2/13 Raspberry Pi
This month we take a look at an exciting project for older students or families to work on together.
Recently a new kind of home-built computer has become available which makes it possible to build your own working computer for around $50.00. While this is quite a technical project, it is suitable for beginners if you’re willing to get online and look for help when you need it.
The Raspberry Pi (http://www.raspberrypi.org/) was designed as a hobby computer for do it yourself developers. It’s a credit-card sized circuit board that comes with all of the connections you’ll need to get started, along with a custom operating system and enough software to do some interesting things. The raspberry pi is essentially the same processor used in modern smart phones (using the popular ARM11 chip,) but stripped down and re-fitted with an open-source operating system.
The basic model sells for $25, and a more advanced model with more memory and some other connectors sells for $35. I definitely recommend the $35 model B version unless you’re on a very tight budget. The extra memory and the Internet port are very useful. If you’ve got a lot of computer components sitting around, that may be all you need to spend. You might need to purchase a few other parts (outlined below,) but you probably won’t need to spend more than $50 total.
The computer itself is the very definition of a bare-bones device. It doesn’t have a keyboard, mouse, monitor, hard drive, or even a case. But that’s part of the fun. With this basic device and some older equipment you might have laying around in the house, you can build a very capable hobby computer. In addition to the circuit board itself, you will need some other peripherals:
You’ll need to install the operating system onto an SD card. I recommend the raspbian ‘wheezy’ OS, as it’s very well tested. This is a version of the famous Linux operating system. It’s not Windows or Mac, but that’s actually a good thing, because simply the software licenses for one of these operating systems cost more than the entire project. Raspbian is a variation of Debian Linux, which is one of the more popular and well-maintained open-source operating systems around. It may not be exactly like what you know, but it doesn’t take long to get started. You’ll need to use a program like win32DiskImager (available for free from here: https://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer/+download) to install the OS on your card.
Once you’ve got everything plugged in, just plug in the power supply to get things started. (on/off switches are for amateurs...) After a bewildering stream of text, you’ll finally see a login screen. (login as 'pi’, password: 'raspberry’ If you’re an old-school Linux hacker, you’ll be right at home here, but most of us prefer a more modern graphical system. Type startx at the command prompt, and in a few seconds you’ll see a nice graphical interface. While it may not be exactly like the Mac or Windows experience you’re used to, you’ll quickly be able to find things through the simple menu system. My 11-year old son immediately found Scratch (one of our all-time favorite programs) and began writing a game within minutes. You’ll also find a simple web browser called Midori, some games, and some other simple tools.
One of the design goals of the Raspberry pi project was to have a simple cheap computer that kids can program immediately. Modern systems rarely come with a programming language built in, but the pi comes with several. Python is the most prominent, and you can begin playing with it right away. (If you’re interested in learning more about Python, including how to write games with it, I’ve written a book about this - available through my web site.) If you want to explore more advanced programming languages, C and C++ are also available in the default build, as well as some other interesting programming languages. The system is more than suitable for basic web development as it comes out of the box, though you can always add more features.
Once you’ve gotten use to the basic features, you can add more if you wish. There are many great free programs available to download. I added Tux paint (a great free painting program that I highlighted last year) a more powerful text editor (geany) and a minimalist word processor (focuswriter.)
As of this writing, the major office suites (openOffice.org and LibreOffice) do not work on the pi, but as soon as they do, you’ll have access to a complete home computing solution. Support for these programs is anticipated shortly, so this is not a long-term problem. In the mean time, you can use Google Docs online for your writing and spreadsheet needs.
If somebody in your family is ready to get into a fascinating computer project, this may be a great way to get started.
Let me know if you get stuck anywhere. I’m always glad to help.
Blessings to you and your family!