Greetings to all,

We are back at it with another blog. One thing I must say is that Raspberry Pi has always been good to me. Yes they have competitors such as Arduino, but we won't slander any companies in this blog. They are a great company as well so don't get it twisted. Anyways, the many boards they offer with great docs makes things so great in the world of embedded. Today I wanted to take the time to speak more about the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the hardware and software they provide, and why you should grab one.

Raspberry Pi Foundation is a nonprofit organization who focuses on the education of electronics to all. Founded in 2009 via UK, they are known to provide the world credit card sized computers which are low cost. The objective of RPi Foundation is to provide access to computing with their hardware which had me hooked since I first grabbed my Pi 4 board. At the time, the board was only $35 dollars leaving my mind blown on the price and the quality that comes with such. This board (Pi 4 Model B) has been the flagship of the foundation and I really enjoy using it daily. After doing some research, I came to find they actually sold over 40+ Million of boards giving a huge presence in the educational institutions. You know what's also quite attractive to me about RPF, they are nonprofit which speaks volumes on why they are out here providing all this greatness. 

Speaking about the Pi 4 boards there is so much that makes this an attractive board. The device is called a small computer because it runs Linux distros that are compatible to the ARM architecture of the Pi. They offer their own distro called Raspberry Pi OS (RaspbianOS was the prior name) as well as have options to load Ubuntu, Debian and many other distros of choice. To do so, Raspberry Pi provides free software called "Pi Imager" that allows users to load. Download the loader and choose the OS of choice to install on the microSD. BOOM you are good to go.  Keep in mind that some of the boards are not able to use Linux distro such as the Pico. Not just that, but it's also called a small computer because you are able to connect HDMI for display, USB ports for keyboards and mice, also usb B port  and barrel jack so you can power from the home electricity. I tend to use the Pi 4 for a Linux desktop.

In regards to the education part, the foundation provides many tools such as tutorials and courses for you to learn many things. They also provide a way to be a partner with them so you can start your own groups in the community. With resources to help you make a great group, I think they really did a outstanding job in this sector. This helps a great deal because I wanted to start something with the local schools such as a STEM vibe.

While working on the projects in the embedded world, I highly suggest these boards to work with. Yes, they may take a bit to learn if you aren't familiar with microcontroller boards. If you feel that you have played around with the Arduino hardware and found that you need a challenge, take a try with Pi. I am sure you will enjoy the boards once you use.

For more, please visit: https://www.raspberrypi.com/

For the foundation page, please visit : https://www.raspberrypi.org/