Do more with your #PiZero in The MagPi 42
Hi there, Rob from The MagPi again! It’s been a couple of months since we launched issue 40 with the Raspberry Pi Zero attached to the front of it. Since then we’ve seen some excellent projects flying around the internet as you all figure out amazing uses for the tiny Pi.
This picture doesn’t do the cover justice, it’s luverly
To inspire you to do more we’ve put together another feature in The MagPi 42 of Raspberry Pi Zero projects. From useful things like adding a reset switch to more advanced projects to aspire to like a retro games console located entirely inside a SNES controller, there’s projects for everyone to have a go with.
Do more with your Raspberry Pi Zero with issue 42
As well as these #PiZero projects we also have a feature on the ten best HATs for your Raspberry Pi. Can’t find a HAT you like? Then we also have a tutorial on how to make your very own HAT. Here are some other highlights from this issue:
Highlights from issue 42:
- Build a binary clock!
A fun Sense HAT project involving a different style of telling the time - 4Borg reviewed
We look at the new robot kit from the robo-masters over at PiBorg - Astro Pi
What’s happened over the last month as Pi’s are sent to space - #PiZero Quadcopter
We talk to the creator of Zoe the Zero, the first Zero-powered drone - And much, much more!
Free Creative Commons download
As always, you can download your copy of The MagPi completely free. Grab it straight from the front page of The MagPi’s website.
Don’t forget, though, that like sales of the Raspberry Pi itself, all proceeds from the print and digital editions of the magazine go to help the Foundation achieve its charitable goals. Help us democratise computing!
Buy in-store
If you want something more tangible to play with, you’ll be glad to hear you can get the print edition in more stores than ever:
WHSmith
Tesco
Sainsbury’s
Asda
And all good newsagents
Order online
Rather shop online? The Raspberry Pi Swag Store has copies that can be delivered practically anywhere in the world.
Subscribe today!
If you still want to start a new subscription with #40, with a free #PiZero and a free cable bundle, you can! Just make sure you select the right option when you sign-up online or over the phone.
See you next month for more MagPi goodness!
25 comments
Joe Wisenbaker
Great to hear about projects for the Pi Zero. Sure wish it were possible to get one of them in the US. :(
Liz Upton
It most certainly is possible to get one in the US! Half of our stock goes to the US; you’ll find Adafruit and Micro Center both carry the Zero. Your best bet is to sign up to any mailing lists at either store, as right now, they’re being bought up immediately they go on the shelves. They’re very, very popular.
Joe Wisenbaker
Thanks for the info. Adafruit is doing a very nice job allowing folks to sign up for email alerts related to the Pi Zero availability. Micro Center doesn’t seem to do that & their only two stores in my state show they don’t carry them (not Out of Stock). Adafruit looks to be the only viable option.
Kenneth Lim
Any time the zero will be available on the swag store soon?? Please?
Liz Upton
We’re actually revamping the swag store to only offer swag (so shirts, books etc), not hardware – it doesn’t seem reasonable to be taking a bite out of hardware vendors’…Pi!
Toby
Today a raspberry pi A+ turned up on my doorstep.
Now I have Zero, Two, and a plus
Rick
It’s great that lot’s of things are being done around the pi zero but I’m getting bored and somewhat frustrated of “exciting new XYZ” news, blog posts etc as I don’t have one. In fact it’s starting to unbuild any excitement I ever had.
When it came out I missed getting an initial one & I’ve been signed up waiting for one at a number of vendors and none of them have seem to have had stock come in. At least at the first launch you went into a queue with RS or Farnell and knew you’d get one in reasonable time based on when you requested it.
Realistically when can we expect to see volume of the product getting out to vendors in the UK?
Liz Upton
As I understand it, Pimoroni and The Pi Hut are only notifying as many people on their mailing list as they have stock to be able to service each time they get a delivery. Keep waiting and you’ll make your way to the front.
Pete
I know how you feel … I signed up for ‘notify me’ and … haven’t heard much since .. I got my zero from pimoroni because I checked all the sites 3 to 5 times a day and ‘got lucky’… Ebay is worse … there are people auctioning large quantities at a time … (one guy in Scotland has done 40)??? for up to ten times the price ??? .. Hang on in there .. it will be worth the wait (adapters are good but don’t bother too much about a case .. imho)
Bob Foster
I’ve noticed there’s an increasing tendency with suppliers to bundle the Pi Zero with adapter kits which is nice if you don’t have them, but at present I’d just like a couple of boards as I have everything else, maybe it’s because at around 4 Pounds/Euros the postage and packing is a lot more noticeable, many suppliers seem to be aiming at 18-20 pounds/euros per board, I live in the Netherlands and a local supplier had stock in, I didn’t get any because they only sell each board with 2 adapters I didn’t need for €18.95
Pete
Yes .. you can buy a pi zero right now .. 10 available as of 18.46 .. the catch? .. got to buy it with a phat dac .. £30
https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/pi-zero-project-kits
AndrewS
I just realised there’s no Picard gif on this blog post :-/
Has the real Rob been captured by aliens?
Rob Zwetsloot
Yes. They they tried to torture me https://45.media.tumblr.com/edd2d767543e359926deb61f1283afc4/tumblr_mn7vmlFiK41s67vyfo10_250.gif
Sam Bellefy
I would just like to ask, does the MagPi ever actually respond to email? After repeated attempts at establishing contact, it seems as if the high “Towers” part of “Pi Towers” is taken a little too seriously. I don’t want to seem mad or anything, but it is rather frustrating. Maybe they just are prejudiced against Americans… :)
Raspberry Pi Staff Russell Barnes
Hi Sam, Sorry to hear you’re having issues with the email. What email are you using out of interest – I can only find record of receiving one email from you just before Christmas. Sorry it slipped through the cracks, but as I’m sure you appreciate we were rushed off our feet.
MalMan35
I would like to to get a rpi zero but I live in Japan. Only one on amazon.jp was adafruit starter kit it was like $96 !!!!! I am not shelling that much out for a 5 dollar computer no matter how much I want it!
Kevin Hainsworth
It seems to me that the latest edition of the MagPi is skewing the already un-satisfied demand for Pizero even further and apparently upsetting some members of the community into the bargain. But is the Pizero really worth all the hoo-hah ?
Fact: the Pizero is smaller and cheaper than the A+. The Pizero has 512MB RAM compared to 256MB RAM on the A+ which costs approx. 3-4 times as much here in the UK. So why would anyone still want to buy an A+ ?
Well the Pizero does not have CSI (camera),DSI (screen) ports,analogue audio,full-size USB ports or a pre-soldered GPIO header. In other words its uses are more limited than the A+ without additional expense and access to equipment such as a soldering iron. Once these bits and pieces are purchased you will be close to the price of an A+ anyway. For me the biggest problem with the Pizero is that there isn’t a GPIO header pre-soldered.
Bob Foster
To me the PI Zero is much more suited to wearables and some robotics and IOT, where space may be at a premium, the low power consumption is an advantage and even a GPIO header is an unnecessary annoyance, people and the press have become obsessed with the low price, but it is really suited to these more specific uses than a straight PI is.
I feel, if you want internet, GPIO headers and a faster processor buy one of the other PI’s like the A+ or the PI2, once you add all this to a Zero, as you say you end up around the same price for less performance.
I have some wearable/IOT ideas I’d really like to try with the zero but unfortunately the one I did manage to get from the first batch I sold on to someone who had a more pressing need (like the Foundation I wasn’t expecting it to be in that much demand!), I guess I will have to be patient and wait for the fuss to die down.
Kratos
Thanks for making these look so cool!
Jim Manley
I’ve discovered that the “0” in I0T is actually a Zero, not the letter “O”, and that explains a lot. Zero apparently is the permanent stock level of this device! :D
The problem with the notification scheme in use at Adafruit is that, if you don’t happen to be on-line the moment it’s sent (oh, I don’t know, maybe because you’re teaching three classes in a row, or otherwise earning one’s keep the old-fashioned way) and some ne’re-do-well finds out they’re in stock before those officially notified, they snag them out from under you, even if you have them in your shopping cart and are actively adding other items or even checking out!
The worst of it is that, if you miss your turn by even a microsecond because someone snaked your board, you’re dropped from the list and have to sign up and wait to get to the top of the list again. There needs to be an e-mail check if you’re on a list, and if you haven’t purchased it within 24 hours, only then does it go to the next person in line.
I was of the mistaken impression that the Foundation’s cute widdew stuffed bear mascot was named for Charles Babbage, not Charles Darwin, whose philosophy this “Survival of the Fastest” scheme seems more closely aligned!
:(
m4r
I am currently waiting with a home project for Pi 0 units, need 4 of them to finish whole project.
But…
1. UK shops are selling just one for order
2. They tend to be bundled with bunch of accessories, so final cost is somewhere around 20 which is unaceptable for small projects, also you just dont need to have everything 4 times.
3. I am in central europe and literally no one has any stock available for shipping
So right now it seems like I will have to wait forever, Which is kind of disapointing…
Are there any plans to raise production capacity to allow people from outside UK and US get their hands on Zero for normal price?
martin
does the sense hat work with the zero It lights up but they do not go out like on my pi2 if I try running the sense logger program it says that the sense hat is not present
Dan
Hello!
I live in Israel, and there’s no Pi Zero for sale here.. The only way to purchase it is internationally (RS, Adafruit etc.) but it is “out-of-stock” for months… When will you make a new batch of Pi Zero’s??
Liz Upton
Pi Zero is in continuous production, and it’s in stock every week – briefly, while you guys all descend like locusts on the sellers! See https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=135081 for more details.
Germanium
I wish the Pi Zero would be distributed via the same channels as the other Pis. Sorry but Adafruit does not seem to be up to the task, their stock sells out in a matter of minutes (not their fault at this point) and they charge ridiculous amounts for slow ground shipping (completely their fault). $12 for shipping that takes over a week to get here is unacceptable these days. And half the pis get bundled with their “kits” which I don’t need/want.
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