Pasting info from here and here, and the R Pi's site is here!
A credit-card sized computer designed to help teach children to code has gone on sale for the first time.
The Raspberry Pi is a bare-bones, low-cost computer created by volunteers mostly drawn from academia and the UK tech industry.
Sold uncased without keyboard or monitor, the Pi has drawn interest from educators and enthusiasts.
The device's launch comes as the Department for Education considers changes to the teaching of computing in schools, with the aim of placing greater emphasis on skills like programming.
In a speech outlining those changes, Michael Gove mentioned the Pi, suggesting devices like it could play an important role in the kind of computer class the government envisages.
"Initiatives like the Raspberry Pi scheme will give children the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of programming," he said.
Initially the £22 ($35) model (B) of the Pi will be offered for sale. A cheaper £16 ($25) version (A) will go on sale later in the year.
The machine, which runs on open-source operating system Linux (Debian and soon Fedora), can be hooked up to a typical computer monitor (HDMI/Composite RCA) - with additional ports used to attach a keyboard, mouse and other peripherals.
It also features an ethernet port, meaning the device can make use of high-speed internet connectivity.
The design is based around a Broadcom BCM2835 SoC, which includes an ARM1176JZF-S 700 MHz processor, VideoCore IV GPU, and 128 or 256 Megabytes of RAM. The design does not include a built-in hard disk or solid-state drive, instead relying on an SD card for booting and long-term storage. The Raspberry Pi does not come with a real-time clock, (...) however a real time clock (such as the DS1307) with battery backup can be easily added via the I2C interface.
Are any of you going to get one? What are you planning on doing with it? ^^ I mean there's just so much you could do with one of these!! Like a low cost tablet, media center, or a super portable old games emulator, seedbox, maybe even a cluster system!!
I'm planning on getting two eventually, one for file transfers on the go (I've had so many moments when I've wanted to move, say, a song from my external to my MP3 player on the train but couldn't because I didn't have access to something with two USB ports) and another as an emulator! It feels weird playing SNES games on a computer for me, it's best done on an old TV :3
Sure I could just go out and buy a SNES and all those other consoles, but hey, projects are fun! Plus, it's pretty cool saying "ah yeah, I made that, it's neat huh?"~
