MORE ABOUT Raspberry Pi

The new Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ contains a Cypress Semi CYW43455 chip, which can operate 802.11ac Wi-Fi at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, as well as simultaneous Bluetooth and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Older Raspberry Pi’s used the firm’s CYW43438 802.11n 2.4-GHz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth combo. The RPi 3 Model B+ was designed after speaking with professional users, according to Farnell – which along with RS Components makes and distributes Raspberry Pi boards. “The 802.11ac transmissions enable superior network performance, faster downloads and better range,” claimed Cypress.

The Raspberry Pi is a well designed, powerful and inexpensive board, but not a complete computer. Some distributors know you need more than just a plastic case and a mains-adapter power supply (or USB cable). The ‘Pi Desktop’ kit from element14 contains everything you need and more, turning your RPi into a fully fledged computer...

The Tinker Board from PC giant Asus has a Quad core 1.8-GHz ARM Cortex-A17 CPU from Rockchip. Although the Rockchip is a 32-bit machine rather than Raspberry Pi’s 64 bit, it’s faster than the Pi 3. Tinker Board also has more memory than RPI 3: 2 GB dual-channel LPDDR3.

Farnell expands their, beloved by not only Elektor readers, Raspberry Pi family with three new products: the Compute Module 3, the Compute Module 3 Lite and an accompanying Compute 3 Development Kit. With the Compute Module 3 a new step is made in the development of the Raspberry Pi for the fast-growing industrial and commercial markets.