More than three million Raspberry Pi computers have already been sold. Originally designed to introduce school children to computers, the tiny device has been used as a small server, a media center, an embedded PC in industrial products, and more. The queen of England even honored the project with a visit, and she was amused.

In July, a refurbished Rasp Pi appeared in the form of the Raspberry  Pi Model B+. Although the board for this model is still based on the Broadcom-SoC-BCM2835 with 512MB of main memory, the Raspberry Pi Foundation implemented many improvements in its details (see "Why No Improved Performance?"). Users who need more RAM or gigabit Ethernet will have to wait for another model: According to the Foundation, the next Rasp Pi will appear at the end of 2016 at the earliest.

First Impression

A quick look at the circuit board of the Raspberry  Pi Model  B+ reveals a spiffed up layout. Although the B+ is the same size as the old Model B, it is easier to grab thanks to its rounded edges. Moreover, four holes make it possible to fasten the housing and other accessories more securely. The large capacitor that stuck out so prominently on the Model  B and was easy to break off is gone, thanks to the cleaned up power circuitry, and the USB and Ethernet ports now connect flush with the circuit board. The audio out jack moved to the opposite side of the board behind the Ethernet port, but the connectors for camera and GPIO generally remain in the same places.

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