Raspberry Pi's Lowest-Cost Version Yet--the "Model A"-- Hits U.S. Shelves

Reports have emerged, and confirmed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation, that the lowest-priced model of the Raspberry Pi yet--the Model A-- has finally appeared for sale on store shelves in the U.S. Found so far only at Allied Electronics, the microcomputer system offers up a variety of options along with a staggeringly low price tag. Based on reports from Allied Electronics, meanwhile, the new Model A availability has proven quite popular.

The release of the Model A Raspberry Pi at Allied Electronics appears to be so popular that while reports only just yesterday suggested that 70 units were available, Allied Electronics currently seems to be sold out. Allied had a message up saying that due to limited supply, there will be neither preorders nor backorders made available, and that further units of the Raspberry Pi will be made available only when there's inventory on hand.

Sales of the Raspberry Pi Model A started out in Europe back in February, and Asian markets got their collective hands on the devices last week. Sales, according to Raspberry Pi founder Eben Upton, have been holding at somewhere around "a few thousand a week," describing the sales of the first 20,000 devices as going "quite quickly." Yet those eager to get their hands on a Model A likely won't have too long to wait, as further reports from Upton indicate that "a few thousand a week" are being built.

Given that the Raspberry Pi Model A only costs $25 and is sufficiently powerful to run an entire home media system by itself, it's not surprising to see plenty of interest in the little devices. The Model A carries a 700 Mhz processor backed up by 256 megabytes of {C}RAM, a USB 2.0 port, a Linux operating system, an HDMI port, an SD card port, a 3.5 mm audio output jack and an HD video camera connector. The Model A was geared toward low-power projects, especially those that run on solar power.

The Model B, meanwhile, took less than a year to go from launch to over one million sold, clearing the milestone back in January. Originally launched as a means to get kids interested in coding on the cheap, the Raspberry Pi quickly became a hit with the maker community as the basis for a wide variety of projects. Stepping up to a Model B, meanwhile, gets 512 megabytes of RAM, a second USB 2.0 port, and an Ethernet port.

It's not hard to see why the Raspberry Pi line is proving popular. A device that in general exemplifies the terms "small" and "low-cost", it has the kind of versatility that can make it easily slide into a variety of projects. The idea of being able to run a media center with it, making a streaming box, for example, that's as small as a set-top box yet doesn't suffer from the limitations often associated with set-top boxes (for instance, some television available on {C}Hulu can't be seen on a Roku box version of Hulu) should prove at least somewhat of a thrill for home theater buffs.

Still, with more units already in production, and a market likely waiting, Raspberry Pi sales--no matter the version--should be very encouraging for the foreseeable future.