I decided back in February to get on board with the phenomena known as Raspberry Pi, partly because I just love the idea of a credit card sized computer capable of running Linux, but partly because I feel it might become some sort of collectable later (assuming I don’t fry it first with my complete lack of hardware hacking skilz).

Assuming the little system-on-a-chip (SoC) device survives the initial process of finding the right power source, I plan to start with some basic software hacking of the OS. It’s a great way to really understand the Linux boot process at its nuts and bolts, and from there, you can also expand in to hardware drivers for external devices, since the Raspberry Pi is equipped with USB, Ethernet and HDMI.

It’s due to arrive at the end of the month, naturally the unpacking process (new PCB smell!) will be documented for fellow nerds to enjoy, and I aim to provide some success (though most likely failure) stories along the way.

If you’ve somehow managed to miss the Raspberry Pi hype, two ‘flavours’ are currently available (though in high demand, so don’t expect one any time soon). I’ve opted for the more common “Model B” version, which contains an extra USB port and Ethernet. If you’re interested, the full specs are below:

I’m not sure what projects I’ll begin with, but some basic guides will be coming online once I managed to boot the thing up. If you’re interested in computing and Linux - this is a must have device.

	Posted May 4, 2012
	Written by John Payne