RaspberryPiBoard

This page collects information about Raspberry Pi Foundation's ultra-low-cost (~15UKP or 25USD) Linux computer for teaching computer programming to children.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a UK registered charity (Registration Number 1129409) which exists to promote the study of computer science and related topics, especially at school level, and to put the fun back into learning computing. We expect this computer to have many other applications both in the developed and the developing world.

Please note that the Raspberry Pi isn't released yet - this page is a community work in progress in preperation for the launch

 NEWS: =Events=
 * Alpha boards are now in manufacture

=Provisional specification= The first product is about the size of a credit card, and is designed to plug into a TV or be combined with a touch screen for a low cost tablet. The expected price is $25 for a fully-configured system.


 * 700MHz ARM11 (ARM1176JZF-S) core
 * 128MB (Model A) or 256MB of SDRAM (Model B)
 * OpenGL ES 2.0
 * 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode
 * Composite and HDMI video output
 * One USB 2.0 port provided by the BCMxxxx
 * SD/MMC/SDIO memory card slot
 * General-purpose I/O (About 16 3v3, brought out to 1.27mm pin-strip)
 * Optional integrated 2-port USB hub and 10/100 Ethernet controller (Model B)
 * Open software (Ubuntu, Iceweasel, KOffice, Python)

=Availability=

Estimated availability (as of 1st August 2011) is end of November 2011.

=Case=

A protective case is an often-cited required accessory. Cases are likely to be offered both directly from Raspberry Pi and from 3rd party companies such as Special Computing.

=Power Adapters=

Provisional information is that the boards will feature a Coax-style DC Jack connector accepting 6-20v (or possibly 5-16v)

=Expansion boards=

It is likely that expansion boards will be offered both by Raspberry Pi Foundation and by 3rd parties.

=Beginners guide=

You just got your new Raspberry Pi device, and now? See beginners guides.

=Hardware= The first product is about the size of a credit card, and is designed to plug into a TV or be combined with a touch screen accessory for a low cost tablet. The product will be available in two configurations: Model A and Model B. The expected price is $25 for a fully-configured Model-A system and around $35 for a Model B.

Components
(PCB IDs are those of the Model B Alpha board)

Based on a new Broadcom media processor (Raspberry Pi are currently redacting the chip model number in comments on their forum).


 * CPU: Broadcom BCMxxxx featuring the ARM1176JZF-S ARM11 core clocked at 700MHz and an unknown GPU providing Open GL ES 2.0 and 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode
 * RAM: 128MB (Model A) or 256MB (Model B) of SDRAM
 * Either 1x USB 2.0 (Model A) or LAN9512 providing 10/100Mb Ethernet and 2x USB 2.0 (J10: Model B)
 * 1.27" header providing ~16 GPIOs at 3v3
 * J1: DC Jack (6-20v input provisionally)
 * HDMI connector
 * SD/MMC/SDIO memory card slot
 * J5: JTAG
 * J6: Audio connector
 * J7: Composite Video connector


 * Board size: Credit-card or smaller.
 * Weight: <37g
 * Currently 6 layer PCB; target: 4 layer

Manual
Documentation will presumably be available when the product is release (current target ~November 2011)

Schematic / Layout

 * PCB mask: http://www.raspberrypi.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/raspberry1.png
 * Prototype1 board: http://www.raspberrypi.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/pcb1.jpg

Clocking

 * Provisional main CPU clock speed is 700MHz
 * No data currently released on the GPU or other component clock speeds

Power management

 * Target power consumption is <1W

DLP Pico projector
The boards have both Composite and HDMI outputs so should interface with a range of DLP Pico projectors on the market.

Interfacing to Raw LCD Panels
No data currently available.

If the touchscreen interface talks via USB, they choose Linux as an OS, and there's Linux support for the touchscreen, the answer would be "yes".

=BootRom=

The boards do not include NAND or NOR storage - everything is on the SD card, which has a FAT32 partition with GPU firmware and a kernel image, and an EXT2 partition with the rootfs.

We're not currently using a bootloader - we actually boot via the GPU, which contains a proprietary RISC core (wacky architecture ;). The GPU mounts the SD card, loads GPU firmware and brings up display/video/3d, loads a kernel image, resets the SD card host and starts the ARM.

You could replace the kernel image with a bootloader image, and that would work fine.

=Code=

Code and binaries for Raspberry Pi will be available at various places from launch.

Source
=Compiler=

The Broadcom processor on Raspberry Pi contains an ARM v6 general purpose processor and a GPU of currently unknown origin. No data is currently available on other cores (if any) available in the BCMxxxx.

ARM
There is broad compiler support including gcc - please see ARM Compilers

DSP
It is currently unknown if there is a DSP present.

=Development environments=

Instead of just using compiler + editor, you can use complete image create "development tool chains" which integrate compiler, build system, packaging tools etc. in one tool chain.

Android
EMBINUX

Scratchbox
=Software hints=

This section collects hints, tips & tricks for various software components.

=Graphics accelerator=

=FAQ=

For Raspberry Pi frequently asked questions (FAQ) see FAQ.

=Links=

Home page
raspberrypi.org (RaspberryPi home)
 * Using Google you can search raspberrypi.org (including Forum) using site:raspberrypi.org . The home page and forum each have their own search facilitiy also.

Contact and communication

 * Home page and blog
 * FAQ
 * Contact Raspberry Pi Foundation (info and press inquiries)
 * Twitter

Articles
(please use Google search or Google news for the moment)

Education & Training materials

 * See also Category:Education

Raspberry Pi photos

 * Press photos
 * PCB layout

Raspberry Pi videos

 * BBC iClick's Peter Price asks whether a £15 computer can solve the programming gap
 * Raspberry Pi's David Braben talks to BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones

Manufacturing
=Subpages= 

=Thanks=
 * The layout for this page is based on the excellent Beagleboard page on this site.
 * Some of the text on this page has been adapted from contributions made by the contributors to the Beagleboard page on this site.