Raspberry Pi Zero Gains Camera Support, Keeps $5 Price (engadget.com) 84
An anonymous reader writes: The Raspberry Pi Zero has received its first major hardware upgrade today: a camera connector. The new addition of a camera connector works well with the two new Sony imaging modules announced last month. The board will retain its $5 price, too. Eben Upton, Raspberry Pi founder, said in a blog post that "through dumb luck, the same fine-pitch FPC connector that we use on the Compute Module Development Kit just fits onto the right hand side of the board." The team was able to close the feature gap between the Zero and larger Pi boards by moving the surface components towards the left, and rotating the activity LEDs. The CSI connector on the Zero is 3.5mm smaller than the adapter on the Pi 3, so you will need to invest in a new cable if you've already invested in a camera module for an existing project.
another useless post (Score:3)
that's ok, you'll be censured to that of a troll anyways.
Re: Another useless trinket (Score:1)
Media Center. For 35 dollars (Pi3) it is the best media center you could hope to buy.
Re: (Score:2)
Nope I really don't give a flying shit about Netflix HD. I have more movies on my NAS than Netflix has available for streaming.
Also, mine works MASSIVELY BETTER than netflix as I can instant rewind and I can watch movies when the internet is down due to rainstorms and heavy weather.
Re: (Score:2)
Gaming. For 5 dollars (PiZ) it is the cheapest, smallest and most supported platform for emulators.
Re: (Score:1)
So far there have been several million people able to imagine a real use of the Pi.
Sorry your brain can't think of one. Maybe you can trade it in.
Re: (Score:1)
Re:Another useless trinket (Score:5, Insightful)
Dream on. People pay me to build Pi-based systems. This "toy" is at least as powerful as your desktop computer, circa Y2k, and a whole lot smaller and cheaper. It's being used for network monitor and control systems, process controllers, multimedia kiosks, home automation systems and a whole lot more. The Pi is a fully functional computer that's cheap enough to hand out in quantity as party favors.
If you weren't an anonymous coward, I'd recommend you be modded up, not down. Just so everyone could see how laughable you are.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
You left out throwies.
http://makezine.com/projects/p... [makezine.com]
Re: (Score:2)
That's because throwies are litter.
Re: (Score:2)
No, throwies are free hardware! /kidding
Re: (Score:2)
No, throwies are free hardware! /kidding
No, they're that, too. The problem is, it's usually pretty crappy hardware. Though I'd be stoked to pick up a Pi Zero for $0.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Another useless trinket (Score:5, Interesting)
This is why they produce the compute module; you get the 40 pin header, usb etc in a SO-DIMM and commercial users have a standard unit they can design around for several years. The BBB is a superior device though, I agree.
Re: (Score:3)
Every map has an intentional error. --Every cartographer, ever.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
That is ultimately a problem because every time the foundation releases a new Pi, they stop making older versions.
Nope, Eben Upton clearly stated that as long as there is demand they still make the older versions.
Re: (Score:3)
Stock enough to survive the evolution.
Redesign your form factors to survive changes.
OR design your own.
You have described the problem micro-sized manufacturers have always had. Just don't rely on injection molding for parts, since you'll be back whining about tooling and iterative design.
Re: (Score:3)
Another person who thinks that "software is forever". It doesn't "wear out", so you only have to pay for it once, not as a maintenance item.
Apparently this thread is a haven for the delusional.
in 4 years, it hardly matters that the hardware has changed - and it should be noted that the hardware doesn't change that much, or you wouldn't be able to plug vintage cameras into the Pi Zero. None of the stuff I wrote using WiFi dongles changed when I moved it from the original Pi B to the Pi 3. In 4 years, a lot m
Re: (Score:3)
The Beaglebones also weren't designed to meet an extremely low price point and it shows. I've used dozens of them as little network connected devices, and they are remarkably capable and stable.
Re: (Score:2)
Octoprint? Now, with the camera clip, it's all there.
And you need a Velcro patch for a mount. Seriously, this is elegant.
I.e I'm an idiot with delusions of adequacy... (Score:1)
Re: Another useless trinket (Score:2)
Naw, just for being a dick about it
Re: Another useless trinket (Score:2)
what is the point if you cannot buy the zero (Score:2, Informative)
$5 price is a joke since you cannot actually buy the thing.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
The only thing that made the zero worth getting was the low pricetag...
That's not strictly true. I want one for the small size. It would be a dandy basis for a drone, when coupled with a level shifter, 10DoF board, and a GPS... another twenty bucks. Hilarious that the cost of the peripherals dwarfs the system. Pi is fairly unimpressive these days, but Pi Zero is teeny tiny for its capabilities. It's actually got less area than the mini arduino mega2560 I built my fixed-wing around.
Re: (Score:3)
It would be a dandy basis for a drone,
Why not just buy an ardupilot though? Last I checked (admittedly years ago), those things had dual MCUs, one very small, very simple one for interpretation, generation and passthrough of the remote control/servo signals and one bigger one for everything else (e.g. guidance).
Unless you're getting very deep into RTOS stuff with great care over watchdogs and latency, that's a much better solution than using one chip because with the dual chip solution, you can be much mor
Re: (Score:2)
Why not just buy an ardupilot though?
Because it's shit-expensive for its capabilities.
Well I suppose if you're making a daughter board with those other peripherals, you could include a sub processor for doing the servo controls, and hook the entire thing up over an i2c.
Yes, I would suggest that a $2 Arduino Nano clone would be the ideal pairing for getting more I/O — more than you can use, really. It also gets you 5V I/O and costs only about three times as much as a level shifter. In fact, it would be a great place to run multiwii, and then you could run software to control it on the Pi.
Re: (Score:2)
As I alluded to earlier, I could Velcro one of these to my Rigidbot, run Octoprint, camera and all, and not be bothered even with a couple of screws to mount a B or 3. Size does matter, sometimes.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:1)
Yeah... [whereismypizero.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Too bad that website doesn't check for the "Raspberry Pi Zero only" options, they're out of stock at the places marked "IN STOCK".
PANTS ON FIRE! (Score:1)
We need a Icon of Pants on Fire for posts like this one, which talk about imaginary things which do not exist.
Liar liar pants on fire, the raspberry PI is NOT for sale, the zero in the name is the number available for $5.00
NOT! PANTS ON FIRE! (Score:4, Interesting)
Sorry, my friends and I had no trouble getting ZEROs for $5 at the local MicroCenter. Just keep a neteye on availability and drop in that day or next. The MCs get them in every month now.
Re:NOT! PANTS ON FIRE! (Score:5, Informative)
Guy here near me did this. He waited out in front of the store and bough all 150 that were in stock. When I dropped by in the afternoon to grab one, they were all gone.
Re: (Score:3)
This happens with .22 ammo as well. Some asshole keeps going by the local walmart and buying all the .22 ammunition and every time I go by they tell me it sold out the day before. They've got .45, .44, 9mm and 5.56 but no fucking .22! Of all the shit to run out of.
Re: (Score:2)
This happened on my WoW server with wool cloth as well. Some asshole keeps going by the local auction house and buying all the wool cloth and every time i go by they're completely sold out. They've got silk cloth, felcloth, and even sumptuous fur, but no fucking wool cloth!
Of all the shit to run out of.
(-- When I still played WoW, I owned the wool cloth market. This is where my gold came from. I bought all of the wool cloth, all of the time, and then marked it up to a price that I saw fit. I politely ca
Re: (Score:2)
What i your handle?
Re:NOT! PANTS ON FIRE! (Score:4, Interesting)
Sorry, my friends and I had no trouble getting ZEROs for $5 at the local MicroCenter.
Sorry, only a minority of Americans (let alone humans) have a local MicroCenter.
Wake me up when you can get them from Radio Shack. For all their closures, I drive past one of those regularly.
Re: (Score:2)
Radio Shack went bankrupt and was bought out by Sprint which continues to run several of the stores.
http://www.wired.com/2015/03/r... [wired.com]
The Raspberry Pi is obsolete (Score:1)
I bought several Raspberry Pis and wanted to get a Zero, but it has been impossible.
So I looked around and found a GREAT ALTERNATIVE.
I bought cheap Android smartphones for less than $18.00 each.
It may sound like a sacrilege, but who cares! They work great!
They are less expensive than Raspberry Pi and have much better performance.
First is the included hardware:
1.2 GHz Dual Core CPU
3.5" IPS Touch Screen Display
Microphone
S
Re: (Score:1)
Re: The Raspberry Pi is obsolete (Score:2)
USB OTG and a USB version of those accessories. Still way cheaper than RPI plus case and PSU, especially if you need any of screen, wifi, bt 4.0.
Re: (Score:2)
USB OTG and a USB version of those accessories. Still way cheaper than RPI plus case and PSU, especially if you need any of screen, wifi, bt 4.0.
But if you don't, then a $5 eBay AC/DC input boost-buck converter should adequately cover your power supply needs.
Re: (Score:3)
Unless you have a very specialised application smartphones can do so much LESS.
As fun as android is paying with a full fledged OS, no word network, no externally attachable camera, lack of USB, lack of monitor connection, and critically lack of I/O means that your proposed solution is not compatible with 99% of what people do with a device that is halfway between a microcontroller platform and a computer.
Also you scored a -1 fail for mentioning that a smartphone has an app to act as a Kodi remote. You know
Raspberry Pi A+ 512MB (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
How about shipping them now? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
This may be of news to you but engineers do not control the supply chain and they don't sit around twiddling their thumbs while they wait for customer's orders to be filled. You're asking a company to cease R&D while their production pipelines get sorted out. Absurd
Re: (Score:2)
You know what else could be happening? The production pipeline could be being stalled by an engineering bug. If there is a flaw in the design that causes 10% of the Pi Zeros to fail testing, that could cause production yield issues, slowing down shipments as more units are needed and more testing is done to verify shipped units actually work. What's the solution to that? Revise the PCB. Engineers like to add features when they revise PCBs, so if it's deemed low risk I could totally see an Engineer make
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah because a non-profit corporation which doesn't chase every last dollar and is being endlessly questioned about why they are so slow would by hiding this under the rug because ... erm... profits? Please put your tinfoil hat back on. It may help you remember that the RPi has long had supply chain issues due to spectacular overdemand.
The reason you can't get your little toy is because the second anyone gets their hands on one they take the entire supply and flog them off on ebay for 5x the price. Yep that
Bandwidth? (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
They have no wifi either. And if you're going to buy a USB thing for network access, why not get a USB Ethernet adaptor instead of a USB wifi adaptor? You have to run a cable out anyway for power, so why bother with wifi at all?
("Because power outlets are more common than Ethernet ports", I suppose, but I don't really have a good answer to the actual question. I'd be wary of using wifi if your goal is an always-on video stream, since all wifi devices share bandwidth on the channel. If you're only doing one
SubjectIsSubject (Score:2)
O-oh... It's already out?
But where?
Re: (Score:2)
At The Pi Hut [thepihut.com] (UK), Pimoroni [pimoroni.com] (UK), Adafruit [adafruit.com] (US) and in physical Micro Center [microcenter.com] stores (US). It says that right in the blog post.
Re: (Score:2)
It did not work.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, I figured... it's just that they do have them. I've bought 2 so far, I've seen them in stock more times than that, and Pimoroni are even reporting available stock right now (although it's of one of their rip-off bundles). They're certainly selling out fast, and there was that months-long period where they didn't bother making any (because they thought it'd be a great idea to release the Pi3 at the same time, and/or because they were waiting for more of the BCM2835 chips to be fabbed) but it's not like
$5 price (Score:2)
But no option to get it at this price. Either out of stock or sold for a lot more.
Good luck getting one (Score:1)