Raspberry Pi Foundation

Finally, a computer that costs less than a filet mignon is almost here. We first reported on the $25 (a "B" model with double the RAM and an Ethernet port runs $35) minicomputer way back in May of last year, and now it's less than two weeks from finishing production.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation's Liz Upton over at the Raspberry Pi site discloses that after some delays, the first production run will be finished in China on February 20 and immediately shipped to the U.K., where it should be available for purchase from the Web site by the end of the month.

Raspberry Pi's creators plan to make 10,000 in the first run, and while they will be available to the public, the foundation is a charitable organization that hopes it can help inspire children worldwide to learn programming. It's currently looking into organizing a "buy one, give one" program that will try to get more of the minicomputers into the hands of underprivileged kids.

If that's still not cool enough for you, the system also makes a nice substitute for an Apple TV.

Here's a look at what's included: Broadcom's BCM2835 system-on-a-chip with a 700MHz ARM processor anchors the Raspberry Pi, and ports for USB, RCA video, HDMI, and an SD card are also part of the deal as you can see in the schematic below.

Raspberry Pi Foundation

(Via Gizmag)