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Pi in the sky
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22-01-2013, 06:43 PM
The maplin bundle has Pi, keyboard leads and sd card I think, I do not need one but would like to have a play with one to see if it would assist in radio repair, I dunno like a zoom camera for my dodgy eyes to capture images of chassis components?
cheers Mark
Keep on Fiddling!
22-01-2013, 08:23 PM
In fairness to Maplin, their kits does seem to have several additional items to account for the extra cost.
From their spec: Includes model B Raspberry Pi mainboard plus the latest approved Raspbian OS on a 4GB SD card. Also includes AC powered 4-port USB hub, USB keyboard, USB optical mouse, 2.1A twin USB mains power supply, 1.5m gold-plated USB A to micro B cable to power the Raspberry Pi, 1.5m gold-plated HDMI cable and an N150 Nano Wi-Fi dongle for wireless connectivity. Makes you realise how phenominally expensive the Spectrum was at £175 back in the mid 1980s - equivalent to £460 today, and they flew off the shelves!
Regards, David.
BVWS Member. G-QRP Club Member 1339. 'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here' 
23-01-2013, 10:46 AM
(22-01-2013, 06:43 PM)Mark R Wrote: The maplin bundle has Pi, keyboard leads and sd card I think, I do not need one but would like to have a play with one to see if it would assist in radio repair, I dunno like a zoom camera for my dodgy eyes to capture images of chassis components? Not sure it'd be much help in radio repair - its extremely dumb - basically a Linux-based SBC (single board computer) with good connectivity (100Base-T RJ45, HDMI, composite video, audio etc.). You'll need to understand Linux & if you want to do anything meaningful, the FSF GNU toolchain as well. For programming its either scripting via csh/bash/whatever or the toolchain cli apps, or programming in C/C++ with gcc or g++ (unless you install another compiler). HTH
sıʌǝɹq ɐʇıʌ `ɐƃuol sɹɐ
ʞɔıu
29-01-2013, 10:07 PM
(29-01-2013, 06:10 PM)AlanBeckett Wrote: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21243825 Shades of three decades ago - ho hum, what goes around comes around!  1981: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Micro The tinnitus-inducing screech of those primitive programs being loaded into my son's Spectrum from a cassette player echoes down the years as if it were yesterday!
Regards, David.
BVWS Member. G-QRP Club Member 1339. 'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
01-02-2013, 09:27 PM
(29-01-2013, 10:07 PM)Yorkie Wrote:My son learnt to program (Basic) on the BBC B not long after it was launched. I was already in the industry and introduced the Commodore PET and Vic-20 to production in Europe for the European market. He is now 38-years old and has a successful career in the industry too.(29-01-2013, 06:10 PM)AlanBeckett Wrote: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21243825 In May last year, we each bought a Raspberry Pi, mainly out of curiosity. Now his son (9-years old) and another of my grandsons (12-years old) each have one too. By starting on the Raspbian platform in a Windows-style environment, they were both able to learn "programming" with Scratch a graphical method of programming, and later move onto Python. The older grandson is now working up a skill in C#, a language much in demand in industrial apps. It seems to have worked for them as an entré to the world of programming and controls. In both cases, their schools (in Gloucestershire) have also taken the Raspberry Pi on board with a good success record already. The Foundation have recently announced that sales have now passed the 1 million mark, and today announced a version produced in China, specifically for the Chinese markets. Licensing precludes parallel marketing outside of the stated territory. After seeing the PET and Vic-20 into production and market, I suspect that the Pi has and will have far greater influence on the young - and positive too! Let's see Colin
02-02-2013, 10:51 PM
I'm in that tinnitus bracket now, playing around with a Spec+ and +3. I'm back to the old method of saving to tape and then doing a sample listen to check if it recorded with the correct amount of treble. In the heady early 80s the school computer of choice was down to a BBC or a 380z, in our case the 380z won out but I do wonder sometimes if things could have been different. Add to that a kit built ZX81 and a issue 2 Spectrum and the kids were quite happy in thrashing the life out of the code on whatever platform they were using. The real brave ones were digging into Z80 assembly language, just looking at it gave me a headache but we persevered and learnt a lot along the way.
Last I heard, before the school was closed down by Lambeth Council (citing falling numbers, now they struggle to place kids in secondary schools due to a lack of places) was that they went over to Link 480z machines, versatile but limited in what they could do in the programming sense. Also being used by some of the kids, Oric's were gaining ground along with the odd Dragon and the occasional Electron (cut down BBC), not many C64s or VIC20s around and any of the Atari machines were at the time just too expensive. I had to book computer time at school, as a family we just could not afford or justify getting a Spec into the household at the time. What was a pain was standardisation, or lack of it, each platform with it's own way of doing it and no easy way of cross polinating programs between each platform. Early attempts at coming down to a standard platform were along the IBM PC route but again pricing was prohibitive. Fast forward thirty years and we now have the Pi as an inexpensive single platform that can allow open cross polination of written programs via the internet and user groups. It's not a perfect panacea, but with the take up in schools and homes it means a kid can sweat blood on his latest creation at home and bring it into school the next day for his peers to evaluate, comment, even add their own ideas to the code, take it away home and do their own variations on the same theme, a sort of natural selection version of computer evolution if you like. The Pi, along with it's user support structure has brought those heady early days of the 80s back but without the issues of different manufacturers pulling in different directions with thier own ideas for the perfect computer, all at the same time.
05-02-2013, 06:47 PM
Gosh... I can now afford to buy some of them as South West Water have just announced we are all going to get a 50 quid rebate off our extortionate water bills each year until the year 2020 (Me smell a rat)
Lawrence. |
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