Hi everyone! First of all, sorry for the hiatus during the summer and last part of 2011. I moved out of Canada, so it’s been a little hectic. Although I’m not a direct member of Colonel By anymore, I’ll still continue to update the blog with occasional tutorials and information about recent projects. I’ve also been busy converting our server over to Linode (an awesome VPS host BTW!).
If you haven’t heard, the online hackerdom community has been flooded with talk about an inexpensive credit-card sized Linux computer with a powerful ARM processor (capable of 1080p HD playback) with 256MB RAM called the Raspberry Pi. The board has 2 onboard USB ports, as well as 10/100 ethernet, HDMI, Composite and 3.5mm headphone jack connections (also has a GPIO header). A full-size SD card slot is used to store the Linux OS and related files. All this for $35 (this amazing value was the most important goal for the Raspberry Pi Foundation). If you’re on a budget, you can get a $25 version with 128MB RAM, one USB port, and no ethernet. The features and price make this the next promising device in learning computer science, electrical engineering and Linux.
To learn more, visit their FAQ section. The boards are in production and set to go on sale at the end of January 2012. I’m going to buy one as soon as it comes out, and update the website with a getting started tutorial.
Arduino v.s. RaspPi
The Arduino is a favorite in the club because it’s so widespread and inexpensive. You can use it to power LEDs, sense buttons, drive servos, and do almost anything else. The Raspberry Pi, however, is a full-featured Linux computer, so there are no places for basic digital/analog inputs/outputs (you can *add* them through the breakout GPIO pins, but there are no native places for this). Along with the power of being a Linux computer, you also get the added complexity and overhead. So the Raspberry Pi does not replace the Arduino per se, it is more like its higher-level brother.
Both boards can connect to each other, so in your next robot you could maybe use the Raspberry Pi as the computer vision analyser, wifi command controller, and high-level robot brain and the Arduino as the motor controller, LED blinker, and sensor control center. With both a Raspberry Pi and the Arduino, you get the best of both worlds: a high-level computer and low-level microcontroller. In addition, with the Raspberry Pi you can also use cheap USB devices (e.g., USB wifi dongles) as long as the drivers are supported.
I guess the real question is: do you want to learn and program for 32/64-bit Linux or an 8-bit microcontroller? I’d say the 8-bit option is best for beginners looking for a quick start to get started with electronics. Arduino already has a wide variety of examples, schematics, and tutorials ready to help you on almost any task. Once you are comfortable with a simple Arduino program and want more power, the Raspberry Pi is a great option. But if you want to start off with Raspberry Pi/Linux and work your way back to simple microcontrollers, that’s also an equally valid option.
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