Posted on 05/06/2011 10:37:09 AM PDT by LibWhacker
David Braben is a very well-known game developer who runs the UK development studio Frontier Developments, but is just as well known for being the co-developer of Elite.
Over his career his studio has brought us the Rollercoaster Tycoon series, Thrillville, Lost Winds, and most recently Kinectimals. In the background, however, Braben has been trying to tackle another problem: getting programming and general learning of how computers work back into schools.
Braben argues that education since we entered the 2000s has turned towards ICT which teaches useful skills such as writing documents in a word processor, how to create presentations, and basic computer use skills. But that has replaced more computer science-like skills such as basic programming and understanding the architecture and hardware contained in a computer.
His solution is not to create his own course, but instead to manufacture a very low cost PC that can be given to kids for free and courses built up around their use. When we say low cost, we mean so low even the OLPC would be impressed.
Braben has developed a tiny USB stick PC that has a HDMI port in one end and a USB port on the other. You plug it into a HDMI socket and then connect a keyboard via the USB port giving you a fully functioning machine running a version of Linux. The cost? $25.
The hardware being offered is no slouch either. It uses a 700MHz ARM11 processor coupled with 128MB of RAM and runs OpenGL ES 2.0 allowing for decent graphics performance with 1080p output confirmed. Storage is catered for by an SD card slot. It also looks as though modules can be attached such as the 12MP camera seen in the image above.
We can expect it to run a range of Linux distributions, but it looks like Ubuntu may be the distro it ships with. That means it will handle web browsing, run office applications, and give the user a fully functional computer to play with as soon as it’s plugged in. All that and it can be carried in your pocket or on a key chain.
This tiny, cheap PC is going to be distributed through a new charitable foundation called the Raspberry Pi Foundation. It will also promote computer science studies in schools.
As for when the Raspberry Pi device will become available, Braben says he hopes to be distributing it within the next 12 months.
This isn’t just an OS or some software. It’s an entire computer. The size of a USB stick. For $25. And they claim it can play 1080p video. I have my doubts about the 1080p, but even so, it’s no mean feat.
For that price, especially when it hits the market, I can imagine uses and innovation on it to advance quickly. Heck, I would buy several just to fiddle with.
To make a mini computer (an entire one) you have to pay more than $25 on the current market/technology available. The ipod/iphone/android all are “small” (and not yet on a usb) but cost considerably more. Getting smaller costs more than that, initially, and then the price drops, but we aren’t at the USB equals a computer stage yet at those prices.
Apparently not anymore.
Screw the poor, I want a bunch of them!
Real question is: what’s the power draw?
Make that low enough and a plethora of power options opens.
If anyone knows how to make Roller Coaster Tycoon work on Windows 7, let me know. I can’t get my old Windows 95 and XP games to work on this new computer even checking the compatability thingy. In fact, I’m not impressed with 7 at all. It’s taking a huge step back rather than forward.
That’s what I’m saying. The commercial and consumer uses for this thing are endless. Get it out that way and let us all buy a bunch of them. That’ll bring the price down even more.
My first thought was this little gizmo could replace, at a cost less than the cost to install it, most if not all POS or business terminals, with very little there to have the possibility of failing, getting spilled on, gunked up from dust, etc. Wonder if an HDMI to VGA cable would work with this? Don't see why not - new life for all those old CRTs we're all throwing away.
Some people get trapped into thinking just education - make twice as many as you want for education, and sell the heck out of them to business users. Actually, considering it, make it a buy one give one type deal - corporates won't mind paying $50 per, and can brag about how they're supporting education, while saving themselves a heck of a lot of money just on power use.
Disposable computers! Un-frickin-believable!
Exactly. He could afford to give away a whole lot more if he retailed them and used some (or all) of the profit to reduce his outlay.
1,2,3 until the ipad fans come in saying that no respectable IT department would ever buy these, and that Kindergarteners need $500 ipads, and the only possible android tabs cost at least $400.
Make as many as you can, and a tiny HD video camera for cheap I’m always looking for. You can get a 720p camera, roughly th size of car keys or a pack of gum, for $40, no dropped frames, not interpolated.
If I had to guess, the form factor is very much like the mini cams, so, maybe a battery, rechargeable by usb. otherwise, usb powered in some way.
Download and install Virtual PC 2007 from Microsoft. It's free.
This program will create a virtual PC within your existing OS. On the virtual PC, you will need to install the older OS from your original disks (if you still have them).
On my Vista laptop, I have two virtual PCs: one running XP SP3, and the other running 98SE.
The virtual PCs will have access to all the other components of your computer: network access, drive access, etc. If your host computer has wireless, the router will see the virtual computer as a separate MAC ID.
-PJ
Thanks, will check into that.
Not sure why you’re bashing iPad fans.
Sure the thing is (may be) $25.
The display is...whatever you pay for an HDTV. $100-1000ish.
Keyboard and mouse may be cheap, say $15 rock bottom, $50ish for something decent. >$10 USB hub to connect both.
(Remember, fair viable comparison please; compare new and dedicated, not “I have these parts laying around already”.)
Local 16gb flash storage, about $25. Make sure that hub has enough ports.
WiFi “n” network interface, dunno, >$25.
Rechargeable battery pack, ~$25.
That’s around $250 minimum, and it’s not even packaged well. I just bought an Android Nook Color for that, and it’s a tiny tablet.
Tack on better batteries / optimized power, better packaging, multi-touch interface, couple cameras, good graphics, dual non-anemic processors, etc. and you’re into an iPad price easy.
It’s not that “no respectable IT department would ever buy these”, it’s just looking at what this thing doesn’t have that’s needed to make it usable.
I laud the pocket-change price of it, and the ability to use what most already have available (hey, it does composite video too!). Just if you’re going to bash us iPad fans out of the blue, methinks pushback is fair.
I see this being a big benefit to start up businesses who want to make some type of hardware/software solution.
I have a cool idea that requires my to custom build a PC (very small footprint), but the cost is too prohibitive to make the business worthwhile. Something like this would really help me to get started because it lowers my cost to make the product by a signficant margin.
fair enough. I just know that if I do any ipad bashing, I know I’ll get a response. I have had an extraordinarily long and detailed, and very good actually, debate on the right way to look at the computer needs of a 5 year old.
Yes, the monitor is a cost. The other things are costs.
Might there be a hdmi to vga converter?
I like it. Very much to my way of thinking.
If you have Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate you can download a fully functional Windows XP Virtual machine. If you have full CDs of 95, 98, or later you can also use Vmware. For DOS games I use DOSbox.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.