I am typing this using my new Raspberry Pi using Midori browser
it is about 2" X 3" and has stereo and and HDMI outputs and 4 USB ports
(http://www.element14.com/community/themes/images/raspberrypi/RPIBPlus.gif)
$39.95 plus some cables, USB keyboard, and an old TV
it works great !
it did take about an hour to set it up (I could do it in about half that time now that I have done it once)
most of that time is sitting waiting for the Linux operating system to boot up the first time
now it boots up in less than a minute
I plugged in a USB WiFi and was into our internet hot spot
A fun new toy
http://www.element14.com/community/community/raspberry-pi
nice.
I also have been playing with pi. I discovered retroPie, which is a distribution to be ran on a raspberry pi and has a ton of legacy gaming emulators. nintendo, super nintendo, atari, nintendo 64, etc.. by going to google and getting roms, I have a cool little box that has about 9000 video games. nice toy for under 50 bucks.
I had vague notions last year about using one of these as a pump controller / timer.
It does seem well suited to games ..... but it is a not-bad little computer on its own with good video and audio
hpinson
I think the Arduinos would make a better pump controller, a Uno or even an Adafruit trinket would do it -- you can probably even find some code for it on-line at github or Ardiuno at
http://arduino.cc/
eta
I did have one problem after I installed the WiFI USB (notorious power users)
The system slowed down and when I double clicked the WiFi config multiple windows of WiFi config would open until it eventually locked up
I thought --OK it ain't perfect
Then I read up on Adafruit and they strongly recommended a separate power supply (not the USB from a computer) because of the voltage drop that is typical of computer USB's and long cables -- not uncommon to get down to 4V4 -- right at the edge of the Pi's requirements
So since I had a new wall-wart regulated 5V supply made by Adafruit for Pi's that is regulated to 5.25 VDC, I tried it and viola --everything worked as advertised
Oh well back to the barn shop project.......
hpinson
this may be adaptable for your pump controller idea
http://www.apcc.tk/diy-projects/rainmaker