Raspberry Pi Model B+ arrives with four USB ports, microSD slot
Freshly baked, hot from the kitchen
By Dave Neal
Mon Jul 14 2014, 09:24

UK COMPUTING OUTFIT the Raspberry Pi Foundation has added the Raspberry Pi Model B+ computer to its range, which has additional hardware for the same low price.

The foundation announced the Raspberry Pi Model B+ on Monday morning, but we have had one since last week. We can confirm that it is fine little thing, with some obvious changes.

The firm has tinkered with the Model B+ and tailored it to include all of the additions that Raspberry Pi users have requested. In a blog post the foundation said that this isn't the Raspberry Pi Two, "but rather the final evolution of the original Raspberry Pi".

The Raspberry Pi Model B+ computer has a new style, low noise power input, double the number of USB ports at four, a 40 pin GPIO header, which replaces a 26 pin unit, a click-in microSD slot that puts the card neatly into the side of the unit, and a general shuffling of content on the board.

raspberry-pi-model-b-plus The Raspberry Pi Model B+ is a very nice upgrade indeed. We found it easy to set up, asking a novice to do it, and we had no problems. Noobs, which came on an included microSD card, installed easily, and we incurred no problems with setup. Raspbian Linux remains a light, easy to use operating system, and the GUI is recognisable enough to keep even hardened Windows users happy.

Some things do not change and the general shape of the board remains the same. An HDMI slot that can work with the television or PC display is still there, and the Broadcom SoC processor remains the same and can still be overclocked, and the Model B+ has 512MB of RAM. There's a socket for an Ethernet cable, but we chose to use a USB WiFi adapter, which cost �15.

Some things are the same but different. The headphone jack is still there, but it also includes better audio and video. This means that the composite RCA socket, which would be redundant, has been removed.

The Raspberry Pi Model B+ measures 85x56x17mm and costs around �25. �

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2355055/raspberry-pi-model-b-arrives-with-four-usb-ports-microsd-slot

Raspberry Pi reminds me of the old Heathkit for Ham Radio in that you can build it like connecting Legos with with added parts.

What's Next For Raspberry Pi, The $35 Computer Powering Hardware Innovation

Hobbyist tinkerers are turning ideas into consumer products using this simple computer--and a new model will help them do even more.
By Rebecca Greenfield

Less than a year after quitting his job at Digg, Jake Levine turned an idea for a high-definition screen to display digital art into a prototype that landed him $1.7 million in funding, and $750,000 more in Kickstarter dollars. The product is a darling among the tech elite and earned a glowing write-up in The New York Times, among other media outlets.

"I couldn't have done it without Raspberry Pi," Levine, the creator of Electric Objects, told Fast Company. With no background in hardware, he used the $35 computer as the brains of his prototype, which he lent out to 100 influential entrepreneurs, technophiles, and artists last spring. He credits that grassroots support as key to his fundraising success.

"From a pure proof-of-concept perspective, the Pi was the only reasonable choice," he added.

Levine, a self-taught programmer who worked on the company from his parents' house in Cape Cod, used the credit-card-size computer, an accompanying development kit, and Ada Fruit tutorials to hack together the first version of Electric Objects. It took him about four days to teach his laptop to send an image to his "product," which at that time consisted of a Pi and a monitor ordered off of Amazon.

"I have no experience with anything remotely hardware," he said. "On the basis of a few tutorials, a bunch of Google searching, and many hours banging my head, I was able to get this prototype running." With a few more weeks of programming, Levine had something legitimate enough to show venture capitalists. He plans on shipping the $299 screen to his hundreds of Kickstarter supporters in May of next year.

A few years ago, building a prototype would have been prohibitively expensive for someone like Levine. Raspberry Pi, however, has lowered the barrier for people without a lot of money or know-how because it's cheap, easy, and stable. The Pi, outfitted with Linux, can be used to run any number of things, and has enough processing power for graphics. Most importantly, it offers access to the rabid Raspberry Pi community.

“When I was first starting Droplet, it was just me,” the founder of the Pi-enabled smart sprinkler, Steve Fernholz, said. Like Levine, he depended on the expertise of Pi users who share their hacks and code on message boards and websites, saving himself time and frustration. "Being able to leverage the Raspberry Pi community was as valuable as the hardware itself," he added.

Raspberry Pi was created as an educational tool. Concerned with the decline in computer science graduates, four programmers from the University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory wanted to create an affordable computer for students to learn the basics of coding. In 2008, they founded the U.K.-based Raspberry Pi foundation, a registered educational charity with the mission "to advance the education of adults and children, particularly in the field of computers, computer science and related subjects."

fastcompany.com/3033850/most-creative-people/whats-next-for-raspberry-pi-the-35-computer-powering-hardware-innovatio