The Raspberry Pi is a credit card sized computer that plugs into your TV or computer monitor and is capable of so much. It’s run off of Open Source software (Linux and UNIX) so it’s completely customizable. The cheapest Pi, the Model A, is $25 and their higher end Model B will run you a mere $35. The major differences between the both models is that the Model A has only 256MB of RAM, one USB port and no Ethernet or network connection. The Model B has 512MB of RAM, 2 USB ports and an Ethernet port. The processor or SoC (System on Chip) is built by Broadcom runs at 700MHz but is capable of being overclocked to 1GHz and contains an integrated GPU which is capable of playing BluRay quality video playback. All this on a simple device that runs off of 5VDC.
There are many projects online that have great tutorials. These projects range from an in-car computer, an arcade table, Weather station, and even a cloud server. What ever you choose to do with your Pi I’m sure that you’ll have a blast because it’s a learning experience for everyone. It’s also great for a kids first computer, I’ll start teaching my son, Aiden (3), and get his started early on Linux.
