Today the Raspberry Pi model B+ is officially announced. It’s a well polished upgrade of the previous model B rev 2. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on one a bit early, so had time to examine, photograph, video and briefly try out the new Pi model B+ with HDMIPi.
What’s New? What’s Changed?
The processor and board size are the same, but there are lots of changes. We now have…
a newly designed power circuit (A) with an efficient switching regulator. This means that if you’re running your Pi from batteries, you’ll be able to use it for longer between charges/replacement. If you’re not, it should use a bit less power, which is a good thing.
composite video and audio combined (B) into a single socket. We now have a 4-pole 3.5mm socket that does the job of both composite video and stereo analog audio sockets from the model B. It’s much more compact and elegant than the previous solution. The analog audio quality has been improved as well.
4 USB ports onboard (C). Instead of the previous 2. This pretty much eliminates the need for a powered hub. Massive improvement.
40 GPIO pins (D) (up from 26) with 9 new GPIO ports, 2 DNC pins and 3 new GND pins. The P5 header is gone.
Cables only on 2 sides now. Composite, audio and power have all been moved to the same side as the HDMI port. So two sides of the Pi now don’t have cables coming out of them.
Better tolerance to low voltages. Many people had issues early on with inadequate power supplies. These should almost disappear now (apart from perhaps with some USB peripherals.) Also, it didn’t reboot when I hot-swapped a USB keyboard dongle. 🙂
4 mount holes. Rev 2 Pi had 2 holes, but they were not ‘officially’ mount holes. These are.
Rounded corners. It still doesn’t fit in an Altoids tin without major surgery, but who really cares?
A slightly smaller overall footprint because the USB ports don’t stick out much over the edge of the board….
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Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Adafruit has the largest and best selection of Raspberry Pi accessories and all the code & tutorials to get you up and running in no time!