Indeed. I'll also be buying an inflatable mattress and sleeping bag so i can sleep next to it during my struggles
But, like you, i'm happy to wait. I imagine that in the coming weeks and months, as you say, you'll see many how-to's to get it to do all sorts of things.
You could get a 16gb one and pretty much leave it permanently in, essentially as the HDD. It's small enough to never really be noticeable and more than enough to hold anywhere up to a dozen normal tv shows in HD and more in SD.
Can't wait to get my hands on one of these. Probably going to get a two or three, use one to run as a media server via the main TV, have another as a download box and one to arse about with getting set up for an in-car PC.
Once you've got an operating system then just about any programming language could be implemented on it. Also emulators could be created, so for example it should be possible to mimic a Commodore 64 or a Sinclair Spectrum. I'm not familiar with the Linux world but there are probably quite a few possibilities already in existence.
There's a programming language for children called Scratch which might be a good option if there's a Linux version.
C++ would be good for A level and beyond but probably far too advanced for GCSE.
So it sounds like nobody is going to learn programming from this then. Wait till someone on the Internet does it for me with a guide and I'll just follow that.
back in those early days we had a lot of support in the form of Sinclair User and Acorn User. I subscribed to the latter, I'm sure there were other magazines for the Atari, the Oric, etc. Perhaps if the creators started a magazine or webzine to go with the Pi, then maybe thousands aren't going to end up discarded at the back of a drawer, and they might move a step closer to their goal of getting every 13 year old into programming computers.
Perhaps if the creators started a magazine or webzine to go with the Pi
Good idea, but with the early computers there was no operating system and usually only two programming languages, namely relatively simple text-based interpreted BASIC and machine code. Nowadays it's a vastly more complicated and fragmented world with all the different object-oriented graphical programming langauges and their editors, compilers and integrated development systems. No magazine could cover all the possibilities in anything other than a very superficial manner - although even that might be of some benefit if only to alert purchasers to the possibilities.
There are of course plenty of in-depth tutorials available on the Internet for all the common programming languages.
I still contend that it was the BBC that was maybe snobbishly anti-computing in choosing Acorn for the BBC computer. A fantastic looking bit of kit but it made it unaffordable for some and for noob buyers it was in fact less accessible.
I say accessible in that the full Basic was on the Sinclair keyboard making things far more intuitive for noobs. Yes it was ugly looking in its compactness and mass of text but it meant the Basic solution was in front of your eyes rather than in the manual.
yes but having all the BASIC commands on the keyboard probably wasn't a lot of help to a noob if they didn't know what the words meant, they'd still have to get the manual out. I remember that the Acorn BASIC manual was very comprehensive, about 1½" thick.
Agree completely, but they also need to provide plenty of resources to go with it and amend the curriculum accordingly or its just going to be even more public money down the drain.
Which just reiterates the problem - schools already have millions of PCs and teachers who know how to use them - why buy in a bunch of new computers that the staff won't know how to use. I suspect single digit percentages of schools staff know a programming language of any stripe. Turning ICT teachers into Programming teachers is not trivial.
According to the news we can't even teach basic maths to the majority of the population - teaching programming without a bedrock of maths will be a massive waste of time.
Which just reiterates the problem - schools already have millions of PCs and teachers who know how to use them - why buy in a bunch of new computers that the staff won't know how to use. I suspect single digit percentages of schools staff know a programming language of any stripe. Turning ICT teachers into Programming teachers is not trivial.
According to the news we can't even teach basic maths to the majority of the population - teaching programming without a bedrock of maths will be a massive waste of time.
yes but having all the BASIC commands on the keyboard probably wasn't a lot of help to a noob if they didn't know what the words meant, they'd still have to get the manual out. I remember that the Acorn BASIC manual was very comprehensive, about 1½" thick.
It was a heck of a lot of help. People get used to a small subset of commands so the lesser similar sounding ones could be referenced in the manual to solve a problem.
And of course Basic then lived up to its name with many commands being very intuitive for learners.
I'm sure it helped some non mathematicians 'have a go'. This type more naturally avoided writing code and bizarrely were often the ones in small colleges and in schools teaching 'computers'.
l very much welocome the arrival of the Raspberry Pi and l hope that it will generate renewed interest in programming especially amongst young people. However, the two suppliers concerned don't seem to cater for Electron or Solo cards or Paypal which could rule out many young people so l raised that issue with them and i'll see what response comes back.
schools already have millions of PCs and teachers who know how to use them
Teachers know how to teach what's on the curriculum. I've found that they can be just the same as an average user in terms of not knowing what to do when performing tasks outside of the curriculum.
why buy in a bunch of new computers that the staff won't know how to use. I suspect single digit percentages of schools staff know a programming language of any stripe. Turning ICT teachers into Programming teachers is not trivial.
This is correct though. A lot of ICT teachers don't know how to programme. Most won't learn as it requires more work, and then unions are involved.
Just gotta admit i haven't read all 5 pages of this post but have been watching it daily and have a couple of questions if anyone know much about it.
On a youtube vid someone mentions python and says that it comes preinstalled on the SD card, does the pi come with an SD card ??
i'm guessing it'd work but would a usb hub be ok with this so that you can use keyboard, mouse, and usb drive at same time ?
once setup with linux can other programs be downloaded from the internet and installed such as Fedora ARM and something like Scratch (think thats the right name of the kids programming app)
Obviously there'll be few people who have received their pi's yet so not expecting answers straight away.
Comments
There is no reason why you couldn't code assembler. It is afterall part of the compilation process.
I know, I was answering the question which was "can I only use machine code".
I didn't mean you can ony use C++, I was just trying to point out that high level languages such as C++ can be used.
Ofcoarse being ARM there is no reason you can't use Thumb 2.
Ooooops! Misunderstood
Indeed. I'll also be buying an inflatable mattress and sleeping bag so i can sleep next to it during my struggles
But, like you, i'm happy to wait. I imagine that in the coming weeks and months, as you say, you'll see many how-to's to get it to do all sorts of things.
Look at these ..
http://www.gadgetshunter.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=219
You could get a 16gb one and pretty much leave it permanently in, essentially as the HDD. It's small enough to never really be noticeable and more than enough to hold anywhere up to a dozen normal tv shows in HD and more in SD.
From what I heard it's programmed in Python. Whether the Python interpreter is embedded in ROM I don't know.
Edit: Ah, according to Wiki, the software (Linux, with support for Python, BBC Basic, C and Perl) comes on an SD card.
Its a RISC processor.
More here - http://elinux.org/RPi_Programming
There's a programming language for children called Scratch which might be a good option if there's a Linux version.
C++ would be good for A level and beyond but probably far too advanced for GCSE.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Custom-case-Raspberry-Pi-Model-B-professional-Recycled-/290677470826?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopComponents_RL&hash=item43adba366a
There are of course plenty of in-depth tutorials available on the Internet for all the common programming languages.
I say accessible in that the full Basic was on the Sinclair keyboard making things far more intuitive for noobs. Yes it was ugly looking in its compactness and mass of text but it meant the Basic solution was in front of your eyes rather than in the manual.
Which just reiterates the problem - schools already have millions of PCs and teachers who know how to use them - why buy in a bunch of new computers that the staff won't know how to use. I suspect single digit percentages of schools staff know a programming language of any stripe. Turning ICT teachers into Programming teachers is not trivial.
According to the news we can't even teach basic maths to the majority of the population - teaching programming without a bedrock of maths will be a massive waste of time.
That was a bit of a blanket statement. Out of the four points he made, can you itemise what he said that was wrong?
And of course Basic then lived up to its name with many commands being very intuitive for learners.
I'm sure it helped some non mathematicians 'have a go'. This type more naturally avoided writing code and bizarrely were often the ones in small colleges and in schools teaching 'computers'.
Teachers know how to teach what's on the curriculum. I've found that they can be just the same as an average user in terms of not knowing what to do when performing tasks outside of the curriculum.
This is correct though. A lot of ICT teachers don't know how to programme. Most won't learn as it requires more work, and then unions are involved.
I ordered about 3 days ago, and my delivery date is also 15th May. No great surprise, I can wait.
Oh, and for those who wish to place an order and can't get to anything other than the annoying Register your Interest page, try this:
http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=2031+204200&Ntk=gensearch&Ntt=pi&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial
On a youtube vid someone mentions python and says that it comes preinstalled on the SD card, does the pi come with an SD card ??
i'm guessing it'd work but would a usb hub be ok with this so that you can use keyboard, mouse, and usb drive at same time ?
once setup with linux can other programs be downloaded from the internet and installed such as Fedora ARM and something like Scratch (think thats the right name of the kids programming app)
Obviously there'll be few people who have received their pi's yet so not expecting answers straight away.
Cheers.