Egypt4u

Horus, can I ask you if you know anything about Raspberry Pi?

A little bit, but I know a man who knows a lot more

Sorry RS I should have asked you what your question was?
(Grandad thinks we are baking him a cake )

Just a general opinion of it really. I'm thinking ahead to my grandson's 12th birthday in April and his Mum wants him to start on programming and she mentioned 'Raspberry Pi'. I've found a fair bit of info on Wiki but I wondered if you had any personal or practical experience.

Horus wrote:Sorry RS I should have asked you what your question was?
(Grandad thinks we are baking him a cake )

Nah! It's 22/7 or 3.1428571........with raspberries. (Or even a computer) but nothing to do with Amaryllis

If you have checked them out RS then you will have seen that they are intended for that very purpose ‘to introduce people (especially children) to computers’. The idea was to provide something very basic that could be built upon, the idea being that as people progressed and maybe came up with an idea of their own then they could add stuff to the board quite cheaply. Take for example building a robot or something like that, so you could add stuff to the board that could sense the vertical and horizontal planes (an inclinometer) to keep it stable or sensors for motion, you can add keypads, Wi-Fi, speakers, the list is endless. Many people now use them for small projects so they have gone beyond their original intention and it is now a thriving industry for all sorts of add ons you can buy. There are several similar things on the market but the Raspberry Pi is the original, there are others are like ‘Arduino’ which are very similar. I have used the Arduino board to build a device that moved my camera forward by tiny increments for when I do Macro Photography. Basically with a Raspberry Pi what you are getting is a bare bones computer mother board that you can plug other stuff into, the Arduino is a bit more electronic biased but requires computer code to work.

If the lad is interested in this sort of stuff he will probably love it, a bit like me being given a Chemistry Set as a boy. However there is some learning involved and he will need to gen up on the internet, but there are lots of tutorials out there, to be honest I could not even start to discuss this side of things on here as it will all depends on how he progresses and how involved he becomes with it. What is certain is that if it clicks with him he will no doubt become embroiled in the subject. It will certainly be a “walk before you can run” exercise, so unless he actually has some sort of experience you may (depending upon your proposed outlay) be better off getting something that is a ‘starter kit’ that has the basic stuff and instructions to do certain projects as these will encourage him and keep him interested, basically it is no use having a car if you do not even know how to start it. The kits are like giving him a course of driving lessons, so as he becomes more proficient he will want to do bigger and better projects.

To try and put this in context it would be no use giving him a kit that built a radio receiver if he knew nothing about soldering or electronics, but with the starter kits the items are provided and small projects are included, a bit like a LEGO kit that makes a certain thing, but you can use the individual bits in other stuff later on if you can make it fit together, basically its all in your own imagination.
Can I suggest that you also look at the 'Arduino' boards as a starter option and to look them up on YouTube, this for example is one of their kits.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elegoo-Complet ... tarter+kit

This is not the same as a Raspberry PI which is more like a basic computer, but this is like getting a ‘Mechano Set’ with lots of electrical bits and small projects to get you interested. All the stuff is intended to be soldering free and you plug your wires into a special board to make up the circuits you need to control stuff. The projects may appear simple like making a set of coloured LED lights flash in a certain combination or a buzzer working in a certain way and again like the Raspberry Pi they are expandable with all sorts of add ons. Once he learns the basics he can conjure himself up all sorts of projects, here is an example below. I wanted to move my camera forwards at on a few thousands of an inch at a time, this was virtually impossible to do by hand, so I decided to use an Arduino board to control another board that would move the stepper motor that moves the slider mechanism. It involved me playing about with some circuits and learning some programming code to put it together, here you can see some of the stages.

Playing with some circuits


The Arduino on the left is controlling the board on the right which drives the motor, the LED tells me it is working.


Here you can see the stepper motor that I want to drive the slider mechanism forwards and backwards in tiny incriments.


Here it is all built into a box with switches and lights that will flash to indicate what part of the program is running. (the motor is not yet connected)


Here is my camera project when it is running taking Macro images of a fly (if you look closely ).


My best mate who incidentally helped me with the coding also used a similar Arduino to power his garage door up and down, it even does it with an ‘Alexa’ command. Now I am not saying that he has to start with a complex task, this is just to give you some idea of how an Arduino can be put to use, he would use a Raspberry Pi in a similar manner but with a more computer bias. if he likes tinkering and has a computing/electronics bent then he should like any of these.

Thank you, Horus. This is just the type of info I was looking for. He is a very clever little boy who is on the autistic spectrum. He has recently started at the local Grammar school and spends most of his spare time on his computer. Maybe I would start with the Raspberry Pi because the support is there and probably his teachers could help him expand on it, but you have helped me a lot. He is very into Lego kits and model making too. A lot of our presents to him over the past few years have been the PC games which come with the models which he can manipulate via command on the game, so, owing to your experience, I will research further and discuss with his Mum before I buy. You have given me an excellent comparison chart to follow.

Thank you Ruby and Horus I think you may have found the answer for a gift for my Grandson - I'll check with his Mum what stage he's at, he's 14yrs and I know has been studying the subject for a while and has an amazing computer set up which he spends far to much time on.

Wow! How times have changed and I must say how fortunate we are to have Horus. Our techie problem solver. Thanks mate for all your help in the past.

I find it fascinating that from pre-teens and onwards, boys toys that would be the likes of Meccano and other construction kits, have moved on to really high tech kit. As Horus has said, a young person needs to have a 'bent' on technology so it won't appeal to all but with coding being taught widely in school I expect and hope that more young people get into technology.

So RS and MD, encourage your grandsons to get into this technology because from my experience, too many sixth formers who move on to Uninversity are chosing soft options for an easy degree. Engineering, Science and Technology are far more demanding but in my opinion, so much more rewarding. And Post Brexit we will need all the innovators that we can train and develop.

Glad it has been of some help and in that case saying as both of your Grandchildren (RS & MD) are already into computers then maybe the Raspberry Pi option is the route to go down. They are more orientated towards making your own computer and expanding it to do other things, so there is always something else that they would like as an accessory thus solving future gift problems. Add ons such as Keyboards, Touch screens, or a Sense Hat board that can detect temperature/humidity and much more and often used in Space/Science projects, Cameras, Wi fi etc.

I told my Grandson about Raspberry Pi, which he knew nothing about, but later claimed he did of course. He's really interested, so that looks like what he'll be getting for his big present at Christmas from me.

Thank you folks for the suggestion and info, it's increased my street cred no end.

I told my Grandson about Raspberry Pi, which he knew nothing about, but later claimed he did of course.

Don't they always

MD. glad to hear of your decision, because you will be able to put me on the road to where to get it etc. after Christmas!

Ah!
I thought I could coast in on your coat-tails!

You won't do much better than the likes of Amazon for that sort of thing

MD, just sussed out Amazon and they have a complete starter kit for £127.99, but maybe you've already got one if its for a Christmas pressie?

Just an FYI and I looked at Amazon USA and their Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Motherboard are $37.95USD and the CanaKit Raspberry Pi 3 Complete Starter Kit - Includes 32 GB Samsung EVO+ for $70USD. Always interesting the price differences (unless I'm talking about completely different versions of something).

I think the difference is that the Raspberry Pi kit includes everything you need apart from the monitor, whereas the other one needs peripherals added, LLL.

Yes these kits come in many varients, so it really is 'horses for courses' in what you buy, basically they will all expand on the basic Raspberry Pi which is essentially a 'Motherboard' that you can plug lots of peripherals into. As to the £ to $ prices, I always find that in the USA they pay for most technology stuff in Dollars what we pay in Sterling, basiccally we are being ripped off over here.