Rasp Pi, do they really need it ?

[Wp100]

Some friends kids have been pestering their parents for the Rasp Pi and they were asking me about it, but afraid I have never really looked at it much as I always felt it a bit of a con paying a low price for a board then having to add on a case , psus, keyboard ,mouse, monitor/tv etc etc, basically dulpicating what nearly every household /school already has, the pc/laptop .

So my question is, cannot they simply use a standard windows PC or a dual boot Linux PC and run everything a Pi can do ?

 

[JimB]

paying a low price for a board then having to add on a case , psus, keyboard ,mouse, monitor/tv

Depending on their situation, they may have the "add-ons" already.
Or, they are easily obtained quite cheaply at the local car boot sale on Sunday morning.

basically duplicating... the pc/laptop .

Maybe, or maybe not.

I am not into Rasp Pi myself, but I always thought that the idea of the RP was to get back to basics and recreate some of the buzz for more basic programming and interfacing that existed in the home computer boom of the 1980s.

In my early teens I had a "radio", a typical transistor broadcast receiver which could listen to all the usual stuff on the long and medium wave broadcast bands.
My mother just did not "get it" that I wanted another radio, something a bit more sophisticated which could listen to the shortwave bands.
I did get one eventually and the knowledge gained through it contributed to a career in radio/electronics.

So my opinion is, if money is not "tight", get the Pi and learn something.

JimB

 

[Ian Rogers]

The point, I think, is to get youngsters into programming... I have a Pi, it's connected to my TV and it runs XMBC... I can watch catchup TV, movies and I can listen to music... It can connect to a PC via the network so I can see it's possibilities..

The company I do a lot of work for, make the Pi-Face PCB's and are selling quite a few... These connect the Pi to external devices..

 

[DerStrom8]

So my question is, cannot they simply use a standard windows PC or a dual boot Linux PC and run everything a Pi can do ?

Not necessarily. I think one thing the Pi has going for it is that it's small and portable. It can be used as a web server and put just about anywhere. Furthermore it has a GPIO header which the user can program. And because it doesn't cost much more than an Arduino, but can do so much more, I definitely recommend it. That's my personal opinion.

 

[Dr_Doggy]

why do they want it?
if they want to do electronic projects than maybe worth it, when i was kid i had to pay 200$ for a piece of cardboard with components on it, a "200 in 1 electronics kit", where you would connect components attached to springs, so you could hook in wires. it is only worth it if you use it, for me it was, and used it alot alot.

if they just want to learn to program then any old android cellphone will do.

if they want to add specific peripherals and need portability then pi is way to go, as Derstrom8 suggests, then again , with a little hardware knowledge/circuits you could do your own gpio header circuit and feed to PC via usb or something similar (but could be project on its own if not on the market already)

so far with what you listed: psu/mouse/keyb/screen are all found with pc,, but what if kids wanted to add a peripheral like this:
**broken link removed**

 

[ronsimpson]

I don't have a Pi but I am typing on a PCduino. It is much like the PI. Keyboard, mouse, 1440x900 monitor, wireless & wired, Blue Tooth, I have the built in 4G memory + 16G flash + mini 60G hard drive.
Chromium browser, Python & C compilers, office, etc.
I have, but not tried yet, a 4 channel video & audio input USB device.

These things are so small and can run with out the keyboard and monitor. They hop in the network and can be programmed by remote. I think I will get more!

 

[Wp100]

Thanks all, will pass on the info to the friends and let them decide whats worth while for them to spend their cash on.

Afraid its an area of micros I have never ventured near, though the pcduino Ron mentions does look interesting and Arduino compatible.

 

[ronsimpson]

look interesting and Arduino compatible.

The Arduino code will run. And the hardware should run.

Also look at the Beagle Bone Black.

 

[tcmtech]

I have been tempted but the names they gave them are so stupid sounding I just cant bring myself to buy any one of them.

Its sort of like bluetooth for me. It may do a lot but the gave it such an irrelevantly dumbass sounding idiotic name just puts me off to the point of non interest.

It's sort of like my radio flyer wagon I had as a kid. It didn't have anything to do with radio and it didn't fly either. Huge disapointment for a adventurous kid.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

A great way to learn is to define a project, select the platform and go.
Let's for the time being put the Pi, the Arduino and the PICAXE on the list.
And for IOT development, the electon and Photon :https://store.particle.io/

That's a really varied list of stuff. Embedded Linix is a whole lot different than Linux; Embedded Windows (Windows CE) is a lot different than Windows. Android is different that Linux.

Kids have lots of time and no money.

 

[ronsimpson]

Embedded Linix is a whole lot different than Linux;

I don't know if the PI and PCduino use "embedded" Linix. Do you know? I am using "Ubuntu" Linix
1G RAM, 1GHZ dual core CPU, Storage is 4G minimum expandable to many T-Bytes.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

It might be a hard question to answer, because it's call Rasberian https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/linux/kernel/building.md (outside link).

The PCduino: **broken link removed**

Using the above info, I would probably say yes. It's an embedded OS. Why, only works on specific hardware.

ron: Can I chat with you via PM/ conversation about Ubuntu? PM me if yes.

 

[ronsimpson]

Can I chat with you via PM/ conversation about Ubuntu? PM me if yes.

Yes but I can't seem to PM you. I thought I know how. lol

 

[Ian Rogers]

Run your mouse to the "Inbox" menu item... When the menu appears "Start a new conversation" is in the drop down