Thinking Raspberry pi for dd rising 12

[lexcat]

My own IT skills are ok but far from good, but dd is very different. I would be useless in helping her in any way if she had a raspberry pi. We have monitor key board and mouse from an old computer but what else do you need to start off. Plus is their any good guide out their to start dd off if I where to get her a raspberry pi.

Lastly is it a good tool for child of her age. She whats to be an engineer and thought the raspberry pi look a great tool to further her education in a area if intrest to her.

Great idea - we need more female engineers. I was one of 4 women out of around 135 students when I did my BEng!! If she has any issues with the device, I'm sure you could just relay them here, or via a more specialised online forum. I am (and I think a few others here?) v.familiar with Linux. The recommended OS for the Raspberry Pi (Raspbian) is Debian Linux based, which is what I use on our home and business servers, so even though I've not personally touched a Raspberry Pi yet, I could probably work it out if she had any questions. Have a look here for what you need to get started www.raspberrypi.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/quick-start-guide-v1.1.pdf

DH says definitely, without a doubt, she'll love it. He's loving his new toy, hours of fun and its not even working properly yet apparently. Do beware however, he's had to buy a new monitor as its got to be HDMI, so he's actually ended up with a small TV as they're cheaper.

We are going to get it for our children, ds1 and ds2 have used it at school and its fab.

Oh, that's interesting about using an RCA jack. I have a neighbour who was a robotics lecturer at a top London Uni; he bought his ds a raspberry pi and a monitor only to find it didn't have a HDMI socket, so both are sitting on the side unused.

Could someone explain in words of one syllable how you use an RCA jack, please

Would this do the trick. As l have no spare t.v and could still use my spare monitor.

Thank you, going to take a look now. My 10 year old ds is interested in a Raspberry Pi too, and I'm hoping to plug it into my iMac.

You don't want to get involved with the RCA connector - this is for connecting to old analogue displays (i.e. old fashioned televisions).

Monitors have 3 types of connection:

HDMI - will connect straight to the RPi via an HDMI-HDMI cable

DVI - Lots of pins in a rectangle - will connect straight to the RPi but you need an HDMI-DVI lead like this one.

VGA - D-shaped (sort of) - you need a converter lead HDMI-VGA like this one.

he's actually ended up with a small TV as they're cheaper

Be careful when buying a small TV to use as a monitor - the cheaper ones will only be 1366 x 768 which is the same size as a modern laptop screen which is not really enough. You want Full HD really (1920 x 1080), but this needn't be expensive e.g. this one (LG and Samsung are good brands for cheap LCD displays).

But you will get a better monitor for the same price e.g. this one - you will notice the difference particularly if playing fast-moving games.

Was just going to point out the keyboard and mouse need to have USB connectors (mentioned by OP as being from an old computer).

Would also suggest a TV such as this one at 120 inc delivery for a full HD 1080p TV with Freeview (and SART / HDMI / VGA inputs so could plug in a desktop PC too, for using MS Office for school, later on) that also can be

• PVR via USB HDD (or even a 32/ 16/ 8 GB USB stick, I suspect)

• Built-In DVD Player

• USB Media Player Movies/Photo/Music

or even SCART (!)

Looks like that DGM TV is only 100 quid - www.ebay.co.uk/itm/360553826031

EbuyerExpress is Ebuyer.com's 'Outlet store' on Ebay (alongside those of Tesco, Argos, etc)

Could someone do a basic list if what is needed, my boys already have a LCD? TV that is fairly big so they should just be able to set it up to that?

What leads etc will they need and a keyboard/mouse, we have weifi cash they connect it to that?

Not weifu.. WiFi!

5mad - do advanced search on geeky_stuff for 'Raspberry Pi' or 'Pi' or 'RasPi' and you should see past threads about it...

Sorry, that was a bit rude (and you'd still probably miss one of the the half a dozen??? threads about them that have appeared over a number of months).

Main FAQs here

Amazon seller offering a kit with accessories (so you can tick off what you already have and see what else is needed)... or another kit (from Maplin)

NB Not recommending you get either kit, just check the lists of items!

You'll find other things also on Amazon like cases (clear) | cases (blue) | Power Supply with long cable

Thankyou, hadnt seen other threads on them, tbh i only tend to look at 'last 15mins/active convos' so.if it wasnt current when i looked i wouldnt see it.

Thanks for the links, shall.do a bit of research, we have bern given money by a relative as a belated xmas gift and i think.this is something all four boys and dd when she is old enoigh, would enjoy.

At the price, you could perhaps consider 2 (and later 3!!) to reduce fights :)