Seneca College builds Fedora Remix for Raspberry Pi.

Raspberry Pi sure has the potential to change the computing scene in developing nations, if it performs efficiently. The miniature PC went up for pre-order at the beginning of March and has been facing some delays in shipments, earlier due to a production glitch and the most recently due to CE compliance. This fully functional computer is selling for about Rs.2,350 through element 14, and the voluminous pre-order crashed its distributors websites. Seneca College has built a basic software package, which includes custom version of the Linux Fedora operating system and also basic tools, like a web browser and word processor.

“These low-cost computers will improve the access to technology worldwide, particularly for students,” said Seneca College President David Agnew. “It is rewarding to see Seneca students and faculty from across Toronto, Ontario using their expertise to build and adapt software for this breakthrough device.”

Raspberry Pi is an energy-efficient device and can run on 4AA batteries, can use a TV as a monitor and also store data on SD cards. The Raspberry Pi Fedora Remix 14 offers a complete software environment for the Raspberry Pi. This computer system has been designed to spur interest in computer science, software development, and electronic technology among the youth. Raspberry Pi can be used for other tasks, such as creating spreadsheets, word processing, games, and playing high-definition video.

“Ontario students and faculty have helped to make Raspberry Pi a reality,” said Eben Upton, Director of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. “As a free software-based platform, we're very dependent on Linux and the open source community at large to provide our users with a working environment complete with programming languages, productivity applications and educational software.”

This software release marks a milestone in Seneca College’s Centre for Development of Open Technology (CDOT) applied research for building open source software for emerging low-energy ARM systems. This software promises to power a new generation of computer systems, ranging from the Raspberry Pi to newer models of the One Laptop Per Child project and also high-density server systems.