The team behind Raspberry Pi, the popular line of single-board computers, just released an external USB hub to expand the connectivity of its Raspberry Pi computers. It has four USB 3.0 ports for connecting peripherals and an extra port for powering the hub, if needed.
The Raspberry Pi USB 3 Hub connects to a single-board computer (or any other computer for that matter) via an 8cm USB 3.0 Type-A cable. The cable is attached to a small box with four downstream ports where you can plug in your peripherals. They are all USB 3.0 Type-A ports with a combined data transfer speed up to 5Gbps. You also get backward-compatibility with USB 2 across the board.
There’s a fifth port, a USB-C socket, for powering the hub with an external 3A power adapter. You don’t need the extra power for underpowered peripherals. But the USB-C port is great for connecting power-hungry peripherals without overloading the Raspberry Pi. Combined with the USB hub already onboard most Pi computers (which connects to the processor and feeds into multiple USB Type-A sockets), the external hub is perfect for external drives, cameras, sensors, IoT devices, and other high-powered gadgets.
The Raspberry Pi team says the USB hubs already available on the market are either too expensive or too poor-quality. The Raspberry Pi USB 3 Hub is affordable, reliable, and sleek. “We worked with our partners at Infineon to source a great piece of hub silicon, CYUSB3304, set Dominic to work on the electronics and John to work on the industrial design, and applied our manufacturing and distribution capabilities to make it available at the lowest possible price. The resulting product works perfectly with all models of [the] Raspberry Pi computer,” the chief executive explained the process behind the hub. They’ve also secured international compatibility and compliance certifications for the hub.
You can buy the Raspberry Pi USB 3 Hub for $12.
Source: Raspberry Pi