NewJerseyJoe said: “I’ve been interested in trying something like this for a while.”
I forgot to add that there is much information at the Raspberry Pi web site, https://www.raspberrypi.org/.
The Raspberry Pi was developed by a British non-profit to encourage school kids to learn about computers. The boards are available from several sources.
I made a living creating customized controllers for process equipment and could only dream about having such a powerful tool. Even if one decided not to use such a thing in the final product the ability to create rapid prototypes would have been invaluable.
Adafruit has a ton of add-on boards that can be used with the Pi, such as temperature sensors, inertial sensors, GPS, cameras, and touchscreens. I'm contemplating how I can replace the various Honeywell controllers on my furnace with a single Pi and a handful of sensors right now. I look forward to buying a Pi2 for a little extra horsepower.
I think the Pi concept is an important step in giving students STEM skills and exposure. To steal someone else's point, a basement-dwelling future is most likely if you ask a student who's keen on game design/programming what his home setup is and he/she reels off a list of game systems. If the same student has a Raspberry Pi and learns how to write code that manipulates the Internet of Things, the student will be far more successful in a future workplace.