[HH] Raspberry Pi

[Tom Metro]

Raspberry Pi update...

A few weeks back they posted pricing and delivery charges to various
countries. The price, with delivery, is $40 for the US (via Newark).

Programming the Raspberry Pi webinar with Eben, April 4
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/840

  Eben's hosting this...webinar with Element 14 on April 4 at...10am
  EST. The subject matter will suit beginners, and should be pretty
  interesting for those of you who are hardened hackers too. He'll be
  showing you how to:
    * download and install the Operating System on the SD card
    * run the boot up script
    * use the script editor and begin to create applications using the
  presupplied Python scripts
  ...you'll need to sign up for the event at Element 14´s website. ...a
  video of the webinar will be made available for those of you who can't
  attend...


There is also a another product delay, this time due to CE compliance.
They thought, like the BeagleBoard, they could sell the uncased board to
developers and defer compliance testing until later in the year when
they release a version in a case.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/878

  ...we have spoken with BIS this morning, and they have confirmed that,
  given the volumes involved and the demographic mix of likely users,
  any development board exemption is not applicable to us; as a result,
  even the first uncased developer units of Raspberry Pi will require a
  CE mark prior to sale in the EU.
  ...
  The good news is that our first 2,000 boards arrived in the UK on
  Monday and that we are working to get them CE marked as soon as is
  humanly possible, in parallel with bringing the remainder of our
  initial batch into the country.
  ...
  On the basis of preliminary measurements, we expect emissions from the
  uncased product to meet category A requirements comfortably without
  modification, and possibly to meet the more stringent category B
  requirements which we had originally expected would require a
  metalised case.

The posting also shows pictures of stacks of Pi boards and some shots of
the QA testing performed in China.

Ars covered the compliance testing delay in an article:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2012/03/first-batch-of-35-linux-computer-arrives-in-uk-awaiting-ce-compliance-testing.ars

Some more photos of the board and screen shots of it running an Atari
emulator:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andysretrocomputers/sets/72157629550077581/with/6827874250/

And some shots of a "pallet of Pis" fresh from the manufacturer, and the
relatively small boxes that hold 50 boards:
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/945


I guess the bottom line for now is that they are still working through
compliance testing, and first shipments still sound to be weeks off.

Even if I could have, I don't think I would have bothered pre-ordering.
At the time, too much was unknown about how US distribution would work.
Now it seems like it'll be months still before they are stocked locally.
If they run into similar compliance issues here and need to go for FCC
testing, it will delay even further, or they may decide it isn't worth
the cost.

 -Tom