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The BBC thing will be in just UK
So was the Pi when it started though.
Indeed it was - the first run was 50 pieces (I know the guy who designed and built the first batch).
I just don't really get why the BBC are doing this. There's plenty of [better] alternatives to choose from. Free stuff is always good though.
There's plenty of [better] alternatives to choose from.
Such as?
Off the top of my head I can't think of anything that has all the LEDs, switches and sensors built in like this does. It's accessible and inherently cool, 12-year old me would have exploded at the prospect.
There's plenty of [better] alternatives to choose from.
This does seem to have a unique aspect to it that the others fail at: a very simple accessible IDE and flashing routine.
(Arduino IDE comes [i]close[/i] once it is set up properly, but you still have to fanny about selecting the right board type and serial port, plug and unplug USB, etc)
It's accessible and inherently cool
I'm obviously missing something then as I see it as limited - unless all you want to do is make LEDs flash.
I suppose that as it's aimed at 10-11 year olds then maybe that is all they want to do! But if, in order to do more, you need to hook it up to a Pi or Arduino then would it not have been easier to just start with those in the first place - or are they 'too complicated' for that age group?
Edit: just sort of answering my own question here .... if they sell them for £10 you could potentially install one in every room and have it send temp data to a central Pi that could then do something clever. Hmmm.
[quote=sharkbait said]It's accessible and inherently cool
I'm obviously missing something then as I see it as limited - unless all you want to do is make LEDs flash.
It's got accelerometer/gyroscopic sensors, input buttons and bluetooth. So you could have it communicate with a phone/tablet etc.
That's the thing. You're thinking like an adult.
The problem you'll have with your average 11 year old won't be the limitations of the device, it'll be engaging the buggers in the first place. You can do more with an Arduino or a Pi or a 'real' computer sure, but a little gizmo full of flashing lights? That's [i]awesome.[/i]
But if, in order to do more, you need to hook it up to a Pi or Arduino then would it not have been easier to just start with those in the first place - or are they 'too complicated' for that age group?
A Pi or Arduino doesn't have Bluetooth LE, accelerometer, compass, 25 LEDs and two buttons built-in though.
Yeah you can add stuff like that, either via an assortment of [url= http://shop.pimoroni.com/collections/hats ]Pi Hats[/url] or [url= http://shop.pimoroni.com/collections/arduino-shields ]Arduino Shields[/url] or by building your own bits on a breadboard, but that's definitely a bit more advanced and the result isn't easily wearable as a badge! (until you get further down the line and start soldering up your own circuits).
My bits and pieces arrived for my "internet of things" temperature sensor!
Now logging temperature and humidity chez pies here:-
https://www.freeboard.io/board/FF-KPV
Data coming from the kit below (blue module on right hand side = DHT11 temp/humidity sensor, mini-board facing camera with red led on is the ESP8266 Wifi module which is polling the DHT11 every 10 seconds and then posting the temp/humidty to the web via my home wireless). Left hand module on breadboard is a 3.3v PSU, red vertical module is a USB to serial module used to program the 8266, it's not active now the thing is running.
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
Nice! Pointless. But nice. 😀
Not pointless, I've now moved it into my beer fridge 🙂
This little 8266 device is amazing! It's now in a fridge which is in a garage attached to the house (where the wireless router is). The wireless reception in the garage is a bit ropey and this thing is sitting in a metal fridge in there 😛
Def not pointless - see below:
[img] https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/loo_aCwpva32d9uqUn1iCuh9bNdpNbzhZSVbj_1coKDz=w640-h480-no [/img]
That's one of the images created by my Raspberry Pi powered DHW temperature sensor in a house we have 107 miles away, and a drop of 50c within 10 mins showed that something was quite wrong .... Especially as we had left the house 24hrs earlier!
A drop in the air temp in that room suggested that the heat source (heat leaking from the megaflo) had been removed, so maybe there was a leak 😯
Luckily a friend was still in the village and he popped up and discovered a blown push fit connection on the hot water supply to the sink in the garage. Luckily this is the lowest room in the house by about 18" and the water was flowing out under the garage door.
Scary to think that if I had't put some system monitoring in, this could have gone unnoticed for weeks and been pretty costly in terms of water usage if nothing else!
I've now moved it into my beer fridge
Maybe you could expand it to something like this?
[url= https://www.raspberrypi.org/beer-and-wine-fridge-of-awesomeness/ ]Beer fridge of awesomeness[/url]
I think the biggest advantage of the BBC device is that it doesn't need any technical knowledge to start out.
Teachers are not, on the whole, technologists. They don't want to muck about like a hobbyist will. they want a device they can understand in 20 minute and deliver a lesson to a class of 30 nine year olds in the knowledge that they'll get consistent, repeatable results.
The inherent flexibility of the Pi is also a huge hurdle for acceptance by generalist teachers in primary schools (and also for parents at home).
I think the bbc device is, like, Scratch - a gateway to a more complex environment. The key thing is you can do 'cool stuff' within 10 minutes of picking it up.
also, we don't all own houses that are unoccupied for weeks on end so teaching kids how to monitor the temperature of the garage might not be seen as a particular enticement to learning and exploration, it has to be said.
[quote=sharkbait said]Def not pointless - see below:
Maybe you could expand it to something like this?
Beer fridge of awesomeness
Bookmarked 🙂