The Raspberry Pi 2 is now shipping for the same price as the previous model, while boasting six times the speed of the original and support for Microsoft's upcoming Windows 10 OS.
The successor to the original Raspberry Pi, which sold a whopping 4 million units, also houses twice the amount of main memory as the original.
"Since we launched the original Raspberry Pi Model B, back in 2012, we've done an enormous amount of software work to get the best out of our Broadcom BCM2835 application processor and its 700MHz ARM11 CPU," said the company in a post on its website. "Nonetheless, there comes a point when there's no substitute for more memory and CPU performance."
Raspberry Pi is known as a great unit for developing gadgets like robots and other electronics. It is even the brains behind a Bitcoin ATM. The Raspberry Pi 2, given the faster speed and enhanced memory, will allow for more complex creations and inventions.
As with the previous model, users will still need to add their own keyboard, MicroSD with an operating system, and cables to connect the device to a screen in order to turn the device into a computer and program it.
"You can do most of the things with this that you can do with a PC. You can surf the web, you can watch videos, you can play games like Minecraft. But we also bundle it with the tools that children need in order to learn how to program," said Eben Upton, founder of the Raspberry Pi, in an interview.
"The great thing is - apart from those two changes - that we've managed to keep everything else the same. So, all of those tutorials that people have developed over the last few years will carry on working with this device. It just kind of broadens out the range of interesting stuff kids can do."
Software that already exists for the original Raspberry Pi will need to be recompiled, or converted into something the new computer understands, in order to take advantage of the new processor.
Currently the device supports a number of different Linux-based operating systems, however as mentioned before it will soon also support Windows 10. Raspberry Pi has been working with Microsoft to allow for Windows 10 compatibility, and Windows 10 will be available for free to creators using the Raspberry Pi 2.
"We see the maker community as an amazing source of innovation for smart, connected devices that represent the very foundation of the next wave of computing, and we're excited to be a part of this community," said Kevin Dallas, general manager at Windows IoT Group. "Raspberry Pi has quickly become one of the maker community's favourite platforms because their highly-capable, low-cost boards and compute modules enable developers to bring their vision to life."
