The $35 (£22) Raspberry Pi ARM-based Linux computer has had a roller-coaster ride since it was released. The single-board computer completely sold out in a matter of minutes on February 29th when it hit Premier Farnell and RS Components, two mail-order electronics distributors, and brought both their websites to their knees.

However the Raspberry Pi never actually shipped to expecting DYIers. First, manufacturing had hit a snag, with the Chinese factory producing the boards having soldered-in the wrong type of ethernet jack. Then the two retailers refused to fulfill any orders until the Pi completed CE certification. CE compliance is required for electronics shipping in the European Union, which the Raspberry Pi Foundation was initially hoping to bypass it, since their device could be considered an unfinished product.
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The Raspberry Pi foundation began selling its ARM-based $35 Linux computer at 6am GMT today through two UK mail order electronic distributors, but initial demand was so high that brought the websites to their knees while the system quickly sold out.

The Raspberry Pi computer is the size of a deck of cards and is made up of a 700MHz ARM11 CPU with 256MB of RAM, SD card storage, a USB port and HDMI, audio and RCA video outputs. The system boots Fedora Linux from the SD card and connects to a TV and a keyboard for a pretty standard computing experience.
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