"Why would something as apparently mundane as a logic board with no case, no mouse, no keyboard, no disk, no power supply and no screen create so much enthusiasm?" Philip Machanick of the Department of Computer Science at Rhodes University asks - and answers "Try this: $35. And that's the fancier model. It starts at $25, if you don't need Ethernet."
The Raspberry is based on cell phone technology, taking up minimal space and using a minimal number of components. It is rumoured to be a boon for schools. "I am personally a little skeptical of whether technology can solve the problem of teachers lacking the skills to teach meaningful, deep, technical computer skills, but a really cheap computing platform is great news for Africa," Machanick tells Gadget.co.za, adding that, despite its tiny size, it's a fully-fledged computer, and can do any traditional computing task from word processing to software development. "You could even use one as small-scale file or web server." In South Africa, Raspberry Pi Model B was intended to be on sale for R259.20.
Read the full article on www.gadget.co.za.
