Jordan O'BrienRaspberry Pi is one of the most popular hacker computers currently on the market. For some of the most advanced installers, the Raspberry Pi can often be all they need to create a whole home automation system without spending masses on the easier-to-set-up systems.
Now the Raspberry Pi is even cheaper as the foundation has unveiled a computer that costs just £4.
Like every other member of the Raspberry Pi family, the Zero is fully programmable and is also a fully-fledged computer – albeit missing a few ports that can be found on the more expensive Pi 2.
Its specs include a Broadcom BCM2835 application processor with a 1GHz ARM 11 core, a micro-SD card slot, a mini-HDMI socket for 1080p60 video output, micro-USB sockets for data and power, an unpopulated 40-pin GPIO header and an unpopulated composite video header. Raspberry Pi managed to cram all of that into its smallest ever form factor; 65mm x 30mm x 5mm – or around the size of a credit card.
Like other Raspberry Pi computers, the Zero runs the Raspbian OS, which for those unaware is an operating system based on the popular Linux distribution Debian.
There is a slight downside to the Zero however, especially when it comes to its flexibility in home automation projects. That downside is the absence of an Ethernet port meaning there’s no way to connect to the Internet using the Raspberry Pi Zero without a USB hub.
Installers wanting to give the Zero a try but thinking £4 is still a little too steep, then there is another way to get one. The leading magazine covering all things Raspberry Pi, MagPi, is giving one away free with every issue. Every issue costs £5.99 – meaning it’s a little more than the Zero upfront, but installers will also get a magazine.
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