Items tagged with Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi developer boards have proven to be very popular with folks looking to build a project that needs a power-efficient and modest performing single-board PC. Raspberry Pi unveiled its Raspberry Pi Model 3 A+ last month for $25. The success of Raspberry Pi has spawned similarly designed products from a number of competitors looking to cash in. However, a company called SinoVoIP is targeting a higher-end of the market with boards called Banana Pi that have been around for a few years. SynQuacer E-Series 24-Core Arm PC Motherboard Banana Pi boards are typically based on ARM core technology processors and are relatively inexpensive. The company behind the boards also has a somewhat...
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The Raspberry Pi developer board has been around for a long time and one of the best things about it has always been its low price. The last new major model that we talked about was in March when the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ turned up featuring a 1.4GHz processor, integrated WiFi, and Gigabit Ethernet port onboard selling for $35. For folks who don't need that Ethernet port or the USB hub and would like to save a bit of cash to boot, Raspberrypi.org has announced the launch of a new version of the developer board called the Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+. The Model A+ device sports a Broadcom BCM2837B0, Cortex-A53 (ARMv8) 64-bit SoC that operates at 1.4GHz; the same processor in the model B+ device from...
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When it comes to single-board computer, Raspberry Pi usually garners all of the headlines. Sure, there are competitors from the likes of Gigabyte and the Renegade Elite, but the Raspberry Pi family rules the roost. However, there is a new challenger to the throne and it's called the Rock Pi 4. At its heart is a 64-bit Rockchip RK3399 system-on-a-chip (SoC) which has a relatively beefy hexa-core design. There's a quad-core 1.5GHz Cortex-A53 cluster combined with a dual-core 2GHz Cortex-A72 cluster in a big.LITTLE arrangement. There will be variants of the board available with either 1GB, 2GB or 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM. Meanwhile, Mali T860MP4 GPU is capable of supporting 4K60 video over...
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Back in 2013, a company called Kano set out to teach kids and adults alike how to code with a simple computer and coding kit that appeared on Kickstarter. It received over $1.5 million in funding and has been shipping every since. Today, however, Kano is kicking things up a notch with the Computer Touch Kit, essentially the same computer and coding kit but now with a touchscreen. "Designed to help beginners of all ages to understand how a computer works, what’s going on behind the touchscreens that we use everyday, and how to create art, music, and games with code—the Computer Kit Touch is a DIY computer that we want you to touch," Kano explains. At its core, the Computer Touch Kit...
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This robot with the fake hand on it has one job; and that job isn't to learn to grasp objects or hold tools. This robot is meant only to find that stripe wearing, child frustrating, bespectacled Waldo from the kids books. Perhaps the scientists will next time devise a robot AI that reads the last chapter of the new novel from your favorite author and tells you what happens. This bot is called "There's Waldo" and it uses machine learning to find Waldo and point him out. The robot was built by Redpepper and uses a Raspberry Pi along with pyram Python Library. The bot automatically goes over the page of the book when booted up and snaps a picture with its attached camera. That photo is then scanned...
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There's no shortage of options in the DIY micro-PC market, one that Raspberry Pi arguably spearheaded over five-years-ago with the release of its first unit. Since that time, a lot of competition has risen to the surface, including none other than Taiwan's GIGABYTE, a company that knows a thing or two about developing motherboards worth using. The GA-SBCAP3450 is an iterative design that builds on the initial release last year. Notably, the biggest upgrade includes the boost to a quad-core processor, a rather gargantuan leap from a dual-core. That chip, Intel's Celeron N3450, can boost up to 2.2GHz, so it has a fair amount of oomph for such a small form-factored PC. While this 14.6cm x 10.2cm...
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Artificial intelligence has been around for decades, though more recently tech companies have been ramping up their efforts to bolster AI and expand the category into new fields. There is no doubt that many of tomorrow's products and services will leverage AI to some extent. In an effort to promote this way of thinking, Google this week announced updated kits for its AIY Projects initiative that now include Raspberry Pi WH hardware. Google launched AIY Projects last year to help makers jump on the AI bandwagon, with two do-it-yourself kits that continue to see demand, especially from the STEM audience where both parents and teachers are seeing the benefit of using them as tools in the classroom....
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Google is no stranger to the Raspberry Pi platform, as witnessed by its Artificial Intelligence Yourself (AIY) Projects initiative. Today, the company is launching a new product under the AIY umbrella that is called the Vision Kit. The AIY Vision Kit includes a VisionBonnet circuit board, RGB button, piezo speaker, macro/wide lens and a cardboard outer shell (among other things). You will have to provide a Raspberry Pi Zero W, a Raspberry Pi Camera, a power supply and an SD card. However, once you have all the necessary components together, the VisionBonnet's onboard Intel Movidius MA2450 vision processing unit is able to get to work. Using Google's included software, tinkerers will find three...
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Education startup pi-top has rolled out a revised version of its take on a Raspberry Pi-powered laptop. According to pi-top, the modular laptop is designed to help students learn how to code, and give them experience with piecing together electronic components. Perhaps that most intriguing aspect of the laptop its sliding keyboard, which gives users direct access to the device’s internal components. In addition, this allows access to a modular rail mounting system for custom-built invention projects. Playing up on the tinker spirit of the laptop, an Inventor's Kit is included with electrical components necessary to complete DIY projects. Three of these projects are included: Music Master, Smart...
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Intel has always been an interesting company to watch, but lately, we've been looking at how it's adjusting focus to better handle the current competitive landscape. On the CPU side, the fact that AMD is more competitive than ever has been well-documented, both on the desktop side and in the enterprise. Intel has already reduced its focus in some key places, such as wearables. In one example of readjusted focus, the company is now targeting augmented reality as the next big thing it can play a part in. But we're not through with the deaths yet, as today we learn of yet another in the Intel product family: Arduino 101. This DIY tinker board was first revealed a couple of years ago, and with a...
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If you're a Raspberry Pi user who's never changed the default password of the "pi" user, then heed this warning: change it. A brand new piece of malware has hit the web, called "Linux.MulDrop.14", and it preys on those who haven't secured their devices properly. Linux.MulDrop.14 looks to be a simple piece of malware, but what it does wouldn't be acceptable by any RPi owner. After scanning for RPis with an open (and default) SSH port, the "pi" user is logged into (if the password is left default), and the password is subsequently changed. After that, the malware installs ZMap and sshpass software, and then it configures itself. The ultimate goal of Linux.MulDrop.14 is to make digital money for...
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It looks as though the Raspberry Pi has yet another challenger, and it comes via a crowd-funded Kickstarter campaign. Called the UP Core, the miniature developer board is being billed as the world’s smallest quad-core, single-board x86 computer. At the heart of the UP Core, which measures just 56.50mm x 66mm, is a powerful (for its size) Intel Atom x5-Z8350 quad-core processor running at 1.44GHz (1.92GHz Boost). The system can be configured with up to 4GB of RAM and up to 64GB of onboard eMMC storage. With regards to connectivity, you’ll find HDMI, eDP, two MIPI-CSI camera interface ports, one USB 3.0 host and 2 USB 2.0 pin headers. Wireless connectivity is handled via 802.11n and Bluetooth 4.0...
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Raspberry Pi and CoderDojo are investing in the next generation of programmers. The two foundations are joining together in a collaboration that will help young people all over the world learn how to code and be more creative with technology. According to Phillip Colligan, the CEO of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, “Bringing together Raspberry Pi, Code Club, and CoderDojo will create the largest global effort to get young people involved in computing and digital making.” Their goal is to increase the number of CoderDojo locations to 5,000 by the end of 2020. Image from: Raspberry Pi Foundation BlogCoderDojo is a network of coding clubs for children between the ages of seven and seventeen. The first...
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Are you a do-it-yourself fiend that is always looking for a new project to tackle? Well, Google is calling out to you with its new Artificial Intelligence Yourself (AIY) Projects initiative, which will allow Makers to get their hands dirty with DIY AI projects. The first fruit produced by Google’s AIY program is Voice Kit, which leverages the power of the Raspberry Pi platform and gives you complete access to the Google Assistant. When you obtain a kit, you’ll be supplied with the following components: Google Voice Hardware Accessory on Top (HAT) accessory board Stereo microphone Voice HAT board Arcade-style push button 3-inch speaker All necessary wiring Custom cardboard case You will have...
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Just over a month ago, Raspberry Pi upgraded its Zero with 802.11n and Bluetooth 4.0 wireless connectivity, dubbing it the Zero W. This new wireless functionality came with an added cost, doubling the price of the computing board from $5 to $10. Not to be outdone, Chinese company Orange Pi has come out with its own counter to the Raspberry Pi Zero W. The Orange Pi 2G-IoT incorporates 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1, but it goes one step further by providing a 2G radio for cellular connectivity. The 2G radio supports GSM/GPRS data connections, and there is a SIM card slot on the underside of the board. Other features include an RDA Micro 8810PL ARM Cortex A5 32-bit processor running at 1GHz, 256MB...
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In many regards, the Raspberry Pi family of computers is quite modest, which is of course by design. For a relatively small price, you can pick up a fully-functional RPi single board computer that can be used for many purposes, whether it is for learning, creating homemade bots, or cobbling together your own purpose-built media player or server solution. Given RPi's flexibility, it should come as no surprise that the open source Linux-power min PC has proven to be such a popular computing platform for scores of consumers, businesses and educational institutions. Just how popular? Well, while RPis themselves might be "modest", their sales figures are anything but. In fact, the total number of...
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When it comes to minuscule computing boards for hobbyists, Raspberry Pi is typically the first company to come to mind (although ASUS is looking to change that with its Tinker Board). The boards are very affordable, incredibly versatile and can be integrated into seemingly endless applications. Today, Raspberry Pi is introducing the newest member to its family with the addition of the Raspberry Pi Zero W. This new variant of the Zero adds Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, hence the “W” designation. The Zero originally debuted in 2015, and gained a camera connector in mid-2016 while retaining the same $5 price tag. The addition of wireless connectivity does double the price to $10, but that it’s...
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Hot on the heels of our coverage of an in-depth guide showing you how to make your own "NES Classic Edition" with a Raspberry Pi, ASUS strikes with a DIY kit that it says is about twice as fast as the RPi 3. The DIY retro gaming arena could be heating up with more powerful options! The Tinker Board, as ASUS calls it, sports a Rockchip RK3288 SoC clocked at 1.2GHz. According to ASUS, and its GeekBench test, this chip is almost 2x faster than the RPi 3's Broadcom BCM2837, which is also clocked at 1.2GHz. Both chips are quad-core, but the Rockchip could help significantly with more processor-intensive tasks. ASUS has other one-ups to talk about, too. Versus the RPi 3, the Tinker Board...
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The Raspberry Pi foundation has found great success with the latest iteration of its mainline product, the RPi 3. Now, the time has come to see that RPi 3 converted to become CM3, or Compute Module 3. Whereas the mainline Raspberry Pi can be easily tinkered with by anyone, Compute Modules are even greater DIY devices, most appropriate for vendors to use in their own products. One such example is NEC, which is deploying a CM into an upcoming display. Compute Module 3 shares the same basic specs as the RPi 3, which is to say it includes a Broadcom BCM2835 SoC clocked at 1.2GHz, 1GB of memory, and 4GB of on-module eMMC flash. The company is also releasing a "Lite" version (CM3L) that moves the SD...
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If you have an old computer that you'd love to breathe some new life into, there are plenty of different Linux distributions to choose from. None other than the Raspberry Pi Foundation has just added its own distribution to that list with PIXEL. A few months ago, the RPi Foundation released PIXEL for use on its RPi devices, and after a successful launch, its founder decided to invest time and energy into a fork of the OS that can run on regular x86 machines. This version of PIXEL is identical in all regards to the RPi version with the exception of missing Wolfram Mathematica and Minecraft licenses. It seems like every company out there wants a product called "Pixel", but RPi Foundation has come...
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We hate to break it to you, but your PC is not as secure as you think. That remains true even if you lock your computer with a password. Should you leave your system unattended, it would be possible for someone to hack into it in less than a minute using a $5 Raspberry Pi device. The culprit doesn't even need advanced knowledge of computer security, all they have to do is plug the inexpensive gadget into a USB port and wait. The nefarious tool is called PoisonTap. It was created by Samy Kamkar, a well known hacker and developer who's interested in privacy and security research. His newest tool underscores how ridiculously insecure today's systems really are. In less time than it takes to brew...
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An increasing number of smart devices are headed to market as the Internet of Things (IoT) takes hold. That includes everyday appliances—perhaps one day your toaster will pull images from the web to bake scorch them into your morning toast—along with more traditional electronics devices, such as monitors and displays. Working towards the latter, NEC has teamed up with Raspberry Pi on a new generation of large format displays with smart functionality. NEC in Europe said it will be sharing an open platform modular approach with Raspberry Pi, one that will enable a seamless integration of the latter's devices into the former's displays. Specifically, NEC is interested in Raspberry Pi's newest low-cost...
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