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The story of the Raspberry Pi

There are 2 words to describe what a genius can do: Eben Upton. He managed to take all the technologies from the last 25 years and bring them onto a small single electronic board, known as the Raspberry Pi. In such a simple way, he was able to encourage and motivate young inventors to be able to make their ideas and inventions possible. Just watch the video below where Eben Upton gives an interview telling the history of the Pi.

This new “Pi” generation has changed the way we look at technology. It has revolutionized different industries by bringing a small computer into any device. The Raspberry Pi is extremely diverse in its ability. It can function inside a medical device; be turned into a retro game console; run file servers; be a media center; network add-blocker; and more. The possibilities are only limited by the entrepreneur’s thoughts.

Where once researchers had to rely on numerous computers, the Raspberry Pi is now a CPU that can be held in your hand and process the data and information needed in real-time. In my early days at university, we ran a research study on bike performances. At the time we had to use multiple computers to collect the data points and process them. The project took months in the making. Had we had the Raspberry Pi, we could have eliminated much of what we did and concentrated more on our subjects–the project would have been completed in half the time.

For a small business like Toolless, whose main market is an electronic niche market, the Raspberry Pi has changed the shape of the company, making smaller boxes in bigger quantities. We estimate that almost 60% of our customers order an enclosure for a Raspberry Pi. Most of the off-the-shelf standard Raspberry Pi cases can only contain the Pi board itself and cannot include any other sub-board. This limitation can often leave entrepreneurs frustrated. However, this is what our strength at Toolless is all about. We have the ability to custom make an enclosure to accommodate any additional component to make an invention come to life. By changing the shape, size, the number of ports (to block off some or add others), making room for a sub-assembly board or fan, we can create exactly what the customer is looking for.

Our expertise has grown in step with each version of the Raspberry Pi that comes out. Our Sales Team and Engineers are able to work with customers and we can design a project at lightning speed, in less than 5 days, fitting well into this new exciting market of inventors.