Raspberry Pi

[MoMandaS]

Thinking of getting Raspberry Pi for my 11 year old who likes coding, but despite looking at the website I'm not clear what it does, how it's used or what else it needs to go with it (e.g. a monitor?). Any advice would be very welcome!

All he has at the moment is a Kindle Fire and access to a Windows laptop.

A Raspberry Pi is a single board computer. Normally Linux is installed on it and it is very good for various types of coding such as Python.

One would need at least a SD card (or SSD) in order to install a suitable operating system. A HDMI lead which could be connected to a TV or monitor, a keyboard and a mouse.

The Raspberry Pi 5 has just been released in the last few months but it is difficult to obtain at present. However, the situation should be better at the beginning of next year. I pre-ordered mine a few months back and I am still waiting for it. The Raspberry Pi 4 is more readily available and would be suitable for coding depending on what he wants to code. I have a couple of these. One I have as a web server and the other as a NAS/homelab. I also have a Raspberry Pi 3 which I use as a backup webserver and a Raspberry Pi 2 which is being used as a PiHole. Depending on your budget I would advise going for at least the Raspberry Pi 4 or wait for the Pi 5 due to it having more RAM and a faster processor. Be careful of where you buy it because I have heard that some people are selling it for way over the RRP on auction sites etc. I am not associated with Raspberry Pi in any way but I would recommend a retailer such as the PiHut or Pimoroni.

By the way, he may probably need a case too.

Another thread here is talking about the Raspberry Pi and you may be interested in something like this:

https://camjam.me/?page_id=618

The Pi Hut also has various kits and a 12 day advent calendar at the moment which is fun.

Sorry, I have just thought about an Official Raspberry Pi USB-C Power Supply which you will need too.

This page should guide you in the right direction:

https://thepihut.com/collections/raspberry-pi-kits-and-bundles

Thank you,this is all very useful!