Applications

The sky is the limit with Raspberry Pi. Pi in the Sky is the highest live transmission from an amateur device in the world. A Raspberry Pi with a webcam and GPS attached to a hydrogen balloon got nearly 40km up before bursting, all of which was recorded on a high-resolution camera. Because sales for the mini PC only started in February 2012 the possibilities have yet to be fully explored.  Raspberry Pi has a huge potential in education and business. The low cost is particularly appealing. Schools and firms are expected to purchase large quantities as they are much more affordable than giving each student and employee their own laptops. Apart from the cost, the Raspberry Pi Foundation encourages their users to create their own programming. This makes it even more desirable for computer programming classes to use. With cost only being a mere $25-$35 US people feel more at ease manipulating and playing with it compared to regular desktop computers.

Prior to take off of the Raspberry Pi in the Sky

With connection to the Internet and HDMI input, Raspberry Pi is easily being used as a media streamer. People are able to connect it to a television and watch movies. Similarly, it can also be used to set up an Internet radio. And by connecting Raspberry Pi to an array of motors and sensors it can be used for controlling robots. Raspberry Pi can also be used for home automation. Remotes that control things like air conditioning and lighting are being created out of the small computers. Raspberry Pi is being considered for use in space.  Universities are studying whether multiple Raspberry Pi can serve as an onboard computer system for mini satellites.  The advantage is because of the low cost and over-the-counter availability of Raspberry Pi in contrast to the expensive, custom hardware used in most spacecraft and satellite systems.