What is 'Raspberry Pi Zero'? 5 things you need to know about this $5 computer that sold out in 24 hours

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A U.K.-based charity foundation, the Raspberry Pi, has been offering a computer and you can avail of it for peanuts. No, some designer-brand peanuts could cost even more; the company's asking price is just a mere five bucks. And, naturally, all the stocks flew off the shelf by the end of its first day of release.

But, it is not really an actual computer that you, probably, have in mind. Well, technically it is a computer, in the true sense of the word, but it is that type of a computer that comes in the size of a credit card. Now, this is getting interesting, right? So, here are five tidbits of information to get you acquainted with the these tiny and uber-cheap computers

1. The Raspberry Pi Zero is a "credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. It is a capable little computer which can be used in electronics projects, and for many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing, browsing the internet and games," wrote Raspberry Pi organization on their website.

2. It measure 65mm by 30mm by 5mm and, basically, looks like a motherboard found in the inside of most computers as opposed to an actual-sized PC. It runs on 512 MB of RAM and a 1GHz ARM11 processor core, making it 40 per cent faster than the previous Raspberry Pi 1 model, but still slower than the average desktop or laptop, according to The Star.

3. The original and primary intention of the developers is to create a platform in order to promote the basics of computer programming and, at the same time, make it as cheap as possible so that it can be afforded by students and those from developing countries.

Today, the Raspberry Pi computers can serve as a hub to power devices inside homes and businesses. There are those who are also making use of the earlier versions to build computer systems that can unlock doors, host webcam streams, and light restaurant signage, among other things, said Chris Tyler, a Seneca College professor and Open Source software developer.

4. The Raspberry computer has a Raspbian OS and also includes a micro-SD card slot, mini-HDMI socket, and micro-USB sockets to plug in a screen, mouse, keyboard and external storage devices, or connect a WiFi device.

 5. The Raspberry Pi Zero was able to keep its cheap price tag thanks largely to former Google CEO and now Alphabet Inc. Chairman Eric Schmidt, 9to5Google wrote. When Eben Upton, CEO of Raspberry Pi Trading, came across Schmidt sometime in 2013, the latter inquired on the future plans of Raspberry Pi at that time.

When Upton told him that they plan on creating a more expensive version of their computers with more power, Schmidt advised him to stick with creating more powerful computers at a cheap price or a cheaper one with the same power because of the fact that it's hard to compete with cheap. And, the company did just that.