I quite like the idea of getting a Raspberry Pi (even though I’m not really techy) as I really, really wanted a ZX80, and it sounds like they could be fun…
Anyone else?

Get out and ride more – Honestly.

They do look a bit neat, also need the IO board to do some really fun stuff. I’ll very tempted.

Thanks Janesy, I’m off to the shops in a minute, just need to find my trouser clips and tweed cap.

aP – Only joking. I’m stuck inside with a bad knee – These do look pretty good. I automatically thought it had something to do with Pi. That’s a whole other story not getting geeky.

Been following the news on them for a while, think I’ll get the Model B when it’s out and agree the IO (Gertboard) looks interesting too.

absolutely can’t wait going to be amazing!

Ahh…….

……. takes me back to the excitement of waiting for my first BBC computer.

Brilliant idea.

Stupid question from a non-techy; what would/could you actually do with one?

Would make a great XBMC device by the look of it.

I’ll probably get one to go with all the other microcontroller boards I have unfulfilled plans for 🙂

If it gets kids writing code/building stuff it’ll be great. They need to link up with Lego for maximum take up IMHO though.

If it gets schools teaching code/building stuff that would also be great. My son tried to do the GCSE IT course but gave up in disgust with my support as learning typing skills with Excel and Access was not what he had had in mind.

Things like this are handy for building stuff that works just how you want it to work. It’s a way of letting out your inner Wallace and Grommit and making crazy inventions to make your life easier / more fun or whatever.

Like my current microcontroller board projects are:

1) First synthesizer for my toddler daughter (current progress here).

2) Replacement wireless thermostat for my central heating system. To have a nicer control method and longer radio range than the current device – possibly even to be controlled by a mobile phone app because that’s the kind of sad nerd I am.

3) Dimming lamp for my daughter’s room – with ‘go to sleep’/’wake up’ dimming that dims over a few minutes, and a way of turning it on that doesn’t immediately go to full. Most of the dimming lamps I found either do stupid things like you touch it, it goes to full, then slowly dims, which is a nightmare for a baby room.

I’d quite like one of these to make a teeny tiny box that lets you use bbc iplayer / other internet streaming services / play video / on the TV.

Oh, and if you stuck this, a USB midi keyboard and a powered set of speakers into a box, you could make an extremely powerful and re-configurable synthesizer for not very much money. Which would be cool.

With the IO board, you can use it to control motors, lights, all manner of things, there must be a zillion things that you could do with that!

Thanks Joe. Clearly, things i could do with it = zero 😆

Sounds cool though.

My son tried to do the GCSE IT course but gave up in disgust with my support as learning typing skills with Excel and Access was not what he had had in mind.

Can’t agree with this enough. I.T. is not the ability to manipulate Word documents and organize e-mail.

This looks like a fantastic initiative to get people coding

Thanks Joe. Clearly, things i could do with it = zero

The BBC iplayer box thing, I imagine will be a pretty easy thing to do even for a non-techy, once it is out. Given it already has network support, mouse / keyboard / gamepad support and TV output, it is such an obvious thing to do, that there will be a million how to guides on the internet in a few months.

Anyway, being a non-techy is just because you haven’t bothered to learn yet.

If it gets schools teaching code/building stuff that would also be great. My son tried to do the GCSE IT course but gave up in disgust with my support as learning typing skills with Excel and Access was not what he had had in mind.

It’s not schools that are the problem, it’s the government. Loads of ICT teachers would love to teach computing and there’s a big push to get it proper recognition.

Yep, I’ll be getting one – will be interesting to get some flavour of linux running on it. Hopefully it’ll fire up a whole bunch of modules in a similar way to Arduino…

Saw these and they blew my mind 😯
So many applications for these devices, home automation being the one I’m really interested in.

You could quite easily turn it into a carputer too! 😉

I also want one, but I know it will be yet another abandoned project. I do like the idea of a teeny tiny XBMC box.

What the heck is it and what can I do with it?

…being a non-techy is just because you haven’t bothered to learn yet…

and i have a teeny tiny brain.

What the heck is it…?

a small, cheap, simple computer, designed to help kids learn how to write computer programs and stuff.

…and what can i do with it?

i have no idea, but i’m curious to see what the geeks get up to!

🙂

What the heck is it and what can I do with it?

I think the point is that you can do anything with it, depending on your imagination, skill set and ability to learn.

Possible applications just off the top of my head:

Living room media centre
Web server
GPS data logger
Weather station
CCTV/security system

It’s a very cheap lightweight computer, and you could plug any software/hardware into it, with a little fiddling.

I’m planning on using one to break the bank at Monte Carlo – luckily I have very large feet so it will easily fit into the heel of a cowboy boot. I’ll be playing blackjack under the alias Dorset Slim sometime towards the end of summer.

It’s not schools that are the problem, it’s the government. Loads of ICT teachers would love to teach computing and there’s a big push to get it proper recognition.

Clearly this forum is more influential than one might think

ICT curriculum scrapped

This looks like a fantastic initiative to get people coding

Am now playing with this, it’s quite addictive, i was around when the ZX80 came out all my mates had them i never had any interest..

Clearly this forum is more influential than one might think.

miketually’s clearly a nom de plume for michael gove 🙂

I was quite surprised to find the contents of the current course, sounded more like secretarial studies than anything else.

Great idea to get kids interested in computing…. But, all the work is going to India on a cost basis not a lack of UK talent.

I’ve had half an eye on the Pi for a while now. It’ll be interesting to see how it stacks up against the firmly established Arduino.

I’ve had half an eye on the Pi for a while now. It’ll be interesting to see how it stacks up against the firmly established Arduino.

Surely they’re complementary – Arduino’s more for hardware hacking, Pi’s more for software? Looking at 16stonepig’s list above:

Living room media centre – Pi
Web server – Pi
GPS data logger – Pi
Weather station – Pi + Arduino
CCTV/security system – Arduino

Or am I missing something?

There’s no current minister that I’d like to give a slice of fist pie to more than Micheal Gove, but this revamp might well change my opinion of him.

There’s no current minister that I’d like to give a slice of fist pie to more than Micheal Gove, but this revamp might well change my opinion of him.

Even dictators get the odd thing right.

miketually’s clearly a nom de plume for michael gove

You have no idea how conflicted I am by today’s announcement. I am having to agree with Michael Gove FFS!

I’ll but buying a model B as soon as they are released, to add to all my other micro boards that sit about the place in varying states of completion. Pi has plenty of GPIO and the opportunity to expand the IO nicely – no reason why it couldn’t replace the arduino, that I see on first glance.

Can’t agree with this enough. I.T. is not the ability to manipulate Word documents and organize e-mail.

Actually I’d say IT (or IS as it was in my day) IS word/excel/access etc. The definition being:

Information technology (IT) is concerned with technology to treat information. The acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications are its main fields.

Computing/Programming is a different course (that doesn’t exist as far as I know, at that level). Embedded processors and their coding doesn’t happen in earnest until 1st year of a degree in engineering, sometimes later.

Computing/Programming is a different course (that doesn’t exist as far as I know, at that level).

GCSE computing’s starting to appear in some places.

What amazed me was that only 3 of the 28000 teachers who qualified last year had a computing-related degree. 3!

GCSE computing’s starting to appear in some places.

That’s really good news!

Computing/Programming is a different course (that doesn’t exist as far as I know, at that level).

My son’s doing a Computer Science GCSE – focus for the first term has been on coding and a bit on the internal structure of computers and AND/NOR/ETC type stuff.

It is a brilliant idea, and I really hope they can find people to teach this stuff. I started school in the era of the BBC Micro and
10 print “hello world”
20 goto 10

and finished it in the depressing era of ‘ICT’ and ‘Computer Literacy’, I have various stupid ‘computing’ certificates for spending 10 minutes doing ‘2 hour’ tasks in word because some idiot in the Dept. of Education or wherever set a target to get as many kids as possible ‘IT Literate’. The depressing thing about those courses was that they were obviously written by people who didn’t even understand the software very well themselves – the sort of people who thought a word processor was some kind of magic super modern piece of technology and that using it was a cross between rocket science and brain surgery, rather than the same old things we’d all been doing our class projects with for years.

If it is anything like the BBC B days, they’ll probably end up having some vague set of software / stuff to play with, and a set of exercises to work on, but any interesting stuff will end up being the kid who actually gets it teaching the other kids things. Those of us who knew anything about it, knew so much more than the teachers. Perhaps to a certain extent that is how it should be if they’re really using new technology, as inevitably the nerdy kids have more time to play with things than the teachers.