Raspberry Pi...explain it like I'm an idiot!

[DiamandaTheGreat]

Is anyone able to please explain these to me as if I'm a bit hard of thinking?

I have a 10yr old that enjoys using Scratch on my old and very slow laptop, but a friend recommended I look into these for the next steps. But I don't understand!! It looks like a very small cheap computer that you have to buy various other bits of hardware for, is that right? And then you could code using it, e.g. to automate a robot or similar?

Please tell me your success stories/give me your words of wisdom!

Hopeful bump...

Yes, pretty much!

We have bought one of the 12 Days of Codemas kits which is basically a starter pack with guided projects to do together with my 10 year old DD over the Christmas holidays. Think of it as a basic intro to electronic engineering - not just writing code, but writing code to make physical things happen in the real world.

Sorry link to kit:

https://thepihut.com/products/maker-advent-calendar-includes-raspberry-pi-pico-h

Thanks @shockeditellyouI like the look of that! The Pico looks like a smaller version, is that right? Daft question but how do you physically code on it - what do you use to input the code? 😳

The Raspberry Pi is a tiny computer, and you can add a screen, keyboard, mouse etc

Once set up as a little computer it can be run and used on its own.

But it first needs to be set up with an operating system, and unless pre-set you would need a seperate computer to download the operating system etc

The Pico is a mini Pi, with less capabilities and is a micro processor with connection pins intended to be the core to build projects. (The Pi can also be used as the core to projects)

The Pico needs to be used alongside a computer to enable you to configure and programme the Pico.

A similar thing is the Arduino, this is a microprocessor with various models and sizes for project needs.

I’m no longer familiar with the Raspberry Pi, having only the original model. This needed an SD card to run - all software is loaded from the card as it starts up (so you can use one Pi with different cards booting up for different purposes). Newer Pi models have internal memory

I spent quite a bit of lockdown experimenting with Arduinos.

I have the standard Arduino Uno which is similar to a Raspberry Pi, plus a large Arduino Mega which has more memory space and more connections plus Nanos which are small with less memory and less connections - the Nano is like a Pico
With the Arduino you programme on a computer then download into the Arduinos internal memory

Your existing ‘old and slow’ laptop can probably be used to programme Pis / Arduinos. But with the Pi he could ‘build’ a new computer - it still wouldn’t have the range of capabilties of a laptop / computer but they are capable of many things

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/arduino-vs-raspberry-pi-which-is-the-mini-computer-for-you/

It will be worth checking in with the school on what he uses and will use at school, and then getting set that guides through a series of projects.
There are various sets that contain the Pi/Arduino plus components to build a range of projects to learn to use them.

You plug it into another computer using USB plugs :)

We've used our raspberry pi to programme Christmas lights and for running old school games. It's pretty easy to get started, loads of YouTube tutorials. Also got the pihut advent set to try over the holidays.

@DiamandaTheGreat your description is basically correct - it's a small, cheap computer. You can plug in a keyboard, screen and mouse and use it like any other computer, though with more limited functionality. That's great if you can't afford a more expensive computer. However, you can also use it to build things and control things (aka "physical computing"). There are all kinds of projects for kids on the Raspberry Pi website: https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en.

Thanks so much everyone, I appreciate this idiot-proof language!

My issue with the Pico, then, is that our family laptop is rubbish - unbelievably slow to load anything and freezes all the time. I have a fancy work laptop but can't leave the kids on that unsupervised really. We have an iPad and a Kindle but I'm presuming I can't connect the Pico to the former as there's no USB. (Could it connect to a Kindle?)

I think it's initially the physical computing side my kids would be interested in, but they also like (basic) coding on Scratch and love Minecraft. Now I'm wondering whether it would be better to get one of the non-Pico ones, with a keyboard and screen, it we still need to rely on a computer....honestly, can't wait for the switch when my kids become better at tech than me and can talk me through all this/patronise me about it.

The new Raspberry Pi 5 is a fairly capable Linux desktop computer if you add a monitor, a mouse, and a keyboard. I'd go for the 8 GB memory model.

I've got three Raspberry Pi 4s and there are ways of using a PC or laptop to run one using a setup called VNC. Lots of interesting fun. My DH doesn't understand any of it!

Thanks again everyone for these response - apologies @tommika, I missed.yours originally but thanks, very useful!

I've bought a Pico starter kit from Pimoroni and have rebooted my laptop a few times and deleted a lot of old apps and files, including some startup processes, so am hoping it speeds up a tad! If not then we'll have to get a new laptop for general use sooner or later anyway, bit either way the Pico will be compatible and we can have a go at some physical computing challenges. If he enjoys it then I might eventually get one of the newer Pis within a keyboard, which look good, for more general computing stuff.

My current laptop won't upgrade to Windows 11 but it tells me Windows 10 will be supported til late 2025, if it makes it that far 😂

Don’t worry about the ‘support’ deadlines for operating systems

It just means that Microsoft stop providing updates
The system should be working by then, without needing ‘fixes’, and hackers should have found all the vulnerabilities requiring locking down — plus will have moved on to the newer systems.
It pretty much just means you’ll have less or no choice of new printers etc

Our nuclear submarine fleet relies on Windows XP (note that closure of support really means that Microsoft won’t provide public updates but will do so for businesses & governments that will pay

Note that Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon under less computing power than a Pico (though they didn’t entirely trust the electronic computers until the women ‘computers’ checked all the calculations manually)…… and the ‘problem’ Jim Lovells told Houston he had was also solved by less computing power than a Pico (and manual checking of course)

Have fun with the Pico, and good luck with having a house full of gadgets built out of them

Love those facts, @tommika! That's incredible re the moon landings power.

Our nuclear submarine fleet relies on Windows XP

I doubt the XP system is connected to the internet though. 😁

That reminds me of the great security fanfare of Windows NT security at the US DoD levels of compliance - which included not connecting to a network and keeping equipment in a locked room