It’s here! The much awaited credit card-sized single-board computer Raspberry Pi has finally been launched a few weeks ago. The board based on a Broadcom BCM2835 SoC, which includes an ARM1176JZF-S 700 MHz processor, a VideoCore IV GPU and 128 or 256 MB of RAM is intended to run Linux kernel based operating systems. Selling for only 28 Euros the distributors’ websites have been overwhelmed by the demand and the first batch of 10,000 pieces was sold out in less than an hour.

 

The foundation plans to release two versions: Model A & Model B. Model A will have 128 MB RAM, one USB port and no Ethernet controller, while model B will contain 256 MB RAM, two USB ports and a 10/100 Ethernet controller.

The project is the work of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Their goal is to bring computing technology not only to students but also to the socially disadvantaged to encourage them to experiment with programming and tinkering. An interview with one of the foundation founders can be found in the April issue of Elektor, on sale in newsstands March the 21st.