With greater than 34 million items bought, the Raspberry Pi is just not solely one of many world’s hottest computer systems; it’s additionally one of the vital essential. Initially designed to assist children study know-how, this cheap single-board system is the main selection for makers, builders and hobbyists who need to do the whole lot from constructing industrial robots to organising retro arcade machines.
Whether or not you’re eight or 80, in case you love know-how, the Raspberry Pi is made for you. And with fashions ranging in value from $4 to $75, anybody can afford to purchase one. Right here’s what it’s essential know to benefit from Raspberry Pi.
Selecting a Mannequin and Getting Began with Raspberry Pi
When you don’t personal a Pi, it is best to positively get one. We’ve got an in depth information that can assist you determine which Raspberry Pi to purchase, however in case you simply need the short reply: get the Raspberry Pi 4 B, ideally with 4GB of RAM ($55), although you may accept the 2GB ($35) config if you wish to get monetary savings. You may as well splurge for the Raspberry Pi 4 (8GB) if you wish to future-proof your funding, although few apps benefit from all that reminiscence.
The Raspberry Pi Pico collection of boards (which incorporates the $6 Raspberry Pi Pico W) carries the Pi title however is a very totally different type of board. This $4 product is a microcontroller like Arduino (see Raspberry Pi Pico vs Arduino) and has no working system; you program it by connecting it to a different pc. On the coronary heart of the Pico is the primary “Pi Silicon” within the type of the RP2040. The Raspberry Pi Pico vary are nice for electronics initiatives however is just not what most individuals consider after they say “Raspberry Pi.”
For each Pi mannequin, besides the Raspberry Pi Pico, you’ll additionally want:
- A appropriate AC adapter. For the Pi 4, you want a USB Sort-C charger (see our checklist of finest USB-C chargers) with 5 volts and not less than 3 amps. For earlier Pi fashions, a 2.5 amp, 5-volt charger with a micro USB interface matches the invoice.
When you select to do a Raspberry Pi headless set up, which helps you to management the Pi from one other pc, these are the one belongings you’ll want.
Nevertheless, if need to use the Pi as standalone, you’ll clearly want:
- Keyboard / Mouse: The Pi has USB ports you should utilize to attach these and, in case you get a Raspberry Pi 400, the keyboard is a part of the chassis. All latest fashions besides the Raspberry Pi Zero (non-W) and the Pico have Bluetooth you should utilize as effectively. We like utilizing wi-fi keyboards which have built-in pointing units for our Pi, and the most effective of those is the Lenovo ThinkPad Trackpoint Keyboard II, which is tremendous compact and connects by way of each Bluetooth and a pair of.4-GHz.
- Display: Whereas you should purchase screens that connect to the Pi’s GPIO pins, the best factor is to run an HDMI cable from the Raspberry Pi to a monitor or TV. When you’ve got the Pi 4, you’ll want a micro HDMI to HDMI cable, as a result of that board has micro HDMI out. The Pi Zero / Zero W use mini HDMI out.
When you’ve obtained a Raspberry Pi Pico, all you will want is a pc to attach it to (by way of USB) and certain you will need to solder on GPIO pins, which it comes with out. We have got an incredible checklist of the finest soldering irons so that you can solder the pins to your Raspberry Pi Pico / Zero.
We’ve obtained an in depth article that explains methods to arrange your Raspberry Pi for the primary time and, for Pico customers, methods to arrange a Raspberry Pi Pico and the Raspberry Pi Pico W. The entire course of ought to take not more than 10 minutes. If you wish to get monetary savings and desk area, we advocate making an attempt a headless set up of the Pi and logging into your Pi out of your major PC.
What You Do with a Raspberry Pi
The concept of sub-$50 pc sounds cool at first, however what precisely do you do with one? For many adults, even the highest-end Raspberry Pi, the Raspberry Pi 4, isn’t highly effective sufficient to function a major PC. Nevertheless, its small dimension, low-power utilization and talent to hook up with every kind of digital parts by way of its 40-pin GPIO port make it best for duties {that a} PC couldn’t carry out.
The Raspberry Pi Pico can do lots of the identical initiatives and generally it is the easier selection. If all you are doing is an easy repeating process that does not contain A.I., a whole lot of processing or a fancy interface, the Pico is cheaper, decrease energy and it begins / shuts down immediately. The Raspberry Pi Pico may even grow to be an emulator for Nineteen Eighties dwelling computer systems and play a fairly imply recreation of Doom.
Each month, we doc the most effective new Raspberry Pi initiatives, from all varieties of Pi. The checklist of finest Raspberry Pi initiatives for April 2021 features a Pico-powered mechanical keyboard, an A.I. cat detector gun and an internet chessboard. Listed below are just a few notable use circumstances that most individuals can strive at dwelling or work.
- Youngsters studying pc: The Raspberry Pi was initially designed to get youngsters enthusiastic about programming by giving them a reasonable, infinitely configurable pc. The Raspberry Pi runs Scratch Desktop, the offline model of the kid-friendly Scratch programming language and has built-in Python assist. It’s additionally highly effective sufficient for youths to surf the online, play some video games or write faculty papers.
We revealed a evaluation of the Elecrow CrowPi2, a fully-functional Raspberry Pi laptop computer and studying equipment that has a smorgasbord or sensors accessible if you elevate up the keyboard. It comes with a collection of useful classes for each Scratch and Python 3 that present children methods to manipulate these sensors by way of code.
- Picture-recognition Digicam: Increased-end Raspberry Pis such because the Raspberry Pi 3B+ and 4 are highly effective sufficient to acknowledge objects and classify them, based mostly on machine studying. You possibly can acknowledge the whole lot from license plates to cucumbers and even the human face. We’ve got a tutorial on methods to practice your Raspberry Pi for Facial recognition.
- KVM Over IP: With just a few easy components and the appropriate software program, you may flip a Raspberry Pi right into a KVM Over IP, a tool that permits you to remotely handle a PC, even when that pc would not have a bootable working system. Use this to entry the opposite pc’s BIOS and even set up Home windows / Linux on it.
Including Raspberry Pi HATs
If you wish to do make some actually cool Raspberry Pi initiatives, it helps to put on a HAT. A HAT ({Hardware} Hooked up on Prime) is an growth board that plugs straight into the Raspberry Pi’s 40 GPIO pins and offers you extra performance resembling lights, motors, sensors, cameras or a display.
We preserve an inventory of the finest Raspberry Pi HATs, which incorporates the whole lot from general-purpose boards that allow you to add sensors simply to HATs which have colourful LED matrixes. Our favourite HAT general proper now could be the Pimoroni Explorer HAT Professional, which has built-in motor controllers, 4 analog inputs (for potentiometers or joysticks) and 4 capacitive contact pads.
Noteworthy Raspberry Pi Fashions
There have been greater than a dozen totally different Raspberry Pi fashions launched for the reason that unique, the Mannequin B, launched in spring 2012. The corporate continues actively manufacturing all of them however the unique Mannequin A and B, as a result of there are some corporations that also use these legacy boards in their very own merchandise. Nevertheless, there are actually just a few fashions that the typical shopper ought to think about getting proper now.
- Raspberry Pi 4 B with 2, 4 or 8GB of RAM ($35, $55 or $75): That is the newest mannequin, and the 8GB version is the top-of-the line. If you’re planning on doing bodily computing (construct a robotic or gadget), 2GB ought to be positive, however 4GB is healthier in case you plan to do net browsing and run packages on the Pi itself. The 8GB mannequin is overkill for many present customers, however as extra 64-bit software program comes out, it should grow to be extra helpful. See our Raspberry Pi 4 B information for lots extra element on the top-of-the-line Raspberry Pi.
- Raspberry Pi Pico ($4) could be very totally different from all of its siblings as it is a microcontroller fairly than a Linux pc. Like Arduino or ESP32, it has no working system of its personal and requires you to add code by connecting it to an present PC, Mac or full-fledged Raspberry Pi.
The Pico is a better option for some initiatives than a conventional Pi, as a result of it has analog-to-digital conversion built-in, begins immediately and makes use of little or no energy. The Pico is powered by the RP2040 chip, Raspberry Pi’s personal customized CPU. Different distributors can license the RP2040 and make their very own Pico-style boards.
- Raspberry Pi Zero W ($10): That is the least highly effective Pi, but it surely’s additionally tremendous tiny (concerning the dimension of a USB Flash drive) and tremendous low-cost, so you should utilize it in a whole lot of totally different initiatives. It has each Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, so it may hook up with your community and units.
There’s additionally a Raspberry Pi Zero that has no wi-fi connectivity, however we wouldn’t advocate that as a result of it’s not less expensive. When you plan to make use of the GPIO pins, you’ll need to connect your individual (until you purchase one with them presoldered, which is uncommon). See our Raspberry Pi Zero information for extra data on methods to get began with Zero and what you are able to do with it.
- Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W ($15): When you want the facility of a Raspberry Pi 3 however the smaller type issue of the Zero then the Zero 2 W is for you. The shape issue is pure Zero, however the chip on the coronary heart is essentially the identical because the Raspberry Pi 3 and which means now we have loads of energy for a lot of initiatives. The one limiting issue is the fairly meagre 512MB
- Raspberry Pi 3 B / 3 B+ ($35): These had been the current-generation Raspberry Pis up till June 2019 and they’re nonetheless simple to search out on the market. They’re slower than Raspberry Pi 4s, however they’ve some pluses in that they use common HDMI cables (fairly than micro HDMI), they usually run cooler than the Pi 4. Whereas they’re comparable, the three B+ is 200 MHz sooner than the three B and has higher Wi-Fi.
Additional down the web page, now we have a whole desk of all of the Raspberry Pi fashions ever made.
Tutorials and Help
Maybe the most effective factor concerning the Raspberry Pi is the neighborhood of fans that stand behind it. When you’re in search of assist, you could find assist on Tom’s {Hardware}’s personal Raspberry Pi discussion board, the Raspberry Pi’s official boards or on Reddit’s /r/raspberry_pi.
There are tons of nice tutorials on the Web that make it easier to customise the Pi and use it to your particular wants. We’ve got revealed just a few useful how-tos right here at Tom’s {Hardware}, each for normal Raspberry Pis and Picos.
Non-Pico Tutorials
Pico Tutorials
GPIO Pins
Maybe an important characteristic of the Raspberry Pi is its set of 40 GPIO (Normal Objective Enter / Output) pins. The Raspberry Pi GPIO pins help you hook up with every kind of electronics, together with LED lights, sensors, motors and controllers.
Every of the 40 pins serves a special goal; some are grounds, others present 3.3 or 5 Volts of juice and nonetheless others can ship knowledge to totally different sorts of units.
To be taught what every pin does, see our article and chart on the Raspberry Pi GPIO pinout.
The Raspberry Pi PIco additionally has 40 GPIO pins, however the format and performance are totally different and, in methods, extra expansive. The Pico has three, on-board ADC (analog-to-digital) converters that enable it to work with analog units resembling joysticks and potentiometers, with out the necessity for a further board.
Overclocking the Raspberry Pi
The Raspberry Pi was constructed for individuals who prefer to tinker so all present fashions are unlocked for overclocking, which is very easy to do. We’ve obtained an article that exhibits you methods to overclock any Raspberry Pi, together with pushing the Raspberry Pi 4 all the way in which as much as 2.147 GHz, however you’ll positively need to add a fan just like the Pimoroni Fan Shim or the 52Pi Ice Tower Cooler.
Temporary Historical past of Raspberry Pi
This world-conquering pc has some humble origins. In 2008, Raspberry Pi Founder Eben Upton began engaged on the venture in an try to easily enhance the variety of younger folks making use of to Cambridge College’s pc science program. Upton solely deliberate to make 1,000 items in whole, however when the Pi launched in 2012, there was a lot curiosity from grownup makers that the Raspberry Pi Basis, the non-profit which develops the pc, needed to mass produce it.
In 2014, the Basis launched the Raspberry Pi 1 A+ and B+, which had been the primary to have the 40-pin GPIO set all fashions nonetheless have as we speak (earlier fashions had a 26-pin set). In 2015, the Raspberry Pi 2 launched, transferring to a sooner processor and 1GB of RAM (earlier fashions had as much as 512MB). Additionally in 2015, the Pi Zero, a tiny mannequin that’s the scale of a USB stick and prices $5, hit the market. That very same 12 months a pair of rugged Raspberry Pis had been put in on the Worldwide House Station as a part of a program that lets children submit code to be run on them.
2016 noticed the launch of the Raspberry Pi 3 B, which provided a sooner processor with a 1.2 GHz clock velocity. In 2017, the Pi Zero W, which provides Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity to the Zero, appeared. And in 2019, the Raspberry Pi 4 B launched, upgrading to a quad-core, Cortex A-72-powered CPU, offering twin micro HDMI outputs and, for the primary time, 2GB and 4GB RAM capacities. In 2020, an 8GB Raspberry Pi 4 joined the lineup.
In 2021, Raspberry Pi Basis launched the Raspberry Pi Pico, a complete new type of Pi that serves as a microcontroller, fairly than a standalone pc. The Pico makes use of the RP2040 CPU, Raspberry Pi’s personal customized silicon. Different corporations may use the RP2040 on their very own boards.
Right now, after greater than 34 million Raspberry Pis have been bought, half of the items are being utilized by companies that want them to carry out industrial duties or use them as a part of merchandise. Nevertheless, youngsters and faculties are nonetheless a core constituency. In accordance with the Pi Basis, 250,000 children per week participate in Raspberry Pi competitions, golf equipment or different packages.
All Raspberry Pi Fashions
Right here’s an inventory of all main Raspberry Pi fashions launched since 2012. Be aware that the Compute Modules haven’t any ports, as a result of they’re designed to plug into customized PCBs and are often utilized by companies that construct them into merchandise.
| Mannequin | Launch | CPU | RAM | I/O Ports | Connectivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raspberry Pi Pico W | June 2022 | 133-MHz, dual-core RP2040 | 264K, 2MB storage | N/A | Infineon CYW43439 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi |
| Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W | Oct 2021 | 1 GHz, 4-core Broadcom BCM2835 Arm v7 | 512MB | Mini HDMI, 1 x Micro USB 2.0, 1 x Micro USB Energy, Zero Digicam Connector | 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi with PCB antenna Bluetooth 4.1, BLE |
| Raspberry Pi Pico | Jan 2021 | 133-MHz, dual-core RP2040 | 264K, 2MB storage | N/A | N/A |
| Raspberry Pi 400 | Nov 2020 | 1.8-GHz, 4-core Broadcom BCM2711 (Cortex-A72) | 4GB | 2 x USB 3.0, 1 x USB 2.0, 2 x micro HDMI | 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5, Gigabit Ethernet |
| Compute Module 4 | Nov 2020 | 1.5-GHz, 4-core Broadcom BCM2711 (Cortex-A72) | 1 / 2 / 4 / 8GB | N/A | 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5, Gigabit Ethernet (non-obligatory) |
| Raspberry Pi 4 B | Jun 2019 | 1.5-GHz, 4-core Broadcom BCM2711 (Cortex-A72) | 1 / 2 / 4 / 8GB | 2 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, 2 x micro HDMI, 3.5mm audio | 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5, Gigabit Ethernet |
| Compute Mannequin 3+ Lite | Jan 2019 | 1.2-GHz, 4-core Broadcom BCM2837B0 (Cortex-A53) | 1GB | N/A | N/A |
| Compute Mannequin 3+ | Jan 2019 | 1.2-GHz, 4-core Broadcom BCM2837B0 (Cortex-A53) | 1GB | N/A | N/A |
| Raspberry Pi 3 A+ | Nov 2018 | 1.4-GHz, 4-core Broadcom BCM2837B0 (Cortex-A53) | 512MB | 1 x USB 2.0, HDMI, 3.5mm audio | 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2 |
| Raspberry Pi 3 B+ | Mar 2018 | 1.4-GHz, 4-core Broadcom BCM2837B0 (Cortex-A53) | 1GB | 4 x USB 2.0, HDMI, 3.5mm audio | 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, Ethernet |
| Raspberry Pi Zero W | Feb 2017 | 1-GHz, 1-core Broadcom BCM2835 (ARM1176JZF-S) | 512MB | 1x micro USB, mini HDMI | 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.1 |
| Compute Module 3 Lite | Jan 2017 | 1.2-GHz, 4-core Broadcom BCM2837 (Cortex-A53) | 1GB | N/A | N/A |
| Compute Module 3 | Jan 2017 | 1.2-GHz, 4-core Broadcom BCM2837 (Cortex-A53) | 1GB | N/A | N/A |
| Raspberry Pi 2 B (v 1.2) | Oct 2016 | 900-MHz, 4-core, Broadcom BCM2837 (Cortex-A53) | 1GB | 4x USB 2.0, 3.5mm audio, HDMI | 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.1, Ethernet |
| Raspberry Pi Zero (v 1.3) | Could 2016 | 1-GHz, 1-core Broadcom BCM2835 (ARM1176JZF-S) | 512MB | 1x micro USB, mini HDMI | N/A |
| Raspberry Pi 3 B | Feb 2016 | 1.2-GHz, 4-core, Broadcom BCM2837 (Cortex-A53) | 1GB | 4x USB 2.0, 3.5mm audio, HDMI | 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.1, Ethernet |
| Raspberry Pi Zero (v 1.2) | Oct 2015 | 1-GHz, 1-core Broadcom BCM2835 (ARM1176JZF-S) | 512MB | 1x micro USB, mini HDMI | N/A |
| Raspberry Pi 2 B | Feb 2015 | 900-MHz, 4-Core Broadcom BCM2836 (Cortex-A7) | 1GB | 4x USB, 3.5mm audio, HDMI | Ethernet |
| Raspberry Pi 1 A+ | Nov 2014 | 700 Mhz, 1-core Broadcom BCM2835 (ARM1176JZF-S) | 512MB | 1x USB 2.0, 3.5mm audio, HDMI, composite video | N/A |
| Raspberry Pi 1 B+ | Jul 2014 | 700 Mhz, 1-core Broadcom BCM2835 (ARM1176JZF-S) | 512MB | 4x USB 2.0, HDMI, composite video | Ethernet |
| Compute Module 1 | Apr 2014 | 700 Mhz, 1-core Broadcom BCM2835 (ARM1176JZF-S) | 512MB | N/A | N/A |
| Raspberry Pi 1 A | Feb 2013 | 700 Mhz, 1-core Broadcom BCM2835 (ARM1176JZF-S) | 256MB | 1x USB 2.0, HDMI, composite video, 3.5mm audio | N/A |
| Raspberry Pi 1 B | Mar 2012 | 700 Mhz, 1-core Broadcom BCM2835 (ARM1176JZF-S) | 512MB | 2x USB 2.0, HDMI, 3.5mm audio | Ethernet |