[Freedombox-discuss] Raspberry Pi - $25 plug computers

[Matt Zimmerman]

These folks are developing a $25 hardware platform.  It's somewhat
hypothetical at present, but if it becomes reality...wow!

http://www.raspberrypi.org/

    The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a UK registered charity (Registration
    Number 1129409) which exists to promote the study of computer science
    and related topics, especially at school level, and to put the fun back
    into learning computing.

    We plan to develop, manufacture and distribute an ultra-low-cost
    computer, for use in teaching computer programming to children. We
    expect this computer to have many other applications both in the
    developed and the developing world.

    Our first product is about the size of a USB key, and is designed to plug
    into a TV or be combined with a touch screen for a low cost tablet. The
    expected price is $25 for a fully-configured system.

    How would you use an ultra-low-cost computer? Do you have open-source
    educational software we can use? Contact us at info at raspberrypi.org.

    Do you have a press inquiry? Contact us at press at raspberrypi.org.

    Provisional specification

    700MHz ARM11
    256MB of SDRAM
    OpenGL ES 2.0
    1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode
    Composite and HDMI video output
    USB 2.0
    SD/MMC/SDIO memory card slot
    General-purpose I/O
    Open software (Ubuntu, Iceweasel, KOffice, Python)

It looks like the only networking option is USB, but if nothing else,
there's likely something to learn from this project about building a
low-cost device.  Something like this, minus graphics, plus WiFi, seems like
would make a great value headless platform.

-- 
 - mdz