Updated Raspberry PI
After six years of development Raspberry PI was just released and sold out in 2 hours. This PC on a board the size of a credit card just, 85.60 × 53.98 mm (3.370 × 2.125 in), packs a punch for developers. The model A $25 and Model B $35. Now all boards come with 512M RAM at no extra charge. With 256 or 512M RAM, CPU includes an ARM1176JZF-S 700 MHz processor,, GPU, 2 USB ports, Audio port, Ethernet port and an HDMI Port. This board has it all.
No hard drive but an SD card slot provided for booting. Spec quoted are for the ModelB. Even the OS image is open source free for download. It runs an OS based on Debian 6.0 (Squeeze) Linux Kernel with the LXDE desktop and the Midori browser. I am told it also runs Fedora Linux. You load the OS it on the SD card to boot it up. It plugs into a TV via HDMI or composite video. It runs Spreadsheets, Word Processing and Games. Did I mention it also plays Blueray video in High Def 1080p.
“In fact, the Model B is tipped to have twice the GPU power of the iPhone 4S and be capable of roasting NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 in raw grunt.”
For more information on this Non-Profit organization click The RaspBerry PI Foundation
Update: The cost is now $40 US dollars. The cost increase is due to import taxes. The price will vary worldwide due to delivery costs and taxes. The two electronics distributors that they chose, was partly do to their worldwide distribution capabilities. Also pre orders are set for delivery in June of this year.
A manufacture glitch….. A non-magnetic Ethernet port connector was inadvertently substituted by the manufacturer which caused a problem communicating. The Raspberry site was quick to explain this and showed x-rays of the faulty component, they also stated that this problem was caught early enough that it won’t affect the manufacturing time frame.
This is still a cool product …
