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Raspberry Pi Foundation Launches New Compute Module

The Raspberry Pi Foundation just launched an updated SKU of their Compute Module, now with an upgraded CPU and memory. The original Compute Module was released in 2014, and essentially brought a first-gen Raspberry Pi hardware to an Internet of Things form factor. The new Compute Module doesn’t stray far from these roots.

The new CM3 has the same recipe as its predecessor.  The internals have been upgraded to the same quad-core ARM processor found in the Raspberry Pi 3, along with the same 1GB of RAM. In fact it has an almost identical footprint to the original CM, only being 1mm taller. This is good news for a lot of DIYers and IoT developers, the CM3 can often serve as a slot in replacement for the original.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation already has a partner in place for the new board. NEC will be integrating it into a number of monitors. It’s small size and decent performance should lend itself to a number of other projects. It won’t break the bank either, starting at $25 without storage, or $30 with 4GB built in.

The Raspberry Pi line seems quite filled out by this point. Basically any level of IO you want with their hardware stack is available. This is probably a little more industrial focused, but I know plenty of DIY folks will be happy to get some extra grunt in this diminutive package.

About the author

Rich Stroffolino

Rich has been a tech enthusiast since he first used the speech simulator on a Magnavox Odyssey². Current areas of interest include ZFS, the false hopes of memristors, and the oral history of Transmeta.

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