Raspberry pi: Take a byte


Troubled by a distinct decline in the computer skills of A level students applying for a seat in the Computer Science department at Cambridge University, Eden Upton and colleagues set out to build a low cost, bare-bones computer in the hope of stimulating interest in programming.

In January 2012 the Raspberry Pi will be on sale for as little at $20. Based on a 700 MHz ARM processor, this little Linux computer sports a USB port, 128 MB of RAM and HDMI interface. Targeted at teenagers the computer can play Blu-ray-quality videos and a host of other multimedia content. Only the imagination limits the possibilities gifted to programmers by the Raspberry.

Developing countries should take advantage of the low cost of procurement and ownership. Rural internet cafes are financially feasible as most of the expensive components (e.g. workstations, routers, back-haul radios) can be replaced with the computing power of the Raspberry and other open source hardware devices such as software defined radios.

2012 will be an exciting year.

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