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Raspberry Pi Model A hits Europe with $25 price tag, expected worldwide soon
Looking for a slimmed-down Raspberry Pi with a single USB port, 256MB of RAM, no Ethernet and one-third the power consumption of a Model B board? You're probably in the market for Model A -- a $25 alternative designed for use in battery or solar-powered devices like remote sensors, WiFi repeaters, robots and so on. Europeans currently have exclusive access to the cheaper Raspberry Pi flavor, which according to an Adafruit test consumes only 100 mAh of juice (compared to about 300 mAh for the Model B, due to Ethernet power requirements). Beginning today, hobbyists can get their fix directly from RS Components and Element 14, with pricing fixed around £19, including VAT. According to the manufacturer's blog post, Model A exclusivity will be short-lived, with the device coming to the rest of the world "very soon." If you're based across the pond, however, you can hit up our source links to place your order now.
Raspberry Pi creator doesn't expect a sequel in 2013
If you were hoping for a full-fledged Raspberry Pi sequel this year, you'll have to keep waiting. Designer Eben Upton tells ZDNet that, while there should eventually be a replacement, he doesn't expect one in 2013. Both software tweaks and upgrades like the Model B are reportedly doing the job -- and it wouldn't be right to "orphan" the 700,000 existing owners with a new platform, Upton says. He isn't worried about the Cubieboard and other current rivals, as they have yet to be as fast as their raw numbers suggest. We won't hide our disappointment at missing out on a quick revamp, but we know what they say about things that aren't broken.
Raspberry Pi's $25 Model A enters production, could be in tinkerers' projects early next year
Raspberry Pi's Model B computer will be no stranger to regular readers. We've seen it turn up in all sorts of projects, and generally stretched in various directions. If you were holding out for the cheaper, lower specced Model A however, your time is near. A recent post on the official Raspberry Pi site confirms that the first Model A samples are rolling off the production line. The main differences? Whereas Model B has two USB ports and 512 MB of RAM plus Ethernet, Model A sports only the one port, has half the RAM, and no Ethernet connection, making it more power economical as well as $10 cheaper. Price likely isn't the issue here, but if you were after the even more stripped back version, it's estimated they'll be ready to purchase online early next year.
Raspberry Pi hands-on and Eben Upton interview at Maker Faire (video)
Unless you've been hiding under a rock lately, we're pretty sure you've heard about the Raspberry Pi by now -- a $25 credit-card sized PC that brings ARM/Linux to the Arduino form factor. As a refresher, the system features a 700MHz Broadcom BCM2835 SoC with an ARM11 CPU, a Videocore 4 GPU (which handles HD H.264 video and OpenGL ES 2.0) and 256MB RAM. The board includes an SD card slot, HDMI output, composite video jack, 3.5mm audio socket, micro-USB power connector and GPIO header. Model A ($25) comes with one USB port, while Model B ($35) provides two USB ports and a 100BaseT Ethernet socket. Debian is recommended, but Raspberry Pi can run most ARM-compatible 32-bit OSes. This past weekend at Maker Faire Bay Area 2012 we ran into Eben Upton, Executive Director of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and took the opportunity to spend some quality time with a production board and to discuss this incredible PC. We touched upon the origins of the system (inspired by the BBC Micro, one of the ARM founders' projects), Moore's law, the wonders of simple computers and upcoming products / ideas -- including Adafruit's Pi Plate and Raspberry Pi's prototype camera add-on. On the subject of availability, the company expects that "there will be approximately 200,000 units in the field by the end of June". Take a look at our hands-on gallery below and our video interview after the break.%Gallery-155800%
Raspberry Pi credit-card sized Linux PCs are on sale now, $25 Model A gets a RAM bump
The good news is that Raspberry Pi's highly anticipated teeny-tiny Linux computers are on sale now, just barely making the promised February launch window (good thing it's a leap year). The better news, is that the $25 Model A version has gotten an upgrade from the planned 128Mb of RAM to 256Mb matching the Model B, which still throws in an extra USB port and an Ethernet hookup for $10 more. Unfortunately there is some bad news as well, while the Model A is going into production "immediately", cheapskates will have to hold off a little, as the Model B is the only one on sale right now. Built on a Broadcom BCM2835 700MHz ARM11 processor, they're intended as a cheap computing option that require only a keyboard and RCA or HDMI-connected display to give a full desktop experience including gaming and HD video playback . The team also announced it has secured manufacturing and distribution agreements that should guarantee a steady supply, without the previous limitation of 10,000 at a time batches. Need more technical details? Hit the FAQ page below, or put down a few Hamiltons -- they can be ordered directly from distributors Premier Farnell / Element 14 and RS Components -- and find out how it runs (Fedora, Debian and ArchLinux are currently supported) for yourself.Update: It appears the servers of both retailers are completely crushed by traffic at the moment, and we're told RS will ship in the UK only. Good luck in your struggle with that most difficult of questions: Keep mashing F5, or get some sleep and try again in the morning? Raspberry Pi's Twitter account reports Farrell appears to have already sold out, so keep that in mind. A press release and video demo from the BBC follow after the break.
Production begins for Raspberry Pi's $35 Model B Linux computer
Good news for everyone who's hoping to lay down petty (or exorbitant) change for a relatively well-equipped Linux computer: the Raspberry Pi Model B has officially begun production. Unlike the Model A, this $35 computer board features both an Ethernet adapter and 256MB of RAM (rather than 128MB). Although the company had initially hoped to produce these devices in England, it has since decided to move production to China and Taiwan to satisfy both cost restraints and demand. Designed with the budding programmer in mind, the $25 Model A will enter production at a later time. Unfortunately, there's no firm ship date as the company hasn't yet decided whether to receive its order of 10,000 units in one push or incremental amounts. They tell us to stay tuned, and we're more than happy to oblige.
