RASPBERRY PI 3 SLIM
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Here's a prototype I've been working on. It's a slimmed down version of the Raspberry Pi 3, and the aim is to have a small, headless computer which has more power behind it than the Pi Zero. Let's take a look.

- Youtube link
- Archive.org mirror
- Torrent
- Keybase mirror - Source files

DESIGN

As you can see, this thing is pretty small. It sits inside about the footprint of the regular Pi 3, and has a thickness of about 7mm.

On the top you have a simple grill which helps get air onto the notoriously warm Pi 3 board.

I've designed the case so that underneath you still have easy access for swapping out the micro sd card.

And on the front there are 3 micro USB ports. The one in the middle is for power, shown by the indicator on the case, and the two either side are normal ports. You can use an OTG adaptor to attach extra storage or other network interfaces if you need.

Inside there is a modified Raspberry Pi 3, with all the major ports and components removed. The end of the board which housed the USB and Ethernet ports has been sawn off, and the three micro USB breakout boards have been soldered directly to the main board.

USE CASES

The main point of this, besides my obsession with making electronics smaller, is to create an easy, plug and plug headless computer.

Depending on what you're doing it could work well for a general headless system or server application. The small size also means it's more portable, and I could imagine it working well for some kind of wireless access point, piratebox or a general node of some sort.

CONCLUSION

So that's the Pi 3 slim, a simple project that may come in handy if you don't need all the external ports of the original Pi. How do you think this could be improved?

Just as an aside, I have been thinking about doing some sort of livestream where we can hang out, and I'll maybe go through the process of making various things. I'm still figuring it out, so let me know if you're interested.

Ok, thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.

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BY NODE