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They absolutely don't need special hardware to start programming. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that my first exposure to coding was when I typed "10 PRINT

by sern 15y ago

They absolutely don't need special hardware to start programming. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that my first exposure to coding was when I typed "10 PRINT BUTT 20 GOTO 10" into BBC BASIC. I didn't need anything more than the computer I had at school. The modern-day equivalent - typing "python" into the terminal - isn't much different, and still a lot easier and cheaper than getting something to run on an external Linux board.

luser001 15y ago
This IS today's version of the BBC Micro. AFAIK, the BBC Micro was a cheap design to encourage computer education since regular PCs were very expensive. I too cut my teeth on a BBC Micro. My school had ~20 of them. If they'd bought PCs, they would have had maybe 5? The Raspberry Pi will do the same thing today, especially in poor countries which don't have computers as a matter of course in their schools. You're talking from an overly Western-centric perspective when you say that typing "python" is cheaper than the RPI. The world has 7 billion people, many of whom live in poor countries. At $35 with the ability to use a regular TV as a console, this thing is well within the reach of poor person even in a poor country like India to buy as a splurge for his kid who he's told my their teacher is bright. I, for one, think this is going to be revolutionary. PS: I also plan to use it for some home automation projects. It can run off of batteries (!!!!!), and is a plain old GNU/Linux distro. How cool is that.
- sern 15y ago
  The BBC Micro was actually quite expensive compared to the other micros of the time. (I don't think the IBM PC was ever considered a "micro", and other micros were probably more capable anyway.) If I remember correctly, the goal was not to produce a design that would compete mostly on cost but rather one that was British and would do the flashy stuff the BBC wanted to show on their computing series. I agree that the Raspberry Pi will be revolutionary, not because it will rejuvenate computer science teaching, but simply rather because it's a cheap computer.
  - luser001 15y ago
    > I agree that the Raspberry Pi will be revolutionary, not because it will rejuvenate computer science teaching, but simply rather because it's a cheap computer. Yep. It looks we were mostly in agreement then! :)

by sern 15y ago

luser001 15y ago

This IS today's version of the BBC Micro. AFAIK, the BBC Micro was a cheap design to encourage computer education since regular PCs were very expensive. I too cut my teeth on a BBC Micro. My school had ~20 of them. If they'd bought PCs, they would have had maybe 5? The Raspberry Pi will do the same thing today, especially in poor countries which don't have computers as a matter of course in their schools. You're talking from an overly Western-centric perspective when you say that typing "python" is cheaper than the RPI. The world has 7 billion people, many of whom live in poor countries. At $35 with the ability to use a regular TV as a console, this thing is well within the reach of poor person even in a poor country like India to buy as a splurge for his kid who he's told my their teacher is bright. I, for one, think this is going to be revolutionary. PS: I also plan to use it for some home automation projects. It can run off of batteries (!!!!!), and is a plain old GNU/Linux distro. How cool is that.

sern 15y ago
The BBC Micro was actually quite expensive compared to the other micros of the time. (I don't think the IBM PC was ever considered a "micro", and other micros were probably more capable anyway.) If I remember correctly, the goal was not to produce a design that would compete mostly on cost but rather one that was British and would do the flashy stuff the BBC wanted to show on their computing series. I agree that the Raspberry Pi will be revolutionary, not because it will rejuvenate computer science teaching, but simply rather because it's a cheap computer.
- luser001 15y ago
  > I agree that the Raspberry Pi will be revolutionary, not because it will rejuvenate computer science teaching, but simply rather because it's a cheap computer. Yep. It looks we were mostly in agreement then! :)