What is Raspberry Pi ??
The Raspberry Pi is a small computer about the size of a credit card. The initial version is only available as a bare motherboard, but future versions will be available with a case.
The Raspberry Pi is similar in processor and memory to some smartphones and includes a HDMI (and analogue) TV output as well as USB connectors and on one version a Ethernet network connection.
It is powered using a mobile phone charger plug.
An important aspect of the device is that it is inexpensive. Starting at just $25 for the basic model making this affordable for schools and pupils alike.
The aim behind the Raspberry Pi is to get school children excited about computers and to help create computer programmers for the future.This is similar to what the BBC Micro and similar home computers did back in the 1980s. Back then computers were simpler and made it easy to tinker and learn how to program. There was no risk of breaking anything as if anything went wrong you just powered it off and started again.These days computers are complex and expensive. Many computers also restrict what you can and can't do with them through closed source software and other technical restrictions (eg. games machines). Even if you could tinker with them then many parents would not like to risk their children damaging the home computer that the family has become so reliant.By making the device so cheaply it means that pupils can have their own computer that they can tinker with and the worst that could happen is that they need to re flash the SD card back to it's original settings. As it can plug into a standard TV (in many children's bedrooms) there is no need to take turns in using the computer monitor or main computer.
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