July 12, 2012
Earlier this year,there was an announcement of a $25 Linux computer. I read about it and signed up for the waiting list. About three weeks ago, it arrived. It is called Raspberry Pi. I opened it up at work and fired it up. It took a bit to get going, but it runs fine for a computer that would almost fit in an Altoid tin. I am working on it now. It seemed silly to use my Windows & horse of a laptop to write about perhaps the smallest, cheapest computer available. Oh, it only has HDMI video output. So it is hooked up to our living roo big screen. For $25 you do not get a case. It is happily living in a Domino's Lava Crunch Cake Box.
Update 2015
The Pi has not seen much use. Is is small and cute sitting in it's pizza box. It did go to school with Princess One, but the school did not have an HDMI monitor to hook to it, so it could not control a Lego Robotics project. But it does run.
Raspberry Pi is now available everwhere. and they have several models. And competition. I may be buying a $9.00, smaller still computer. I might even splurge for the $20.00 model that has a VGA cable.
Update 2016
Raspberry has a new model out, the nano. Nano fits in an Altoid tin. It also retails for 99 cents if you catch a deal. It could be as much as $5.00. You can also get complete kits, with cords, SD card, and a case for less than $30.00.
Raspberry Pi now as its own OS, PIXEL. It is a beautiful little OS. To take things full circle, PIXEL has a version that will run on x386 and Mac hardware. For the time being, it runs in live boot, but I am eagerly awaiting an installable version.