Rasberry Pi ????

knightstyle

Thinking of getting one for 14year old. There seems to be a lot of hype but little real information on someone with no experience learning from it.
Has anyone got one? What do you think of it?

penrhyn

The Sinclair ZX80 for the 21st century.
Is the 14 year old interested in coding?

knightstyle

Thanks, Yes, he wants to get a career in something like that.

tonyh66

bit of a gimmick really, if he is interested in learning, learn programming on a laptop or PC. He will find the Pi totally frustrating and lose interest within a day

penrhyn

Maybe get him one of the Dummies books, although at 14 he's probably ahead of the game already.

BBC Basic eh? memories!

Linbox

Most of the software available for a RPi can be run under a VM if its just for programming.

fwor

IMO it's likely to hold more long-term interest if you can actually get it to do something externally (e.g. simple robotics or home automation), which means getting a general purpose I/O board to go with it.

These exist (for example the Gertboard) but unfortunately I don't think you can buy them yet.

mttylad

I have a Pi.

IMO its not all its cracked up to be.

It has problems because of its design, not all USB devices work on it, the fusing causes problems. not all SD cards work.

A case is expensive - between £9-15, a PSU £4, an SD card £7-10 then an external HDD id you want to use it as a media centre.

The board is designed IMO badly so it does not fit in simple plastic cases, they have to be 3d printer modeled or look pretty naff. Fits in a fag packet though.

All the programming side can be done on his PC, he can even setup a linux partition on his PC and install linux to use and program/test.

When he has learnt to program then he can thinks about getting a pi - or an arduino etc.
And as said, will need some form of interface board to actually do stuff with it.

Unless he wants it for a media centre, to watch films on tv via the HDMI.

Documentation is sparse or all over the place (not exactly in a single location) and the manual is not available yet.

IMO its better to learn to program another way first, think of some projects and learn how to code via the PC he likely already has, then think about learning some basic electronics as this will be needed if he wants to make his own interfaces for a pi.

[Deleted User]

Download this onto a regular PC
http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010-editions/visual-csharp-express

Learn C#... Don't bother with a raspberry pi at 14. You might as well start with something useful

knightstyle

Thanks everyone for your comments, glad I asked before spending my money. He is about to assemble a new computer, getting components from everyone for his birthday, as his old one was secondhand a few years ago and well out of date.
So my next question what should I get him appart from the hardware to see him on his way?

boxst

He can also download the Android Developers Kit (http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html) and write programs for any Android phone.

To answer the original question: For what it is, the Pi is great. A cheap board for programming almost anything in schools and for the hobbyist with the ability to connect to external devices to program robotics etc..