Technical limitations are the greatest challenge to developing future devices like theRaspberry Pi 4, Pi creator Eben Upton told IT Pro in an interview yesterday.
But while the foundation will not move away from hardware, the Raspberry Pi creator told IT Pro that physical limitations will make it difficult to continue the same pace of development on the next generation of devices.
"We're kind of at the end of the road for 40 nanometer," he said. "There's not much more you can do in that process, because ultimately you're limited by thermals. In the end, you can add as much silicon area as you want, because if you can't afford to toggle the transistors in the silicon because the thing will cook, then you can't get any faster."
According to Upton, the projected lifecycle of the Raspberry Pi 3 is around three years, meaning that there is likely to be at least two more years until the foundation releases a new iteration of its single-board computer. "It's a long road to get to Pi 4," Upton said, "but we'll get there eventually."
In the meantime, the Raspberry Pi Foundation will spend more time focusing on its charitable endeavours and community projects, which include supporting out-of-school computing education via its 5,000 Code Clubsand launching a teacher training magazine calledHello World. It will also focus on its Pixel operating system that was launched late last year.
The foundationcelebrated the mini computer's fifth birthday last week, having sold a staggering 12 million of the devices."It's good to have got to that number and to have got to that number so quickly, and the curve has been steepening up this past year," Upton said.
Five years on from the Pi's debut, Upton's enthusiasm for the foundation's products has continued unabated, stoked particularly by the Raspberry Pi Zero, which wasupdated for the fifth anniversary to include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth."I want to do more Zero," he enthused. "I'd love to do more tinkering."
Picture: Eben Upton, credit: Adam Shepherd/IT Pro
-
Bigger salaries, more burnout: Is the CISO role in crisis?In-depth CISOs are more stressed than ever before – but why is this and what can be done?
-
Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25News Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
-
Arm acquires stake in Raspberry Pi in bid to drive IoT developmentNews The deal confirms a long-standing Raspberry Pi commitment to Arm chips
-
Raspberry Pi 5: New model is “2-3 times more powerful” than previous generationNews The new Raspberry Pi 5 will provide a “no-compromise user experience”, the firm said
-
Sony invests in Raspberry Pi to strengthen edge AI offering
News The move follows longstanding ties between the two firms
-
Return of the MacIn-depth Developer Jarosław Mazurkiewicz explains the creative process behind MacintoshPi and why he wanted to bring a classic Mac back to life
-
Raspberry Pi ten years on: Breathing new life into retro machinesIn-depth A full decade after the Raspberry Pi first hit shelves, the microcomputer is reviving older PCs and games consoles
-
The IT Pro Podcast: Turning developers into craftspeopleIT Pro Podcast Making software is about much more than pushing code, explains Raspberry Pi founder Eben Upton
-
What is the Raspberry Pi Pico?In-depth Introducing the latest $4 member of the family of single-board microcomputers
-
Raspberry Pi 4 gets an official case fanNews The £4.50 fan will prevent the board's ARM Cortex-A72 processor from overheating
