Darryl Adams

The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. It’s a capable little PC which can be used for many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays high-definition video. We want to see it being used by kids all over the world to learn programming.

As a result, they have created a $35 computer, based on a SOC (system on a chip) Broadcom BCM2835. However, in order to keep the price point low, they left off some features that people generally need in a computer. 

Like a case. A disk with a Operating System on it. Keyboard and mouse. Wifi. Screen.......

As you can see, it is a populated circuit board. Quite intimidating. 

For $A80.00, I can create a very nice media player, based on RASPBMC media platform. I did not create the distro, and one of the things you will be doing in this funding round is donating $5 to the RASPBMC project (also included in all pledges over $A80).

The cost of the kit is as follows:

A Raspberry PI (Model B) ($35)

A Case (Clear, Black or White) ($10)

A SD Card with RASPBMC installed ($10)

A HDMI Cable ($2)

Donation to RaspBMC ($5)

GST 10%

The price is GST Inclusive. Overseas purchases are not required to pay GST, 

Postage will be determined closer to the final date of this round of crowd funding. Factor in about $10 for Australian buyers and I will ship overseas via Australia Post (Calculated separately)

The pledges may be improved, for example if a suitable USB hub can be sourced, I will add it to the built systems.

Why Crowd Funding? Partly because I can set the shipping at the end of the 30 days I have set up, and to be truthful, it is easier to sell in advance via Pozible than to say open up an eBay shop. I can plan the purchases, see if I can negotiate purchases with full knowledge of what sales I have, and to help fund a couple of cool projects (both the Raspberry Pi Foundation and RaspBMC project will benefit from this, I will make about $10 per unit, which may shrink if I can squeeze more into the $80 price point I have set).

What I am doing, is providing a value add service in assembling and configuring the Raspberry Pi devices for people who do not have the time or inclination to do this themselves. 

If successful, I will be looking at how to make the Raspberry Pi even better as a media player, as well as other purposes like a Wordpress server and social media server (based on Gina Trapani's Thinkup). I will also look at either using the Aidafruit VESA mount case or a tailor made case with inbuilt USB hub or attached FLASH memory. Supplying a micro USB power cable is also being looked at, as the cost of an Australian Standards power plug is quite high compared to US versions. 

The added price points will include Wifi dongles, Powered USB hubs and the Logitech K400 Wireless Keyboard/touchpad (which works very well on the test unit I created). 

Future versions may include TV units (depending on interest and negotiation with suppliers) including options to allow 12v car power screens being supplied.