Actions
Engagement
  • Author Author: spannerspencer
  • Date Created: Date Created
  • Last Updated Last Updated:
  • Views 6924 views
  • Likes 7 likes
  • Comments 34 comments
Related
Recommended

Five Things You Need to Know About the Raspberry Pi Zero

It's always exciting with the Raspberry Pi Foundation launches a new board, and we know that you're bursting with questions about the all-new Pi Zero. We certainly were.

 

So here are our top five questions about the Pi Zero that we're anticipating you'll have, along with their answers, of course.

 

1) What are the technical specifications of the Raspberry Pi Zero?

    • CPU: Broadcom BCM2835, can be overclocked up to 1GHz.
    • RAM: 512MB on board.
    • Power: 5V, supplied via micro USB connector, drawing160mA (even when connected to an HD display).
    • Dimensions: 65mm x 30mm x 5mm
    • Storage: MicroSD card.
    • Video & Audio: 1080P HD video output. Audio output via mini-HDMI connector.
    • Operating System: Linux, installed via NOOBS.
    • Click here for an exploded image of the Pi Zero's features.

 

 

2) Where can I buy a Raspberry Pi Zero?

    • The new Raspberry Pi Zero is available to order from Thursday, 26th November. Initial stocks are extremely limited, with small pockets of availability in the US and UK. Unless you're one of the lucky few to get your hands on one of the first batch, the next deliveries are due towards the end of December.
    • You'll be able to order the new Pi Zero in the majority of countries as more stock becomes available.
    • Click the Buy Now buttons here to check for availability.

 

3) Does it still run Linux?

    • Yes, it does indeed. You install it the same way as always:
      • Download NOOBS and unzip it to a microSD card; connect the Pi Zero to a monitor, USB hub, keyboard and mouse; power it up and follow the on-screen prompts to install the Linux build of your choice.
      • element14 is offering a Pi Zero package that includes a NOOBS microSD card to make your installation quicker and easier.

 

4) What's the difference between the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B and the new Pi Zero?

    • The Pi Zero uses the single-core BCM2835 processor with 512MB RAM as used in the Raspberry Pi 1 series, versus the newer, faster BCM2836 quad-core processor on the latest high performance Raspberry Pi 2.
    • To save space the following products have been replaced with alternative solutions or removed completely:

      • 4 USB ports and Ethernet port have been replaced with one Micro USB data port on the Pi Zero.

      • 40 pin GPIO still contains the same pin out on both boards, but the connector remains unpopulated on the Pi Zero.

      • The full size HDMI port on the Raspberry Pi 2 has now been replaced with a Mini HDMI port on the Pi Zero. This requires an adapter to be fitted before connecting the Pi Zero to your TV. The Pi Zero still supports full HD 1080P output.

      • The camera and display interfaces have been removed as well as the 4-pole stereo and composite video port.

 

5) Why did the Raspberry Pi Foundation create the Pi Zero?

    • The Pi Zero follows the same philosophy that gave birth to the Raspberry Pi platform in the first place; low cost computing for everyone. The Pi Zero complements the other models in the Raspberry Pi family by providing an entry-level model with stripped down components to target users with specific solutions in mind.
    • Is it the same as the other Raspberry Pis? Yes and no. It's still a fully functioning Linux-based computer with 1080P video output, but it's also much more closely related to the small, efficient, single-purpose world of IoT.

 

Got any other questions or observations about the Raspberry Pi Zero? Ask them in the comments below.

 

Find out more about the Raspberry Pi Zero right here.

Parents

  • The add "keyboard and mouse" needs to be expanded to: "keyboard, mouse and networking module". I don't have mine yet, so I'm not sure if Noobs would allow WIFI.

  • in reply to rew

    Hi Roger,

     

    it's not Noobs, afaik it is just a launcher / installer. Then you will be moved after a simple setup to the Raspbian (wheezy of Jessie?) installation. And as a Debian distro I expect it will suppor WiFi for sure !

     

    Enrico

  • in reply to balearicdynamics

    Enrico, under point three it says: "download NOOBS". How that can be "not NOOBS" I can't imagine.

     

    Noobs will download and install whatever you want, from a few distros. It of course cannot contain all those operating systems in the image.

    I've just checked the documentation and:

    The full version has Raspbian included, so it can be installed from the SD card while offline, whereas using NOOBS Lite, or installing any other operating system, requires an internet connection during installation.

    So if you chose "raspbian", you indeed don't need the network connection. On the other hand, any other choice will.

  • in reply to rew

    Hi Roger. As you can imagine what we are writing (at least most of us, sure me) are just suppositions based on the experience of the previous PI models we own and on the linux experience. I remain convinced that the network connection in Linux is essential for a lot of reasons (maybe considered a plus or not, it does no matter); this is true that noobs is the installed of the distro to save time and effort especially to the newbies that don't need to creare an image SD card with all the misunderstanding that they risk. But as you have finished to install any version of Linux, I bet that just the day after the release of an official, stable distribution if you make an update/install you find patches, updates and so on. And I think that also the raspbian of zero does not escape from this logic.

    Anyway this aspect is not the most important: any thing that you plan to do with this board you probably need something, a library or a piece of code, a configuration file or something else that should be downloaded from the Internet.

     

    Just think to the ideas and proposals we have launched here as a proof-of-concept. What if you add a new stuff in python? what if you try to connect a piece of hardware like one of the PiFace board? These are just few of the incredible amount of examples you can meet. Try to open the browser. But you can't navigate. Try to update a python library, but you can't. Want to make things easy? Well, consider - as mentioned in bold - that most of the Pi stuff has been removed; so no pi camera, no touch screen none of many other stuff. But there is all the 40 pin GPIO (unpopulated) intact. So we can connect a Chipkit PI board or an Arduino or something else. But we can update the connection, it is impossible to add any minimal thing that we are so used to be permanently connected to the network that we never consider this fact as something of non-obvious.

     

    This is my idea. I think that with a depth investigation the no-internet-panic (or no-wifi-support if you prefer) can only increase the number of situations where we need a connection. Especially if you want to push this as a computer for all.

     

    Enrico

  • in reply to balearicdynamics

    It seems like the point of this $5 module is to allow you to develop on another Pi platform and then dump the finished product onto this board. I would suspect you could even move the entire sd card, so if you need to get updates, new libraries, etc. you move your SD card back to the pi you developed on. This is a compact board that you could stick in a remote location and you wouldn't be expected to update it frequently. This is more for deployment of a finished product rather than a development platform. If you have fielded something into production and it has been thoroughly tested, you shouldn't need external connections very often.

     

    Mike

  • in reply to mconners

    Hi Michael, frankly I have not considered this aspect but it sounds really good. In this moment I have just developing some different configurations and for my comfort I work always on the same Pi then I move the SD on the other devices. Why not to do the same with the zero. It is sufficient to use the same version of Pi.

     

    The risk issue I sse - as I have never had yet a Pi zero - is how much this distribution of Debian differs from the others. If it is the same it is just a question of pieces on the board your solution may work. And maybe the most elegant (including having a complete development Pi to work on image )

     

    Enrico

  • in reply to balearicdynamics

    Well, Enrico, if you really want to do all your development on a RasPi Zero all you need to do is attach a USB hub with a USB Ethernet or Wifi adapter, along with your keyboard and mouse.  However, if you've been developing on a RasPi 2 you will probably find RasPi Zero to be pretty slow.  I wouldn't want to develop on my RasPi Model B now that I've used a RasPi 2, and IMO one has to be pretty masochistic to use a browser on a BCM2835 RasPi.

     

    RasPi Zero lets you deploy a pretty powerful Linux computer for the same price as a cheap microcontroller board.  But it's not something I'd recommend using for development.

  • in reply to balearicdynamics

    All you need to do is to add a wifi dongle to your USB hub in order to have connectivity.

     

    All of my Pi development is on an original B which is run headless (I use XMing rather than VNC) - which matches the Zero's CPU. Once your development effort is done, you can pull all except for a network adaptor of some type from the Pi (if you need even that!) and let it run.

     

    My first Zero project will be using the Pi as a datalogger and user interface with a number of slaved sensors (using arduino nano as sensor controllers) - so all I will need will be a network connection of some sort - or, perhaps, a serial port.

     

    Simples!

  • in reply to johnbeetem

    John, I never told that the PI 0 is near to be something good for developing...

  • in reply to johnbeetem

    Got the Pi zero. Booted it up on the lapdock with an Ethernet dongle. Same old Raspbian WiFi glitchy-ness with some of my cheap WiFi modules. Other than that, it is good. If you develop on the Pi2, it's not as snappy, but you need to check out your old Pi boards with the new OS versions. They have done some pretty good optimizations. It's no core i7, but it's usable unlike the older versions of wheezy. Even the latest version of Wheezy wasn't too bad. I gave a presentation using an original Pi B version 2 (Not Pi2, second release B) and the office suite in Jesse. Wasn't too bad. Loading up was the slowest part.

    As far as updates, when you aren't always on the network, you don't have to be so eager to update all the time. You have the embedded device with the software you developed, and unless you change things or encounter an error that requires you open it up anyway, you don't have to worry about network attacks. Load all your software, move the card to the zero, and hook up a monitor and keyboard to finish everything up. Its actually more secure that way.

Comment
  • in reply to johnbeetem

    Got the Pi zero. Booted it up on the lapdock with an Ethernet dongle. Same old Raspbian WiFi glitchy-ness with some of my cheap WiFi modules. Other than that, it is good. If you develop on the Pi2, it's not as snappy, but you need to check out your old Pi boards with the new OS versions. They have done some pretty good optimizations. It's no core i7, but it's usable unlike the older versions of wheezy. Even the latest version of Wheezy wasn't too bad. I gave a presentation using an original Pi B version 2 (Not Pi2, second release B) and the office suite in Jesse. Wasn't too bad. Loading up was the slowest part.

    As far as updates, when you aren't always on the network, you don't have to be so eager to update all the time. You have the embedded device with the software you developed, and unless you change things or encounter an error that requires you open it up anyway, you don't have to worry about network attacks. Load all your software, move the card to the zero, and hook up a monitor and keyboard to finish everything up. Its actually more secure that way.

Children
No Data