The Raspberry Pi foundation has quietly
launched the first major new version of
its popular low-power Raspberry Pi
development platform, not too long after
founder Eben Upton stated that no such
product would be released till at least
2017.
The Register has details of the new
Raspberry Pi 2 Model B, which has
significantly upgraded components but
will sell for the same price of $35
(approximately Rs. 2,167) that the
previous Raspberry Pi Model B and its
revision, the Model B+ sold for.
The most important new component of
the new model is its Broadcom BCM2836
SoC, which has four ARM Cortex A7
cores. Previous Raspberry Pi models hav
been based on the Broadcom BCM2835,
which was a single-core general-purpos
application processor. The foundation
estimates a six-fold performance
increase, but states that this is a only a
rough calculation based on benchmarks
that do not adequately stress the system
or utilise all four cores.
The Raspberry Pi 2 will also come with
1GB of RAM rather than the 256MB or
512MB of first-generation models. All
other specifications are the same as
those of the first-generation Model B+ ,
including the single HDMI 1.4 output,
3.5mm composite video and stereo audi
output, four USB 2.0 ports, microSD slot,
10/100 Ethernet port, Micro-USB power
port, and 40-pin IO layout.
In a further surprise, the foundation and
Microsoft have also jointly announced
that the Raspberry Pi 2 will be able to ru
a version of Windows 10 as well as
associated services. The move ties in
with Microsoft's Windows Developer
Program for IoT (Internet of Things)
which aims to bring Windows to ultra-
low-powered devices. The software gian
is targeting entrepreneurs, hobbyists an
tinkerers who might develop new ultra-
personal Internet-connected devices.
Windows 10 will be available for free for
the Raspberry Pi. Previous reports of a
Windows 10 update for current Windows
RT devices already pointed towards som
support for ARM architectures.
The Raspberry Pi 2 will be available for
purchase today, with an in initial batch
of 100,000 units going on sale and
thousands more being produced every
day, according to Upton.
The previous-generation B+ model as
well as the lower-cost A+ model will
continue to be available at the same
prices for industrial customers and
embedded project developers who have
invested in designs based around them.
http://m.gadgets.ndtv.com/laptops/news/raspberry-pi-2-launched-with-faster-quad-core-processor-1gb-of-ram-656367
