Follow
The Raspberry Pi Foundation is working hard at creating low-cost Linux hardware, ever since it first introduced its motherboard in 2012, which retailed at the surprising price of $35. It has, ever since, released a large number of motherboards, including the $35 Pi B+ model that was immensely successful. Today, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has released its new board, the Raspberry Pi Model A+.
The reason Raspberry Pi boards are popular isn’t just the affordable price, it’s also the quality. The company has sold around 4 million Raspberry Pi boards since the introduction of the first model, in 2012.
The new Raspberry Pi A+ board costs just $20, which is a revolution in itself. The board is not just cheaper than its predecessor, but also more energy efficient and more powerful. The Raspberry Pi A+ board has the same chipset as its predecessor, the Broadcom BCM2835, the same RAM (256MB) and also the same processor, the ARM1176JZ-F, but it’s uses up less energy than the previous model and it’s also 20mm smaller than the A model.
It has a microSD card slot instead of the standard-size SD slot, an increase in GPIO pins to 40 and it also has improved audio quality. The only downside to the Raspberry Pi Model A+ is the fact that it has a single USB port and lack an Ethernet port. The Raspberry Pi B+ model has 4 USB ports and an Ethernet port, but it is a little bit more expensive than the entry-level A+.
The founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Eben Upton, released a statement in which he explained the differences between the Raspberry Pi A+ model and the B+ one:
When we announced the Model B+ back in July, we said that we’d also be producing a lower-cost variant analogous to the original Model A. “Today we’re pleased to announce the release of the Raspberry Pi Model A+ at a new low price of $20.
If you are a novice at computer programming and are hoping to develop some skills in that area, then the Raspberry Pi A+ model is a great way of experimenting with computer programming.
