Raspberry Pi - $25 ARM based PC

Google Groups
1

So, I saw this today http://www.raspberrypi.org/

It’s being produced by a UK based charity, and it has USB in on one
side and HDMI out on the other, running Linux.

I don’t think the design is yet to be open sourced, but for the price,
that’s a whole lot of micro-computers we could throw at stuff… and
if enough geeks make enough noise, they might be up for doing
something interesting around construction (perhaps??)

All the best,
Jon “The Nice Guy” Spriggs

2

Wow, this is amazing.

I wonder how we can get our hands on some to play with? Looks like it’d be
great for project a sketch:gaming edition.

-BobOn 5 May 2011 15:42, Jon Spriggs jon@sprig.gs wrote:

So, I saw this today http://www.raspberrypi.org/

It’s being produced by a UK based charity, and it has USB in on one
side and HDMI out on the other, running Linux.

I don’t think the design is yet to be open sourced, but for the price,
that’s a whole lot of micro-computers we could throw at stuff… and
if enough geeks make enough noise, they might be up for doing
something interesting around construction (perhaps??)

All the best,

Jon “The Nice Guy” Spriggs

Discuss mailing list
Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org
http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss

3

Ooh - wow, a cluster of these would make one of the best synthesisers ever.

4

I think the key here will be (if we want to get huge quantities out there)

  1. Ask them whether Hack(er)spaces can get involved in working with
    and improving the design. Ask them for a mailing list, forum or
    website we can get involved with them in.
  2. Encourage them to open source the design - point them, gently, at
    the Arduino design. Remind them that by making the design open, they
    don’t lose control, but it does give more people more of a chance to
    collaborate.
  3. If they don’t want to open source it, get on the hacking wagon. Get
    some great plans of what you can (and should/shouldn’t) do with such a
    box. I really liked the idea further down this chain (not sent to all
    the CC’s above) that said:

I was just reminded of an educational outdoor kiosk project for a
local non-profit that got scrapped due to concerns over running power
to where they’d need it. This with a 15-17" LED lit lcd (20W max)
could easily be solar powered, and greatly simplify the cabinet to
install it all in as it wouldn’t need active cooling, thus making it
easier to weatherproof.

A great example of this is the Joggler, AKA an OpenPeak frame, running
Linux, and (was) selling at £50 in the UK. Went like hot cakes, and
got LOADS of people interested in doing stuff with them… these boxes
are still selling on EBay for around £50-70, with or without mods.

Imagine one of these powering a wearable computing project??? How cool
would that be?
Jon “The Nice Guy” SpriggsOn 5 May 2011 15:53, Nils Hitze nhitze@gmail.com wrote:

Im ordering 10

2011/5/5 Bob Clough parag0n@ivixor.net:

Wow, this is amazing.
I wonder how we can get our hands on some to play with? Looks like it’d be
great for project a sketch:gaming edition.

-Bob
On 5 May 2011 15:42, Jon Spriggs jon@sprig.gs wrote:

So, I saw this today http://www.raspberrypi.org/

It’s being produced by a UK based charity, and it has USB in on one
side and HDMI out on the other, running Linux.

I don’t think the design is yet to be open sourced, but for the price,
that’s a whole lot of micro-computers we could throw at stuff… and
if enough geeks make enough noise, they might be up for doing
something interesting around construction (perhaps??)

All the best,

Jon “The Nice Guy” Spriggs

Discuss mailing list
Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org
http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss

Discuss mailing list
Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org
http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss

–
Nils Hitze

Email: nhitze@gmail.com
Mobil: +49 179 9429701

http://www.silberkind.de
http://twitter.com/kojote

Discuss mailing list
Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org
http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss

5

May be we should just get some of these devices (pay money and buy
some!!) and have a play and see what we can do!!!

AlexOn 5 May 2011 15:49, Bob Clough parag0n@ivixor.net wrote:

Wow, this is amazing.
I wonder how we can get our hands on some to play with? Looks like it’d be
great for project a sketch:gaming edition.

-Bob
On 5 May 2011 15:42, Jon Spriggs jon@sprig.gs wrote:

So, I saw this today http://www.raspberrypi.org/

It’s being produced by a UK based charity, and it has USB in on one
side and HDMI out on the other, running Linux.

I don’t think the design is yet to be open sourced, but for the price,
that’s a whole lot of micro-computers we could throw at stuff… and
if enough geeks make enough noise, they might be up for doing
something interesting around construction (perhaps??)

All the best,

Jon “The Nice Guy” Spriggs

Discuss mailing list
Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org
http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss

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6

So, Jonty, from London Hackspace contacted them… Good stuff ahoy!From: Jonty Wareing jonty@jonty.co.uk
Date: 5 May 2011 23:30
Subject: Re: [london-hack-space] Re: New ultra low cost linux PC
To: london-hack-space@googlegroups.com

I dropped the guys making this an email with some questions, not
seriously expecting a reply. They got back to me within three hours!

I thought the responses might be of interest to everyone:

  1. How long do you think it will be before the boards become
    available?

I’d say three or four months. As you can see from the screenshots, we
have usable Linux, but we’re waiting to get final versions of the the
chip from our supplier.

  1. Are there any plans for a version with onboard ethernet?

I don’t think we’re likely to do onboard Ethernet; we will have an
onboard 3-port USB hub so people can add an external adapter.

  1. Are there any plans for a version with onboard wifi?

Yes. The final version (though maybe not the first distributables)
will have onboard WiFi (probably 802.11n) in the price point.

  1. What are the power requirements, both under load and at rest?

At rest I’d say 50mW (we could trim this if it was really important,
but it gets a bit fiddly below this point), under serious load
(original XBox class graphics or 1080p30 H.264), 700mW.

–jonty

Jon “The Nice Guy” Spriggs

7

Looking into it, there is literally no chance of this costing $25 with specs
like that. In <1000 quantities, 700MHz SoC’s cost about a tenner!On 6 May 2011 11:51, Jon Spriggs jon@sprig.gs wrote:

So, Jonty, from London Hackspace contacted them… Good stuff ahoy!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jonty Wareing jonty@jonty.co.uk
Date: 5 May 2011 23:30
Subject: Re: [london-hack-space] Re: New ultra low cost linux PC
To: london-hack-space@googlegroups.com

I dropped the guys making this an email with some questions, not
seriously expecting a reply. They got back to me within three hours!

I thought the responses might be of interest to everyone:

  1. How long do you think it will be before the boards become
    available?

I’d say three or four months. As you can see from the screenshots, we
have usable Linux, but we’re waiting to get final versions of the the
chip from our supplier.

  1. Are there any plans for a version with onboard ethernet?

I don’t think we’re likely to do onboard Ethernet; we will have an
onboard 3-port USB hub so people can add an external adapter.

  1. Are there any plans for a version with onboard wifi?

Yes. The final version (though maybe not the first distributables)
will have onboard WiFi (probably 802.11n) in the price point.

  1. What are the power requirements, both under load and at rest?

At rest I’d say 50mW (we could trim this if it was really important,
but it gets a bit fiddly below this point), under serious load
(original XBox class graphics or 1080p30 H.264), 700mW.

–jonty

–
Jon “The Nice Guy” Spriggs

On 5 May 2011 16:11, Jon Spriggs jon@sprig.gs wrote:

I think the key here will be (if we want to get huge quantities out
there)

  1. Ask them whether Hack(er)spaces can get involved in working with
    and improving the design. Ask them for a mailing list, forum or
    website we can get involved with them in.
  2. Encourage them to open source the design - point them, gently, at
    the Arduino design. Remind them that by making the design open, they
    don’t lose control, but it does give more people more of a chance to
    collaborate.
  3. If they don’t want to open source it, get on the hacking wagon. Get
    some great plans of what you can (and should/shouldn’t) do with such a
    box. I really liked the idea further down this chain (not sent to all
    the CC’s above) that said:

I was just reminded of an educational outdoor kiosk project for a
local non-profit that got scrapped due to concerns over running power
to where they’d need it. This with a 15-17" LED lit lcd (20W max)
could easily be solar powered, and greatly simplify the cabinet to
install it all in as it wouldn’t need active cooling, thus making it
easier to weatherproof.

A great example of this is the Joggler, AKA an OpenPeak frame, running
Linux, and (was) selling at £50 in the UK. Went like hot cakes, and
got LOADS of people interested in doing stuff with them… these boxes
are still selling on EBay for around £50-70, with or without mods.

Imagine one of these powering a wearable computing project??? How cool
would that be?

Jon “The Nice Guy” Spriggs

On 5 May 2011 15:53, Nils Hitze nhitze@gmail.com wrote:

Im ordering 10

2011/5/5 Bob Clough parag0n@ivixor.net:

Wow, this is amazing.
I wonder how we can get our hands on some to play with? Looks like
it’d be

great for project a sketch:gaming edition.

-Bob
On 5 May 2011 15:42, Jon Spriggs jon@sprig.gs wrote:

So, I saw this today http://www.raspberrypi.org/

It’s being produced by a UK based charity, and it has USB in on one
side and HDMI out on the other, running Linux.

I don’t think the design is yet to be open sourced, but for the price,
that’s a whole lot of micro-computers we could throw at stuff… and
if enough geeks make enough noise, they might be up for doing
something interesting around construction (perhaps??)

All the best,

Jon “The Nice Guy” Spriggs

Discuss mailing list
Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org
http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss

Discuss mailing list
Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org
http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss

–
Nils Hitze

Email: nhitze@gmail.com
Mobil: +49 179 9429701

http://www.silberkind.de
http://twitter.com/kojote

Discuss mailing list
Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org
http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss

8

Looking into it, there is literally no chance of this costing $25 with specs
like that. In<1000 quantities, 700MHz SoC’s cost about a tenner!

Alan Burlison