New Archimedes computer released – by the Raspberry Pi Foundation!

Well, okay, they aren’t actually calling it an Archimedes, but…

Although the first Archimedes computers from Acorn took on a standard PC configuration of a main box housing the computer itself, with a separate keyboard (and mouse) that could be plugged in, there were also some machines that combined the keyboard and computer into a single case, such as the A3000 and A3010.

And now the Raspberry Pi Foundation is getting in on that act by releasing such a device – which they’ve named the Raspberry Pi 400.

The computer is essentially a fairly compact keyboard, with a purpose-built board based around the Raspberry Pi 4 housed underneath it – the new board design mainly being to bring all of the various sockets out on one side (the rear) of the machine.

With a Pi-based design at the heart of the machine, it’s a ‘touch smaller’ than computers like the A3000 – it’ll take up no more space on your desk than the keyboard itself – so arguably more like the slightly older and even less powerful Acorn Electron than the A3000 etc. in terms of its physical size, but really it’s what’s under the hood that counts.

The machine is available in two versions – the base unit (i.e. the keyboard with built in Pi) alone for just under £70 plus shipping, or as a complete kit with a mouse, power supply, SD card pre-loaded with the Raspberry Pi OS (but we RISC OS users can ignore that), and a micro-HDMI to HDMI cable, for a little under £100 plus shipping.

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