News Raspberry Pi goes on sale - briefly

[Assassin8or]

Originally Posted by Phil Rhodes

Yes, but they're not really the sort of people at whom this seems to be aimed. I mean, it's supposed to be about teaching kids to code, right?

I can't describe how much this is exactly not the way to do that.

You're quite an ass, and if you'd had something like this as a kid such as the Amiga/BBC Micro you might actually be interested. As it turns out, you're probably either too young to remember those platforms, or too old to have been at school when they were actually used to teach kids programming; or unfortunate enough to go to a school where they didn't really have computers and IT, if taught, was done on a white/blackboard.

I, personally am looking forward to getting one of these. I plan on running, one or more websites off of one or more of these from home. But then I work for a web development house as a systems admin that covers Windows servers and PCs as well as Linux servers.

I tinker because that's what school got me to do when I was younger; it developed my inquisitive streak towards IT.

[mi1ez]

Stream video and music from NAS? for 35quid? Win!

[Guinevere]

Originally Posted by Phil Rhodes

I can't describe how much this is exactly not the way to do that.

You don't think a hardware platform affordable enough for it to be "one per child" in the class room and achievable for most parents to pick up for their interested kids combined with a framework of software, documentation and training that is specifically aimed at teaching kids to code is the way to go?

There's been purely software based methods before, but this is more hands on. I say it's a pretty good idea worth pursuing and for the cost... bargain!

But why don't you enlighten us with the solution you've made available to the public? You do have a better option you've developed yourself right?

[SexyHyde]

Originally Posted by Phil Rhodes

I am a troll, please don't feed me!

LISTEN TO PHIL!

I know Phil is a troll but maybe he is right. you know what exactly is this tiny piece of cheap hardware going to do? like most people on the planet will need something way more powerful than this, after all most people use really demanding programs like a web browser or word processor and stream movies over the internet. These people will be better off going to PC World and buying a proper computer because its not like everyone has an LCD with HDMI socket and even if they did why would they want something that could save them up front costs of buying a PC and constant saving on energy. Everyone has loads of money. Seriously people listen to Phil, if they even ever made these they would just end up on a shelf gathering dust. NO ONE would buy one.

[Siskodata]

Ok for all you bit-tech modding fans look at this wonder:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Custom-cas...item43adba366a

It must be put in the March edition of "Project Log and Case Mod Index update"

[BLC]

Before people go too wild about media playback capability, remember that the main processor is only 700MHz and it's only h.264 video at the moment that will have hardware accelerated playback. It's still damned impressive, but standard-def and other codecs may not fare too well; we'll have to wait and see how well RaspBMC is optimised/matures.

Originally Posted by lancer778544

Looks like this guy might have: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Raspberry-...b#ht_500wt_966

Quite a mark up at £50...

I'm actually quite surprised that it's the only one on ebay at the moment.

Because the foundation and it's many supporters are working their backsides off to get the auctions pulled. No one can sell one on ebay, because no one actually has one in their hands yet.

[mclean007]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Raspberry-...item27c41c9ea3

Seriously?! 80 quid?! And last time I checked, a 2 year warranty shouldn't cost more than the hardware it covers! Still, at least the seller is generous enough to give free shipping, the profiteering goon.

[mclean007]

Originally Posted by BLC

Because the foundation and it's many supporters are working their backsides off to get the auctions pulled. No one can sell one on ebay, because no one actually has one in their hands yet.

I don't believe the eBay rules prohibit selling goods that are on order, however.

[Nexxo]

Originally Posted by Phil Rhodes

Yes, but they're not really the sort of people at whom this seems to be aimed. I mean, it's supposed to be about teaching kids to code, right?

I can't describe how much this is exactly not the way to do that.

I'll just leave this here:

Originally Posted by BLC

The point of aiming it initially at nerds & techy types now is that those nerds & techy types are going to be the ones that write all the cool software for it and come up with all the cool ideas. The foundation doesn't have enough time or resources to build everything in-house; it's not that they're deliberately crowd-sourcing all the work (I'd say they've already put in their fair share of work, especially today), but an army of enthusiastic nerds, developers, modders, tinkerers, etc, can achieve far more in a short space of time than they could. Long before a release date was even hinted at, people had already set up qemu and virtual machines to start porting code to these devices.

Later this year it will go on "general" sale and they'll start targeting the academic markets. At which time, it will also be released with any number of bundled extras: case (they're aiming at no extra cost for a case), PSU, cheap peripherals, SD cards pre-loaded with OS distributions, cheap USB mice/keyboards... The idea is that mum, dad & schools don't have to buy machines costing several hundred just for their kids to tinker with and potentially break. And we nerds get the benefit of a cheap, powerful computer with loads of potential.

To be honest, I'm just glad that this wasn't a pie in the sky venture and that they are actually here.

BLC is right. By the end of this year there will be so much cool homegrown software for it, that 5-year olds can build code on it with virtual Lego blocks representing operands and variables. There will be a host of snap-on modules. It will be just like the Arduino, and then some.

Phil, son, I is disappoint. You are undoubtedly much more knowledgable on computer programming than I am, but your vision-fu is weak.

[will_123]

Originally Posted by BLC

The agenda shines through; you know, you could have saved yourself an awful lot of time if you'd just said "LOL LINUX SUXXORZ!!ROFL!" right at the start.

Clearly you have utterly no interest in the Raspberry Pi and are now just trolling. I'm not going to waste any more time debating the matter with you.

+1

I think OpenBSD will also run on this im sure it supports ARM. Cant wait to have a fiddle with one. And yes it is trivial in some ways, but i don't give a damn its what i like doing!

[Risky]

It would be great if some kids learned to write stuff for this device and it would be great if they also played around with Visual Studio & SQL Server Express on a PC. I can't see why anyone would want to rubbish either option.

[Guinevere]

Originally Posted by SexyHyde

what exactly is this tiny piece of cheap hardware going to do?

Get normal people talking about teaching kids to code? Maybe even get the product featured a few times on the front page of BBC News? Getting the word out that the UK used to be #1 when it came to "teaching kids to code" , and all it takes is a bit of forward thinking and balls to get people focussed.

You ever seen this happen with something like Scratch or Alice?

[BLC]

Originally Posted by Risky

It would be great if some kids learned to write stuff for this device and it would be great if they also played around with Visual Studio & SQL Server Express on a PC. I can't see why anyone would want to rubbish either option.

The only trouble with using Microsoft software is that it's quite expensive; although educational institutions get a big discount, it's still a big extra cost - plus there's the indirect cost of ensuring that your licenses are always up to date. Part of the point of using open source software is that the licensing is so much easier and in many cases there's no cost at all. I'm not rubbishing Visual Studio or SQL Server because it is very useful, espcially in the workplace - I write quite a bit of VB and now SQL at work, but wouldn't have any need for Python; I even use Visual Studio at home for my own use. But the aim I think is more fundamental than teaching someone a specific language.

Once you wrap your head round programming concepts - variables, functions, algorithms, abstraction, etc, etc - you can apply that knowledge to almost any language. That's where the foundation believes that the problem lies: fewer kids are introduced to even the very basic concepts of writing code. Many of the founding members are also professors/staff at Cambridge University, and they have seen students apply to Computer Science degrees that have never even seen any code before.

Before I get flamed to death, I'm not trying to start a "My programming language/operating system is better than yours" argument. Each language - as well as OS - has its advantages and disadvantages, and some are better suited to particular tasks than others are. I wouldn't run Linux if I want to play Skyrim, but I wouldn't run Windows on a lightweight machine; similarly I wouldn't write MI systems in work in prolog.

[kosch]

Mine arrived in the post this morning. I heated in the Microwave, covered it in cream and took a bite. Didnt taste very nice. Wont be doing any more food shopping at RS.

[steveo_mcg]

Fool! Its oven bake only!

[BLC]

Originally Posted by steveo_mcg

Fool! Its oven bake only!

Yeah, a reflow oven, maybe!

[Risky]

Originally Posted by BLC

The only trouble with using Microsoft software is that it's quite expensive; although educational institutions get a big discount, it's still a big extra cost - plus there's the indirect cost of ensuring that your licenses are always up to date.

I can't see where MS are changing schools to use VS Express when it's free to the rest of us. Actually as far as I can see with DreamSpark they can get VS Pro and a load of other stuff for free.

[Alhard]

I don't understand how so many people can be so negative about this. Can it really do any harm? It will give children the opportunity to make maths skills applicable at their are to more than just 'Do I have enough for those sweets?'
This may fail but the fact is a charitable organisation has made a step forward which other institutions can learn from. What we might see other subjects getting similar fantastically priced teaching tools thanks to the success of the Pi.

Anyone who is arrogant enough to believe it's a bad idea when it hasn't been tried since a true availability of cheap computing, I invite you to draw up curriculum that will teach kids useful skills whilst keeping them engaged.

[Unicorn]

Originally Posted by kosch

Mine arrived in the post this morning. I heated in the Microwave, covered it in cream and took a bite. Didnt taste very nice. Wont be doing any more food shopping at RS.

Originally Posted by steveo_mcg

Fool! Its oven bake only!

Originally Posted by BLC

Yeah, a reflow oven, maybe!

HAHA, reflow oven! ISWYDT

On another note; You got one kosch?! Have you got it running yet? Any first impressions?

[Phil Rhodes]

those nerds & techy types are going to be the ones that write all the cool software for it

The rest of the open source community has failed more or less completely to create software that is usable by anyone other than nerds and techy types. I don't see why releasing a small cheap computer will create a situation where open source software is suddenly suitable for "mum, dad & schools".