I think its an interesting project, and if they can actually produce it as inexpensively as they hope (or even twice that - $50 is still a good price point!), I think it will be useful in schools simply because kids will be able to own one themselves, bring it home etc, which I think will inspire (at least some of) them to learn more and do more interesting things with them outside of the classroom. As somebody in another HN post about this said: "get technology into as many hands as possible" - this is certainly a great thing!<p>However, I think the statements in the video about how computers have become much more complex and that is why people aren't learning to program them at a young age is incorrect. BBC Micros and ZX Spectrums (and Commodore's and Amigas and all the rest) were, IMHO, <i>not</i> easier to learn with compared to todays computers. They were actually much less accessible and therefore attracted the type of people who were able to learn. Smaller audiences of more capable people (because the less capable people were never attracted to them in the first place) gives the illusion that they were simpler and easier, even when they weren't.<p>Todays computers are usable by just about anyone and most people are exposed to them in some way through games, social networking, websites.. whatever. The amount of people learning to program is probably a lot higher today than it ever was as the barrier to entry is so much lower (going from something as simple as Scratch, to web development with Javascript, to Ruby and Python and Processing - a lot of simple, yet powerful, tools (with instant feedback) are now available), its just that the percentage of people learning to program out of all the people using computers is now a lot lot lower.<p>I don't see how this device would be able to make it any easier than a full blown computer (once somebody found and installed the software for the kids) except that 1) it will have the tools preinstalled and 2) it will be inexpensive enough that each kid can be given their own one creating a sense of ownership and hopefully inspiring and encouraging them to do cool stuff with them (which in turn means they learn more).<p>TL;DR: This thing does have potential, but I think they (at least the people who made the video) are focusing on the wrong thing (bringing back the 80's of computers and programming because they feel it was simpler back then, while I believe it is a lot lot simpler <i>now</i>).
I think Raspberry Pi is missing the point by running "normal" Ubuntu Desktop on it, and having such limited connectivity.<p>Stuff that I'd add:<p>* (Ethernet) networking. Or at least some serial ports. Or some way to plug two or more of these together (something over USB maybe?)<p>* USB hub. First of all, using male USB connector as host port is just plain ugly. Secondly, if USB hub is a requirement to actually use the computer (as it seems to be currently), why not have it built-in?<p>* Analog video and sound output. Doesn't need to be HiFi, composite video and builtin DAC will be fine.<p>What I would change/remove:<p>* Ubuntu. Instead run some minimalistic system that boots directly to simple REPL, and allow more powerful programming somehow (inline ASM?).<p>* The SoC is huge overkill. And imho way too complex for a beginner to understand. Of course if you plan to teach just some high level language that hides all the hardware from you then it doesn't matter, but then the hardware wouldn't matter at all, and just using some off-the shelf x86-box would yield same results.<p>* Few GPIO pins are good. Arduino shield compatibility would be great.<p>tl;dr. I would make the computer more like self-hosting arduino and less like gimped generic ubuntu box.
OK David this is cool and all, graphical Linux desktop on a USB stick, but please keep working on Elite 4 [1] , it's been a long wait so far...<p>[1] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_4" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_4</a>
A £15 computer sounds cool, but programming can be done in your web browser. Just write some javascript and let the whole world instantly see your creation.
The company that employs me has a Linux-based product that allows you to connect extra monitors and keyboards to single computer and have multiple logins on the same computer. We have equipped a computer lab with this configuration and the students use it write applications with Eclipse, browse Facebook. It is not too complicated for them.<p>This is the page (its in Bulgarian, but Google translator does an excellent job):<p><a href="http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=bg&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://otb.bg/sumu&usg=ALkJrhh9ukAZbQLBelQERLVYV4jm1838gw" rel="nofollow">http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=bg&...</a><p>Feel free to ask away if you are interested, we have contacts on the website :-).
A history lesson for those either too young to know, or not from the UK. This will explain a few gaps.<p>Back in the day (i.e. around the late 80's) we used to have PROPER computers in schools in the UK that everyone had free access to. My particular school had a large network of BBC Master[1] and Acorn Archimedes[2] machines - all proprietary platforms but OPEN with respect to documentation and doing what the hell you liked with them. In fact, Acorn, the manufacturer would tend to shove all the hardware reference and programmers guides in the box with the machines (you could not break the software on them). They ALL had BBC BASIC (very advanced variant of structured BASIC) with an inline 6502 or ARM assembler and most of the earlier machines had analogue and digital IO you could just stuff things into. They were all networked together as well and could talk to each other.<p>We were ACTIVELY ENCOURAGED to build stuff that plugged into these (rather than the recent policies and AUPs that students have to live with) and write software to control things and even modify the operating system at will. We built a massive transit shuttle system based on Lego, we build automated cranes, we build light sequencers, we built anything we damn wanted and were applauded for it.<p>Most of the software devs I know in the UK (other than the young and really old ones) tend to have cut their teeth on this kit.<p>Then there was the introduction of the PC which destroyed all this in favour of "security", "acceptable use policies", "black boxes", "no documentation" and "vendor lock in".<p>Mr Braben was a pioneer of these machines [3] [4] and is held close to the heart of many people. He wants the education sector to go back to these days (rather than the utter corruption that Research Machines, BECTA and Microsoft have destroyed everything with recently) because he truly KNOWS what is good for the industry i.e. people who know how stuff works and are free to understand.<p>Ironically, on a slight tangent, my children have Linux machines in their school these days rather than Windows, which is used for administrative functions only. It'll only be a few years before my eldest discovers gcc.<p>[1] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Master" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Master</a><p>[2] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Archimedes" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorn_Archimedes</a><p>[3] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarch" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarch</a><p>[4] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game)" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game)</a>
No.<p>The first generation of kids that never knew a time without Internet access, much less computer access, has recently cleared university, and they don't know programming. Thinking they'd have learned to program had they had a £15 computer (rather than the £500-£1000 one they/their family did have) doesn't seem likely.