Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

please, because i cant get my head round it

someones suggested it as a christmas present for ty?

re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

Lol giz a clue

re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

3.1415926535 with raspberry on it.

re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

there you go.

FAQs | Raspberry Pi

It might be an idea to PM Restless...I'm sure he has one...and he seems clued up on this kind of stuff.
Hope this helps.

re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

It's a tiny computer that runs Linux usually and was aimed at getting people back into the programming side of computers rather than being just consumers. When I was a kid I spent hours writing programs, nowadays despite it being easier due to the power etc of modern kit hardly any kids do anything productive with them

re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

thankyou :)

he wants to make games and someone told me this would be good for him to start with and learn to programme and such, do you think it would be good for him entwisi? he's 11 in a couple of weeks?

re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

Yeah I have one :) I bought it for a possible XBMC Solution.

What level is he at? Anyway way of telling? I ain't no programmer and entwisi is miles MILES ahead of me(can better advise you of programming on the pi). But. There is a software my friend used to to make Flash games.

http://markyspark.newgrounds.com/gam...feature=movies

Take a look there. These are the product of somebody that is not a programmer.

As for the RaspberryPI. You have no chance of getting one within a couple of weeks. Unless you buy one off an ebay seller, on offchance or someone you know personally. The waiting list is a killer

re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

If I got this for my 11th birthday I would be over the moon. HEHEHE

Anyway,

Raspberry PI Booting/Running RaspBMC - YouTube

This is my video of it running RaspBMC ( a version of xbmc ) Skip the video to the end you will see it in its case(that you have to buy separate)

re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

They are a superb piece of kit to learn on and the community support is awesome. I started at 11 on my zx81 with it's 1k of ram. If he is interested then you can't really do any better than one.

Programming is a wide church, from scripting in Linux to java, .net, and a million other languages. It is all good experience, as a career, then he should focus in the market to what is passing the big bucks. I'm happy at any time to talk to you/him. I an actually part of a volunteer organisation called STEM who work with schools, I'm going to St Wilfreds next Wednesday to talk to the kids about careers in IT.

re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

What are the languages to be into at the moment Ian?

re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

There is quite a lot of money in flash games these days, is there not?
I think the raspberryPI would be a great gift. as if in the end its just a pipe dream he still has a usable computer and they are pretty cool to show off. I am interested to know how good this kid is. He's got an interest in programming. Is he any good? what is his knowledge already? Ian can put him on the right track...

edit> Aint being condescending or anything. The customROM i use on my mobile phone is developed by a 14 year old. These kids are the programmers of tomorrow. They need a good start and nudge in the right direction

Re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

emamum...Get hold of the last 3 weeks back issues of Computer Active, there have been some excellent articles on how to set it up, write a simple game programme (Snake) and build a gamepad.
:enough:

Re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

thats exactly what i thought, all he has atm is an interest in it and needs to go a bit further to see if hes any good and actually enjoys it, if he does then he can get bigger better things, if not then nothings lost :)

Re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

CPC are advertising the model B version but are awaiting delivery. I think it has more memory than the original one but not sure of other differences

Re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

I think only from a certain date they have 512mb

Re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

If someone is learning to program they do not need a Raspberry Pi to do it.
programming can all be learned on the PC.

What the Pi is doing is giving people a cheap way of using what they have learnt to be introduced into other items.
Running a webserver, a media player, a games machine, a controller for something.
Although lots of these things can be done with other prototype devices.

The Pi does not just cost the £30 it is priced at, you need an SD card, good power supply, external storage, a case for the pi, interface boards etc. It is however a start.

If Ty is not into electronics then this would remain something like a webserver or media player unless he learned some (and this could get him interested).

I have 2 originals doing nowt until I find an actual application for them. Currently I have no use for them so they are still in the box. (I got them because my son was interested - by the time I received them he had lost interest).

Read the blog at http://www.raspberrypi.org/ to see whats being done with them.

Re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

I got mine for a specific job (reading data from one device, logging it, reformatting it, then writing it to another device). I decided it would be worth buying another so my son can learn programming. They are both sitting here, doing nothing. The second one I got is still in its box, so I've no idea if it's 256mb or 512mb.

They took so long to get here - more than 4 months - so I went with an arduino derivative, instead.

They run like a normal computer, just with a media card (like the one in your camera) instead of a hard drive, so it's no different at all to loading up an SD card with linux and booting from that instead of your laptop hard drive. If you have an internet connection that allows an ethernet connection, then you can use it for surfing etc, which is all I've found it to be any good for. I've got a couple of USB wireless dongles on the way so I should be able to see if you can make them wireless. There are only two USB ports so you'll need a powered USB hub to add anything over and above a keyboard and mouse, such as an external drive, webcam or usb wireless adapter. The plus side is that this powered hub can be used as a power supply for the Pi (but it does say you shouldn't do that) so you don't need an extra plug socket.

Raspberry Pi - Quake 3 demo - YouTube
They are powerful enough to run game software which was "cutting edge" 13 years ago, so should be a good grounding for anyone wishing to learn to program, but as far as I can tell there's nothing to let you develop games at that level. All the programming languages available on Raspberry Pi's Linux flavours are also available on PC (e.g. Python, Scratch)

You'll need a TV or monitor with HDMI connection - I've tried running mine through a composite connection to TV, it's rubbish.

If you do decide to get one, let me know. I don't mind letting one go for what I paid for it. If I were you, though, I wouldn't bother. It's a novelty item unless you want a computer and can't afford three figures for one.

Re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

It has been suggested that its a good way to get internet on the TV too.

Re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

Yeah like I mentioned. I bought mine for to use as an XBMC solution. Well. If/When I get my own place again. This will be under the TV.... Hey its cheaper than a BoxeeBox

Re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

just buy him a cheap laptop, 2nd hand naff thing and install (or ask a kind member to do it for you) a flavour of Linux on it, to get him into a different os and more command line/terminal stuff, helps to understand how hardware communicates a bit more!

Summat for £50 would be more than adequate

Re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

Still the PI is coool to have

Re: Please can someone explain raspberry pi to me?
 

I'd be tempted to say to anyone that age to have a cracks at knocking up an android app or a website. Think it's cool to have something to show off and can be understood.

I'm a software engineer now but started out doing computer graphics stuff, 3d rendering and animations before I started looking at building websites and eventually at the coding side of things.