25 Raspberry Pis power computer lab in underdeveloped African village

By Mariella Moon Published April 5, 2013

cameroon-pi — Image used with permission by copyright holder

It makes sense to use a computer that costs as little as $25 to further the education of children in underdeveloped regions, so when the Raspberry Pi Foundation posted a story about bringing the Pi to Africa, we weren’t surprised. According to Geert Maertens, the representative of a volunteer group funding a secondary school in Cameroon, 25 Raspberry Pi units now serve as the heart of the school’s new computer lab.

The town where the school (St. Marcellin Comprehensive College) is being built (construction isn’t quite done yet) is very small and is located in a “relatively poor region of the country, with no reliable water and electricity supply,” Maertens writes. In order to build a computer lab for the new educational institution, the volunteer group packed 30 Pis in suitcases along with HDMI to VGA converters and traveled with them all to the Central African country. Five of the tiny computers aren’t in active use and probably serve as backup. While the hard drives, switches, and router were imported from Europe, the volunteer organization got the screens, keyboards, and mice to complete the setups within Cameroon. The result is a no-frills, fully functional computer lab where students can learn about the basics of how to work with an office suite via the freeware, LibreOffice.

Recommended Videos

Since the school is located in an area with no reliable electricity, all the computers are powered by a generator. There’s no working Internet connection in the town either, so while the computers are connected to a network and the network is connected to a router, it’s going to be a while before the students can browse the Web on their Pi-powered setups. For now, the volunteer group’s goal is for the students to start learning programming via their new computers.

Check out a video of the school with its Raspberry Pi computer lab below.

(Image credit: Raspberry Pi Foundation)

Former Contributor

Mariella loves working on both helpful and awe-inspiring science and technology stories. When she's not at her desk writing…

Computing

AI is entering the Skynet debate moment in the social media hype circles

AI might end the world - but first, it’ll trend on social media

Representative Image

A growing wave of online voices warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence—often dubbed “AI doom influencers” - is reshaping how the public and policymakers view the technology. According to a report by The Washington Post, these influencers, including researchers, tech leaders, and content creators, are increasingly highlighting worst-case scenarios, from mass job loss to existential risks posed by advanced AI systems.

While critics argue that some of this messaging borders on alarmism, the conversation is no longer confined to speculation. Real-world developments in AI are beginning to mirror some of the concerns being raised, blurring the line between hype and legitimate risk.

Computing

You won’t believe it, but Motorola actually makes a terrific head-turner of a laptop

Motorola’s Moto Book 60 Pro is surprisingly stylish, and the pricing makes it even better

Moto Book 60 Pro in PANTONE Bronze Green

Motorola is not the name I expect to see on a genuinely good laptop. A stylish phone? Sure. A foldable with some personality? Absolutely. But a thin-and-light notebook that actually feels well judged on both design and value was a genuine surprise. And yet, the Moto Book 60 Pro is one of the more quietly impressive laptops in its segment.

With the broader laptop market being in a mess, Motorola's laptops feel refreshing. It is capable, attractive, and still approachable at a time when pricing elsewhere has become increasingly rough.

Computing

Zoom will now check if you are a human or an AI imposter during video meetings

Biometric badges, iris scans, and AI bouncers: welcome to the future of your Monday morning standup.

Zoom face scan technology.

Zoom video calls just got a new kind of awkward small feature. The platform will now ask you whether you’re human. It has partnered with World, Sam Altman’s iris-scanning identity company (previously known as Worldcoin), to add real-time human verification inside meetings.

The feature, launched on April 17, 2026, is a part of World’s ID 4.0 rollout. It lets hosts confirm that every face on the call belongs to a real person, not an AI-generated imposter.