Hardware cost and availability is definitely a factor: even a Raspberry Pi is ridiculously expensive. Without disposable hardware to try things "just for fun" (

Hardware cost and availability is definitely a factor: even a Raspberry Pi is ridiculously expensive. Without disposable hardware to try things "just for fun" (and without fearing that, if you break it, it will take lots of time/money to get another one), the hacking mindset is much harder to develop. One of the best (and sometimes only) way to obtain reasonably-priced hardware is to import things from DealExtreme and hope that customs won't block it. If all goes well, you just have a 30-day (at best) lead time between wanting to try something and actually being able to do it.