Our electronics are getting smaller and smaller. With all that shrinking, we usually have to sacrifice functionality for space. It seems as though the group working on the tiny Linux-based PC, Raspberry Pi, have finally made some headway. There’s is a small PC board that is designed to be compact and functional. For being such a tiny rig, it outputs 1080p resolution video like a champ.
Before Christmas, the group received their first round of circuit boards for testing. Everything seems to have gone smoothly as the site reported stable results with only a minor error requiring a quick solder job. Once the problem was fixed, the prototype was able to output a test video at 1080p without any problem from its HDMI port.
The rig consists of a 700MHz ARM11 processor, 128MB of RAM, USB, HDMI, analog video, and analog audio ports all for only $25. A version with 256MB of RAM and a network connection will be available for $35. Both versions are powered by a 5V power supply and weigh approximately 1.4 oz. The storage memory is based on which size SD card you put in. The reason for designing these computers was to provide a reasonably powerful, low-cost PC that anyone could afford. This could literally change the world once it is put up for sale in developing countries.
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