Raspberry Launches the $5 Raspberry Pi Zero
In a video showing off the tiny computer, Raspberry Pi boss Eben Upton spoke about how the high cost of machines, such as the Commodore Amiga, had been "a real barrier" to him learning about computers when he was a kid.
He said that the new product, dubbed the Raspberry Pi Zero, came about to make sure that cost doesn't get in the way of anyone interested in coding.
A few tens of thousand of the computers have been produced in Wales by the org, said Upton.
The device comes loaded with a Broadcom BCM2835 chip processor, including a 1GHz ARM11 core, that has been "up-clocked" making it 40 per cent faster than the Raspberry Pi 1.
It has 512MB RAM, an HDMI connector, SD card, two Micro USB ports and the same GPIO pin-out as Raspberry Pi 2, which was launched in February this year.
With a form factor measuring at just 65mm x 30mm x 5mm it is extremely compact and will no doubt form the basis of many IoT projects.
The computer runs applications such as Scratch and Minecraft and is available in the US and the UK from today.
"We really don't think we're going to get any cheaper than this at $5 per module” said Upton.