For hobbyists, inviting him to make himself at

Whoever ends up here is probably already know what a Raspberry Pi, and the possibilities offered by this, at least roughly probably know. Accordingly, I would like to review the judge rather on my experiences and less on the product itself. This is without question very good!

The nice thing about Raspberry Pi is that it is so versatile. You can live out their own creativity quite well with the right idea, tools and components. Starting with the design of their own housing to production of a DIY Radio, Media Centers, LED control, web server, NAS or whatever. Everything goes.

With the Raspberry Pi 2 I play currently "only" around a bit to learn the Python programming language and the control of various hardware on the GPIO pins. This works for me as a real Windows users already after a short notice and with Linux / Raspbian surprisingly good. Python is very easy to learn and progress be achieved quickly.

Also worth mentioning is the large community around the small single board computers. If you at a location times have problems, or planning a project, then usually ranges already a short Google search to find a solution or similar projects in which one can orient oneself. There are thus also the software excellently maintained and expanded and you can buy special adapted to the Raspberry Pi hardware. It would even Microsoft soon publish a Windows 10 version of the Raspberry Pi 2.

I have also been two of the Raspberry Pi model B from 2011. One of them I use, for example, with the Hyperion Software and 50 connected WS2801 LEDs as Ambilight clone and Media Center (Kodi / XBMC). The result is impressive.

Compared to the old model of the B Raspberry Pi 2 is felt much more quickly on the go. One notices this especially on the desktop interface. This has previously always hung a bit and simply annoyed. Thanks to the new quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM (compared to 512 MB from the previous guest) but is now all very fast. Theoretically you could now even the Pi almost use as a PC for surfing or writing / Office. But for other, more immediate applications, the better specifications are naturally conducive.

The fact that the Raspberry Pi has been so successful, there are many imitators and copies. This usually advertise with even better specifications, etc. These I would only recommend if you actually have an added value that is required mandatory for a project. This would, for example, a SATA connector to build a NAS (or similar). Because for conventional applications ranging as the processor of Pis also. Due to the aforementioned community can be found much more articles and products that are optimized and tailored for the Pi. This is in this competition just less so - not conducive want you to teach the self.

Conclusion: I can really only recommend this due to the versatility of the new Raspberry Pis. Compared to the old model a lot has happened - while attractive features such as low power consumption and compactness are still respected. Even fast for beginners, so people without any prior knowledge on the part of Linux, Python, electronics etc. can be achieved results. There are some instructions on the internet. I would definitely advise you to try it just once and to explore the possibilities.