The Raspberry Pi Foundation, a UK nonprofit with the mission of promoting computer literacy and facilitating access to computer science education, is the manufacturer of the Raspberry Pi line of single-board computers.
Since the 2012 launch of the Raspberry Pi, numerous iterations and variants have been made available. The most recent Pi model has a quad-core CPU clocked at over 1.5GHz and 4GB RAM, while the original Pi had a single-core 700MHz CPU and only 256MB RAM. The Raspberry Pi has always been under $100 (typically $35 USD), with the Pi Zero being the most affordable model at just $5.
People use the Raspberry Pi all over the world to develop programming skills, create hardware projects, automate their homes, use Edge computing and Kubernetes clusters, and even use them in industrial applications.
In addition to being a very affordable Linux-running computer, the Raspberry Pi also offers a set of GPIO (general purpose input/output) pins that let you explore the Internet of Things and control electronic components for physical computing (IoT).
GPIO pins on a Raspberry Pi
See Getting started with Raspberry Pi and get the cheat sheet for Raspberry Pi.
What Raspberry Pi versions have been made available?
The Raspberry Pi line has gone through many iterations, including Pi 1, Pi 2, Pi 3, and even a Pi 400. Most generations have typically had a Model A and a Model B. Model A is a less expensive variant that typically has less RAM and ports (such as USB and Ethernet). The Pi Zero is a descendant of the first generation (Pi 1) that has been made even more compact and affordable. Here is the current lineup:
Model B Pi 1 (2012)
Model A Pi 1 (2013)
Model B+ Pi 1 (2014)
Model A+ Pi 1 (2014)
B Model Pi 2 (2015)
Pi (0) (2015)
B Model Pi 3 (2016)
Zero Pi W (2017)
Model B+ Pi 3 (2018)
Model A+ Pi 3 (2019)
Model A Pi 4 (2019)
B Model Pi 4 (2020)
Pi 400 (2021) (2021)
Find out which Raspberry Pi to use for your project by reading Which Raspberry Pi Should You Use?
The Raspberry Pi Foundation: What Is It?
The Raspberry Pi Foundation works to empower people all over the world with access to computing and digital fabrication tools. It achieves this by offering inexpensive, powerful computers that people can use for learning, problem-solving, and entertainment. It offers outreach and education to make computing and digital making more accessible. It creates free resources to teach people how to use computers and create things with them, and it also trains educators who can help other people learn.
Although these programmes are platform-independent and unattached to the Raspberry Pi hardware, Code Club and CoderDojo are a part of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. In order to guarantee that every child has access to learning about computing, the Raspberry Pi Foundation promotes these clubs and aids in expanding the network globally. Similar to this, Raspberry Jams are gatherings where people of all ages can learn about Raspberry Pi and share projects and ideas.
Youngster and adult coworkers at Raspberry Jam
The Raspberry Pi is open source, right?
The Raspberry Pi works within the open source community; it uses Linux (a number of distributions), and its primary supported operating system, Pi OS, is open source and makes use of a number of open source applications. The Raspberry Pi Foundation releases a large portion of its own software as open source and contributes to the Linux kernel and numerous other open source projects.
Although the schematics for the Raspberry Pi are frequently made available as documentation, the board is not open hardware.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation’s charitable work in the field of education is funded by the proceeds from the sale of Raspberry Pi products.
Schematics for the Raspberry Pi
What can a Raspberry Pi be used for?
People who already know how to code use the Raspberry Pi to learn how to programme electronics for practical projects, while those who are just learning the language purchase one. With the Raspberry Pi, you can create your own home automation projects, which is well-liked in the open source community because it gives you control over the process rather than relying on a proprietary closed system.