The Linux based Raspberry Pi PC, designed to encourage to school kids to get into programming, is being offered on eBay.

The surprising bit is that the PC, available for around £20, has hit the £2000 mark on the auction website. The model available on eBay is one of the few pre-production devices the company made.

The Raspberry Pi, developed in May of last year, is a small USB computer, designed to get kids to start programming at a young age. 

The Raspberry Pi Foundation, which has made 10 circuit boards available for the auction, was surprised with the level of interest people have shown in the device. The organisation, which was expecting the price to be around a couple of hundred pounds, plans to use the proceeds of the auction for further development.

"I think it is great, the amount of interest is very impressive. We were expecting in the region of a hundred pounds, and every donation helps to get the Raspberry Pi off the ground, as so far it has all been paid for out of our own pockets," the organisation told Tech Eye.

"The popularity probably comes down to the fact that it fills a niche in the way that it can be played with unlike a normal PC," it said.