A Maltese company has been appointed as one of two global distributors for a new computer developed with the aim of helping children to start software development for computers.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation, the promoter of the initiative, has appointed RS Components UK to distribute the computer worldwide. RS Components Malta is the local authorised representative of the British company.

The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer board with 256MB of RAM that plugs into a TV and a keyboard. It’s a miniature ARM-based PC which can be used for many of the things that a desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays high-definition video and has Ethernet, USB, HDMI and SD card slots.

The initial price is £22 (€26) however reports say a version costing just £16 (€19) will go on sale later in the year.

Reports from the UK say there is considerable interest from educators as the Raspberry Pi is seen as tool to promote computer programming, which is lacking in the British curriculum.

Customers will be able to order the Raspberry Pi online from the website www.rsmalta.com. Stock is allotted on a first-come-first-served basis.

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