Diminutive, Linux-based Raspberry Pi Computer Heads to Production

by Sam Dean - Jan. 12, 2012Comments (3)

The tiny motherboard seen in the photo here forms the core of the Raspberry Pi computer, which has generated a lot of interest, as we originally noted here. Last month, as both CNet and Business Insider noted, the Raspberry Pi ultra low-cost computer was moving toward the manufacturing stage. It's designed to run Linux via an ARM processor, and there will reportedly be versions available for $25 and $35. Now, there is word that manufacturing has begun, and there are more details about this diminutive, low-cost, yet surprisingly powerful computing device.

According to a new post on RaspberryPi.org:

"Raspberry Pis started being made a couple of days ago...This means that the first units from the first batch will be rolling off the line at the end of January."

You can find out much more about this diminutive computer at the Raspberry Pi page. According to Business Insider, the Raspberry Pi will feature a 700-MHz processor, 128 MB of RAM, an SD card slot for storage, a USB port, audio out, and an HDMI port. If that sounds underpowered, Business Insider has a video up of the device smoothly running Quake 3 at about 20 frames per second, at 1920 by 1080 resolution. According to this post, Raspberry Pi will ship with Debian, Fedora or Arch Linux.

Many observers expect the Raspberry Pi to compete where the One Laptop Per Child effort tried to, without much success. At $25 and $35 price points, it could offer a way for underprivileged children to own reasonably capable computers.

Raspberry Pi's new post does include some information about limits to early manufacturing that will be in force, but it is good to see this remarkable attempt to produce a truly low-cost computer move forward.

Photo Credit: Raspberry Pi.

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by AnonInCinci on Jan. 12, 2012

I would like to get a RPi for general playing-around-with, though I have no need for it.

Heck, it costs as much as an arduino. I really hope there are some I/O projects planned to tie these two products together well!

It will be interesting to see if/how these are used in third-world countries.

I figure that the most difficult problem to overcome will be the lack of display device. HDMI is neat for those of us with monitors already, but we need super-efficient small monitors to make this useful in the third-world, where electricity is a premium and portability is a necessity.

This is cheap, but add a display ($50, to make up a number), keyboard/wifi/USB/SDcard adapters ($15), and battery pack ($20) would bring the price to $110-120--assuming that these made-up and cheap products are available.

I really hope this is successful! What a gift to the world it would be to have simple opensource hardware that is so powerful, capable, and cheap.

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by Peter Francis on Jan. 14, 2012

I wonder whether Raspberry will find a place in the proposed revamp of IT teaching in schools. I'm assuming that with the right I/O for the computer it will enable pupils to devise and test their own designed software for gaming, data collection and presentation.

Peter Francis.

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by an anonymous user on Jan. 19, 2012

Thanks for the info, I've been interested in this for quite some time, good some get some reviews first

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