Engel 1

George Engel
Mr. Conrad
EWRC 2nd period
12 April 2016
The Power of Pi
Anyone whos seen a science fiction film at any point in their life has to of wondered
how they themselves might come across an easy and inexpensive way to get into the world of
technology, and try their hand at inventing some crazy cool or convenient contraption, as would
a certain mad scientists we all know and love. Well luckily for those who have made it into the
twenty first century, we now have the technology such as the raspberry pi readily available at our
fingertips. Oh, and when I say pi, I dont mean the tasty desert, nor the greek symbol we use in
mathematics, but rather a circuit board. Yes, a very useful, and flexible, circuit board.
So what's so special about some circuit board you ask? Well see, the raspberry pi series
aren't mere circuit boards, dear mortal. But rather a palm-sized, single-board computer
developed by a non-profit foundation in the United Kingdom, with inputs and accessories that
are readily available, and fairly easy to get the hang of. Sounds rather useful right? Oh But the
glorification doesn't end here, in addition to their unique size and shape for what they are, these
wonderful little mini computers cost less than $50 each, going as low as 5 dollars in case of the
raspberry pi Zero series, making them both easily accessible to people with low income, and
cheap yet convenient for prototypes and projects regardless of skill level thanks to their
surprisingly robust construction and high quality specs. In other words, you get a lot for your
money.

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To give a more specific idea of just how powerful these
little guys are, let's take a look at the latest and greatest pi, the
raspberry pi 3 - Model B whom is rather well known for having
blowing its predecessors out of the water in terms of practicality,
utility, and pure processing power. At the mere price of 30 euros,
ThePiHut offers this wonderful mini computer Now with a QuadCore 64bit CPU, WiFi & Bluetooth All on board! Which may not sound like anything
particularly useful to someone who hasnt done their research, or isnt a regular raspberry pi
enthusiast, however let me assure you, it is a huge improvement to the raspberry pis previous
versions in terms of power, and convenience. For instance, the fact that it has on board wifi and
bluetooth makes initial interfacing with the pi a million times easier than it has been with
previous versions of the raspberry pi, along with other products, as you no longer have to set
these up on your own by ponying up additional cash for a wifi card, or whatever method of
connectivity you would have had to choose to use, in order to configure it, which would of also
required a usb hub, due to lack of usb ports. So it's basically a convenience thing for those
looking to create neat gadgets with the pi, on top of being much more reliable than previous
methods, which often required use of linux, which has been known for being rather tricky to
figure out and get working on the first go around with the pi, and is rarely very stable.
In addition to the Pis impressive spec as far as consideration for neat projects go, it is
also already, as is, a functioning computer, meaning you can literally download windows 10
64bit and use it like one for basic needs such as searching the web, watching videos, playing
music, and what not: a.k.a, the "Raspberry Pi and other single-board computers provide an
inexpensive and compact solution for cases where a typical PC is overkill" -Geoff Perlman. It is

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literally a $35 computer, -plus additional charges for monitor, mouse, and keyboard-, but that
aside, the pis true value really shines when shown how powerful it is all on its own. This is what
separates the pi from other electronic maker appliances, such as the arduino, as it is quite literally
a mini-computer as opposed to a microprocessor, which is essentially a part of something like a
mini-computer, and is hence simpler. However this also makes it seem unnecessarily powerful
for certain electrical projects, which may require something a little simpler to work with, for
instance, if you would consider the following dilemma:
Youre looking for a small computer to power a laser turret that can shoot multicoloured balloons its a common situation we all find ourselves in at one point
or another and youve heard good things about both Arduino and Raspberry Pi.
But you cant decide which the best mini-computer for your project? Which is
going to prevail as the most useful once youve disassembled the turret thanks to
that incident with the neighbours cat?(James Bruce 1)
Now of course, choosing between the two may initially seem like a tough choice, (not really) but
when considering a more complex project that involves something like vision targeting, its very
likely that a maker would choose a pi over an arduino, as it has more flushed capabilities and
documentation for these kinds of projects, however if it were something more like wanting to
make an LED sign, or making an old phone into a bug to listen in on friends conversation, youd
likely want an arduino. The reason for this being the requirements for the project. If it really isnt
something that big, you wouldnt want to go all out and have to go through all these unnecessary
steps as might be necessary with the pi, hence something simpler like the arduino being
preferable, as it is easier to get working, and typically less expensive, even when comparing it to
the cheaper, smaller pis, like the raspberry pi Zero, it is often considered more appropriate. The

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pi isnt only considered too good for lower end applications, but also not quite good enough for
stable use as a desktop pc outside of basic usage, as the Raspberry Pi Foundation says the Pis
overall performance is comparable with a PC using an Intel Pentium 2 processor clocked at
300MHz, which you might have bought in the mid to late nineties, except that the Raspberry Pi
has much better graphics. Which is pretty damn good, if you really want to try and get a gaming
computer in the under $50 price range. Just dont go expecting games like fallout 4 to be very
playable, or both you and your pi will end up sad pandas, as it is roughly the equivalent of a first
generation Xbox in terms of potential gaming capabilities. Unfortunately for those who seek it
out as a means of a cheap gaming computer, youll be stuck with about half a gig of ram to work
with at best, due to the fact that there is really no easy way to expand the pis memory, as one
would be able to do on an actual desktop. So it is bottlenecked by the amount of memory it has,
but hey, it's $35, and thanks to the wonderful makers community that has sprouted up around this
little computer, it is pretty likely that there is a project out there to work said limitations.
Speaking of projects, oh boy is this thing ever helpful. The raspberry pi, being the
beautiful medium that it is, has inspired a plethora of people to build things they otherwise
wouldnt of been able to even start without proper means of electrical production, or extensive
knowledge of circuit boards and firmware development. But the pi handles all of that, and allows
people to make all kinds of cool stuff, ranging from things like retro home made gaming
consoles with raspberry pi based emulators, to huge 3D scanners, which use as many as 40 pis
in conjunction to fit the needs of the maker. Oh, and did I forget to mention? There's also a ton of
tutorials based on these projects made by more experienced makers to help get others started.
They even open source theyre files for the most part, which basically means for some projects
you may be able to find detailed documentation that walks you through literally everything you

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need to do, as though youd be reading a manual for putting together an ikea furniture piece or
something of that nature. But hey, even if you cant find any particular project like the one you
have in mind, plenty of makers started knowing next to nothing, and still somehow some guy
ended up figuring out how to link 40 Raspberry Pies together and join them with 40 PI
cameras just cause he wanted to be able to make a 3d model of [his] kids. So naturally anyone
with proper dedication and internet connection should be able to get the hang of things, right?
At this point, There's a huge amount of tutorials, and walkthroughs for getting started
with these kinds of technology, it's so easily accessible, and at a price literally anyone could
afford, and it is capable of opening a gateway to a whole new understanding of the tech were
surrounded by on a daily basis. The projects people have already created, people with and
without degrees in electrical/mechanical engineering, speaks volumes of how much the raspberry
pi has, and will continue to influence future generations, and I take pride in the fact that I can say
Ill be able to see a generation of makers rise some day soon, and well, maybe I'll even get to call
myself one of them by the time it rolls around.

Work Cited

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