The Raspberry Pi is one of the smallest and cheapest mini computers you can buy. It has an HDMI port, USB ports and manages Ubuntu or other open source operating systems like a champion. The new Raspberry Pi Pico, on the other hand, is like the CPU of a more complex machine. That in itself can not do much, but with a few additions you can control robots, lights, and other cell phone hacks.
The best thing? It only costs $ 4.
These things are not new. There are a lot of Arduino microcontrollers there for fast prototyping, including Adafruit’s Feather platform of plates and accessories. However, this is a first for RaspPi, and it’s an interesting move, not only because it puts the competition with Arduino more firmly, but because it also includes the first attempt at making Raspberry Pi’s own chips. The board uses the new RP2040 chip from Raspberry Pi, which consists of an Arm Cortex-M0 + processor with 264 KB of internal RAM. It also supports Flash memory up to 16 MB.
According to Raspberry Pi Chief Ooperating Officer James Adams, the company started working on its new chip in 2016. It works on a 40nm process and has dual cores, which is not so cheap in a plate.
You program it in C and MicroPython and connect sensors and display up to the small cables on the sides. It is powered via a USB port. You can not really play Damn it (yet), but you can use it for electronic experiments and other prototyping activities for which the Raspberry Pi is already known. And according to Adams, it may be the first in a new series of boards powered by Raspberry Pi’s own silicone.
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