Raspberry Pi Foundation announces official case for the Pi

When I bought my Raspberry Pi 2 I wished there was an official case for the credit card sized computer. I had to hunt Amazon.com to find a decent looking case and while it was utilitarian, I still wasn’t completely happy with it.

Swapnil Bhartiya

For most people ‘cases’ may not matter, but for DIY guys like me, the case reflects the device. Just look at Apple and Samsung who invest so much research in design, and even fight court battles for the rounded corners of their devices.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation today announced the first official case for Raspberry Pi devices. It wasn’t an overnight thing. Gordon Hollingworth, Director of Software at Raspberry Pi, recalls that “Two and a half years ago, I found myself sitting in a car with Eben Upton [the project’s co-founder] about three days into my new job at Raspberry Pi. We discussed – among other things – everything we wanted to do with the Raspberry Pi hardware and with the products around the Pi. One of the things we discussed was an official Raspberry Pi case. We thought that it would be great to create something affordable, but with the kind of real beauty and design that our products try to encompass.”

The result of their two years of brainstorming and hacking the design is quite pleasing — and affordable. While I spent over $21 on my case, the official case is available only for $8.59.

Raspberry Pi Foundation

There is always a story behind everything the Raspberry Pi Foundation does and this case is no exception. Do yourself a favor and read the whole story behind designing the device and bringing it to the market on the Raspberry Pi blog.

The case is already available directly from the foundation’s Swag site and partner sites. The case is made of five parts and can be taken apart. It’s 96mm long, 70mm wide and 25mm thick. The removable lid makes it easy to access ports for camera, display and GPiO. It is fully compatible with the newly released Raspberry Pi 2 Model B and Raspberry Pi Model B+.

The case is not the only accessory that the foundation makes. There is an official WiFi dongle (though most third party dongles will work on Pi, depending on the OS) and power supply. They have also created a camera module for the device that can be attached for capturing still images and shooting videos.

Don’t underestimate the camera. It is is capable of up taking photos up to 5 megapixels (5MP) (2592×1944 pixels) and can record video at resolutions up to 1080p30 (1920x1080x30fps). That’s not bad for $25.

The foundation is also working on a capacitive touch screen for the device. Last year, Eben Upton showed the official display for the device during an interview with TechCrunch. The touch screen version is expected to be released later this year.