- 3D Print a Base for Your RPi and Pi-Plate
- LAN/WiFi Speaker Switch
- Solar Powered Remote Environmental Data Logger
- Raspberry Pi HQ Camera Mount
- Using a THERMOplate to Measure Temperatures on the RPi4
- Making Sparks with Pi-Plates
- Dual Syringe Pump
- Cigarbox Pi
- Benchmarking the Pi 3
- Turn Your Raspberry Pi into a Network Monitoring Tool
- Using Pi-Plates with the Raspberry Pi 400
Earlier this year, the Raspberry Pi Foundation released the RPi 400. If you're not familiar with this particular model, it's a keyboard embedded with a slightly enhanced Raspberry Pi 4. We got one recently because 1) we wanted to ensure compatibility with our products and 2) we just wanted to have one around. Note that this is not a review of the RPi 400 but, we will say that even though this is a small low cost AIO computer, it has a solid, high quality feel to it. After updating it to the December 2nd build, we found that everything ran very nicely - especially the Chromium browser.
So, let's start by looking at the back side of the KBD which is where all the connectors are located:
Other than lacking a USB 2.0 port, the I/O on the 400 is identical to the RPi4. And, most importantly for us is the presence of the 40 pin header. You may notice the black circle to the upper right of the header. This is the Pin 1 indicator that we failed to see initially. Below we have zoomed in on this area and enhanced the contrast so that the letters "PIN1" are clearly visible.
To connect to a Pi-Plate, your will need a 40 pin ribbon cable with a 1 to 1 connector configuration. These cables are available from Adafruit (https://www.adafruit.com/product/1988) and in sets of 5 from Amazon. With the 400 powered off, we connected a DAQCplate to the 40pin header. We then plugged an official Raspberry Pi power supply into the USB-C connector and were please to see the green LED light up on the DAQCplate:
We then downloaded the Pi-Plates Python modules to the 400 and confirmed we could read and write data to the DAQCplate.
That's it for now. We look forward to playing with the 400 more and plan to do more compatibility testing with the rest of our product line. Until next time, let us know what you plan to use your Raspberry Pi 400 for.
Nice article. I just received my Pi 400 and plan to do Pi-Plate development with it (along with other Raspberries). I use it as a desktop and to run FlightGear. I am also using a TINKERplate to create external avionics for FlightGear. Time to buy more plates.