DonsDeals Blog

Don's Deals Blog

I Have a Raspberry Pi. That it used to build a Net Video Watching Box, for my Mom. I got the second iteration. With the 750MHz Processor and 512MB of Ram. I like the little Board. Except the it was not able to keep up with the ever growing System Requirements of XBMC. After a couple years of Updates and Upgrades. The Pi, just can't handle XBMC, now called Kodi. Then I discovered Berry Boot, BerryBoot v2.0 - bootloader / universal operating system installer. And was easily able to install Open ELEC. Which is a light version of XBMC. This worked for several months. But, now the Pic wont Play hardly any Videos. Really only SD Videos, now HD. I'm sure this has allot to to with Bloat in the Video Codecs. More than anything. So, I switched to a full grown PC. It's a 2.8GHz Celeron, Single Core. With 2 Gig or Ram and a 128MB Video Card. With a DVI-D Video Output. I just use a DVI to HDMI Converter, to send the Video to the TV. I have it Setup. Running Fedora 21 and the XFCE Desktop. This worked well, on Amazon Prime, YouTube and most other Video Sites. But, now Amazon, has Stopped Supporting Firefox, in Linux. They only Support Chrome. But, Chrome is a Resource Hog. It saw it up most all of the 2Gig of Memory, in my system, last night. So now, Amazon Prime, wont work on that System. The audio and video keeps getting out of sync and Amazon Video is unwatchable. YouTube and most other Video Sites. Still work fine in Firefox. I got that PC for Free. In return for helping my neighbor with his PC Problems. I have several older PC's the he gave me, over the years. So, this makes the Original Raspberry Pi. Rather Expensive, to use, for me. Even at $35. Especially, when you count the cost of a Power Supply and any other Add-on Electronics that you might want to add to your Pi. Such as a Pi Camera. I like the Pi, for all of the other Projects, that could be done with it. And I have been considering. Buying a Pic Camera. To Build a Portable Video Camera. To shoot my Project Videos with. Perhaps, just set it up and let it Stream to YouTube Live, with I work. But, you can buy a comparable or better Video Camera, pretty cheap these days. So, the news, I read today. About the New Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 Computer coming out. Sounds like the Possibilities are getting Better, with the Pi. Check out the info, below from the Raspberry Pi Blog, https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-zero/

Don

Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

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Of all the things we do at Raspberry Pi, driving down the cost of computer hardware remains one of the most important. Even in the developed world, a programmable computer is a luxury item for a lot of people, and every extra dollar that we ask someone to spend decreases the chance that they'll choose to get involved.

The original Raspberry Pi Model B and its successors put a programmable computer within reach of anyone with $20-35 to spend. Since 2012, millions of people have used a Raspberry Pi to get their first experience of programming, but we still meet people for whom cost remains a barrier to entry. At the start of this year, we began work on an even cheaper Raspberry Pi to help these people take the plunge.

Four fathers!?!??

Today, I'm pleased to be able to announce the immediate availability of Raspberry Pi Zero, made in Wales and priced at just $5. Zero is a full-fledged member of the Raspberry Pi family, featuring:

A Broadcom BCM2835 application processor
- 1GHz ARM11 core (40% faster than Raspberry Pi 1)
512MB of LPDDR2 SDRAM
A micro-SD card slot
A mini-HDMI socket for 1080p60 video output
Micro-USB sockets for data and power
An unpopulated 40-pin GPIO header
- Identical pinout to Model A+/B+/2B
An unpopulated composite video header
Our smallest ever form factor, at 65mm x 30mm x 5mm

Raspberry Pi Zero runs Raspbian and all your favourite applications, including Scratch, Minecraft and Sonic Pi. It is available today in the UK from our friends at The Pi Hut and Pimoroni, and in the US from Adafruit and in-store at your local branch of Micro Center. We've built several tens of thousands of units so far, and are building more, but we expect demand to outstrip supply for the next little while.

One more thing: because the only thing better than a $5 computer is a free computer, we are giving away a free Raspberry Pi Zero on the front of each copy of the December issue of The MagPi, which arrives in UK stores today. Russell, Rob and the team have been killing themselves putting this together, and we're very pleased with how it's turned out. The issue is jam-packed with everything you need to know about Zero, including a heap of project ideas, and an interview with Mike Stimson, who designed the board.

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https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-zero/