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Overview of the Raspberry Pi Zero

Two models of Raspberry Pi inside 12 months spells an exciting year for hackers, makers, coders and tech heads around the world, and there are certain questions that immediately spring to mind when we hear about a brand new board.image

 

We'll get into a lot more detail about the Pi Zero in coming days, weeks and months, but right now here's a quick guide to get you up to speed as fast as possible.

 

What is the Raspberry Pi Zero?

While the Raspberry Pi 2 marks the top end of the platform's tech specs, the Pi Zero takes the opposite approach. This is, for all intents and purposes, an entry-level model that's been reduced both in price and size (being three times smaller than the original Raspberry Pi 1 series).

 

The Raspberry Pi Zero: Technical Specifications

  • CPU: Broadcom BCM2835, which can run at up to 1GHz.
  • RAM: 512MB
  • Power: 5V, supplied via micro USB connector, drawing 160mA (even when connected to an HD display).
  • Dimensions: 65mm x 30mm x 5mm
  • Video & Audio: 1080P HD video output. Audio output via mini-HDMI connector.
  • Storage: MicroSD card.
  • Operating System: Linux, installed via NOOBS.

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The Raspberry Pi Zero: Inputs and Outputs

  • MicroSD Card Slot: The Pi Zero gets its storage space from a MicroSD card, which you'll need to install the operating system on.
  • Mini HDMI: Video output for the Pi Zero is by way of a mini-HDMI connector. In terms of their operation, these connectors perform identically to their larger versions. N.B. A mini-HDMI to standard HDMI adapter is included with the Pi Zero from element14.
  • Micro USB: You'll notice there are two micro USB connectors on the Pi Zero. One is for data (the connector on the left, if the MicroSD card slot is on the left), and one is for power. Don't get them mixed up. A micro USB "On the Go" to USB adapter is included with the Pi Zero from element14 so you can connect a USB hub, and therefore all your peripherals (keyboard, mouse etc).
  • GPIO: The Pi Zero has the same 40 pin General Purpose Input/Output connections as the Model A+, B+ and RPi2, but the connector pins are unpopulated. So if you want to use the GPIO, you'll either have to solder the required pins in place, or solder your connections directly to the Pi Zero.
  • RUN Mode Pins: There are two unpopulated RUN mode pins, which can be used to connect a reset button to the Pi Zero. Again, you'll either have to add the pins yourself, or solder a button straight to the board.
  • Composite Video: Here's an interesting one. There's an RCA composited video output via two (unpopulated) pins, so you can hook the Pi Zero up to older display equipment that accepts a phono plug as an input. You can check out the RCA video output in use in our Raspberry Pi Zero Retro Gaming System project right here.

 

More about the Raspberry Pi Zero

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  • What were they thinking with this, Ya the price is awesome but the practicality is next to useless.

    RPI says their goal was to bring computing to more people with a much lower cost device.  Uh.... does anyone there know how to do simple math ?  Sure, I spend $5 on the device, but then I have to spend $25-30 for a USB hub to connect my keyboard and mouse. So I might as well just buy the RPI B+.

     

    HDMI?  Really,  that is a total joke for something like this.

    Micro USB for power, UM... we have I/O connections for that, so drop it.

    One USB and it only comes out to a connector and not to another I/O header so we could plug it into another board we make to actually make use of the USB for Ethernet and other devices.

    SD card slot?  Come on already just slap a 4gb eMMC on it, who wants to deal with SD cards.

    They could have simply dropped the SD card slot, HDMI, USB and Power connectors took that cost to add a eMMC, added most I/O connectors to give us access to the USB and other signals. Then created a plugin kit like the CM has for those that want to play with it that have no soldering skills. For the rest of us who know how to do that we could have made our own motherboards for it to plug in and use it.

     

    So bottom line is after the smoke clears and people realize that they have to spend more to make this useful it will be a flop.

  • in reply to seulater

    I think you're wrong.

     

    The Raspberry pi Zero is NOT intended to be used with keyboard and mouse. It is intended to be tucked away somwhere and "do something" that you have developed on your "desktop" pi (a model B with keyboard and mouse) Then the zero is the "volume" and "deployment"  version that you put to use somewhere. You have one or two 'pi model B to work on, and then one in the kitchen monitoring the humidity there, one  near the ADSL modem to power-cycle the modem if it crashes again etc etc.

     

    Many of those tasks are now done with "arduino" like boards. Possibly: "develop on a full-size arduino, then deploy as a bare chip". Again a similar situation as with the pi zero.

     

    When I buy a single one, you can get an ATMEGA328 for about $3. I buy them in quantity (100 at a time), and I pay EUR 1.30 excl VAT. For that you get 32k flash, 2k RAM and a 20MHz 8-bit CPU. Compare that with a PI zero at $6 (shipped, in qty of "a few"), with no flash (yet), 512Mb RAM and a 1000MHz 32-bit CPU..... If it saves me development time, wasting memory and/or CPU cycles is a lot faster and more efficient than spending time to fit it into a smaller board and saving a few bucks because you're using the cheaper CPUs....

  • in reply to rew

    Hi Roger. Granted it does make tucking it in simpler, but If its meant to be tucked away somewhere then why bother slapping the HDMI connector and uSD card on it. They could have killed 2 birds with one stone by adding more I/O so that larger companies could have used it to plug into their main board, and DYI'ers could use it as it is. They killed a whole other much larger audience by not doing some very simple things.

    By not adding the USB to a header they killed it for the larger audience.

  • in reply to rew

    Agreed Roger this is what the compute module should of been last year!

  • Former Member
    Former Member in reply to seulater

    Just to clear this up and add my 2 cents worth....

     

    The hdmi connector is still essential in certain circumstances, if the pi is powered off incorrectly due to a power failure then some visual response is needed to remedy the failure, sometimes the operating system doesnt boot far enough to reach the networking stage so remotely trying to remedy faults in this situation are impossible.

     

    If the system was created with just an emmc rather than an sdcard then another connector would need to be added to be able to flash the emmc in case of system failure or just requiring a different operating system. Youve neither lost or gained a socket/connector all this would do is lose the simplicity of being able to make software updates on the card externally and then plug the updated system directly into the pi via the sd card. Not to mention getting data off the pi zero and into your computer easily.

  • in reply to Former Member

    If we are taking about Pi Zero, what emmc are you taking about?

    Clem

  • Former Member
    Former Member in reply to clem57

    I was responding to someone elses post who was suggesting removing the sd card reader and hdmi port completely and using the saved money to install onboard emmc. Just explaining my point of view why this would be a bad idea. (not that im against onboard emmc, just that the sd card reader has more uses right now)

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  • Former Member
    Former Member in reply to clem57

    I was responding to someone elses post who was suggesting removing the sd card reader and hdmi port completely and using the saved money to install onboard emmc. Just explaining my point of view why this would be a bad idea. (not that im against onboard emmc, just that the sd card reader has more uses right now)

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