The Raspberry Pi Foundation announced the release of the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B, the newest generation of its credit-card size programming computer designed for consumers, engineers, and educators. The new board features more than six times the processing power and twice the memory of previous models and remains at the low cost of $35, according to the Raspberry Pi Foundation, which announced the launch in the United Kingdom earlier this week.
The Raspberry Pi 2 is available globally from electronics distributors element14, RS Components, and Allied Electronics. RS and Allied are trading brands of UK-based electrocomponents plc.
Key features of the Raspberry Pi 2 include:
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A 900MHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU (~6x performance)
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1GB LPDDR2 SDRAM (2x memory)
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Complete compatibility with Raspberry Pi 1
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Because it has an ARMv7 processor, it can run the full range of ARM GNU/Linux distributions, including Snappy Ubuntu Core, as well as Microsoft Windows 10.
“The low-cost Raspberry Pi platform has proved to be a revolutionary tool in delivering programming to a whole new universe,” said Glenn Jarrett, global head of marketing at RS Components. “RS and Allied have been honored once again to have the opportunity to work with the Foundation as a distribution partner for this exciting next important step in the evolution of the Raspberry Pi platform.”
Claire Doyle, global head of Raspberry Pi at element14, said: “The Raspberry Pi has been a revolutionary board for engineers and electronics enthusiasts, and element14 has been instrumental in the evolution of the product, having shipped 2.8 million units globally. The Raspberry Pi 2 delivers exceptional speed and power at a low cost, opening up new opportunities for innovation.”
For more information on the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B, go to www.raspberrypi.org/blog, www.element14.com, www.rs-components.com, and www.alliedelec.com.
