The Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced the release of Raspbian, its own custom Debian-based distribution for the mini-computer. The SD-card-sized image replaces the current recommended install option which is also Debian-based.

According to the foundation, the new distribution is optimised for the Raspberry Pi's floating point hardware, which increases its performance and speeds up, among other things, the web browsing experience on the device. The foundation recommends that users who are currently using the older Debian image should switch to Raspbian immediately to take advantage of the performance improvements. The Raspbian images are available from the Raspberry Pi project's download page.

In other news, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has announced that the purchase limits on the device have been dropped. Production has increased to approximately 4,000 devices per day, which has allowed retailers stocking the device to lift the original "one device per customer" rule.

Raspberry Pi Foundation founder Eben Upton has also revealed that the long-awaited 5 megapixel camera module for the device will be available by October. It is expected to cost between $20 and $25.

(fab)