The Raspberry Pi has taken the computing world by storm, first released in February of 2012 for computer education and amateur development. The device has now sold more than 8 million units, making it the UK’s bestselling personal computer.

The Pi has seen several revisions over the years, it has grown in performance by a factor of 10 with the addition of a 1.2GHz quad core in the new model 3 processor replacing the original 700MHz single core processor on the model 1. The newest model also adds Bluetooth and Wi-Fi onto the board.

The community and infrastructure surrounding the computer is simply amazing. A quick Google search will reveal how creative people have gotten with the Pi. From creating a full home media centre to programming an internet phone from scratch it seems the potential is limitless. The Raspberry Pi has visited the International Space Station and been sent to the edge of space on a weather balloon!

An official touchscreen was released in September of 2015 that supports 10 point multi-touch allowing you to make a tablet equivalent to nearly anything on the market. You’ll even be able to create your own laptop with the Pi-Top, an interesting Indiegogo project that will be coming to the market in the next 4 months.

My personal favourite project is the BeetBox. Artist, Scott Garner used add-on boards to turn a bunch of vegetables into a drum machine. I don’t think I can do it justice by describing it so please watch the video below:

The computer has also managed to do some good in war torn regions of the world. Syrians are using the tiny computer to broadcast independent radio allowing communication outside of areas controlled by Assad or Islamic State militants. This can be used to broadcast information of conflict developments and other lifesaving information.

That’s not bad for a £30 computer.

 

Sam McMaster

 

Image coustry of Multicherry, image hosted on Wikipedia.