New cost-effective portable PC aimed at students.
US, May 6, 2011
David Braben has made quite a name for himself over the years, releasing popular games like the Rollercoaster Tycoon series and the recent Xbox 360 hit Kinectimals. As head developer for Frontier Developments, Braben naturally sees the importance of teaching the younger generation about programming and how computers work. Unfortunately, this trade has lost its importance in education, but Braben is on a mission to bring it back, one USB stick PC at a time.
Seeing the challenges of supplying computers to students, Braben has created an affordable PC that is so small that it can fit in your pocket; not just your regular pocket, but your seldom used fifth pocket.
The USB mini-computer comes equipped with an HDMI port for video output and a USB port to attach a keyboard. The hardware backing the system uses a 700MHz ARM11 processor, provides 128MB of RAM, runs OpenGL ES2.0 with 1080p output, and manages storage via microSD card.
While the technology behind the PC is undoubtedly impressive, the price tag is even more noteworthy at an extremely cheap $25.
Expected to ultimately be running Ubuntu, the tiny computer will allow students to experience a fully fledged computer at a small fraction of the cost of a desktop PC or laptop.
Braben intends to have the miniature PC available within the next 12 months and will be distributed through the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a charitable organization that also promotes computer science studies in schools.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: http://uk.gear.ign.com/articles/116/1166440p1.html
