The Raspberry Pi educational computer has completed testing for the Conformité Européenne (CE) quality-control mark, paving the way for distribution in the UK.
The £22 Linux devices, intended to spur students’ interest in programming, arrived in the UK at the end of March, but distribution was held up due to the lack of CE certification.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation had not expected that such certification would be necessary, since it did not believe the uncased unit qualified as a “finished end product”, but distributors RS Components and element14/Premier Farnell didn’t agree.
The Foundation used the testing regime to also ensure the Raspberry Pi complies with US, Canadian and Australian regulations, according to Upton.
The device’s distributors still need to give their approval before the Raspberry Pi goes on sale, Upton said.
“There is still a mountain of paperwork for us to sign, and that then has to be looked over by RS Components and element14/Premier Farnell,” she wrote.
During the certification delay manufacturers stopped production of the device due to uncertainty over whether hardware changes would be needed, according to the Foundation.
The first batch of 2,000 Raspberry Pi boards arrived in the UK on 26 March, following initial plans for a release in January.
The boards’ shipment followed a manufacturing problem earlier in March, when the Chinese factory responsible for miniature computers decided to solder in non-magnetic Ethernet jacks instead of magnetic ones. The problem has now been fixed.
Raspberry Pi contains a 700MHz ARM11 processor, VideoCore IV GPU and 256MB of RAM. There is no hard disk on board; the computer uses an SD card instead, and USB connectivity can be used to provide another storage port. The available connections include an HDMA port, RCA video port, and a 3.5 mm audio jack. Pi can work with any of the Linux operating systems, such as Debian, GNU/Linux, Ubuntu or Fedora.
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This is stupid, its an uncased product, its meant for tinkeres to play with.
When it comes with a cover and the educational components are ready, THEN it will be a general use machine.
Saying that its not simply because of high interest is stupid.