The Raspberry Pi project has noble aims. It’s intended to inspire a new generation of school-age coders and hackers to build exciting new things from a very cheap computer base. There’s just one problem; everyone else is snapping up Pi units as fast as they can be built. Enter Google.
The beauty of the Raspberry Pi design is that it can, technically, be just about anything you’re willing to tinker it to be. That hasn’t stopped the official Raspberry Pi developers from coming up with their own add-ons. First up: A 14 megapixel camera.
You can do all sorts of things with the Raspberry Pi — and that’s exactly the point, because it’s a tinkerer’s budget dream machine. Running Windows 7 on it, however? That’s a little trickier, given its ARM underpinnings — but there’s always a way.
There’s still a massive shortage of stock right now, but official Australian distributor RS Components has confirmed that the Raspberry Pi “computer on a board” will sell for about $41 in Australia, including delivery.
Six years ago, Raspberry Pi founder Eben Upton set out to reignite programming in schools with a cheap, compact computing platform. Despite targeting students, his foundation’s $US35 computer captured the imaginations of tinkers worldwide, resulting in overwhelming demand.
Bad news for those champing at the bit to get their mitts on the Raspberry Pi — both Element 14 and RS are waiting on CE mark certification before they ship their inventory of Pis to customers causing a further delay on orders.
In ye olde days, when pirates wore black and swung cutlasses, they’d take to the high seas to avoid the authorities. The Pirate Bay is going to go one better, taking to the high skies by putting its servers up in the arrrr… erm… that is, air.
The Raspberry Pi $35 tiny computeris here at last — now what can you do with it? Here is our pick of the project ideas that you can try with your Pi.
Over the past year, we’ve seen a lot to get excited about over this tiny computer, the Raspberry Pi. It can stream video via Airplay, can run Quake III, yet only costs $US35. Fortunately, now you can buy it.
I really shouldn’t be as excited about the Raspberry Pi as I am; after all at its core it’s a very simple computer by today’s standards. That’s exactly why it’s exciting, however, as the promise of low-cost computing and fostering innovation hits me just right. Now, in best Malibu Stacy style, the Raspberry Pi is getting a new hat.
