Raspberry Pi - Introduction

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Raspberry Pi, developed by Raspberry Pi Foundation in association with Broadcom, is a series of small single-board computers and perhaps the most inspiring computer available today.

From the moment you see the shiny green circuit board of Raspberry Pi, it invites you to tinker with it, play with it, start programming, and create your own software with it. Earlier, the Raspberry Pi was used to teach basic computer science in schools but later, because of its low cost and open design, the model became far more popular than anticipated.

It is widely used to make gaming devices, fitness gadgets, weather stations, and much more. But apart from that, it is used by thousands of people of all ages who want to take their first step in computer science.

It is one of the best-selling British computers and most of the boards are made in the Sony factory in Pencoed, Wales.

Generations and Models

In 2012, the company launched the Raspberry Pi and the current generations of regular Raspberry Pi boards are Zero, 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Generation 1 Raspberry Pi had the following four options −

• Model A
• Model A +
• Model B
• Model B +

Among these models, the Raspberry Pi B models are the original credit-card sized format.

On the other hand, the Raspberry Pi A models have a smaller and more compact footprint and hence, these models have the reduced connectivity options.

Raspberry Pi Zero models, which come with or without GPIO (general-purpose input output) headers installed, are the most compact of all the Raspberry Pi boards types.

Speed Specifications

The table below gives the speed specifications of various Raspberry Pi models and generations focusing on the version’s release date, form factor and dimensions −

The table below gives the speed specifications of various Raspberry Pi models and generations focusing on the version’s weight, General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO), central processing unit (CPU) speed, Cores and Random-access memory (RAM) −

Connectivity Specifications

The table below gives the connectivity specifications of various Raspberry Pi boards focusing on the version’s full sized USB ports, other USB and charge methods, power and High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) ports −

The table below gives the connectivity specifications of various Raspberry Pi boards focusing on the version’s video out quality, video in, Ethernet, bluetooth, Wi-Fi and external storage −

History

Software developer Eben Upton and Software Engineers Pete Lomas and David Braden formed the Raspberry Pi foundation in 2006. The main aim of this foundation was to devise a computer to inspire children. Hence, in order to reduce the cost, the early prototypes of the Raspberry Pi were based on the 8-bit Atmel ATmega microcontroller.

On February 29th, 2012, the team started taking the orders for Model B and in the same year, they started its production run which consisted of around 10,000 units. These models were manufactured by the founders in China and Taiwan.

On February 4th, 2013, they started taking the orders for lower cost Model A. Similarly, on November 10th, 2014, the team launched for even more low-cost Model A+. The cheapest Raspberry Pi Zero was launched on November 26th, 2015.

The name Raspberry Pi was chosen with “Raspberry” as an ode to tradition of naming early computer companies after fruit. Here, "Pi" is for Python Programming Language.