Ocean College and School Students Science Projects materials

Google reportedly working on bringing Android to the Raspberry Pi 3 in Chennai

The Raspberry Pi is a series of credit card–sized single-board computers developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of promoting the teaching of basic computer science in schools and third world countries.[5][6][7] The original Raspberry Pi and Raspberry Pi 3 are manufactured in several board configurations through licensed manufacturing agreements with Newark element14 (Premier Farnell), RS Components and Egoman. These companies sell the Raspberry Pi online.[8] Egoman produces a version for distribution solely in Taiwan, which can be distinguished from other Pis by their red colouring and lack of FCC/CE marks. The hardware is the same across all manufacturers. The original Raspberry Pi3 is based on the Broadcom BCM2835 system on a chip (SoC),[2] which includes an ARM1176JZF-S 700 MHz processor, VideoCore IV GPU,[9] and was originally shipped with 256 megabytes of RAM, later upgraded (models B and B+) to 512 MB.[3][10] The system has Secure Digital (SD) (models A and B) or MicroSD (models A+ and B+) sockets for boot media and persistent storage.[11] In 2014, the Raspberry Pi3 Foundation launched the Compute Module, which packages a BCM2835 with 512 MB RAM and an eMMC flash chip into a module for use as a part of embedded systems.[12] The Foundation provides Debian and Arch Linux ARM distributions for download.[13] Tools are available for Python as the main programming language, with support for BBC BASIC[14] (via the RISC OS image or the Brandy Basic clone for Linux),[15] C, C++, Java,[16] Perl and Ruby.[17] As of 8 June 2015, about five to six million Raspberry Pis have been sold.[18][19] While already the fastest selling British personal computer, it has also shipped the second largest number of units behind the Amstrad PCW, the "Personal Computer Word-processor", which sold eight million. In early February 2015, the next-generation Raspberry Pi, Raspberry Pi 2, was released.[20] The new computer board is initially available only in one configuration (model B) and features a Broadcom BCM2836 SoC, with a quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU and a VideoCore IV dual-core GPU; 1 GB of RAM with remaining specifications being similar to those of the previous generation model B+. The Raspberry Pi 2 retains the same US$35 price point of the model B,[21] with the US$20 model A+ remaining on sale.

When the original Raspberry Pi launched, it was billed as a tiny low-cost computer useful to tinkerers, enthusiasts, and as a way to teach kids the basics of coding. Over the last four years, the platform has evolved and improved — the current version of the Raspberry Pi (the Raspberry Pi 3) is a quad-core Cortex-A53 CPU at 1.2GHz with a VideoCore IV GPU clocked at 300-400MHz (3D clocked at 300MHz, video at 400MHz), 1GB of RAM, 802.11n wireless, and a rated power consumption of 4W. That’s not far off the specs of mid-to-low-end Android smartphones these days, and Google which hasn’t formally supported the RBP 3 with an operating system, appears to have taken notice. Multiple reports are suggesting that the company intends to formally support Raspberry Pi with its own version of the Android operating system.

The proof of the potential for such support is an empty folder in the Google repository for its AOSP (Android Open Source Project). There are a number of devices and branches listed in the master directory for AOSP, and many of them aren’t empty. Including the RBP 3 in this list would seem to indicate that Google intends to support the device with future code updates and an Android version. Currently, the RBP 3 is supported by certain Linux distros and even a Windows IoT variant, but bringing Android support to the diminutive computer would open up a world of options for the device.

The best thing about seeing a modern OS come to the Raspberry Pi would be the options it would open for building genuine systems around the hardware. Without intending any disrespect to Linux or Windows 10 IoT, these operating systems don’t have the depth or breadth of applications as Android does. As the RBP hardware continues to advance, it’ll likely close the gap between itself and modern smartphones or tablets by an additional margin — the current 1.2GHz quad-core Cortex-A57 design is a solid target, but it shouldn’t be hard for the Raspberry Pi Foundation to iterate on this base with higher clock speed targets for future designs. The Raspberry Pi and Raspberry Pi 2 were both built on 40nm process technology; it’s not clear if the Broadcom BCM2837 at the heart of the RBP 3 is based on 28nm tech or not. If it isn’t, then there’s definitely room to push the hardware further in future iterations of the platform while keeping power consumption steady.

If Google is serious about supporting the RBP 3 with Android — and absent an official confirmation, that is still an if — it’ll open the hardware up to new projects and capabilities, without detracting at all from its original mission to serve as an inexpensive introduction to computing and computer programming. While the company hasn’t announced anything yet, hopefully the surge of overall interest will spark an official statement.