British chip designer Imagination has produced a barebones computer to compete with the Raspberry Pi. Called the MIPS Creator CI20, the board has a more powerful processor than the Pi, more memory and more onboard storage. The MIPS Creator CI20 is an affordable micro-computer that runs Linux and Android and enables open source developers, the maker community, system integrators and others to create a wide range of applications and projects, ranging from home automation and gaming to wireless multimedia streaming.

Originally introduced in August 2014 through a limited promotional giveaway, the Creator CI20 is available to pre-order at $65/ £50, with units available at the end of January 2015.

The development board includes a the following features and specifications:

• A 1.2 GHz dual-core, MIPS32-based Ingenic JZ4780 SoC, 32kB L1 I- and D-cache, 512kB L2 cache
• FPU: IEEE754 Floating Point Unit, XBurst MXU
• Multimedia: PowerVR SGX540 GPU, hardware-accelerated video playback up to 1080p at 60 fps
• Memory: 1 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 4 GB flash memory, 1 x SD card
• Audio: AC97 audio, via 4-pin input/output jack and HDMI connector
• Camera interface: ITU-R BT.645 controller
• Connectivity: 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
• Display: 1 x HDMI up to 2K resolution
• USB: 1 x USB host, 1 x USB OTG device
• I/O peripherals: 2 x UART, 25 x GPIO, 2 x SPI, I2C, ADC, expansion headers, 14-pin ETAG connector
  

MIPS Creator CI20 comes pre-installed with Debian 7. Other Linux distributions will be available, including Gentoo and Yocto, as well as a version of Debian 7 that complies with the principles of the Free Software Foundation. Users can also install the latest version of Android v4.4.

Creator CI20 also includes FlowCloud support for application development focused on the Internet of Things (IoT). FlowCloud is an IoT platform from Imagination that enables users to construct solutions for a wide range of applications, including security, personal and professional health monitoring, energy management, cloud-based systems for content delivery and much more.