Raspberry Pi Official Magazine #154

Back in the neon-soaked 1980s, the vision of the future of computing was very different. We always knew that computing would be central to our lives, but the general idea was that computers would be more like plumbing or gas: integrated into the home as essential utilities. This is within our reach right now! We can put computers to use and build an incredible responsive home of the future (that is just as smart as how we imagined it would be). This month we’re going to put Raspberry Pi into the heart of your home with our guide to Home Automation: from smart sockets, to wireless light bulbs, and network-connected thermostats and cameras. The great thing about Raspberry Pi is that it can control everything and you’re in charge. That…

At Raspberry Pi, our mission is to make computing accessible and affordable for everyone and for businesses at every scale, so we’re delighted to announce a reduction in the price of some of the most popular variants of Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4. From now, if you buy a standard operating temperature Compute Module 4 (rpimag.co/cm4) from a Raspberry Pi Approved Reseller (rpimag.co/resellers), it’ll cost you $5 less for a 4GB RAM variant, and $10 less for an 8GB RAM variant. Broader access to a proven platform Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 is the cornerstone of an astonishing variety of applications, from medical equipment (rpimag.co/biobusiness) to energy services infrastructure (rpimag.co/episensor) and from concrete monitoring (rpimag.co/concretecompute) to retro gaming. There is a vast number of embedded use cases that don’t require…

We’ve reduced product returns by half, cut our manufacturing time by 15%, and eliminated 43 tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year by changing the way we solder connectors onto our computers. In product design and manufacture, small changes often drive big differences in environmental impact, and at Raspberry Pi we’ve always made sure we have a thorough understanding of the processes used to manufacture our products so that we can spot ways to improve them. In the run-up to Raspberry Pi 5, we worked with our manufacturing partner Sony (sonypencoed.co.uk) to implement a technique called intrusive reflow soldering, an adjustment that has improved product quality, reduced waste, and lowered our environmental impact. Solving the through-hole bottleneck Through-hole connectors have long been a sticking point in efficient production. They require robust…

Raspberry Pi has published an improved new version of Raspberry Pi OS (rpimag.co/raspberrypios). This is our recommended (and free) operating system for all Raspberry Pi computers. The new version is now available for download from the Raspberry Pi website, from the Raspberry Pi Imager tool, and you can upgrade directly from inside Raspberry Pi OS. As many of you already know, Debian Linux works on a two-year release cycle – every odd-numbered year, a new major version is released, and it being 2025, there will be one in the next few months. This is probably the final release of Raspberry Pi OS based on Debian ‘bookworm’, before Debian ‘trixie’ is released in the summer of 2025. The last full release Raspberry Pi made was back in November 2024, and there…

Cybersecurity gets plenty of media coverage, not least because most of us have become so dependent on electronic communication and internet connectivity that disruptions can cause major havoc. In splat-a-rat fashion, one type of threat gets beaten back, only for another to rear its head. Solent University final-year student Josh Perryman reasoned that focusing his efforts on identifying a specific type of cyberthreat would be a practical use of machine learning, and also make a great excuse to finally try Raspberry Pi’s capabilities in this field for himself. His Signal Sentinel can detect jamming attacks on wirelessly connected devices including IoT hardware and even cars – an increasingly prevalent target for thieves (rpimag.co/bbccartheft). Josh envisages his Signal Sentinel being integrated with other systems which mitigate or prevent the attack. Demonstration…

Warning Mains Electricity Electricity is dangerous. Be careful when working with electrical projects that involve mains electricity and relay devices to control high-power loads. rpimag.co/electricalsafety Life can be full of ups and downs and, for maker Alan Boris, that can be something to celebrate. After all, he’s a self-proclaimed lover of elevators, having grown to appreciate just how complex these vertical transportation devices actually are. And, when he rode a “very cool” example recently, his tech ambitions rose to another level. “When you start to think about the design, elevators have a lot of inputs and outputs – buttons, sensors, motors, LEDs and floor indicators,” he notes. “They may be simple to use, but they hide a lot of complexity behind the scenes, so I created one using Raspberry Pi…