Raspberry Pi Zero production
Good news from Raspberry Pi Trading – Raspberry Pi Zero production is soon to enter a new phase, bringing with it better availability… and something mysterious. Here’s what Eben Upton had to say on a recent Raspberry Pi Forum thread:
Raspberry PI Zero production is restarting in Wales next Monday after a hiatus to allow us to focus on Raspberry Pi 3 (a million units built and counting). We have placed 250ku of new orders, and are aiming to produce at least 50ku/month for the rest of this year. Distribution will continue to be via Pimoroni, Pi Hut, Adafruit and Micro Center for now.
He also added a mysterious hint of something new to be added to the Zero:
To thank you for your patience, we’ve taken advantage of the hiatus to add a (much requested) new feature. I’ll leave you all to guess what it is (it’s not WiFi).
So! What do you reckon the new feature is? Add a comment below with your best guess!
Calling it:
Donut dispenser!
Always needed one of those on my desk! Can’t wait. Don’t let me down!
If it’s not WiFi, then I’m guessing it’ll be the addition of header pins.
Audio out via the composite video header?
Bluetooth, Zigbee, or full-sized USB.
Sorry, that’s three guesses…
SATA Connection 🙂
Would love to see a CSI connector.
USB power socket will work as USB 2 port.
USB BackPower?
Maybe is the quad core processor from Raspberry Pi 2, considering the competence like Orange Pi ONE or C.H.I.P.
The P5 header is coming back 🙂
A camera interface would be cool, but maybe that’s not possible?
Camera connector.
bluetooth
I wish it to be the camera connector
Ok, I’ll guess ethernet. Can’t understand why they cannot just add that little bluetooth-wifi chip like on the Pi 3.
I’m sure it’s just a question of space and not wanting to put things on the underside of the board. Mind you, Eben has said that there’s no guarantee of form factor. But, it’s definitely not wifi at the moment!
I’ll cross my fingers for solar power. Not realistic, but fun to think about.
Wifi and Bluetooth and CSI is unlikely because it uses more space and makes the rpi more expensive.
And it’s definitely not wifi/bluetooth because of what Eben said in the post quoted.
A reason for me to buy yet another, I imagine.
My bet is for a Bluetooth LE chip as fitted on the RPi3
Reset switch
GPIO Pins and that idea about a reset or shutdown switch would be very nice indeed.
I hope its an onboard lipo battery circuit so we can power these through a battery. that would be amazing.
It would be nice just to be able to actually get hold of one (Pi Zero) – the last I saw of one was in the hand of Lord Lucan as he rode into the sunset on Shergar…
Don’t forget Jimmy Hoffa. All I can say is: keep your eyes peeled over the next week.
For my money the new addition will be the camera… absolutely certain…. especially as a new one has been released..