10 Issue 1404
that allows for 2.4GHz 802.11n wireless LAN. It eliminates the
need for wired Ethernet, USB wi-fi adapters or Ethernet-to-
wireless gadgets, and it should make the computer even more
accessible to users.
On top of that, the Broadcom chip has built-in Bluetooth
Low Energy and Bluetooth 4.1 Classic radio support, which
means users can connect up a wireless keyboard or mouse out
of the box while allowing the computer to communicate witha
host of other devices. “This is the first Pi you can stick behind
your TV and completely forget about,” Upton has said (it can
be plugged directly into a USB port and draw power). It will
certainly be a boon for anyone looking to put the computer
at the heart of an Internet of Things smart-home given, that it
will be able to talk to all manner of gadgets.
The other major difference between the Pi 3 and its
predecessor is the freshly made Broadcom BCM2837 system-
on-chip (SoC). Upton says itretains the same basic architecture
as its predecessors, BCM2835 and BCM2836, and he points
out that this means it will work with all the existing tutorials
and projects that had proliferated around this machine. But
there are some major advances.
The new Pi has a 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A
CPU, which is ten times faster than the original Pi (it’s up to
60% faster than the Pi 2). It has 32KB Level 1 and 512KB Level
2 cache memory as well as aVideoCore IV graphics processor.
The SoCalso also links to a 1GB LPDDR2 memory module to
the rear of the board.
In all otherrespects, though, the Raspberry Pi 3 is very much
the same as the Raspberry Pi 2 (save for the moving of the
LEDs). It’s less arevolutionary leap, more a few steps forward,
and yet it does consolidate the computer’s capabilities. Upton
appears very much aware of this, and he’s suggested the new
Pi is looking to make life easier for the current users of the
device. He has said that people tend to use it as areplacement
for a PC or as an embedded computer. “The Pi 3 is doubling
down,” he says, as opposed to the team looking to expand the
capabilities and figure out new markets and uses for it.
What that means is the Raspberry Pi 3 has, like the Pi 2
before it, four USB ports, a full HDMI port, 40 GPIO pins, an
Ethernet port, a camera interface and combined 3.5mm audio
jack and composite video. It has a display interface anda
micro-SD card slot that is now push-pull instead of the previous
push-push. It won’t mean the end of the Raspberry Pi 1 Model
B+ or the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B, though. Both areremaining
on sale (for as little as £21.59 and £29.40respectively). And
it doesn’t mean you can’t snap up the cut-down original Pi
Model A+ for £18.60 (a Pi 3 Model A+ is said to be coming
soon). The slices of Pi have just become more plentiful.
EducatingTheMasses
What are the wider consequences of this new computer? That
may seem an odd question, but the Raspberry Pi has always
been more than a machine. It’s underpinned by a mammoth
educational, charitable organisation with a huge drive to
promote computer science. It has 60 full-time employees, its
own official magazine and training programmes for teachers.
There’s a £1 million education fund, which has been running
for a couple of years, looking for projects that benefit childrenINTERVIEW:EbenUpton
Eben Upton wears two hats: he’s a technical director and
ASIC architect for Broadcom, and he also co-founded the
Raspberry Pi Foundation in 2009. As CEO of Raspberry Pi
Trading, too, it makes him a very busy man, but he took
time out to answer our questions.Micro Mart:What possibilities does the Raspberry Pi 3
now bring to the Pi community?
EU:There are three things. The Raspberry Pi 3 brings more
CPU performance, which makes the device a much more
credible PC replacement. Wireless LAN and Bluetooth also
mean that in the PC-replacement role you can be almost
completely wireless (you only need a power and HDMI
cable). Finally, wireless LAN and Bluetooth allow us to act
as an ‘IoT hub’, aggregating the output of numerous low-
cost sensors and uploading the data to the cloud.MM:Which features of the Raspberry Pi 3 do you consider
most crucial, and why have they only become viable now?
EU:The wireless features are the real headline in this
generation. They’ve become viable due to incremental
reductions in component and manufacturing costs, and
because we now have a large enough engineering team at
Raspberry Pi to take on the burden of wireless design and
conformance testing.MM:What are your hopes for the Pi at this stage?
EU:Our dream was originally to get back to the level
of involvement in computing that we saw in the 1980s,
but since then we’ve become more ambitious.You
have to remember that only a very small, privileged,
segment of the population had access to a high-quality
computing and engineering education then. The
opportunity is to go beyond that to the point where
all young people, in the UK and overseas, have the
opportunity to become engineers.MM:What would you like to see in a Pi 4?
EU:I’d prefer not to speculate at this stage, other than to
say that of course we’d want faster CPU cores!MM:How well is the Raspberry Pi Zero doing and has it
exceeded expectations?
EU:It’s doing well. I think we
underestimated the level of
demand.We’re ramping up
production nicely now (subject
to the constraints imposed by
building lots of Raspberry Pi 3
units at Sony inWales), and hope
to catch up with demand in the
next couple of months.Upton said the UK
government had declined to
provide funds