Last week, I spent a pleasant couple of evenings helping the local scout group achieve their Electronics badges. I was delighted to receive a raspberry Pi as a thank you.
For those in the know, Raspberry Pi is the smallest computer available - it costs around £25. Wow you might think. It certainly has been popular with demand so high that potential customers have been waiting months to take delivery. So what is it and what does it do?
It was my mother-in-law who first told me awareof this- she had seen it on the news. My wife came home and asked "what's this then about a Blueberry Pie, a palm sized computer?". I dug around, discovered the raspberry Pi and found that there was no stock at Farnell or RS components the two distributors who were partnering to distribute the product.
On and off over the next few weeks I had a look at the websites for availability. The device has been designed by the Raspberry Pi foundation to encourage programming amongst shool kids. You can read more about it here http://www.raspberrypi.org/about.
It has been a typical "University led" project. The design team did not think that this product needed to comply with any of the CE regulations for electronic products. A half hour conversation with any decent electronics engineer in industry would have put them right on this. Following launch, the project was delayed by three months while the product was put through the regulatory approval process. Apparently a mistake on the "Bill of Materials" ended up with the wrong type of Ethernet socket being fitted on the early production units, causing further delays. In my experience, issue control is something that graduates learn when they start working as engineers in industry.
However once these problems had been sorted, the Pi has been a roaring success with loads flying off the shelves. So far, a commercial success which is always very nice to see.
The Raspberry Pi needs the following before you can start using it.
Power Supply, costing typically around £4 to £5.
SD card preloaded with Linux operating system under £10
USB keyboard and Mouse under £10
HDMI cable to connect to a TV with HDMI about £1.50
Case (optional) from £5 to £7)
I have all these on order. Looking forward to receiving these and cranking it up soon. Expect more posts on this.
I am old enough to remember the launch of the Z80 computer by Clive Sinclair. Much of the razzmatazz surrounding the launch of the Raspberry Pi reminds me of that. It will be interesting to see the legacy left by this product.
For those in the know, Raspberry Pi is the smallest computer available - it costs around £25. Wow you might think. It certainly has been popular with demand so high that potential customers have been waiting months to take delivery. So what is it and what does it do?
It was my mother-in-law who first told me awareof this- she had seen it on the news. My wife came home and asked "what's this then about a Blueberry Pie, a palm sized computer?". I dug around, discovered the raspberry Pi and found that there was no stock at Farnell or RS components the two distributors who were partnering to distribute the product.
It has been a typical "University led" project. The design team did not think that this product needed to comply with any of the CE regulations for electronic products. A half hour conversation with any decent electronics engineer in industry would have put them right on this. Following launch, the project was delayed by three months while the product was put through the regulatory approval process. Apparently a mistake on the "Bill of Materials" ended up with the wrong type of Ethernet socket being fitted on the early production units, causing further delays. In my experience, issue control is something that graduates learn when they start working as engineers in industry.
However once these problems had been sorted, the Pi has been a roaring success with loads flying off the shelves. So far, a commercial success which is always very nice to see.
The Raspberry Pi needs the following before you can start using it.
Power Supply, costing typically around £4 to £5.
SD card preloaded with Linux operating system under £10
USB keyboard and Mouse under £10
HDMI cable to connect to a TV with HDMI about £1.50
Case (optional) from £5 to £7)
I have all these on order. Looking forward to receiving these and cranking it up soon. Expect more posts on this.
I am old enough to remember the launch of the Z80 computer by Clive Sinclair. Much of the razzmatazz surrounding the launch of the Raspberry Pi reminds me of that. It will be interesting to see the legacy left by this product.
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