The Raspberry Pi, a $35 computer went on sale last week and promptly sold out the 100,000 units the company put out for pre-order. The stripped-down Linux PC is designed to encourage children to learn programming skills and promote the study of computer science.

The Raspberry Pi is the brainchild of a non-profit organization, the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The UK registered charity was founded in 2009 and is supported by the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory and tech firm Broadcomm. Just as the PC and the smartphone have revolutionized the way people interact and use technology, Raspberry Pi co-creators Eben Upton and Peter Lomas hope the affordable device will make it possible for children and other developers to create their own hardware. Although many schools teach children to use computers the education doesn't provide a deeper understanding of computer science. The Pi should give students access to a computer that is easy to control and small enough to fit in a backpack.

"We wanted to provide children a platform to learn on, and we hope we can bootstrap another generation that, by the age of 10, are already programming computers," Upton said.

The foundation spent six years working on the Raspberry Pi and now that it's finally available the group is now working to get into schools and writing manuals on how to use it. But with sales of the device so strong that consumers crashed the website of the company will the foundation have enough computers to sell to children?

"We weren't surprised by the enthusiastic reaction," said Upton. "But we were surprised by the scale of the number of people who were trying to buy them. It was 10 times what we expected." He isn't concerned about the influx of consumers that is different from the consumer base the foundation is courting.

"To be honest, I think our first orders will mostly go to middle-aged guys, because these are the people who already know about computers and are in a position to make use of what is currently a very bare-bones platform."

The Pi is available internationally through outlets Premier Farnell and RS Components. There are two versions of the Raspberry Pi hardware for sale: a $25 Model A and a $35 Model B. Both models have 256MB of RAM, a 700Mhz processor and a VideoCore IV graphics card that is capable of processing Blu-ray video playback. It's capable of surfing the Internet and runs Linux and a Windows operating system. However, it's still a pretty cheap computer so it doesn't come with any kind of case and the buyer has to provide the rest of the peripherals like the monitor, keyboard and mouse.

But the real point of the Pi is that it's easy for users to play around with the code. It's a do-it-yourself computer which is probably why it appeals to many parents and children who want to do more with their computers.

"It's interesting to look at why there's so much excitement around Raspberry Pi," said Harriet Green, CEO of Premier Farnell. "I think that a lot of teachers, parents and children are worrying that they're becoming just consumers - taking something out of a box and plugging it in. There's a lot of points of concern about children being just consumers rather than creators and innovators."