( CNN ) -- The debut of the tiny $ 35 Raspberry Pi computer crashed its distributors ' websites on the way to selling out within hours of launch . Looking like little more than a credit card-sized chip of circuit board , the powerful , fully-programmable PC can plug into any TV and can power 3D graphics and Blu-ray video playback . Its British-based designers at the Raspberry Pi Foundation hope the computer , which has been in the works for six years , will spark new interest in programming among children . `` The primary goal was to build a low cost computer that every child could own , and one where programming was the natural thing to do with it , '' said co-founder Robert Mullins . The computer 's miniature uncased circuit board is crowded with an Ethernet connection for the internet , two USB ports and an SD card port for memory and is powered by a standard USB mobile charger . The low-cost computer runs a free , open-source Linux operating system and does not include a monitor or keyboard . The first version of the Raspberry Pi will ship soon to developers , and the hope is that they will design software that will enable children to design their own computer programs . The project came about when a group of Cambridge-based computer programmers noticed that fewer and less-qualified students were applying for computer science courses at Cambridge University . Inspired by computers like the BBC Micro and the Commodore 64 in the 1980s , the group of engineers set out to build a new programmable machine for a new generation . `` Each year we had fewer and fewer students applying , and most of them had n't really done much more than write a web page , '' Raspberry Pi co-founder Eben Upton told CNN . `` So we kind of set out to recreate that feeling of the BBC Micro in the hopes it would spark a new wave of kids knowing how to program . '' Upton told CNN that an even cheaper version of the computer , which will retail for just $ 25 , is going into production within the next several weeks . In the long term , he hopes the computer will generate an additional 1,000 engineers in the UK each year -- an `` industry-changing development '' , according to Upton . `` Anyone who expresses a desire to get into designing software should have a platform to do it , '' he said .
$ 35 credit card-sized Raspberry Pi computer sells out within hours of launch . Comment: Even cheaper version of Raspberry Pi in production soon , will retail at $ 25 .