If you are a Raspberry Pi DIYer, you might know what it takes to set up a complete computer system for your DIY projects, smart home automation, and more. From purchasing all the necessary parts to assembling them, you go through a lot.
But have you ever wished you had a pre-built computer with Raspberry Pi and other parts in one place? If so, meet CrowPi2 - an all-in-one portable device and the most suitable device powered by Raspberry Pi for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) education.
CrowPi2 is currently hosted on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform with an initial fundraising goal of $ 20,000. Fortunately, he's already surpassed his goal and extended it up to $ 400,000. At 17 days at the time of writing, he has raised $ 337,648 from 1,150 backers.
CrowPi2: a revolutionary upgrade from CrowPi1
CrowPi2 is the second version of the CrowPi laptop, first released in 2018 by Hong Kong electronics maker Elecrow. It includes a huge upgrade of all hardware, structural design, and custom software.
Like CrowPi, CrowPi2 also has the same goal of letting you learn, explore, and have fun with a Raspberry Pi powered laptop. On top of that, you can turn that laptop into a platform for you. STEAM learning to learn the basics of programming, electronics and computing.
Read also: CutiePi: A 100% Open Source and ultra-portable Raspberry Pi tablet
Material specifications
Originally, CrowPi2 came with Raspberry Pi 4B. However, it is also compatible with other hardware and open-source versions of Raspberry Pi, such as 4, 3B and 3B +.
Its IPS display measures 11.2 inches with a resolution of 1920 × 1080. Among other components, it includes a 2MP camera, microphone, built-in stereo output and a custom-designed bin for a power bank.
Another great part of CrowPi2 is a detachable wireless keyboard that stays connected via a magnet, but you can also easily detach it from the body at any time and use the laptop as you like.
What does CrowPi2 offer more?
CrowPi2 can look like a normal laptop just like any other. But under the hood, it offers a lot more features and components to not only learn but also harness the full power of the Raspberry Pi single board computer.
Coding courses and software
For STEAM learning, CrowPi2 comes with independently developed software and many educational courses. For example, to learn programming step by step, it provides more than 70 lessons for Scratch, Python, AI, Arduino and Minecraft.
Especially for learning AI, it also offers 7 lessons on facial recognition and 5 on voice recognition. You can even use CrowPi2 for onboard programming using open source hardware like Arduino, Micro: bit, BeagleBone, etc.
In addition to learning, CrowPi2 also provides 18 small Pygames and RetroPie games with DIY features. Finally, to record all learning progress and achievement, it uses the built-in offline account management.
Censors and on-board modules
Besides the internal learning software, CrowPi2 also offers you 22 common sensor types such as buzzer, relay, RGB LED and modules to better learn both hardware and software.
You can even take it a step further by using Raspberry Pi GPIO pins connected to onboard sensors or function as independent outputs to create your own DIY circuits on the scale.
Operating system support
With Raspbian OS specially for Raspberry Pi, you can also install other operating systems like Ubuntu, CentOS, Windows IOT, Kali Linux, Pidora, Arch Linux, FreeBSD, Kodi, OpenWrt, RISC OS, RetroPie, LAKKA, Recalbox , LibreELEC, and OSMC.
How to get CrowPi2?
If you want this revolutionary laptop learning platform, you can support the project on Kickstarter. The price of CrowPi2 starts at $ 139 for a basic kit that goes up to $ 698 for the Delux kit. Most likely, shipping of the device will begin in August 2020.
