Issue 1404 9
FRESH SLICE OF PI?
I
n February 2015, the Raspberry Pi Foundation believed it
had arecord breaker on its hands. An impressive five million
Raspberry Pis had been sold in total, which just edged it
above the ZX Spectrum and led to early claims that it had
become the biggest-selling British computer of all time. Then
someone mentioned the Amstrad PCW range had sold eight
million and was also very much British, and it caused a bit
of backtracking.
Fast forward a year to 29th February 2016, though, and not
only was the Raspberry Pi celebrating its fourth birthday, but it
was also announcing that it, too, had sold eight million units. It
was a staggering figure, which pointed to three million sales in
just 12 months. “We’re calling it,” said foundation co-founder
Eben Upton. “We’re the best-selling UK computer ever.”
Some companies would perhaps celebrate this amazing feat
with a bottle of bubbly and a slice of cake, and perhaps that’s
what the Raspberry Pi Foundation team did (deservedly so).
But they also went one further and gave everyone a present
of sorts. They announced the Raspberry Pi 3 – a brand new
version of the bare-bones computer that has shaken and
rattled the industry, the hobby market and the approach to
teaching ICT.We wouldn’t be surprised if it has increased the
total sales to 10 million before the year is out.
As if to underline just how important the Raspberry Pi
has become, the announcement of the £30 computer was
immediately seized on not just by the specialist press but
mainstream newspapers and magazines too (theMirrorcalled
it “world-changing”, which, in some sense, has a grain of
truth in it). This is the machine that has been sent to the
International Space Station along with astronautTim Peake,
and it’s the mini-marvel that has opened up coding to a whole
new generation. Small it may be, but its impact has been
undeniably huge.
For those who are unaware, the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B is
the latestrelease of the most pioneering range of bare-bone
computers around today. It comes without any protective
casing nor any leads, but it can be connected to a computer
monitor or television and make use of a standard keyboardand mouse. As well as deliberately keeping the manufacturing
costs low, the “nakedness” of the computer invites exploration
and creative thinking. It shows the components that make upa
computer, and it encourages experimentation.
At the same time, it evokes the ethos of the home
computers of the 1980s. Just as thoseretro machines had
a blinking prompt just waiting for you to tap in a quick 10
PRINT “Steve smells” 20 GOTO 10 in Dixons to much mirth,
the Pi has also looked to make it easy for people to start
programming from the very start. Even so, it can be used for
other desktop computing tasks, and there’s a web browser to
hand and lots of games available.You could use it as a workcomputer, but that would be criminal given there’s so much
else it can do.
Given this background, the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B demands
a look, but what does it bring to the table?Well, it has a faster
64-bit processor and a built-in wi-fi connection, but it’s the
latter which excites the Pi team the most. Upton talks about it
being a “big step” for the computer. Over the small number
of years of the Pi’s existence, this has had a fair few people
gnashing their teeth in frustration, because they’ve had to look
around for the ‘missing’ element. In truth, it’s a convenient
step but perhaps not killer enough for jaws to drop.
Still, although the need to connect an external antenna
was something of a learning process – an achievement for
newbies to ‘unlock’, if you will – having it firmly on board
from the off is a step in the right direction. The connectivity is
provided in the guise of a built-in Broadcom BCM43438 chipIt has a faster 64-bit
processor and a built-in wi-fi
connection
Fancy A Fresh
Slice Of Pi?
David Crookes cutsintothe latest Raspberry Piandlicks his lipsinanticipation...