Your Next Computer Could Cost Just $35

If the folks at Raspberry Pi have their way, the future of educational and personal computing could soon look a lot different. Their version of the next great educational computer (seen in the picture here) is a miracle of modern technology that combines all of the basics of the modern computer on a silicone board the size of a credit card.

Before talking about why this could be the future of educational computing, let’s talk about what you get.

There are two models of the RasPi (as fans have come to call the Raspberry Pi device); the A model and the B model. The things that both have in common is the core processor which is a 700MHz Arm processor, HDMI out, one USB 2.0, one SD card slot, one analog audio out, and one analog video out. Both models will require the use of the SD card slot to boot into one of three varieties of officially supported linux: Debian, Fedora, and ARCHLinux.

Where the models differ is in the amout of RAM and the presence/absense of a network connection. The A model does not have a network connection and has 128MB of RAM. The B model comes with an ethernet connection and has 256MB of RAM.

So, after seeing the setup of the small device you might be wondering what makes this so important. Well, simply put, it’s the price. For the A model the price will be $25, and for the B model the price will be $35. Which, once the value of the components and the flexibility of the device is considere, is quite a bargain. Especially considering the orginial target for this device is as use as an educational device. Picture a school that needs one hundred new computers to begin teaching programming to their students. The school could try to find a several thousand dollars to by a cheap PC, or they could spend a $3500 dollars on 100 RasPi devices. This is where the real importance of this device comes through.

Another great feature of the RasPi is not just the device, but the community that comes with it. There are alreay hundreds of people actively participating in the forums on the RasPi web site. Everything from what programming language is the best to learn to how to create a home theater device using the RasPi is being discussed. This for a device that people haven’t had a chance to use yet. Once these devices are in the hands of the smart and creative people that await them there is no telling how the community will take off.

So, if your interested in what could be the new future of educational and personal computing, head over to RaspberryPi.com and check it out. The device is not available for purchase yet, but if you sign up for their newsletter you will be alerted as to when it is available. At last word, that appears to be at the very beginnig of 2012.

For a Productivity Boost, Try gOS

The (relatively) new gOS has been written and talked about for it’s simplicity, ease of use, and low system requirements, but it’s ability to improve productivity has been completely overlooked.

I downloaded the gOS a couple of weeks ago to run on an older machine in my home, and to see what the fuss was about. After running it both in the live CD form and natively as a dual boot with Windows Vista, I was amazed at the speed of this OS. However, after playing around with it for a while, I realized that there was a hidden benefit to the stripped down, high speed, easy to use gOS: improved productivity.

The mere fact that gOS lacks the usual games, desktop sidebar, and other annoyances of Windows is the first asset to it’s use as a productivity booster. Being able to sit down to a clean screen without the usual distractions puts you one step ahead.

Also, the fact that there is what amounts to a shortcut on the desktop to Google, gMail, Blogger, Facebook, and Wikipedia makes it easy to jump on, get where you need to go and eliminate the use of other bookmarks. This allows for reduced time on the net, which can lead to distraction.

When I want to sit down and do some research, write a blog post, catch up on email, or anything else and not be distracted, I simply boot into gOS, get my work done, and boot back to Windows. It’s that easy.

So, if you want a simple way to boost your productivity by eliminating distractions and having just what you need, give gOS a try. Then, pop back here and let me know what you think.