On 04/03/12 23:43, Tim Streater wrote:


I hope the pi doesn't go the way of the Newton. Lots sold in the lead up
to release date and soon after, then next to nothing. I think what
you're describing above will be a problem. The notion that all these
schoolchildren were just waiting for a cheap board to program at the bit
level is a bit silly, in the same league as when years ago they expected
that all women would learn to become car mechanics.

I'm expecting a system like Puppy Linux to appear, if it doesn't already
exist.


No. I expect some teenagers will get the pi and do some stuff with it.
When I was 15 I had a few relays I scrounged off my brother, who was in
the navy, and doing some primitive binary logic with them. I could have
done with something like the pi being available then. Or relays for a
penny instead of five bob each.

If people are expecting that lots of pis will be used in this way, why
weren't these people already doing it - using the Arduino?

Mind you, if "computer classes" at schools consists of them being forced
to learn about ****ing Windows and being bored learning to use Word and
Excel, then that is a waste that could usefully be stopped. [1]

That's already changing and the teachers who will be teaching computer
science know about the Pi. The BCS has started their Computing At School
project to move things along.


I'd be interested to see what folks think it could be used for, though.

[1] They need a lesson to understand what an OS is, and that there are
others besides Windows. They need two more lessons to understand what
Word and Excel are, and a quick overview of what they do and what they
might be used for. And that there are other programs which perform the
same sort of function. That's it.

It depends on what age they start at. My beef is that the reason why
sixteen year olds need lessons in word-processing is that they didn't
get those lessons at age eight when they would have been more appropriate.


--
Bernard Peek