Raspberry Pi retailers toppled by demand as $35 Linux computer launches

The Raspberry Pi foundation is frustrated, too.

Ryan Paul – Feb 29, 2012 6:40 AM | 121

The Raspberry Pi foundation apologized for the launch problems on Twitter

The Raspberry Pi foundation attempted to launch its $35 Linux computer on Tuesday evening, but the organization's retail partners couldn't cope with the massive demand. Two British electronic component distributors that intended to sell the product were unable to do so--their websites went down, succumbing to the stampede of eager enthusiasts who sought to purchase the hotly-anticipated system.

The product is a bare board with a 700MHz ARM11 CPU and 256MB of RAM. It's roughly the size of a deck of playing cards and has a powerful GPU that is reportedly competitive with that of modern smartphones. Developer prototypes of the product have been shown running impressive graphics demos and decoding high-definition video.

The Raspberry Pi foundation originally began developing the computer with the aim of producing a low-cost system that could be used to teach computer programming to young students. The project has attracted a much larger audience, however, and has gained a tremendous following among Linux users and embedded systems enthusiasts who want to use it for purposes ranging from wearable computing experiments to multimedia set-top box.

Ars Video

The product entered the manufacturing stage last month and was expected to finally launch this week, after a few minor delays. In a launch announcement that appeared on the Raspberry Pi website on Tuesday night, the organization explained that it had partnered with licensed manufacturers who would handle distribution for the first batch of units and then handle both manufacturing and distribution on behalf of the Raspberry Pi foundation going forward. The two companies are Premier Farnell and RS Components.

The foundation has been working with manufacturers in China, but can only handle production in increments of 10,000 units. By transitioning to a licensed manufacturer model, the foundation hopes to ensure that there will eventually be enough units available to meet demand. Although it's likely the right move in the long run, the partnership is off to a rocky start. The websites of both vendors were inaccessible after the launch due to excessive traffic.

At the time of publication, the Farnell website is still spitting errors. The RS site has been partially restored and is intermittently available, but isn't currently allowing users to purchase the Raspberry Pi. Instead, it displays a screen where users can register to express their interest in the product. The Raspberry Pi foundation managed to withstand the traffic by temporarily replacing the contents of its official website with a static page

Alongside the launch, the Raspberry Pi foundation also announced that the cheaper $25 model, which will be launched at an undisclosed future date, got a spec bump and will have 256MB of RAM, just like the $35 model. The $25 board was originally expected to have only 128MB of RAM. The cheaper model will still lack several of the features found in the $35 model, such as the built-in ethernet controller.

Update: The Farnell website has been partially restored. Some readers are reporting that they have been able to successfully place orders. I still haven't managed to get through the whole process without encountering errors yet.