Raspberry Pi Zero

[NLxAROSA]

Ok, so last week the Raspberry Pi Zero was launched. A USD 5,- computer (GPB 4,- if you prefer) that is a bit more powerful than the original Raspberry Pi.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/pi-zero/

Not surprisingly, all of them (20,000) were sold out in 24 hours. Is this the ultimate tinkering device (for now)?

The original Raspberry Pi is quite capable for running as a media center or do some light Office/Internet stuff on Linux. Definitely getting my hands on one, once they become available again. Oh, and they gave them away with last weeks edition of The MagPi magazine. In the old days we were lucky to get a CD or something attached to a magazine, but these days there's a friggin' computer attached to it!

What's your opinion?

 

[Jet Badger]

Fantastic what they crammed into such price tag. I'd love to get one, make a "smart" TV out of this old flatscreen or something.

Shame local vendors tend to overprice things like this by two or tree hundred percent. I wonder what price the chinese knocker-off'ers will come up?

 

[Blitz24]

You can't do much with it at $5 as a standalone. Certainly can't build a computer. Too bare bones.

 

[BobK]

You can't do much with it at $5 as a standalone. Certainly can't build a computer. Too bare bones.

You can do as much as you could with the first generation RasPis. Just plug in your USB keyboard and video, just like with the original.

One thing I do not see, though, is a network connector.

 

[Blitz24]

You can do as much as you could with the first generation RasPis. Just plug in your USB keyboard and video, just like with the original.

One thing I do not see, though, is a network connector.

From what I was told by a co-worker who bought one, that doesn't come with it.

 

[NLxAROSA]

Yep, doesn't come with network out of the box. Guess you can only fit so much in 5 bucks. So you will need a Linux supported USB-to-ethernet dongle if you want to network it.

This board will be perfect for my custom built virtual analog synth though.

 

[bluemoon_19]

Computerphile did a video covering this

 

[sesselpupser]

The big boards have USB hubs and ethernet built in, so I guess for the Zero they just removed everything downstream of the SoC's own USB (since it only has the one native port). You can get cheap plug-in USB hubs with ethernet controllers that would work nicely with the Zero, though, so that's cool.

The way I see it, the Zero is really kind of a target board for some applications while the big boards are like development boards for it since it's possible to get a Zero to boot off of an SD card from a big board. A while ago I wanted to put a Pi in a laptop and the Zero would've been the perfect board for it had it existed at the time. It's also perfect for projects like an audio streamer built into some speakers or something where you wouldn't want to spend £30 on a more flexible board.

I wonder if they'll do a Zero 2 with the quad core from the Pi 2? That'd be something...

 

[NLxAROSA]

I suppose in a year or two we'll see that coming. Pretty soon computers will be priced by the kilogram.

 

[Grayfox]

I suppose in a year or two we'll see that coming. Pretty soon computers will be priced by the kilogram.

If you pay $5 for a 9gram computer that would make it $111/KG

 

[Rallywagon]

I've been a big fan of the RPi for a couple of years now. Lots of fun these things. I'm personally going to be moving up to the RPi 2 though.
That said, this little guy is cool. As a PC, a RPi or RPi2 would be better, since for this you will need a USB hub and some micro male to normal female USB cables and a USB Ethernet dongle to make it useable. However, as a micro control for projects such as a weather station, light controller, or a fairly unlimited list of other projects, this thing is perfect. So much smaller than the already dainty RPi, and the price tag to match, this thing is pretty awesome.

 

[NLxAROSA]

I can recommend the RPi2. Got one running here and a variety of images/SD-cards/purposes. Retropie with a set of old ROMS/Amiga/PS1 games is pretty epic.

 

[Rallywagon]

I've drawn up plans to build an arcade using the Rpi2. Just haven't got the space for it. PS1 games work well though?

 

[NLxAROSA]

Depends on the game. GT1 and 2 work perfectly. I also tried an NFS game and that didn't work so well. But the RPi2 with the RetroPie distro is certainly a good place to start. Very easy to setup.

 

[Robin]

I haven't bought one before and I'm in two minds about whether to get the zero (when it becomes available again) or the 2 model b. The zero is quite bare bones and the quad core with all the ports one is kinda tempting just for ease of use.

 

[Rallywagon]

Unless you have a specific need for the zero, I would suggest getting the RPi2. More powerful, comes with header pins in the GPIO slots and no need for a USB hub, ethernet dongles or USB to USB micro adapters.

 

[BobK]

I'd agree with @Rallywagon's advice here. The RPi2 is a much more powerful device and easier to connect needed stuff to (like keyboards and mice). The RPi0 is performance-wise on a par with the original RPi.

 

[sesselpupser]

If you read Hackaday with any regularity you've probably witnessed this, but... Why are apparently so many people buying Zeros and moaning that they don't have enough USB ports/ethernet/etc.? It's a different product with a different purpose and you'd expect the type of person who reads or writes Hackaday to understand that. But no, it's full of comments like "why would you buy this when x is $10 more and has WiFi, BLE, USB ports (plural)...". Also plenty of people apparently lack the ability to understand that while yes, the cost of one Pi Zero is more expensive than just the price of the Pi and an SD card for it, but you can RE-USE the USB OTG and Mini HDMI adaptors when you've got the Zero embedded in whatever you had in mind.

Grr.