What Is the Raspberry Pi?
The Raspberry Pi is a tiny computer about the size of a deck of cards. It uses what’s called a system on a chip, which integrates the CPU and GPU in a single integrated circuit, with the RAM, USB ports, and other components soldered onto the board for an all-in-one package.
It doesn’t have onboard storage, but it has an SD card slot you can use to house your operating system and files. The Raspberry Pi is small, doesn’t use much power, and is relatively inexpensive. Common use cases include home automation, gaming consoles, servers, WiFi extenders, streaming devices, weather stations, and home computers.
A Raspberry Pi was created in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. It’s a charity that “works to put the power of computing and digital making into the hands of people all over the world.” The first model of the Raspberry Pi was released in 2012, and as of 2021 there have been five generation of the boards. A microcontroller, called the Pico was released in early 2021.
What is Arduino?
The Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software used to build electronics projects. It consists of both hardware and software. Arduino hardware is a programmable circuit board called a microcontroller. Arduino software is an IDE (integrated development environment) through which developers write and upload the code to the microcontroller.
With the Arduino, you can design and build devices that can interact with your surroundings. The Arduino boards are basically a tool for controlling electronics. They are able to read inputs with their onboard microcontroller (eg. Light on a sensor, an object near a sensor) and turn it into an output (Drive a motor, ring an alarm, turning on an LED, display information on an LCD).
With the Arduino, makers and electricians can easily prototype their products and make their ideas come to life.
Arduino vs Raspberry
| Basis | Arduino | Raspberry Pi |
|---|---|---|
| License | Arduino is an open-source project. Both its software and hardware design are open source. | Both hardware and software of Raspberry Pi are closed source. |
| Control Unit | From Atmega Family | From ARM Family |
| Clock Frequency | 16 MHz (Arduino UNO) | Up to 1.5 GHz in Raspberry Pi 4 B |
| RAM | Requires less RAM (2kB) | Requires large RAM (more than 1 GB) |
| CPU Architecture | 8-bit | 64-bit |
| Logic level | Arduino’s logic level is 5V. | Raspberry Pi’s logic level is 3V. |
| Power Consumption | Consumes about 200 MW of power | Consumes about 700 MW of power |
| Based on | Arduino is a Microcontroller | Raspberry Pi is based on a microprocessor |
| Hardware Structure | Simple hardware structure | Complex hardware Structure |
| Software | Arduino boards are programmable using C/C++ languages. | Raspberry Pi supports its own Linux-based operating system Raspberry Pi OS. You can also install the OS you like. |
| Internet | Arduino does not have internet support. You need additional modules or shields to connect it to the internet. | Raspberry Pi has a built-in Ethernet port and WiFi support. |
| Cost | Arduino boards are cheaper. | Raspberry Pi boards are expensive. |
| How they handle power drop | Arduino devices begin executing code when they are turned on. Therefore, when power is turned off, abruptly, you won’t end up with a corrupt operating system or errors. The code will simply start again when plugged in. | Raspberry Pi requires the same care as a PC. You have to shut the operating system down properly. |
| Current drive strength | Higher current drive strength | Lower current drive strength |
| Capability | Arduino is generally used to perform single (and simple) tasks repeatedly. | Raspberry Pi can perform multiple tasks simultaneously. |
| Wireless connectivity | Arduino does not support Bluetooth or WiFi. | Raspberry Pi supports Bluetooth and WiFi. |
| Applications | Traffic light countdown timer, Parking lot counter, Weighing machines, etc. | Robot controller, Game servers, Stop motion cameras, etc. |
What you need to know about Arduinos
- It was developed to create microcontroller kits, which was used to build electronic devices.
- Most Arduinos come with an 8-bit Microcontroller.
- It has 32K bytes and 2K bytes of flash memory and SRAM. The flash memory consists of a stored sketch of Arduino, while SRAM manipulates the processing variables.
- It promotes C++ as the primary programming language.
- It has no Operating system. The software platform requires Windows, Linux, and macOS operating system to run the program.
- The types of Arduino are Started kits (for beginners), Arduino shields (printed circuit expansion boards), Standard Arduino boards, and boards with advanced features.
- The Arduino runs a single piece of code over and over again. Due to this, it starts quickly as soon as we ON the power.
- It is based on IDE (Integrated Development Environment), which is limited to the programming interface.
- The connection to the Internet is quite complicated.
- The Arduino project was started in Italy.
- The design of the Arduino board consists of different controllers and microprocessors. Some board also includes USB (Universal Serial Bus), models, and serial communication interfaces.
- The processor speed in Arduino ranges from 8MHz to 400MHz. The average speed of most of the types of Arduino is 16MHz.
- The projects of Arduino are connected to a computer using the USB port.
- The Analog to Digital converter is inbuilt in the Arduino.
- The Arduino UNO has 14 digital Input/Output pins, 6 analog pins, and power pins.
What you need to know about Raspberry Pi
- It was developed to encourage basic learning for computer science students and other growing countries.
- It consists of a 64-bit quad-core processor or microprocessor.
- The Raspberry Pi has about 1GiB of RAM. Here, 1 GiB = 1024 x 1024 x 1024 bytes = (1024)^3 bytes.
- It promotes Scratch and Python as the chief programming language.
- The foundation of Raspberry Pi provides an operating system such as Linux. It also provides a non-Linux operating system, such as OpenBSD, NetBSD, HelenOS, etc.
- The types of Raspberry Pi are Raspberry Pi Alternatives, Raspberry Pi Zero W, and Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+.
- We can run all types of applications in Raspberry Pi, including Microsoft Office, emails, or specific code for an electronics project.
- We can run a single or different piece of code in Raspberry Pi.
- The Operating system in all the files is saved in the SD card. For one Raspberry Pi, we can have multiple SD cards for the different operating system or file system.
- It is consistent in many programming languages.
- It can be easily connected to the Internet.
- The Raspberry Pi Foundation developed the Raspberry Pi in the United Kingdom.
- The design of Raspberry Pi board consists of CPU (Central Processing Unit), GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), the graphics chip, RAM, Xbee port, Ethernet port, power source connector, UART (Universal Asynchronous Reciever/Transmitter), and GPIO (General-Purpose Input/Output) pins.
- The processor speed in Raspberry Pi ranges from 700MHz to 1.5GHz.
- The hard drive for the Raspberry Pi is the slot on the board, in which the SD card is inserted.
- The Analog to Digital converter is attached externally to the Raspberry Pi.
- The Raspberry Pi3 has 40 Input/Output pins on board.