The Raspberry PI is a single board computer not much bigger than a credit card. It has been developed by The Raspberry PI Foundation, a UK based charity (Reg. No. 1129409). It can be connected to a keyboard, mouse and display turning it into a powerful yet small PC. It is capable of running a huge range of existing applications including word processors, spreadsheets, games and web browsers.
It’s processor can handle HD video decoding allowing it to play full screen HD video.
The intention of the Raspberry PI Foundation is that the RPi will allow a new generation of young people to discover the world of computer programming without any of the associated cost of buying a traditional PC. The beauty of the device is that it is cheap enough to get into the hands of pupils and the user community will be on hand to offer help, advice, tutorials and plenty of fresh ideas to spark their interest.
Many kids can use technology but the percentage who can program or create with that technology is shrinking every year. The Foundation hopes to reverse that trend by making it easy to experiment with a cheap, versatile and common platform.