open source

Raspberry Pi – A credit-card sized computer has sold out after it’s soft release at the end of February, and the demand for this new device just keeps on rising!

Raspberry-Pi-Juke-Box — Image Credit: blog.ziade.org

A British organisation is behind the new Raspberry Pi, and there are hopes that this tiny PC will make computing accessible to everybody. 10,000 units went on sale from the 29th of February 2012, and the demand reached a rate of 700 per second. Like the purchase prices for most computing devices, you won’t really need to squeeze your savings, because the device only costs $25, while there is another model (with few hardware add-ons) available for $35. It’s a no frills piece of technology, which offers a computing experience to people that simply cannot afford to spend on an average PC.

Reasons behind its development

Designed by the Raspberry Pi foundation, a registered charity established in 2009, education was the stimulus behind its development. The foundation is supported by the technology company Broadcomm, and the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory. The goal was to create a cheap device that would encourage and empower the next generation of computer programmers. The creation of Raspberry Pi has now opened the doors to a number of possibilities, specifically providing an hands-down solution for people from all over, who cannot afford today’s standard computer equipment.

What’s within (Tech Specs)

Raspberry Pi is simply a single-board computer. The developers have come up with two models of the device so far, simply called Model A, at $25, and Model B, at $35. The difference between the two is that Model B has the addition of a second UBS port and a network connectible Ethernet port, but apart from that both are identical. It measures 85.60mm x 53.98mm x 17mm, and weighs just 45g.

The Raspberry Pi is equipped with the ARM1176JZF-S 700MHz single-core processor, and a Videocore 4 GPU, which is capable of handling full High Definition Blu-ray quality video playback.

It has a total of 256MB of RAM, and an SD card reader which acts as the storage/ hard drive, for the device. There is a standard 3.5mm audio jack for plugging in headphones or speakers, and if you want to use a microphone, it can handle a USB powered microphone. There is an HDMI input port, so that it can be plugged into any HDMI compatible display device, along with an RCA video port so that it can be plugged into a standard television set too.

For Wi-Fi connectivity an external Wi-Fi adapter can be plugged into the USB port. The device is powered by 5v micro USB, and astonishingly, it is possible to run the Pi from 4 AA batteries!

What about software?

The developers of Raspberry Pi have been using a Linux operating system, and are using Fedora as their recommended distribution. Linux is free and open-source so that it can be developed and improved. While the Raspberry Pi used Fedora for now, it will soon support other Linux systems, like Debian and Arch Linux. The idea is go get people in the community to develop new software for the device, and if software can be compiled for the ARMv6 architecture it should, in theory, work on the Raspberry Pi.

Is there anything missing?

What the Raspberry Pi lacks is a keyboard, mouse, and display device, so they need to be bought separately. The Raspberry Pi foundation explains on its FAQs that,

We’re trying to build the cheapest possible computer that provides a certain basic level of functionality, and keeping the price low means we’ve had to make hard decisions about what hardware and interfaces to include.

A lot of time and though has gone into developing it, and seems that the Raspberry Pi is ticking all the right boxes so far.

In the strive to keep costs down, the bare-bones PC comes with an open board, so all the components can be seen. And at the moment, Raspberry Pi is being sold without any case (outer-shell) although they are currently being developed. And at the moment, Raspberry Pi is being sold without any case although cases are currently being developed. If you intend to get yourself one, then you can buy it from Farnell.com.

With the beginning of 2012, 3D printing technology has stepped a level above. Believe it or not, 3D Printing Technology has existed since a really long time. Charles Hull invented the first 3D printing method – Stereolithography, in the year 1986. And since then, many other 3D printing methods have plunged into the commercial market; each of them featuring different layer building patterns.

the replicator — The Replicator by Makerbot Industries.

For now, 3D printing has been more tilted towards building moulds/ prototypes for industrial applications and several other places. Even Dental labs are using 3D printing to help fabricate crowns and bridgework. These devices have been expensive enough to ‘not’ cater the domestic/ desktop category. But, there have been a handful of services to bridge this gap and allow anyone to send digital prints and get them moulded exactly into plastic, metal, ceramic or even food art. So for domestic usage, this is how far 3D printing goes for now.

The only limiting factor is our imagination

The statement may sound clichéd, but in 3D printing technology’s case, it’s just right. The application and scope of 3D printing technology is much wider than what most of us can perceive. When this technology scales to a much wider applicability, the results will drastically improve our living. Quite recently, Artificial blood vessels have been created with 3D Printers and it may soon have its place for transplants of lab created organs. Now think about that. 3D printing does not only pertain to materialistic objects, it can even work with human physiology.

So moving back to our discussion on 3D printing technology in domestic/ desktop category, this year in 2012, more companies are coming up with services and devices to target the desktop users and make the 3D printing devices more accessible and even affordable.

Cubify.com provides a Kinect-To-Print app where you can make designs with color book simplicity and get them delivered at your place.

Consider an Open Source initiative, RepRap.

It’s 3D printer and a variant of fused deposition modeling which can print most of it’s own components. Due to this self replicating nature, it can be made cheaply distributed and aid the users in printing their own creations. It’s also one of the first low-cost 3D printers.

This video talks about RepRap

The MakerBot Replicator

It is an affordable, DIY, open source 3D printer, compact enough to sit on a desktop. With this, you to print objects in color, upto the size of a bread loaf. It’s decently priced under $2,000, i.e less than र 1 lakh.

Bre Pettis, founder of Makerbot talks about The Replicator

As we can see, newer 3D printing methodologies and products are gradually hitting the mainstream market. Though there is a lot more to be seen and improved to make 3D printing a magnificent tool than it already is. It will strafe us forward to more practical applications and build almost everything with utmost precision, quality, ease and of course, at much cheaper costs of production.

Raspberry Pi – A Delicious $25 Computer