What is a Raspberry Pi?
A Raspberry Pi is a low-cost, compact computer based on a single circuit board (SBC). It was originally developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in the UK to promote computer science education, but has quickly become a versatile tool for hobbyists, developers, and professional applications.
| Raspberry Pi 5 | Raspberry Pi Zero |
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There are now a whole range of models available, differing in their performance, features, and design. At the time of writing, the basic model is already available in version 5 with up to 8GB of RAM. The Raspberry Pi Zero and Pico are considerably smaller and more power-efficient. These two models differ in that the Raspberry Pi Zero has a Wi-Fi module, allowing it to connect to the internet. The Raspberry Pi Pico lacks this, making it unsuitable for a webcam. The performance of the Raspberry Pi Zero, with a maximum of 512MB of RAM and a 1GHz quad-core processor, is considerably lower than that of its big brother. This should be taken into account when selecting software for implementing a webcam.
Operating system and software
The specially adapted Raspberry Pi OS (formerly Raspbian), based on Debian Linux, is often used. However, other operating systems such as Ubuntu, Windows IoT Core, or specialized systems can also be installed. The operating system is most easily preconfigured using a Raspberry Pi Imager and written to an SD card.
Programming languages such as Python, C, Java, and many more can be used to program a Raspberry Pi. However, Python is very popular. It is both easy to learn and powerful.