The Raspberry Pi 2 is here and it is powerful enough to run Windows 10 for IoT

The Raspberry Pi 2 is here, and it’s faster, more powerful, and for the first time supports a Microsoft operating system; Windows 10.

Essentially, the Raspberry Pi is a miniature PC (about the size of a credit-card) that was initially designed to inspire and teach kids basic computer science skills. It has also inspired seasoned developers to create new solutions within its open-sourced Linux environment. Now that the Raspberry Pi 2 is here, it’s more powerful and allows for more performance headroom for developers in the Maker community to take advantage of.

The Raspberry Pi 2 features a Broadcom quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU running at 900MHz, a VideoCore IV GPU, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, 4 USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, HDMI, MicroSD, camera and display interfaces, and a 3.5mm audio and composite video jack. Because of the ARMv7 processor, the Raspberry Pi 2 can run a full range of ARM-capable operating systems including ARM Linux distributions like Snappy Ubuntu Core, and Microsoft’s Windows 10 for IoT. While we don’t know much about Windows 10 for IoT, Microsoft announced today that it will be provided for free via the Windows Developer Program for IoT.

“We see the Maker community as an amazing source of innovation for smart, connected devices that represent the very foundation of the next wave of computing, and we’re excited to be a part of this community… Raspberry Pi 2 is a surprisingly powerful device that opens up the world of computing and programing to a huge range of people and skill levels.” – Microsoft

Microsoft also announced that it will be sharing more details about Windows 10 for IoT over the coming months. In the meantime, the Raspberry Pi 2 is available for purchase now for $35 from several official distributes. If you’re interested, head over to the source links below for more details.