Raspberry Pi: A Linux Computer That Fits Your Palm
What image comes to your mind when you hear the word “computer”? A bulky desktop PC with a metal compartment weighing around 5 kilos? A laptop that is indeed slimmer than desktop PCs but still a pain to carry in the backpack everyday? A smartphone? Well, a smartphone, while technically a computer, doesn’t really feel like one. It lacks a full desktop operating system and ignores almost every port found on regular PCs. You see where I’m going with this? No? Wrap your head around the image below!
The first time I came across this beautiful piece of hardware was in my first year of undergrad and became a fan the moment I laid my eyes on it. As the title of this article suggests, this is a Raspberry Pi, a credit-card sized single-board computer that is popular among engineering students and tech enthusiasts. Oh, and it’s just $35!
So, What’s All The Hype About?
Well, it’s small, cheap, has every port a desktop has and runs a full desktop operating system! Not convinced? Let’s dive deeper into the technical specifications of the latest Raspberry Pi 4:
- ARM ❤ This baby is powered by a 1.5 GHz 64-bit quad-core processor (ARM Cortex A72). ARM already runs the smartphones of the world today and experts say that it will run the datacenters of tomorrow as well. This is one of the cheapest options if you want to run a full ARM desktop.
- Upto 8 GB of RAM depending on the variant.
- Tons of ports! You get 4 USB ports (2 USB 3.0 and 2 USB 2.0), a Gigabit ethernet port, a 3.5mm jack and two micro-HDMI ports supporting 4k@60 FPS.
- You don’t have an ethernet cable? Well there’s WiFi and even Bluetooth 5.0 support!
- MicroSD card slot supporting upto 256 GB.
- You see those two rows of golden spokes on the right side? Those are GPIO pins (whole 40 of them) and constitute a major reason for the popularity of these single-board computers. You can attach all kinds of sensors and actuators to them and control them via software.
- Ubuntu ❤
Cool, So What All Can I Do With It?
For starters, you can connect a monitor, keyboard and mouse to it and enjoy the $35 desktop experience. It doesn’t hang, I promise! (Full disclosure: I have the 8 GB variant). You can surf the web, play YouTube @ 1080p 60 FPS (no Netflix, sorry!), edit documents in LibreOffice, do software development on ARM like never before and even play Minecraft. You can also install the server version of Ubuntu and use it as a cheap server for your home needs. Of course, you can take it to the next level and make a full-blown Kubernetes cluster out of it like I did in my 4th year of undergrad.
You can stack more of these and even build something close to a mini-supercomputer in your home! Also, heard of IoT? Remember those GPIO pins I talked about before? Well, you can connect various sensors and actuators to them and actually automate your home devices based on your own code. Why buy a Google Home or Alexa when you can build one on your own? Take the road less travelled by and you’ll definitely learn something new!
That’s all for this one folks, happy tinkering! :)
