Postscript
The making of Pi
The idea behind a tiny and affordable computer for kids came in 2006,
when Eben Upton, Rob Mullins, Jack Lang and Alan Mycroft, based
at the University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory, became
concerned about the year-on-year decline in the numbers and skills
levels of the A-Level students applying to read Computer Science.
From a situation in the 1990s where
most of the kids applying were coming
to interview as experienced hobbyist
programmers, the landscape in the 2000s
was very different; a typical applicant
might only have done a little web design.
The project started to look very realizable.
Eben (now a chip architect at Broadcom),
Rob, Jack and Alan, teamed up with
Pete Lomas, MD of hardware design
and manufacture company Norcott
Technologies, and David Braben, co-author
of the seminal BBC Micro game Elite,
to form the Raspberry Pi Foundation to
make it a reality. Three years later, the
Raspberry Pi Model B entered mass
production through licensed manufacture
deals with element14, and within two
years it had sold over three million units.
More information
For more information about your Pi, the
following links are the best places to start
■
www.element14/raspberrypi
■
www.raspberrypi.org
■
www.mcmelectronics.com
■
www.cpc.farnell.com/raspberrypi
■
www.element14.com/raspberrypiprojects
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