Raspberry Pi $25 USD computer coming in January

We’ve spoken about the Raspberry Pi computer a few times before, earlier this year it seeming to get closer and closer to a real release: the time is now essentially set in stone, and the ultra-cheap PC is upon us: $25 for Linux on an ARM processor toting computer with USB, HDMI out, video and audio out, and an SD Card slot, coming this January! Can you imagine such a thing? Its creators have spoken again of this magical device as being available in the first month of 2012 with only tiny software and hardware testing required before that release date – joy!

There will be a couple of configurations for this machine available at the launch, the larger having a bit more RAM and an ethernet port – we’ll certainly be opting for that. That one costs $35 USD, while the $25 version has half the RAM (128MB) and no ethernet port, and another board has been announced alongside these two as a bit of a bonus: the Gertboard! This bit is an expansion board that can be added to either model Raspberry Pi and is able to do all sorts of fun stuff like “flash LEDs on and off, drive motors, run sensors, and all that other fun stuff.” That voice you’re hearing in your head is again the creators of Raspberry Pi.

In particular you should note David Braben, one of the creators of Raspberry Pi in what’s called “The Computing Project”. He’s also a game developer and the one who essentially dreamed up the project in the first place. This is the first place we’ve seen that such an inexpensive basic PC looks decent enough to actually be worth having a play with. And it’s got that cute raspberry printed on it too! Stay tuned at http://www.raspberrypi.org/ and here on SlashGear for more details as this device drops!

[via Raspberry Pi]