The $25 computer that ain't no blown raspberry!

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Saturday, 07 May 2011 14:42

Your IT - Home IT

No, the Raspberry Pi Foundation isn't blowing raspberries at you, they're offering you a $25 Linux powered computer instead, that'll fit in your pocket and make Nicholas Negroponte wonder why he didn't do it first.

Although the tech world is well aware of 'wall wart' Linux computers that can plug into a power point, as iTWire colleague David M Williams has already written about, a new ultra cheap computer is vying for your attention.

Created by registered UK charity the 'Raspberry Pi Foundation', which says it 'exists to promote the study of computer science and related topics, especially at school level', the organisation wants to 'put the fun back into learning computing.'

Although you can't buy the $25 Raspberry Pi computer as yet, the Foundation says that it plans to 'develop, manufacture and distribute an ultra-low-cost computer, for use in teaching computer programming to children', and that they 'expect this computer to have many other applications both in the developed and the developing world.'

Raspberry Pi's first product is 'about the size of a USB key, and is designed to plug into a TV or be combined with a touch screen for a low cost tablet', with the TV or touch screen naturally something that you supply yourself, with the price set at '$25 for a fully-configured system.'

The 'provisional' specifications are:

- 700MHz ARM11

- 128MB of SDRAM

- OpenGL ES 2.0

- 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode

- Composite and HDMI video output

- USB 2.0

- SD/MMC/SDIO memory card slot

- General-purpose I/O

- Open software (Ubuntu, Iceweasel, KOffice, Python)

The Foundation asks you, 'how would you use an ultra-low-cost computer', and also asks if you 'have open-source educational software we can use?', and asked to be contacted via their email address:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Below are two images that Raspberry Pi has made public, with the first showing what looks like a more finished unit plugged into a monitor running Ubuntu 9.04, and the second showing a prototype device with a 12 megapixel camera module attached, with a UK 20 pence coin below to show the device's scale.

So, while the Raspberry Pi isn't going to replace your trust MacBook Pro or Core i7 gaming rig, it certainly does have promise in being a very low-cost computer that, as its creators hope, does indeed put the learning and fun back into computing for all!

 

The Raspberry Pi computer running Linux

 

The Raspberry Pi "PCB" next to a UK 20 pence coin