Everything You Need to Know About the Raspberry Pi

The online tech community is wild about the soon-to-be released Raspberry-Pi. The cleverly named device is a $25 Linux computer that is the size of a credit card (right). With impressive specs and even more impressive performance, the Raspberry Pi has been seen running Quake 3(bottom), XBMC, and Air-Play, without lag. The R-Pi is due to start sales to consumers later this February, with the construction of the first 10k finishing on Feb 20th. Only the 'B' version will initially be for sale and will be priced at $35.

The device has an 700 MHZ ARM11 processor, and 128MB of RAM. The upgraded ‘B’ version sports a 10/100Mb Ethernet port and 256MB of ram. For the less-techy people out there, the specs are just short of a modern smart-phone (but can easily outperform the newest iPhone4s). The R-Pi is capable of HD video playback, and outputs through HDMI and RCA (the circular yellow plug on older devices). It has 2 USB 2.0  ports which share the same USB Controller. On the ‘B’ version, the Ethernet port also shares the USB controller. R-Pi will boot off of an SD card (sorry, it will not be able to boot off of USB) and will be powered by micro USB cable. The picture below shows the board’s layout.

On a more technical note, the board also has 16 accessible GPIO (general-purpose I/O). All of the pins are unpopulated and will be digital only. But chances are if you plan on using them, then you probably have a spare A/D converter laying around anyways. Another board referred to as the GertBoard will be released at some-point soon as well. This will allow users to more-easily drive high-power motors and sensors on a shield-like board (the GPIO do not have pull-down resistors or diodes to prevent reverse current attached. It is assumed that users using this will have enough common sense to not fry their board). Because of how easy the GertBoard will be to use, the Raspberry Pi may be able to start a new revolution in the hacking community; the same way Arduino has. The most popular Arduino board, the Uno, currently sells for ~$30 and doesn’t have nearly the speed of the R-Pi.
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The Raspberry Pi is being developed with the purpose of bringing computer programming back to schools, and not languages like HTML, that most schools currently consider adequate. With a low cost, the R-Pi may be treated as a form of textbook in some tech classes, and will finally allow students to bring home a computer to learn with (without worrying about bricking their parent’s). More high-end languages will be able to be taught like C, or Java and students will also be able to learn more about the structure of operating systems - because the Pi will be completely Open Source and un-brickable. Hopefully, schools will be able find space for Raspberry Pis in their curriculum and buy a few. A $25 computer is a lot cheaper than a $100 textbook...and a lot cooler.

One of the most recent pictures of a Raspberry Pi. The
final version will most likely look similar.

The hacking community is expected to be the main buyers of the first batch of R-Pis. With projects seen on the forums like a a cheap media station, a car PC, an Android Emulator, a robotics micro-controller, and home automation. I plan on buying one to make a multi-media station for my [parents] HDTV (network media streaming, Netflix, YouTube, Interwebs, picture sharing, music, etc). The reason that the first batch is not going to schools is because the R-Pi foundation is hoping that the hacking community will help develop the learning materials, software and tutorials for the less-advanced users. Within the first month I can guarantee that you will see thousands of easy open-source projects using the Pi...Maybe even here on RoboTechEd!

If you plan on getting a R-Pi then I recommend you follow the organization on Twitter and forwarding their tweets to your phone. They don’t expect their inventory to last very long (I give it 10 minutes), even though they are limiting initial sales to 1 per person. The store will open at some point after Feb 20th and before the end of the month. The foundation also plans to ship world-wide from day one. If you want to get a few of these for your school, then you will have to wait for a little later in the year, the foundation will be selling bulk to schools at some point after they get a feel for their sales. Either way you should hop onto the R-Pi forums and check out some cool project ideas, and contribute to the development!

EXOdesk - The First Desk You Have to Plug-In

Chances are we all have one, and chances are it doesn’t need to get plugged into the wall...yet. The desk is an ancient invention that we use today, often with some piece of technology on top. That’s what the EXOdesk aims to change, they took the simple everyday computing tasks you do and put them into your desk.

Using the EXOdesk you can check Facebook, surf the web, and even play angry birds all at the expected cost of $1299. This is thanks to the desk’s 10 point multi-touch display. The desk runs HTML5 apps natively - meaning any future HTML5 apps will be able to run on this handy device - Hello, My Robot Nation! The desk is also capable of being a virtual mouse and keyboard, meaning no more sticky keys or Dusty keyboards. The only issue i see here is the inevitable spilled soda (I don't think this would clean up very easily).

Check out the video below to see the desk in action. And be sure to follow RTE on Facebook and Twitter!

Building a Gaming Rig for Under $600

A few weeks ago my friend asked me to design him a custom gaming desktop for under $600 that could handle Starcraft II on Ultra settings. Being the arrogant nerd that I am, I took the challenge and went off with his credit card to buy the parts. I looked over the Falcon Guide and tweaked it depending on the prices at the time and the wants of my friend. I also replaced the graphics card with a budget one that I know could play SCII on max settings (the same one that I use now).

The parts are all listed below and all bought from Amazon. I chose Amazon compared to Newegg because I’m a prime member and get free 2-day shipping on most things. Plus we bought these during ‘Cyber Week’ and there were some pretty good sales on Amazon.

They all came in just a day ago and we started constructing the PC seen above (my first complete desktop build). The computer handles Starcraft II with no lag and hasn't gotten hot enough to even notice a difference from the air temperature. The build was smooth and all disks/drivers needed were provided. The only issue we ran into was realizing that we didn’t buy a disk drive. Luckily you can put anything on a disk onto a flash drive and use that instead. Or resurrect an old drive from another computer (just make sure it’s SATA if you use the motherboard below). I would normally post a how-to but there are hundreds online and the build is pretty simple for the tech people out there.

Let me know if you have any suggestions or questions on Facebook or Twitter and be sure to try to build a desktop yourself! Gaming just isn’t the same on a laptop.