The Raspberry Pi Micro-Computer Gets An Upgrade

The Raspberry Pi foundation announced the release of a new micro computer yesterday called the Raspberry Pi Model B+. Since I’m a big fan of pie, this is music to my ears (ah, nothing better than low hanging fruit).

For those who don’t know, a Raspberry Pi is a credit card sized computer and that can do––on a smaller scale––a lot of what desktops and laptops can do. Like playing games, word processing, and playing high definition video. The intended goal of the Raspberry Pi foundation is to teach children to better understand computers, incredibly important in a world increasingly influenced by them. But it’s been used for really interesting projects, like a making beer can keyboard. (More cool things here.)

The B+ is being called the final version of the two year old Model B. Instead of taking a whole new direction, the foundation decided to take what they had and just make a better chip (as the grade boost would imply). As for the improvements, here they are:

1) The B+ has four USB ports, as opposed to the B’s two. This eliminates the need for a USB hub necessary for users who wanted more utility range.

2) There are now 40 pins on the GPIO header as opposed to 26, allowing more access routes to the microchip.

3) The B+ takes microSD cards over SD cards now––which is a good move for creating an even more compact chip.

4) The overall power consumption of the Raspberry has been reduced, which is good for small-scale projects.

5) The audio and video plugs have been combined into one jack and given a low-noise power supply.

6) There are also some mounting holes on each corner now––so yes, it can be screwed into your alien-protection helmet.

The Model B+ is priced now at $35, the same as the Model B. And since these Brits just seem to be gentlemen, the Model B is going to be kept in production. This will allow those who have the older chip incorporated into their designs to continue to function. I’m personally a big proponent of taking a good product and making it better, which is what the folks at Raspberry Pi seem to have done. So cheers, chaps.

Source: TheNextWeb