Raspberry Pi said the tiny model is meant to help people learn to build and program computers in an affordable way. It managed to sell out completely within a day of being released.
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Raspberry Pi already warned consumers that demand may outstrip supply for a while, so you may have to be patient if you’re hankering for one of those sweet, sweet Pi Zeros.
Liz Upton, the head of communications at Raspberry Pi said that they were amazed at the rush for the product the moment it was released. Ten thousand Raspberry Pis are also being given away with the December issue of The MagPi magazine in the United Kingdom.
The latest issue of MagPi magazine, which comes with the micro-PC attached, has also been selling out across the country.
The Pi Zero sells for £4 in the United Kingdom and $5 in the States (that’s roughly AU$7).
Owners of the Raspberry Pi Zero can now customize the board’s layout, incorporate additional functionality, redesign the interfaces and alter the memory configuration however they want.
Upton says all the profits “go straight back into free learning resources, training teachers, running Code Clubs and getting kids involved with computing”.
The Pi Zero is a small mustard packet and is so light that even Lego figures can hold it up.
While the Pi Zero is tiny and cheap, it does require some extra parts to be of use, like a power source, display and input, such as a keyboard. But collectively, it can put up a performance that’s better than the former model, thanks to the Broadcom BCM2835 processor which comes clocked at 1GHz.
“Since 2012, millions of people have used a Raspberry Pi to get their first experience of programming, but we still meet people for whom cost remains a barrier to entry”, Eben Upton, the creator of Raspberry Pi.
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The mini-computer runs a version of Linux called Raspbian, as well as applications that teach coding skills – such as Minecraft, Scratch and Sonic Pi.
