Friday Product Post: May the 4 Be With You
The Raspberry Pi 4 is here, and so is Week Two of Two Weeks of Free! And new micro:bit accessory boards! Exciting!
Hi. Welcome to September! Welcome to here! You look nice today. No, I have never written one of these before, thank you for noticing.
Before we get to the new stuff, of which there is a considerable quantity, let's talk about the free stuff. Today kicks off the second of our Two Weeks of Free party, which means you can now choose from among three fresh, new sensors, and pay $0 for your selection. How can this be, you ask? It's easy: purchase either the Artemis RedBoard (yes, the new one) or the Qwiic RedBoard, and pick one of three sensors for free! This week of free will end next Friday, September 13 (oooh), at 11:59 p.m. MT. You can also find out more (including important rules and stuff) at our Two Weeks of Free page!
Here are this week's free sensors to go with your new Qwiic or Artemis RedBoard:
Use code FD19P4 for the Distance Sensor Breakout, FD19P5 for the UV Light Sensor Breakout, and FD19P6 for the Qwiic OpenLog.
Get to it, and enjoy! Now let's talk about new stuff. There's a lot of it.
In the next iteration of the Model B line, Raspberry Pi has given us the very powerful Model B 4, with the goal of a full desktop experience. The 2GB and 4GB DDR4 RAM boards have the ability to run two 4k monitors at once via two micro HDMI ports, and feature the long-asked-for, true Gigabit Ethernet. This creates a much higher-performing multimedia experience with the new Pi! In addition to two USB2 ports, the Raspberry Pi 4 also has two USB 3 ports, making data transfers that much quicker over USB.
The micro:bit is a pocket-sized computer that lets you get creative with digital technology. Between the micro:bit and our shield-like bit boards, you can do almost anything while coding, customizing and controlling your micro:bit from almost anywhere! This week we have three new accessory boards to add functionality to your micro:bit.
The gator:RTC is a supplemental data logging tool to be used in conjunction with the gator:log, part of SparkFun's gator:bit series of gator-clippable accessories designed for easy interface with the micro:bit or other microcontrollers. This tool allows a student to focus more on the experiment than on watching a thermometer or stopwatch.
The SparkFun gator:UV is an ultraviolet sensing solution created to interface with the micro:bit as easily as possible. It can be easily interfaced with the micro:bit or other microcontrollers via the SparkFun gator:bit! This sensor board is a great solution for monitoring the UV light exposure in your next experiment! The gator:UV is designed around the VEML6070, an advanced UV light sensor that communicates over an I2C bus, incorporating a photodiode, amplifiers, and analog/digital circuits all into a single chip.
The gator:log is the perfect data logging tool for your next micro:bit experiment. With the automation of the data collection process, gone are the days of rushing around with a pen and composition notebook to simultaneously record data and your observations. Now, you only need to sit back and observe your experiment.
Last but potentially not least, depending on your needs: this is the official USB Type-C Power Supply for the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B. This is a wall adapter with a USB Type-C Connector that fulfills the 15.3W power requirements of the Raspberry Pi 4. It can also be used for other devices which require up to 5.1VDC and 3A. This model comes in white, as you can see here.
Great! We did it, guys!! That's everything for now. We’d love to see what projects you’ve made – shoot us a tweet @sparkfun, or let us know on Instagram or Facebook.
