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A taste of Pi

I've written columns about the imminent launch of the Raspberry Pi before but now that the product has been put up for sale, it's time to write another.

Why?

Well because it seems that everyone has grossly underestimated the demand for this US$25-$35 computer board.

According to reports, two of the world's best-known online electronic components retailers have had their websites knocked offline by the surge in traffic that accompanied the launch of the product. Woohoo!

Both RS (RadioSpares) and Element 14 (Farnell) had their websites crashed by those stampeding to buy their own slice of pi.

Initial stocks sold out within hours of being listed and even the Raspberry foundation's founder Eben Upton admits he seriously underestimated the demand.

In a report published by The Telegraph, Upton is quoted as saying "We didn't realise how successful this was going to be".

Apparently the company that has been contracted to manufacture the Pi can only do so in batches of 10,000 which means that those who missed out on the first batch will have place an order and wait -- possibly for quite some time.

Potential purchasers have been warned to steer clear of any units that appear on eBay, since they will probably be sold at a significant premium over the official retail price and there may even be scam sellers seeking to collect money for non-existent product then disappear.

So why has the world gone Raspberry Pi crazy?

The answer is probably that a lot of people realise the enormous potential this small piece of circuitry represents.

Thanks to its high-horsepower processor, (optional) Ethernet interface, graphics hardware and useful amount of RAM, the Raspberry Pi can be turned into a bewildering array of devices simply through the writing of suitable software.

Unlike many other low-cost single-board computer subsystems, the Pi runs Linux, which means it becomes a familiar and comfortable environment for an existing army of software developers -- hence the required application software should start coming thick and fast within a few weeks or months of today's launch.

It won't be very long before a very active and vibrant developer community starts spewing out all manner of open-source code for these devices so that anyone with even a little technical nous will be able to cobble together the device of their dreams.

In effect, the Raspberry Pi is a dream enabler for software hackers.

Yes, I will be ordering mine today and waiting most impatiently.

Aardvark readers will get a review as soon as I have my hands on one.

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