The Raspberry Pi Foundation has been making big moves to ensure their credit-card sized computer gets into more hands, and the $US35 price tag on the new Pi 2 should attract a wave of tech lovers.
A 900MHz quad-core system-on-chip replaces the Raspberry Pi Model B’s single 700MHz ARM11 that, giving an impressive bit of processing power that, along with 1GB of SDRAM Micron, ensures the Pi 2 is one of the best value-for-money PCs around. Remember, $US35.
“I think it’s a usable PC now,” Raspberry Pi Foundation head Eben Upton told The Register.
“It was always the case that you could use a Raspberry Pi 1 as a PC but you had to say ‘this is a great PC in so far as it cost me 35 bucks’. We’ve removed the caveat that you had to be a bit forgiving with it. Now it’s just good.”
Open-source libraries and applications, including WebKit, LibreOffice, Scratch, Pixman, XBMC/Kodi, libav and PyPy, are compatible with the Raspberry Pi 2, while an ARMv6-compatible rebuild of Debian is included with hardware floating point support.
Adding to the value, is the fact the Raspberry Pi 2-compatible version of Windows 10 will be available free of charge to makers.
“We’re excited to announce that we are expanding our Windows Developer Program for IoT by delivering a version of Windows 10 that supports Raspberry Pi 2. This release of Windows 10 will be free for the Maker community through the Windows Developer Program for IoT,” the Windows announcement reads.
“We are excited about our partnership with the Raspberry Pi Foundation and delivering a version of Windows 10 that supports Raspberry Pi 2, and we will be sharing more details about our Windows 10 plans for IoT in the coming months.”
Raspberry says their entry level Model A+ will continue to be sold for $US20. They add that although their latest board is called Raspberry Pi 2 Model B, there is no plan to release Raspberry Pi 2 Model A before the end of the year.
The Pi 2, costing Australian customers $38, can be ordered from http://au.element14.com/.
