The Raspberry Pi is a computing device that was created by a grassroots organization in Europe.

The purpose behind the organization was to develop a platform for educating students on the Linux operating system and programming a variety of languages. The device was marketed as a potential key tool for Computer Science classrooms everywhere. Since then, however, the Pi has started to be seen under a different light. Commercial Applications for the cheap device are endless and many school campuses have considered using the device for new Computer Labs (One school in Europe already has.) This is a summary of the device: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ARM 11 Computing System Roughly the size of a credit card 800Mhz Processor 1 Ethernet Port 2 USB ports 1 SD port (This is what the Pi uses as a substitute harddrive) 35$ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I believe that the R-Pi could very well be a potential candidate for replacing the current basic skills lab. 20 R-PI's could be networked to a terminal server and run in a thin client environment. Running these computers in a thin client environment poses a number of advantages:

1) Booting VIA thin client provides students with a secure way to store documents and assignments. This is because we are able to create an individual log-on for every student on the terminal server and keep the students files isolated from others. 2) Backups would be much more efficient, since all data is stored on the Terminal server we would only need to back up this central device. 3) Cheap. Each thin client device is extremely cheap and offers the most affordable solution possible. 4) Down Time. Due to the nature of a thin client environment if a R-PI devices is damaged the student can simply use a different device and use his log-on from there. 5) The price of these devices makes them borderline "throw-away" if a device is severely damaged it would actually be more cost effective to purchase a new device and install it.

Currently It appears as though the Raspberry Pi is in limited supply and extremely high demand. Devices are currently limited to one per person. This may be different for school district however, and I have emailed the educational director at their site for information pertaining to this.

It would seem as though setting up the Raspberry Pi for an LTSP/Thin Client Environment is a rather experimental area. Due to the limited supply of the devices there are not many people who actually have their hands on them. The Raspberry Pi currently uses the ARMv6 Instruction set; most modern Linux Disto's such as "Edubuntu" use ARMv7 and are not compatible with the Raspberry Pi device. We would have to set up a terminal server using Debian and software such as VMWare Viewer.

If the Pi is capable of properly running in a thin client environment I feel that they would be an innovative tool in introducing CM&E students to Linux operating systems. The Raspberry Pi requires manual tweaking and editing of values using a command line interface and thus would be a superb educational tool. The current pricing of the device is 35$ per client.

Below is list of links relating to this application of the R-PI:

This is the Raspberry Pi's central website. http://www.raspberrypi.org This is the vendors link to the product. http://downloads.element14.com/raspberryPi1.html?isRedirect=true This is a site dedicated to thin client programming for the Pi. http://rpitc.blogspot.com/