Raspberry Pi Forums

Hallo and greetings,
I got interested in the raspi, a friend told me, he works for ARM..., wish to learn how to program in order to do it together with the grandchildren. However, when looking at the starter kit from maplins etc. I think it may be cheaper to use a used laptop..netbook and to use linux and start learning to program. It will be easier to carry around from address a to b, and less fiddling with boards and leads....
What does the forum community think?
Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks, Hans

Laptop/netbook portability is obviously a big plus. But can you really get a reliable enough appliance for the price of a RPi pack (assuming you can use an existing TV/monitor)?

Also the RPi has the GPIO for connecting out to the 'real world' which might be an interesting path on programming ...and all the robotics etc. possibilities...

'Life is ... (making) choices'

Hello, rst, many thanks for your kind reply. I,ll think about the problem. How do you get on with your raspi..?
Very kind regards,
hws

An old laptop running Linux would certainly give you access to an environment suitable for learning programming. In this respect it will deliver everything that the Pi will offer with perhaps less of the hassle in terms of establishing a work system. Perhaps because your kleage will depend very much on the hardware in you laptop, hiwever you will be able to run a 'Live CD' distro to check its viabilty prior to making any commitment in terms of installing the OS. It is even possible to maintain your existing Windoze system and run Linux in parallel on a dual-boot system.

If you like the idea of playing with some hardware and are attracted by the Pis GPIO etc then you need look no farther than the Arduino microcontroller http://www.arduino.cc/. Progamming is perhaps more restrictive inasmuch as you will have to use C/C++ and the available memory can be a lot less than the Pi. A free IDE (Integrated Development Enviornment) is available, which runs under both Windows and Linux, in which to develop programs, compile and upload to the microcontroller via a standard USB lead. The Arduino has both digital pins (as per the Pis GPIO) and also analogue pins. All can be configured as input or output, again all vey Pi-ish.

Cost-wise an Arduino can be as expensive as the Pi. But smaller ones may be half (or less) the price. The Arduino has no disk, Ethernet, Wi-Fi and so on but these can be added with 'shields' which simply stack on the basic board if they are required. A variety of libraries are freely available to aid the development of larger porjects but coding to drive a few LEDs can be accomplished very readily without the need for learning a number of disparate skills.

Arduino starter kits are widely avalable offering the controller, breadboard, electronic components (such as LEDs, resistors, switches), wires and some useful physical hardware layout and coding. This gets you up and runnign very qucikly and you will not dissipate your enthusiam in peripheral issues.

HTH

hws wrote:Hallo and greetings,
I got interested in the raspi, a friend told me, he works for ARM..., wish to learn how to program in order to do it together with the grandchildren. However, when looking at the starter kit from maplins etc. I think it may be cheaper to use a used laptop..netbook and to use linux and start learning to program. It will be easier to carry around from address a to b, and less fiddling with boards and leads....
What does the forum community think?
Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks, Hans

The only problem I can see is that older laptops tend to have worn out batteries, and they are not cheap to replace. Also, check that they work fine off mains power - I've got an old laptop with a knackered battery but unfortunately the plug on the motherboard is knackered (again), so ( cannot even run it off mains...

But otherwise, a laptop would be a good choice.

Hallo dbryant,
Many thanks for your inclusive and well balaced comments. I,ll think about the suggestions.

In the meantime, kind regards and thank you for the time you spent on my issue.
Yours hws

DBryant wrote:An old laptop running Linux would certainly give you access to an environment suitable for learning programming. In this respect it will deliver everything that the Pi will offer with perhaps less of the hassle in terms of establishing a work system. Perhaps because your kleage will depend very much on the hardware in you laptop, hiwever you will be able to run a 'Live CD' distro to check its viabilty prior to making any commitment in terms of installing the OS. It is even possible to maintain your existing Windoze system and run Linux in parallel on a dual-boot system.

If you like the idea of playing with some hardware and are attracted by the Pis GPIO etc then you need look no farther than the Arduino microcontroller http://www.arduino.cc/. Progamming is perhaps more restrictive inasmuch as you will have to use C/C++ and the available memory can be a lot less than the Pi. A free IDE (Integrated Development Enviornment) is available, which runs under both Windows and Linux, in which to develop programs, compile and upload to the microcontroller via a standard USB lead. The Arduino has both digital pins (as per the Pis GPIO) and also analogue pins. All can be configured as input or output, again all vey Pi-ish.

Cost-wise an Arduino can be as expensive as the Pi. But smaller ones may be half (or less) the price. The Arduino has no disk, Ethernet, Wi-Fi and so on but these can be added with 'shields' which simply stack on the basic board if they are required. A variety of libraries are freely available to aid the development of larger porjects but coding to drive a few LEDs can be accomplished very readily without the need for learning a number of disparate skills.

Arduino starter kits are widely avalable offering the controller, breadboard, electronic components (such as LEDs, resistors, switches), wires and some useful physical hardware layout and coding. This gets you up and runnign very qucikly and you will not dissipate your enthusiam in peripheral issues.

HTH

[
Hi. Jamesh,
Thanks for the suggestions.
I,ll think about it.
Thank you for the time you spent on my problem.
Yours, hws

quote="jamesh"]

hws wrote:Hallo and greetings,
I got interested in the raspi, a friend told me, he works for ARM..., wish to learn how to program in order to do it together with the grandchildren. However, when looking at the starter kit from maplins etc. I think it may be cheaper to use a used laptop..netbook and to use linux and start learning to program. It will be easier to carry around from address a to b, and less fiddling with boards and leads....
What does the forum community think?
Any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks, Hans

The only problem I can see is that older laptops tend to have worn out batteries, and they are not cheap to replace. Also, check that they work fine off mains power - I've got an old laptop with a knackered battery but unfortunately the plug on the motherboard is knackered (again), so ( cannot even run it off mains...

But otherwise, a laptop would be a good choice.[/quote]