When reading this news, I couldn't help but remember a comment made by an acquaintance: they have been taking things away from the devices until they become mobiles / tablets and now they are adding things to them to turn them back into computers. But when I think about this I am wrong, since the reason for being of the Raspberry Pi it's not exactly making portable devices. In any case, the famous motherboard company has released two more products: a keyboard and a mouse.
As you can see in the previous image, the keyboard design draws attention for two things: first, because it looks a lot like a keyboard that Apple would have designed and, second, because includes your own logo in what on other keyboards we would see the Microsoft logo, an image that, as a Linux user, I do not like to have on my laptop. As we will explain later, both devices are in two colors, but I think that the best one if we want to be faithful to the Raspberry philosophy is the one that they have used in their promotional image: red and white.
Raspberry Pi keyboard and hub
The Raspberry Pi keyboard proposal does not have any special features. It is a small keyboard without the numerical part, but with three USB ports more to connect any peripherals that we may need to our Rasbperry Pi board.
In the upper right we will have three lights that will tell us if we have blocked capital letters, numbers (?) Or scrolling. The «Super» or «Goal» key has the icon of the famous raspberry, which I think is what gives it the most personal touch. Its technical specifications are as follows:
- 79-key keyboard.
- 3 USB 2.0 Type A ports.
- Automatic keyboard language detection.
- Micro USB port (to connect the board).
- USB to micro USB cable included.
- Ergonomic and comfortable design.
- Compatible with all Raspberry Pi products.
- Available in English (British and US), German, French, Italian, and Spanish.
- It is available in red and white or black and gray.
As with the motherboard, the most important thing about this keyboard is not its functions, but that it is available at a very attractive price. The keyboard only has one price of € 18.10, but we can buy the keyboard + mouse combo for € 25.79 (£ 22) in some specialized stores like the one in the UK.
Simple mouse with three buttons and wheel
Nor can we say that the mouse has anything special, much less that it is for gamers. It's about a mouse with three buttons and a wheel navigation. It connects to the keyboard or any other computer through a USB connector. These are the specifications that we can see on their website:
- Three-button optical mouse.
- Scroll wheel.
- USB type A connector.
- Ergonomic design for comfortable use.
- Compatible with all Raspberry Pi products.
- It is available in red and white or black and gray.
If you are wondering, a optical mouse It is the one that does not have a mechanical ball at the bottom, but a light with which it detects movement. The main advantage of these mice is that they don't get dirty like the ball mice did, but they don't do particularly well on shiny surfaces.
Su single price is € 8.55, but you can take advantage of the combo and buy it together with the keyboard for the aforementioned € 25.79 (only in some stores).
Only available in Pi stores
El The main problem these two devices have today is where to buy them. In fact, at the time of writing this post there was no option available for purchase in Spain from its website; The option "Rest of the world" would appear and it would tell me that there was none in my country, so I started to write the article with the details of a store in the United Kingdom.
Right now yeah is available in Spain and also in France. Taking into account that the keyboard is also in German and Italian, we can say they are also available there. But when we talk about your availability we are talking about your reservation. Orders will begin shipping from April 15. In Spain, the stores where we can buy this keyboard and mouse are kubii y Storetec. If you are not in a hurry, I would wait a while, since it is more than likely that they will soon be available in more important stores like Amazon.
Personally, if I were to buy a new keyboard and mouse for a Raspberry Pi I would buy these two new items from the company. Without a doubt they will be the ones that will offer the greatest compatibility with the motherboard. On the other hand, I think its price is competitive. What do you think? Do you think they are a good option or do you prefer any other for another reason?