Tech Sense: March 2026

Pi-day 2026

Pi-Day, a traditional day to celebrate the number Pi, arrives on March 14th.  The date (3-14) corresponds to the first three digits of the number Pi.  The number of Pi is an irrational, infinitely non-repeating number, representing the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.  Pi approximates as 3.14 or better as 355/113 giving us six digits of accuracy as 3.14159.  We usually write Pi as the Greek letter Pi π.  Type the character Pi on a US Windows keyboard by holding down the Alt-key and entering 227 on the number keys. 

Pi-Day is also the traditional day for the Raspberry Pi organization to release new computers and devices for their computers.  A lot has happened in the Pi world so I thought I might give some updates.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation

The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a charitable group formed by people from the University of Cambridge in England.  The founder felt that making a very inexpensive computer could make them more available for children to learn more about computers.  The purpose of the Foundation is to promote computer science education.

The foundation started by creating a computer that sold for $35.  Raspberry Pi Ltd controls engineering, designing and building the hardware, and runs the sales operations. The Foundation owns the majority of Pi Ltd.

The Pi Organizations also supply free software to make the computers useful and help people to learn to use and program the computer.  The computers include programming languages like Python, Java, and C++ for example. 

The Raspberry Pi Computers

The original Raspberry Pi seems basic compared to the Pi computers available today.  With a few notable exceptions, each generation of the Pi computers tends to be two to four times faster than the previous one.  The chart below lists the primary pi models, their date when introduced, the current production status, and some notes about major features.

I have not included the A series or the Compute Modules in these lists. 

The newest Model 5 now has a 16GB option for RAM at a current price of $205.  This makes the computer very expensive and is due to the sudden rise in memory costs.  It also offers 1 GB and 2 GB Ram configurations at $45 and $59 respectively (Microcenter). 

Memory costs has also caused the appearance of a 1 GB Ram configuration of the Pi 4.

All Pi’s from the Pi 3 model B include 64-bit quad core CPUs.  Earlier Pi’s were 32 bit.  The Model Pi 3, Pi 4 and Pi 5 also include Bluetooth capabilities and two micro-HDMI connectors for connecting two monitors or TVs.

Zero series are smaller than the B series but offer the same computing power as the original Pi B 1.  I especially like the Pi Zero series for monitoring tasks.  I also have two setup as cameras. 

The big note here is that the new Pi Zero 2 W not only has Wifi and Bluetooth but also adds a new quad core CPU making it faster.

Pi Keyboard series

Raspberry Pi added new, fully configured, desktop computers built into a keyboard and based on the model-5 computer board.  The latest model (the 500+) comes with 16 GB of RAM, 256 GB of SSD disk storage, and a new backlit, tactile, mechanical, and keyboard.

Pico Series

The Pi Pico series is not a full featured computer but is a microcontroller developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation.  Unlike a computer, microcontrollers do not typically support a full operating system.  Instead, designed for use in embedded systems, these things might support washing machines or mechanical toys for example.

The Pico series provides affordable devices to use for robotics studies and other embedded types of projects. 

The Pico compares favorably with systems like the popular Arduino devices but for less cost making it ideal for students.  While these devices do not have a built-in operating system like Linux, they do support programming using languages like C and MicroPython.  They include software development environments that make programming easy on these devices. 

The Raspberry Pi Foundation designed the chips and made the chips available to others.  This allows other companies to develop a number of special boards to address a number of purposes. 

Pi Software

Raspberry Pi provides Raspberry PI OS, customized version Debian Linux based on the current Trixie release.  They also provide easy tools to install the operating system using a Windows, Linux, or Apple computer.  You can even use another Raspberry Pi computer to install the OS.  Simply copy the Raspberry Pi Imager software onto your computer. Then put an SD card into the computer and follow the easy instructions.  The same program works for setting up the Pico development environment as well.  Updates are very easy too.

The full installation of the Pi software includes a complete office suit, the Chromium browser, programming tools, games, email clients, and more.  All of this is free.  If you prefer another operating system, there are many others available to download and install. 

Wrap Up

This completes this year’s Pi-Day column.  I hope you enjoyed it.  Hopefully soon, the snow will be gone, and the April flowers will come quickly.