News articles and blog posts about Raspberry Pi

Quote from liz on December 2, 2011, 12:12
http://www.i-programmer.info/p.....mming.html

Kind of misses the way we're doing things

Though, 'what does an R-Pi offer that couldn't already be done with PCs that schools and students already have?', is a reasonable question to ask from a first world perspective; it's obviously an issue much greater than availability of hardware, tools or cost.

That then leads to the question of whether students would be any worse off learning with tablets, notebooks, laptops or even the PC they already have and the question of R-Pi's usefulness in that.

It's likely that people cannot see how the R-Pi will be such a big game changer, cannot see how it will encourage programming in itself any more than other hardware which currently exists. We've had the tools to teach programming for years it's just that we haven't taught it and there's now a realisation that maybe we should.

Perhaps they aren't seeing the big picture, and perhaps I'm not; it could be that the R-Pi Foundation isn't painting it clearly enough ?

[liz]

Baby steps. We'll be painting it dayglo orange, with trumpets, for the educational release, but we need to get the beta release out with the hacking community first so we can populate a nice suite of resources and make sure we haven't slipped up anywhere.

Quote from liz on December 2, 2011, 12:12
http://www.i-programmer.info/p.....mming.html

Kind of misses the way we're doing things, and asserts that we won't be any use in schools because we've only talked about the hardware so far.

More importantly, the author fails to understand the problem that R.Pi solves in the first place - schools can't afford to purchase and maintain a computer programming lab built from traditional PCs and expensive software packages.

I've seen Eben talk a little bit about the ten reasons why we aren't educating programmers, and how the Raspberry Pi solves exactly one of those problems: that computers are too expensive. But I don't think I've heard any of the Trustees enumerate all of the ten reasons - perhaps this would make a good topic for a future blog article?

Quote from liz on December 2, 2011, 12:12
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.u.....17249.html

Ian Livingstone namechecks us! I am all abuzz.

While Julian Benson was interviewing Ian Livingstone for the Huffington Post, Livingstone's co-author, Hope, was writing this piece for the Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tec.....kills.html

Quote from Michael on December 3, 2011, 12:00
But I don't think I've heard any of the Trustees enumerate all of the ten reasons - perhaps this would make a good topic for a future blog article?

Good question, and I would refer you to http://www.computingatschool.org.uk/
Let me try to answer:
1. No examples/mentors/role models: "I don't know anyone who codes"

2. Access: About 20% of UK people do not own a computer (source OFCOM 2008) Those that do are often discouraged from experimenting. In other countries, or in the lower socio economic groups access is even more limited

3. Expense: "Development systems cost hundreds of pounds, and are hard to use"

4. Fear. "If I type the wrong thing I might break it" “We can’t let students write or run their own code on the schools system, as they might introduce a virus”

5. Complexity. The learning curve to get started, for example to program in VB on a PC is quite steep. Some systems (for example Android) cannot be natively programmed

6. Culture: "Coding is only for propeller heads/boys/geeks" “Computer people are all like the IT crowd”

7. Computing is “just more ICT” as presently taught in UK schools – boring

8. Lack of skills base in schools: "I know more about computers than my ICT teacher, who usually teaches PE and RI" “I don’t know where to start and my teacher can’t help”

9. Perceived difficulty: "I can't write anything significant on my own - it takes a big team”

10. Career Prospects: "Coding leads to low paid jobs" "Coding jobs are all offshore" “The school points system/University entrance doesn’t value Computing”

These are roughly in the inverse order to the ACCTO criteria (Advantage, Complexity, Compatibility, Trialability, Observability) criteria of Everett Rogers
given in his book "Diffusion of Innovation"
We might be able to do something about the first 5.

I don't think point 6 should be worded to include the IT crowd, it suggests that people that aren't propellerheads etc. do not think of turning the computer off and on again, that said it should be replaced with people don't think of something as simple as resetting a computer !

http://www.sarmis.gr/blog/rasp.....e-sort-of/

A small post from my blog about an idea I had regarding a housing and some hardware for Pi...

Telegraph Article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tec.....kills.html
They plan to run an editorial about this in a week too I think.
Supportive of Raspberry Pi.

Michael Gove mentions Raspberry Pi:
http://www.education.gov.uk/in.....ls-network

Not sure if anyone has linked to these yet - from the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tech.....-education
Observer:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tech.....curriculum

Also I have a blog post, but it mainly just links to stuff you already know ...
Raspberry Pi

[liz]

http://www.yoyogames.com/news/65

This is brilliant news - Game Maker are working on a port for us, and things are looking pretty good so far.

New article on the PCB Layout Raspberry Pi on my website: http://www.tulixlinux.org/?p=135

Stuff UK magazine added the Raspberry Pi to their top 50 list of Christmas (yeah ok) Gadgets for under £100, only a tiny mention at around number 35, but pleased to see it there!

It doesn't look like it's been mentioned here yet, but the pcb made the Dangerous Prototypes blog:
http://dangerousprototypes.com.....y-pi-pcbs/

Article on Raspberry Pi on my website: http://tmuniz.com/site2/?p=67

[Jongoleur]

Brief mention in Linux Format/Jan 2012 on page 8 with an image of the pcb layout and a reminder not to buy from anyone but raspberrypi.org (warning about preorders on .ru sites).

Just finished off our first rev of a Prototype board (MoPI) which allows folk to prototype with the 'PI ( when it comes out ;) ) just like the protoshield does for the Arduino. Additionally it allows you to power the design and/or the 'PI vi a larger Regulator module (EBAY special) or directly form a DCJack or screw terminals. Hoping to opensource this once we iron out what ever problems this PCB may have with a real 'PI. If any one's interested or has a good project for the MoPI give us a shout.

MoPI a Prototype board for RaspberryPI

[guru]

Brief mention from the Guardian. It's not an apple for the teacher any more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/educ.....sfeed=true

"Mr Davies, our computing teacher, has been going on and on about the Raspberry Pi [...] We know he can't wait to get one, so we're clubbing together and trying to get him one for Christmas."

[liz]

http://www.geek.com/articles/c.....d-20111215

Some thoughts about the potential for a mismatch between supply and demand:

http://www.thesinglestep.org/t.....ghts/rspi/

(linked by Zite on iPad)

(edited to add: for clarity, the linked blog is not mine)

Quote from azureblue on December 19, 2011, 18:45
Some thoughts about the potential for a mismatch between supply and demand:

A very weird write up that combines a sharp understanding of how big the Pi is going to be and how it will be used in a non-educational context ("RasPi's are the ultimate IT Swiss army knife.") with a complete misunderstanding of what the RasPi Foundation is about:

They are a non-profit but it is also possible that when they realize how much unmet demand there is they will be tempted to raise the price. ... By the time the price doubles, the magic will be gone. It would be easy to use flagging demand at that point to declare the product a flop and stop producing altogether.

Perhaps it's a journalistic device. Perhaps not. But he still called you a "bloke across the pond" Liz. 8O

I think most of us have similar concerns, but I get a very strong impression that the people of the foundation are managing it very carefully. I think the article is attempting to invoke response, and possibly a "no we won't rise the price" promise etc. But I don't think they need to point out to anyone, the price is the key, the foundation are more than aware of that (hence why it is still the price they said it would be, with no excuses).

It'll do no-one any good if they took all the hype and decided right lets build x10/x100 what we planned for the 1st run, because the reality is, if something isn't right, then it would be goodbye R-Pi (and not too good for the folks involved).

The talk of multiple foundries and supply routes (as well as the choice of common available components where possible) means they are on the ball with this. The fact that they've slipped in a 100 board test run too (not sure if in the plan originally or not - the previous optimistic timescale suggests to me it wasn't) shows it is tread carefully time. Unlike, big companies, you can't write off a few $k due to initial issues (I bet apple have stacks of various iphones which don't work due to production/design issues), as it is by releasing now to the developers, they are probably cutting several months off a typical product release timescale (the shortcut here is, most developers will work around issues and resolve problems - hopefully there won't be anyway). This is why missing the christmas rush, although would have sold lots, could have been bad if there was an issue.

I'm sure as we get closer and closer to the actual release, the chances will become slimmer and slimmer of getting one from the 1st batch, but hopefully the work they've been doing in the background will pay off and once the production is proved A-OK (that is the tipping point after-all), supply will be ramped up. Also, I guess when there is an actual release, the vapour-ware finger pointing will go away and pre-ordering will allow big orders to be made and met by large block runs (which allows more swing when getting production slots). The only thing I've not heard mention of (although probably in hand too) is the logistics side, getting units packaged and shipped (all of which costs).

I think half the problem is, people see non-profit and charity and see images of people sitting in a church hall with impossible grand-plans. It a huge challenge they've taken on, but these are professional people involved (taking a lot of time out from their jobs) who clearly believe in what they are trying to achieve.

I think something that the author also misses, is that once the production units are proved to be good, the foundation will grow stronger with each and every unit out there. The larger the developer user base, but more available for the educational aims of the project (and no doubt commercial uses). We all want to see millions and millions of them, and hopefully some amazing uses and software to run on them, however, they do need to prove they work, which needs time.

--- Just a forum member, ramblings.

[Gert van Loo]

To me the main points missed on volume are these:
1/ The production was set up from the start to be in the 10K units, not 'thousand'
2/ Batches of 100K get cheaper so no need to 'raise the price'.
3/ If you start thinking in millions the commercial world can step in to fill any gaps. That would make life easier for the foundation, not more difficult.

I think that there are 2 potential negatives if it does prove to be a super soaraway success:

• first production units are (from what I understand) done at cost. If there is a need to outsource (as is probably going to be the case) then other board manufacturers are are going to want to make a profit.
• cashflow - you need a lot more working capital if you suddenly have to order 100,000 units rather than 10,000

However, I cannot believe that R-Pi are unaware of either. I can only assume that they have factored in commercial costs for board production from third-party suppliers (and hope that with short lead times that cashflow/working capital is also a non-issue).

I think you have answered yourself in the last paragraph.
Both production and fulfillment are outsourced, and we are not using any exotic components, so we should be OK barring a multi-national disaster.

The BBC's technology correspondent, Rory-Cellan Jones, includes the Raspberry Pi as one of the technology highlights of 2011: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/tech.....y-16291888

Not bad considering it won't be on sale until 2012!