Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

The Raspberry Pi Elektrical via Flickr - Creative Commons
raspberry pi

Credit card-sized computer launched

The Raspberry Pi, which costs less than €30, went on sale yesterday – and the demand for it crashed the supplier’s website.

A COMPUTER THE size of a credit card has been launched – and when it went on sale yesterday, demand was so high that its supplier’s website crashed.

Called the Raspberry Pi, it was developed by the Raspberry Pi foundation.

The founder of the UK-based charity, Eben Upton, told The Guardian that the idea behind the tiny computer is give one to every child as they enter a new school year.

They can then learn to do their own computer programming.

There are two versions available, with the first units to be produced the $35 (€26) Raspberry Pi Model B. These are the more fully featured versions of the Raspberry Pi and include an Ethernet port, and two USB ports.

On its website, the company said:

We’ve been working hard at cost reduction over the last few months, and we’ve been able to make one significant change to the Raspberry Pi lineup. The $25 (€19) Model A has been reworked to include 256MB of RAM – double what we were originally planning to offer – and will be going into production immediately.

It said the first launch is aimed at “software and hardware enthusiasts, makers, teachers and others who want to build exciting things with the Raspberry Pi”.

The official educational launch will happen later in 2012.

RS Components, which is responsible for producing the Raspberry Pi, released a statement yesterday saying it experienced an “unprecendented demand for the product” on its website.

In fact, it was the greatest level of demand the company had ever received for one product at a time.

The company is still taking orders, as well as keeping people up to date with via its Twitter account.

Here’s footage of a user browsing the net using a Raspberry Pi prototype:

Read: Apple confirms plans for mysterious ‘education announcement’>

Your Voice
Readers Comments
34
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.