Stuff UK — June 2017

TEST RASPBERRY PI ZERO W

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Q Game Pi

There’s plenty of power

here to emulate classic old

games. Retropie hides the

command line code, letting

you plug in a USB controller

and scroll through consoles

like the Atari 2600 and

Sega Mega Drive.

Q NOOBS for noobs

All that code can be a

bit daunting, but getting

started is as easy as pie

(the edible kind) with

NOOBS. Stick the installer

on an SD card and you’ll

get a choice of Pi operating

systems to download.

Q Need ya media?

If you’ve got a more

modern media itch, let

RasPlex scratch it. This

free download turns the

Pi Zero W into a streamer

that organises your files

and can play back Full HD

video on the big screen.

Q Diddy desktop

If you’re just after a mini

computer, your best bet

is Raspbian – a cut-down

version of Linux. It’s good

for web browsing, text

editing and even a bit of

Minecraft, and has plenty

of online tech support.

The point of the Pi Zero W is to be as flexible as you

want it to be. But what do you actually do with it?

Processor BCM2835 system-on-chip @ 1GHz

RAM 512MB

Storage microSD card slot

Connectivity 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth,

2x microUSB, miniHDMI

Dimensions 65x30x5mm, 9g

STUFF SAYS +++++

The Pi Zero was already a fantastic

entry into pro

rammin

 – wireless

add-ons make it even better

Full HD video plays nice and

smoothly – no issues here.

Not having to attach stuff with wires

means you can use this Pi anywhere.

...but for crunching numbers, it’s as

much as 10 times slower than a Pi 3.

Don’t have a Bluetooth keyboard?

You might need a powered USB hub.

Why buy Wi-Fi Pi, fly guy?

Tech specs

4 Pi filling

Let’s be honest: the 1GHz CPU

is not fast. Compared to the

Pi 3’s quad-core Cortex-A53,

it’s positively sluggish – even

media-heavy web pages can

slow it down significantly – but

it still puts in a great showing for

a sub-£10 micro-PC.

5 Pi recipes

There’s ample power here to

control your smart home kit.

Temperature sensors to keep

an eye on greenhouse plants,

doorbell cameras, news tickers...

there are hundreds of projects

already online, with step-by-step

guides on how to make them.

And it certainly has enough graphical

grunt to play retro games.

It might be nearly twice the price of

the original Pi Zero, but the Zero W

is still fantastic value. With no need

to mess about with dongles and

USB hubs, your Pi projects can be

squeezed into much smaller places, and you

can control them remotely. The Pi 3 will be

more useful for big projects, but for smaller

stuff this is as good as it gets. @TomMorgan3