Also planned are tools for supporting Python as the main programming language, [11] [12] with support for BBC BASIC,[13] (As "Brandy Basic", the BBC BASIC clone) [14], C[11] and Perl.[11]

History

An early Alpha board in operation. Its layout is different from the Beta and Production boards.

In 2006, early concepts of the Raspberry Pi were based on the Atmel ATmega644 microcontroller. Its schematics and PCB layout are available for public download.[15] Foundation trustee Eben Upton assembled a group of teachers, academics and computer enthusiasts to devise a computer to inspire children.[16] The computer is inspired by Acorn's BBC Micro of 1981.[17] The first ARM prototype version of the computer was mounted in a package the same size as a USB memory stick.[18] It had a USB port on one end and a HDMI port on the other.

Pre-launch

In August 2011, fifty Alpha boards were manufactured. These boards were functionally identical to the planned model B,[19] only larger to accommodate debug headers. Demos of the board showed it running the LXDE desktop on Debian, Quake 3 at 1080p,[20] and Full HD MPEG-4 video over HDMI.[21] In October 2011, a development version of RISC OS 5 was being worked on[22] and demonstrated in public.[23][24]

In December 2011, twenty-five model B Beta boards were assembled and tested[25] from one hundred unpopulated PCBs.[26] The component layout of the Beta boards is the same as production boards. A single PCB routing error was discovered in the board design and fixed for the first production run.[27] The Beta boards were demonstrated booting Linux, playing a 1080p movie trailer and the Rightware Samurai OpenGL ES benchmark.[28]

During the first week of 2012, the first 10 boards were put up for auction on eBay.[29][30] One was bought anonymously and donated to the museum at The Centre for Computing History in Suffolk, England.[31][32] The ten boards (with a total retail price of £220) together raised over £16,000,[33] with the last to be auctioned, serial number #01, raising £3,500.[34] In advance of the anticipated launch at the end of February 2012, the Foundation's servers struggled to cope with the load placed by watchers repeatedly refreshing their browsers.[35]

Launch

The first batch of 10,000 boards is being manufactured in Taiwan and China,[36][37] rather than in the UK. This is in part because import duty is payable on individual components but not on finished products. Chinese manufacturers also quoted a lead time of four weeks, compared to 12 weeks in the UK. Savings can be reinvested in the Foundation's research and development activities.[37]

Shipping delays for the first batch were announced in March 2012, as the result of installation of an incorrect ethernet port.[38][39] But the Foundation expects that manufacturing quantities of future batches can be increased with little difficulty if required.[40]

"We have ensured we can get them [the ethernet connectors with magnetics] in large numbers and Premier Farnell and RS Components [the two distributors] have been fantastic at helping to source components," Upton said.

Initial sales commenced 29 February 2012[41] at 06:00 UTC;. At the same time, it was announced that the Model A, originally to have had 128 MB of RAM, was to be upgraded to 256 MB before release.[4] The Foundation's website also announced "Six years after the project's inception, we're nearly at the end of our first run of development–although it's just the beginning of the Raspberry Pi story."[42] The two licensed stores selling them within the United Kingdom, Premier Farnell and RS Components, had their websites stalled by heavy web traffic immediately after the launch.[43] At one point the webmaster pleaded, "Guys–can you please stop hitting F5 on our website quite so often? You're bringing the server to its knees."[44] Although as yet unconfirmed, reports suggest that there are over 2 million expressions of interest or pre-orders.[45] The official Raspberry Pi Twitter account reported that Premier Farnell sold out within a few minutes of the initial launch, while RS Components will ship to the UK only.[4]

Manufacturers were reported in March 2012 to be taking a "healthy number" of pre-orders.[46]

Hardware

Initial sales are of the Model B, with plans to release the Model A sometime later. Model A has one USB port and no Ethernet controller, and will cost less than the Model B with two USB ports and a 10/100 Ethernet controller[47].

Though the Model A doesn't have an RJ45 Ethernet port, it can connect to a network by using a user-supplied USB Ethernet or Wi-Fi adapter. As is typical of modern computers, generic USB keyboards and mice are compatible with the Raspberry Pi.[10]

The Raspberry Pi does not come with a real-time clock,[6] so an OS must use a network time server, or ask the user for time information at boot time to get access to time and date for file time and date stamping. However, a real-time clock (such as the DS1307) with battery backup can be added via the I2C interface.

Specifications

Model A Model B
Target price:[6] $25 $35[48]
SoC:[6] Broadcom BCM2835 (CPU, GPU, DSP, and SDRAM)[3]
CPU: 700 MHz ARM1176JZF-S core (ARM11 family)[3]
GPU: Broadcom VideoCore IV,[49] OpenGL ES 2.0, 1080p30 h.264/MPEG-4 AVC high-profile decoder[3]
Memory (SDRAM): 256 Megabytes (shared with GPU)
USB 2.0 ports:[10] 1 2 (via integrated USB hub)[47]
Video outputs:[6] Composite RCA (PAL & NTSC), HDMI (rev 1.3 & 1.4) [50], raw LCD Panels via DSI [51][52]

14 HDMI resolutions from 640×350 to 1920×1200 plus various PAL and NTSC standards.[53]

Audio outputs:[6] 3.5 mm jack, HDMI
Onboard storage:[10] SD / MMC / SDIO card slot
Onboard network:[6][10] None 10/100 Ethernet (RJ45)[47]
Low-level peripherals: 8 × GPIO, UART, I²C bus, SPI bus with two chip selects, +3.3 V, +5 V, ground[49][54]
Power ratings: 500 mA (2.5 W)[6] 700 mA (3.5 W)
Power source:[6] 5 volt via MicroUSB or GPIO header
Size: 85.60 mm × 53.98 mm (3.370 in × 2.125 in)[55]
Planned operating systems: Debian GNU/Linux, Fedora, Arch Linux[2], RISC OS [23]
Notes
  1. Model A and Model B are cultural references[56] to the original models of the British educational BBC Micro computer, developed by Acorn Computers, who originally developed the ARM processors (the architecture of the Raspberry Pi) and operating system RISC OS, which will also be able to be run on the Raspberry Pi (version 5.17).[23]
  2. On the model B beta boards, 128 MB was allocated by default to the GPU, leaving 128 MB for the CPU.[57] On the release model B (and Model A) three different splits are possible: 192 MB (CPU RAM) is the default split. It should be sufficent for standalone 1080p video decoding, or simple 3D (but probably not both together). 224 MB is for Linux only, with just a 1080p framebuffer; likely to fail for any video or 3D. 128 MB is for heavy 3D, possibly also with video decoding (e.g. XBMC).[58] Comparatively the Nokia 701 uses 128 MB for the Broadcom VideoCore IV.[59]
  3. Level 2 Cache is 128 KB, used primarily by the GPU, not the CPU.
  4. The ARM11 is based on version 6 of the ARM architecture, which due to its age is no longer supported by several popular versions of Linux, including Ubuntu.
  5. The available memory, 128–224 MiB, after subtracting 32–128 MiB for graphics memory, is less than the stated minimum requirement of 768 MiB to run a standard build of the Fedora operating system.[60] Neither the memory nor processing power meets the Debian recommended minimums, even for systems without a desktop. However, 128 MiB meets the absolute minimum for an i386 system, even with a desktop. The Debian manual states: "most users risk being frustrated if they ignore these suggestions."[61]
  6. The 128–224 MiB of available memory is twice the minimum requirement of 64 MiB needed to run Slackware Linux on an ARM or i386 system.[62] There are reports of Slackware running well on 32 MB ARM[63] and i386[64] systems. (While Slackware can load and run a GUI, it was designed to be run from the shell.) The Fluxbox window manager running under X Windows requires an additional 48 MB of RAM[65] (112 MB total).
  7. the Raspberry Pi (model B) also contains a 15-pin MIPI Camera interface (CSI) connector, which at the moment is unsupported, but the foundation is planning to release a camera module for it, sometime in the near future.[66][67]
  8. Support for Raw LCD Panels is available in hardware through the available DSI connector from the Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI®) Alliance. [51] Software support is being planned.
  9. Supported digital video resolutions are: 640x350 EGA; 640x480 VGA; 800x600 SVGA; 1024x768 XGA; 1280×720 720p HDTV; 1280x768 WXGA Variant; 1280x800 WXGA Variant; 1280x1024 SXGA; 1366x768 WXGA Variant; 1400x1050 SXGA+; 600x1200 UXGA; 1680x1050 WXGA+; 1920x1080 1080p HDTV; 1920x1200 WUXGA.[53] Also to be supported are the generation of 576i and 480i composite video signals for PAL-BGHID, PAL-M, PAL-N, NTSC and NTSC-J [68]

Software

The Raspberry Pi will use Linux kernel-based operating systems. Debian GNU/Linux, Iceweasel, Calligra Suite and Python are planned to be bundled with the Raspberry Pi.[6] As of September 2011, the GPU is accessed via binary blobs, with the associated Linux drivers being closed source.[69]

On 19 February 2012, the Raspberry Pi Foundation released its first proof of concept SD Card image that can be loaded onto an SD Card to produce a preliminary operating system. The image is based upon Debian 6.0 (Squeeze), with the LXDE desktop and the Midori browser, plus various programming tools. The image can also run on QEMU allowing the Raspberry Pi to be emulated on various other platforms.[70]

On 8 March, The Raspberry Pi Foundation released Raspberry Pi Fedora Remix, its recommended Linux distro,[71] which was developed at Seneca College in Canada.[72] The Foundation intends to create an App Store website for people to exchange programs.[73]

Not only generic linux distros are being developed, there is also work being done on specific light linux distros like OpenELEC, as a basis for specific functions. In this case to support XBMC the open source digital media center. [74]

Trustee Eben Upton publicly approached the RISC OS Open community in July 2011 to enquire about assistance with a potential port.[75] Adrian Lees at Broadcom has since worked on the port,[76][77] with his work being cited in a discussion regarding the graphics drivers.[78]

Community

The Raspberry Pi community was described by Jamie Ayre of FLOSS software company AdaCore as one of the most exciting parts of the project.[46] Community blogger Russell Davis said that the community strength allows the Foundation to concentrate on documentation and teaching.[46]

Reception

Technology writer Glyn Moody described the project in May 2011 as a "potential BBC Micro 2.0", not by replacing PC compatible machines but by supplementing them.[79] In March 2012 Stephen Pritchard echoed the "BBC Micro successor" sentiment in ITPRO.[80] Alex Hope, co-author of the Next Gen report, is hopeful that the computer will engage children with the excitement of programming.[81] Co-author Ian Livingstone suggested that the BBC could be involved in building support for the device, possibly branding it as the "BBC Nano".[73] Chris Williams, writing in The Register sees the inclusion of programming languages such as Kids Ruby, Scratch and BASIC as a "good start" to equip kids with the skills needed in the future–although it remains to be seen how effective their use will be.[56] The Centre for Computing History strongly supports the Raspberry Pi project, feeling that it could "usher in a new era".[32] Before release, the board was showcased by ARM's CEO Warren East at an event in Cambridge outlining Google's ideas to improve UK science and technology education.[82]

Harry Fairhead, however, suggests that more emphasis should be put on improving the educational software available on existing hardware, using tools such as Google App Inventor to return programming to schools, rather than adding new hardware choices.[83] Simon Rockman, writing in a ZDNet blog, was of the opinion that teens will have "better things to do", despite what happened in the '80s.[84]

Usage

Education

In the UK, enquiries about the board have been received from schools in both the state and independent sectors, with around five times as much interest from the latter (January 2012). It is hoped that businesses will sponsor purchases for less advantaged schools.[16] The government of a country in the Middle East has expressed interest in providing a board to every schoolgirl, in order to enhance their employment prospects.[85]

See also

References

  1. ^ Raspberry Pi: We are Live
  2. ^ a b c "Raspberry Pi faqs". Retrieved March 06, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help) Cite error: The named reference "raspberrypi faqs" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c d e f BCM2835 Media Processor; Broadcom.
  4. ^ a b c Richard Lawler, 29 February 2012, Raspberry Pi credit-card sized Linux PCs are on sale now, $25 Model A gets a RAM bump, Engadget
  5. ^ Raspberry Pi: Cheat Sheet
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "FAQs". Raspberry Pi Foundation. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  7. ^ Cellan-Jones, Rory (5 May 2011). "A £15 computer to inspire young programmers". BBC News.
  8. ^ Price, Peter (3 June 2011). "Can a £15 computer solve the programming gap?". BBC Click. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  9. ^ Bush, Steve (25 May 2011). "Dongle computer lets kids discover programming on a TV". Electronics Weekly. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  10. ^ a b c d e Verified USB Peripherals and SDHC Cards; eLinux.org
  11. ^ a b c Upton, Eben (26 July 2011). "FAQs". Retrieved 12 December 2011. Leads, a power supply or SD cards are not included but can be purchased at the same time from Farnell and RS. You will be able to buy preloaded SD cards too. ... We'll be using Fedora as our recommended distribution. It's straightforward to replace the root partition on the SD card with another ARM Linux distro if you want to use something else. The OS is stored on the SD card.
  12. ^ Upton, Liz (29 August 2011). "FAQs". Raspberry Pi. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  13. ^ "David Braben on Raspberry Pi". Edge. 25 November 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
  14. ^ Brandy Basic
  15. ^ Wong, George (24 October 2011). "Build your own prototype Raspberry Pi minicomputer". ubergizmo. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
  16. ^ a b Moorhead, Joanna (9 January 2012). "Raspberry Pi device will 'reboot computing in schools'". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  17. ^ Quested, Tony (29 February 2012). "Raspberry blown at Cambridge software detractors". Business Weekly. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
  18. ^ "Tiny USB-Sized PC Offers 1080p HDMI Output". Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  19. ^ Humphries, Matthew (28 July 2011). "Raspberry Pi $25 PC goes into alpha production". Geek.com. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  20. ^ "Raspberry Pi YouTube Channel". Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  21. ^ "Full HD video demo at TransferSummit Oxford". Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  22. ^ Lee, Jeffrey. "Newsround". The Icon Bar. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
  23. ^ a b c Holwerda, Thom (31 October 2011). "Raspberry Pi To Embrace RISC OS". OSNews. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  24. ^ Dewhurst, Christopher (December 2011). "The London show 2011". Archive (magazine). Vol. 23, no. 3. p. 3. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  25. ^ What happened to the beta boards? Dom Cobley (4 February 2012)
  26. ^ We have PCBs! (Raspberry Pi Blog)
  27. ^ More on the beta boards (Raspberry Pi Blog)
  28. ^ Bringing up a beta board (Raspberry Pi Blog)
  29. ^ We’re auctioning ten beta Raspberry Pi's; raspberrypi.org
  30. ^ Williams, Chris (3 January 2012). "That Brit-built £22 computer: Yours for just £1,900 or more". The Register. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  31. ^ Cheerin, Iris (11 January 2012). "Raspberry Pi Goes Into Production". TechWeekEurope UK. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
  32. ^ a b "One of the First Raspberry Pi Computers Donated to Museum". The Centre for Computing History. 9 January 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  33. ^ eBay list of items sold by Raspberry Pi (retrieved 13 January 2012)
  34. ^ eBay item (retrieved 13 January 2012)
  35. ^ ""Set your alarms!" - Raspberry Pi looks ready for early Wednesday launch". Cabume. 28 February 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  36. ^ Lee, Robert (17 January 2012). "Raspberry Pi Balks At UK Tax Regime". Tax-News.com. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  37. ^ a b Weakley, Kirsty. "UK computing charity opts to manufacture product abroad". Civil Society Media. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  38. ^ Upton, Liz (March 08, 2012). "Manufacturing hiccup". Raspberry Pi Foundation. Retrieved March 19, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  39. ^ Gilbert, David (March 09, 2012). "Raspberry Pi £22 Computer Delayed Due to 'Manufacturing Hiccup'". International Business Times. Retrieved March 19, 2012. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  40. ^ Gilbert, David (13 March 2012). "Interview with Eben Upton - Raspberry Pi Founder". International Business Times. Retrieved 19 March 2012.
  41. ^ "The Raspberry Pi £22 computer goes on general sale". BBC News. 29 February 2012. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  42. ^ Subramanian, Karthik (March 02, 2012). "Low-cost mini-PC Raspberry Pi gets heavily booked". The Hindu. Retrieved March 12, 2012. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  43. ^ Paul, Ryan (29 February 2012). "Raspberry Pi retailers toppled by demand as $35 Linux computer launches". Ars Technica. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  44. ^ Naughton, John (March 04, 2012). "The Raspberry Pi can help schools get with the program". The Observer. Retrieved March 12, 2012. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  45. ^ Raspberry Pi Buying Guide, elinux.org
  46. ^ a b c Bridgwater, Adrian (15 March 2012). "Community strength blossoms for Raspberry Pi". Computer Weekly. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  47. ^ a b c SMSC LAN9512 Website; smsc.com
  48. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/9112841/Mini-Raspberry-Pi-computer-goes-on-sale-for-22.html
  49. ^ a b "Q&A with our hardware team". Raspberry Pi Foundation. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  50. ^ Embedded Linux Wiki: Hardware Basic Setup
  51. ^ a b Raspberry Pi Wiki, section screens
  52. ^ diagram of Raspberry Pi with DSI LCD connector
  53. ^ a b Raspberry Pi, supported video resolutions
  54. ^ Raspberry Pi GPIO Connector; eLinux.org
  55. ^ Final PCB artwork
  56. ^ a b Williams, Chris (28 November 2011). "Psst, kid... Wanna learn how to hack?". The Register. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  57. ^ I have a raspberry pi beta board ama
  58. ^ Raspberry Pi boot configuration text file
  59. ^ Nokia 701 has a similar Broadcom GPU
  60. ^ Fedora, What will I need?
  61. ^ Debian Minimum Hardware Requirements (Retrieved 16 February 2012)
  62. ^ The Slackware Linux Project: Installation Help
  63. ^ The ARMedslack March 2010 Archive by thread
  64. ^ Slackware Linux Essentials
  65. ^ Desktops: KDE vs Gnome (Linux Reviews)
  66. ^ camera for the CSI-2 port
  67. ^ diagram of Raspberry Pi with CSI camera connector
  68. ^ examples of Raspberry Pi composite output
  69. ^ djwm (13 September 2011). "Raspberry Pi warms up". The H. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  70. ^ linuxnews showing the first release of Debian Squeeze for Raspberry running on QEMU
  71. ^ Raspberry Pi Fedora Remix, our recommended distro, is ready for download!"
  72. ^ Chung, Emily (24 February 2012). "$35 computer 'Raspberry Pi' readies for launch". CBC.ca. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  73. ^ a b Vallance, Chris (10 January 2012). "Raspberry Pi bids for success with classroom coders". BBC News. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
  74. ^ openelec for XBMC
  75. ^ Upton, Eben (23 July 2011). "Yet another potential RISC OS target?". RISC OS Open. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  76. ^ Hansen, Martin (31 October 2011). "Raspberry Pi To Embrace RISC OS". RISCOScode. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  77. ^ Lees, Adrian (8 February 2012). "RISC OS on the Raspberry Pi". RISC OS Open. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  78. ^ JamesH (29 December 2011). "GPU binary blob question". Raspberry Pi. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  79. ^ Moody Glyn (9 May 2011). "As British as Raspberry Pi?". Computerworld UK Open Enterprise blog. Computerworld. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  80. ^ Pritchard, Stephen (March 01, 2012). "Raspberry Pi: A BBC Micro for today's generation". ITPRO. Retrieved March 15, 2012. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  81. ^ Stanford, Peter (3 December 2011). "Computing classes don't teach programming skills". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
  82. ^ Osborn, George (23 February 2012). "How Google can really help improve STEM teaching in the UK". Cabume. Retrieved 28 February 2012.
  83. ^ Fairhead, Harry (2 December 2011). "Raspberry Pi or Programming - What shall we teach the children?". I Programmer. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
  84. ^ Rockman, Simon (21 February 2012). "Is raspberry pi a mid-life crisis?". ZDNet. Retrieved 24 February 2012. Just because young teens led the way in computing in the 1980s doesn't mean it should, will or can happen again. Those outside the tech age bubble have better things to do.
  85. ^ Arthur, Charles (March 05, 2012). "Raspberry Pi demand running at '700 per second'". The Guardian. Retrieved March 12, 2012. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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