As portable computing goes, the Raspberry Pi could hardly be bettered. Small enough to slip inside a pocket, it can go anywhere and everywhere with you. Yet to use the Pi as a standard Linux machine kind of misses the point – or, at the very least, the opportunities afforded by this small-form-factor, high-spec wonder.
Over the past year, this inexpensive machine, produced as an educational plaything, has taken centre stage for a whole host of projects. Some have satisfied a craving for fun; others for exploration and indulgence. More still have satisfied the current trend for performing real-world tasks at the lowest possible price. The Pi is the recession buster with the potential to empower a future generation (as one schoolboy emphatically showed).