After a brief delay, the folks behind the Raspberry Pi $35 computer have cleared all regulatory hurdles and the tiny PC is now starting to ship.

Some of the first Raspberry Pi computers have already been delivered to a school in the UK, and customers that have placed orders for the little computers should be receiving them soon.

Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi is a little system board that’s not much larger than a pack of cards. But it has a 700 MHz Broadcom BCM2385 ARM-based processor, 256MB of RAM, HDMI output, and an SD card slot for storage. It basically has all the hardware you need for basic computing tasks, except for the keyboard, mouse, and monitor.

The first version to ship includes 2 USB ports and an Ethernet jack. There will be a second model available soon for just $25 which lacks both of those features.

While the miniature computer was originally developed for use in educational settings, it’s grabbed a lot of attention from enthusiasts interested in using it a as an inexpensive PC or media center.

You can’t run Windows 7 on the Raspberry Pi thanks to the low power ARM-based chip, but you can run a variety of Linux-based operating systems such as Fedora or Debian.

Raspberry Pi orders are handled by two different companies, RS Components, and Element14.

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8 replies on “Raspberry Pi $35 computers now shipping”

  1. Allright, now the question is how many to get.

    One of the kids to teach them, one for me to destroy by myself, one with a case will go on our TV in the kitchen and maybe use another with an old TV that I havent used since the analog-digital switch that I could maybe plug in when I do stationary bike in the basement. Heck, I might buy one or two and give it as gift or maybe to my church so that they have another computer for the sunday language school..

    That’ll be 100-150$ which is what a new battery on my laptop will cost.

    ‘Nother thing, Im a geek so I know my way around these things and Im sure they have education plans for schools but I am more than curious to see if they have something planned for the mom and dad who read about this, love the fact that they can afford it since its cheaper than a cell phone cover and would love to get something that could be educational but have no knowledge of this.
    Ive seen some online videos adn tutorials fans have been making and they all demand something more than what the average joe understand.
    Having online tutorials geared to the child who is home with one of these and no adult that can really help him WILL BE the key.

    Dont get me wrong, I LOVE the price and feel a lot better having my kids handle a 25-35$ computer than a 600$ phone. Its even more important for poor countries or even for our own inner cities because most of us here on this site can afford toys while many others cant. The middle class is disappearing and its NOT going in the class above. The price helps include all and breaks down the money barrier that is so prevalent in technology.
    If you can afford 25-35$ for an XL pizza like the great one next to my place, you probably dont see this importance but it is real and from the volunteer work Ive done at a food bank, its a problem that is getting bigger and bigger.

    But the educational aspect I think is just as important. Having educational plans for teachers and for non-techie parents is what I believe will be the most important step once the hardware question is settled.

    1. thanks. i was thinking of waiting till they started producing their own cases later on but I when I buy 3-4 Pi’s, I will get one of these cases for my entertainment use from these guys.

    1.  No, Windows 8 requires certain specs and for ARM systems it’ll only come pre-installed and that is not something that will happen for Raspberry Pi but you can get Linux…

  2. It is a device for tinkerer’s, Looks like it will have a developer base similar to arduino or beagleboard devices, so people could build their own hardware devices to do any number of things. I am looking at one as a low cost portable media device as XBMC has been ported to it.

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