What is a Raspberry Pi?

themarkymark(81)

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#entertainment

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Ok, yeah that's a Raspberry Pie, but I want to talk about a Raspberry Pi. See? No E!

A Raspberry Pi is a microcomputer that took the Internet by storm a few years ago. For only $35 it has pretty impressive specs.

Quad 1.2GHz 64 Bit CPU
1 GB Ram
Wifi / Bluetooth Low Energy
4 USB
100Mbit Gigabit Ethernet
HDMI Out
Stereo Audio Out
Micro SD Port
Camera Connection (Currently 8Mbit Option)

For the money, it's pretty impressive, but the size is even more!

Raspberry Pi

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Just recently they released a smaller version for with single processor and less ram but allows you to use it in smaller projects. It's called the Raspberry Pi Zero. It comes available with two options, with or without Wifi.

Raspberry Pi Zero W

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If you remember my portable GameBoy project. It used the Pi Zero W to provide the foundation for the project to take 8,000 retro games with my son for the flight to Disney world.

Custom GameBoy with 8,000 Retro games from 1972 to 2000.

When I first heard about the Raspberry Pi, I wasn't very interested. I preferred the smaller size/complexity of the Arduino system. I didn't want to have to deal with an operating system and everything that comes with it.

Arduino UNO

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As I built more complex projects and worked with integrations, I found myself wanting to play with the Raspberry Pi. I quickly learned why it was so popular. It is a fantastic device and can be used for so many different projects it is amazing.

My 3d printer has a Raspberry Pi 3 controlling it, this allows me to print over the network and monitor the print jobs using a system called OctoPrint. Without it, 3D Printing would be even more frustrating than it is now.

Octoprint

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As I mentioned earlier, my portable GameBoy console was build using the Pi Zero. I also run my home theater system using a Raspberry Pi 3 with my entire movie collection available. Unfortunately, the Raspberry Pi still does not support 4K so I am using 1080P, but down the road, I hope 4K will be available.

I also have a Retro Console on my TV using a Raspberry Pi 3 with the same 8K games and two PS3 Controllers so my son and I can play TMNT Arcade together as well as some other games from my childhood.

I have a Raspberry Pi that monitors my driveway and sends me alerts when someone pulls in.

One project I want to work on soon is a two-player tabletop retro arcade with full-size arcade controller and buttons.