![]() ![]() Games consoles were replacing the traditional hobbyist computer platforms. There was more of a focus on working with Word and Excel and building web pages. They established that the way that children were interacting with computers had changed. Instead they were starting with some web design experience, but little else. Typical student applicants did not have a history of hobby programming and tinkering with hardware. Eben Upton, Rob Mullins, Jack Lang and Alan Mycroft became concerned at the decline in the volume and skills of students applying to study Computer Science. The story of the Raspberry Pi starts in 2006 at the University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory. The following is a far from exhaustive list of sources, but from my own experience it represents a useful subset of knowledge. At the same time there has been a boom of information available for people to use them. The Raspberry Pi as a concept has provided an extensible and practical framework for introducing people to the wonders of computing in the real world. The best thing to remember is that before you learn anything new, it pretty much always appears indistinguishable from magic, but once you start having a play, the mystery quickly falls away. Having said that, it may be useful to be comfortable using the Windows operating system (I’ll be using Windows 7 for the set-up of the devices since that would probably classify as (currently) the world’s most ubiquitous operating system), you should be aware of Linux as an alternative operating system, but you needn’t have tried it before. Your experience level will come second place to a desire to learn. That’s the most important criteria you will want to have when trying something new. Just by virtue of taking an interest and getting hold of a copy of this book you have demonstrated a desire to learn, to explore and to challenge yourself. As part of the additional ‘cool factor’ we’ll add in some neat things that we can do with the device and there will be am explanation of the Linux commands that we will use as we go. We’ll examine the peripherals required to use it effectively and check out the operating system options to get us up and running. We’ll look at the history of how the Pi came to be and some of the versions available. Put simply, we are going to examine the wonder that is the Raspberry Pi, work through some of the options available to us to use it and step through the processes to make that happen. So please be gentle with your emails :-). I’d like to do the same, but be warned… There’s a good chance that if you ask me a technical question I may not know the answer. I’m sure most authors try to be as accessible as possible. This means that some explanations are longer and more flowery than might be to everyone’s liking, but there you go, try to be brave :-) You will find that I have typically eschewed a simple “Do this approach” for more of a story telling exercise. Please feel free to provide your thoughts on ways that I can improve things. They are living documents, open to feedback, comment, expansion, change and improvement. I dare say that like other books I have written (or are in the process of writing) it will remain a work in progress. But I’d like to think that if you’re reading this, perhaps I managed to make some headway. I know that this sort of effort has been done already by others, but I want to go provide a basic core for folks who are new to the topic to get them started.Īmbitious? Perhaps :-). I have always enjoyed experimenting with computers and using them to know a bit more about what is happening in the physical environment. ![]() If you haven’t guessed already, this will be a journey of discovery for both of us. Congratulations on being interested enough in the process of learning about the Raspberry Pi to have gotten your hands on this book.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |