The Raspberry Pi is a $25 computer that is powerful enough to run Quake 3, a pretty intense 3D video game. It plugs straight into a TV with an HDMI output and it's designed to be cheap enough that anyone can buy.
So why is the Raspberry Pi foundation, the organization behind this charming device, making the computers in the first place?
We spoke with Eben Upton, executive director of the Raspberry Pi foundation to find out why. Here's what we learned:
- It's primarily intended for the education market. The whole idea was conceived as a way to get kids to learn how to manipulate and program computers earlier on.
- The Raspberry Pi foundation wants to open-source the technology so "a company in China can produce a million computers" for developing countries and schools. The foundation expects third parties to start developing Raspberry Pi devices midway through 2012.
- The multimedia performance of the Raspberry Pi is "substantially better" than the Tegra 3, a chip used in many modern smartphones, Upton said. The only smartphone that comes close to the Raspberry Pi's performance is the Galaxy S 2, he said.
- They don't intend to make money off it. While you could easily turn something like this into a fully operational business, the Raspberry Pi foundation will remain a not-for-profit, Upton said.
- Around 10,000 units should be available once or twice a month. There's an upper limit of about 100,000 that the Raspberry Pi foundation can produce in a year, though.
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