Are you ready for your slice of Raspberry Pi? TechCrunch reports that electronics distributor Allied Electronics is now taking orders for the $35 computer appliance, with the caveat that it will be at least 10-12 weeks before it is actually able to ship them.
And you can order more than just the device itself; Allied’s order page has a list of available accessories including enclosures, SD cards, keyboards, mice, and an AC adapter.
I’m probably going to hold off on ordering it until the ship time is a little less (and I have a little more money) but it’s encouraging to see it become available. This little device has the potential to open the availability of all sorts of computing tasks—including e-reading—to people of all income ranges.
The Raspberry Pi is definitely a big step in price/performance. It uses the same programming libraries as the very popular Arduino however unlike the Arduino it can’t operate in extended temperature ranges (-40C to 85C). Therefore a whole range of practical real-world projects are not possible with the Raspberry Pi, such a weather monitoring station; alternative energy monitoring ect. In addition the processor used on the Raspberry Pi (made by Broadcom), is not available in small quantities. To buy any quantity you must submit a business plan to Broadcom and the full technical details are unavailable except under non-disclosure agreement. A much more powerful, open source and wide-temp alternative is the soon to be release (approx. Sep 2012) A13-OLinuXino
http://olimex.wordpress.com/tag/a13/