WEBVTT - TechStuff Samples Some Raspberry Pi 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.960 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:08.840 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:17.680 tech Stuff from how stuff dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:20.040 and welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Poulette 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:22.560 and I am an editor at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:24.759 Sitting across from me, as he always does when we 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:29.000 record these podcasts, is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. When Dick 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:35.040 Gibson was a little boy, he was not Dick Gibson. Uh. 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:37.320 And today we're going to sort of discuss one of 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:41.240 our favorite topics. But you're about to reveal longtime listeners 0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.240 will know why this is going to be a difficult one. Yep, yep, yep. 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:46.760 First of all, this comes to us courtesy of a 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:52.080 little Facebook feedback. This comes from Arthur. He says, Hey, guys, 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:54.120 I was wondering if you could maybe do a podcast 0:00:54.160 --> 0:01:00.880 on the Raspberry Hi computer PI PI. I love pie. 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:05.279 Pie is awesome. It's both the number and the food, 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:08.119 especially when the food in the number converge. Yes, because 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:11.040 it is in this case raspberry pie is spelled p 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:13.600 I like the number, but it has raspberry like the 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:18.560 delicious fruity filling that we all love. So yeah, and 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:21.440 it is not the next build of Android. No, no, 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:25.240 in fact, it's specifically not Android. But you know, Jonathan, 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:27.520 where you do you remember that the episode we recorded 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:30.520 not too long ago about Commodore sixty four. I do 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:35.120 recall such an episode. We're laughing to ourselves because in 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:37.520 recording time, we did that last week, so you know 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:39.520 that the episodes will be spaced out, so it's not 0:01:39.600 --> 0:01:42.800 that close together anyway. But don't worry, We're already spaced 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:45.960 out enough as this absolutely. Now. One of the things 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:48.760 we touched on in the Commodore sixty four episode was 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:52.960 that this was that machine sold a lot of of 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:56.440 uh computers to a lot of people. And one of 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:58.880 the things that people did with those, especially young people, 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:02.080 and it was fun to create your own programs, to 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:05.200 learn exactly how programming works. In fact, the Commodore sixty 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:08.440 four was the best selling computer of all time if 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:11.720 you look at a very specific model of computer. Yes, 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:13.880 so the Commodore sixty four sold I think it was 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:18.080 seventeen million units, which was pretty incredible for a single device, 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:20.959 especially given the the time at which it was sold 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:24.160 and uh um, the price at which it sold. Uh, 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:27.720 that was not the heyday of computing, but it's really 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:30.919 sort of started the whole snowball rolling. And for a 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:34.119 lot of people, uh, people who create your favorite software 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:37.600 games and other programs. Uh, a lot of them sort 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:40.079 of cut their teeth on the Commodore sixty four not 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:43.880 which was literally because those were really big, bulky, heavy machines. 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:45.640 I knew he was going to say that. Uh, no, 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:48.720 they were. They got their feet wet programming. Let's use 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:50.680 a different analogy yet, that which, by the way, I 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:53.840 do not recommend when you're using electrical device. I knew 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:57.320 he sin as I said. Okay, So actually the device 0:02:57.400 --> 0:02:59.600 we're talking about now, the Raspberry Pie, is created to 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:04.519 do really very much the same thing. Yeah. In fact, 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:08.080 there's a great backstory to this device. That's that's what 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:10.959 I think is the really compelling part of this. Yeah. 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:14.680 I mean, the device itself is awesome too, but the 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:19.160 reason behind it is is fantastic. So over in jolly 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:22.120 old England across the pond, and I promise I'm not 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:25.880 going to do my terrible fake English accent today, a 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:29.160 fellow by the name of even Upton, who worked in 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:33.680 admissions at Cambridge university and also would do lectures there. 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:39.760 He noticed a disturbing trend. Incoming students who are interested 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:44.040 in studying computer science seemed to be to have a 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:47.880 less of a grasp on the way computers work than 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:51.600 previous generations of students. So, in other words, as time 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:55.000 has gone on, people, the incoming classes seem to be 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:59.480 more ignorant of the way computers work than the previous class, which, 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:02.240 you know, think that's odd because we're in a world 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:05.320 where computers are much more pervasive than they ever have 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:07.960 been before, to the point where you might have a 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:11.400 computer in your pants pocket, as a smartphone or a 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:14.760 tablet on your on your desk, or or even the 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:17.760 device you're listening to right now might very well be 0:04:17.839 --> 0:04:21.560 considered a computer. Well at, computers are in lots of things. 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:23.640 Computers are in your car and in your fridge and 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:27.480 in all sorts of other stuff. But the thing is, uh, 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:30.960 today's computers, the computer computer, the one that sits on 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:33.920 on your desktop or a laptop or desktop machine. Um, 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:39.440 those computers just work and do everything for you. Yeah. Yeah, 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:41.760 So back back when we're talking about the old Commodore 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:45.120 sixty four days, those were days where you're using UH 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:48.600 interface where it's all text based. You're typing stuff into 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:52.080 the computer to get it to do things, and people 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:54.720 were wondering, well, wait, how does this work? How does 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:58.400 how does what I type in translate into this action? 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:01.880 And how can I create my own programs knowing that 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:05.760 there's this one language I can use to build something 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:08.560 that that you know, when you execute a command it 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:11.480 does something kind of cool, and you've got a lot 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:15.440 of people getting into it and sort of a hobbyist level. Well, 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:17.320 those people when they would go to school, some of 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:21.120 them would say, you know, I loved tinkering with that stuff. 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:23.200 I want to learn more about it. This is what 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:25.840 I'm going to pursue as a career, and they became 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:31.160 that generation of computer engineers and scientists. Well, the problem 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:33.719 is that we've got these devices that are now so 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:37.080 sophisticated and do so much for us that that level 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:40.760 of tinkering has been taken out. It's really hard to 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:45.720 tinker with a device that's running say a sophisticated graphics 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:49.640 UH graphic user interface. You know you can't. You're not 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:53.960 seeing the underlying programming that's making this all go, and 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:57.120 you might very well not have very much exposure to it. 0:05:57.160 --> 0:06:01.120 And in fact, Upton's point was that he said that 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:03.839 the students he was encountering, most of them, had little 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:06.919 to no understanding of any programming. If they had anything, 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:11.320 it was HTML programming, which is not really programming ht 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:16.039 mls markup language. It changes the way stuff looks, but 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:19.880 it's not truly a programming language, right. You know, if 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:21.960 I may be permitted an analogy, I think it's sort 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:24.680 of like somebody going to say, you know what, I 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:28.600 want to become a mechanic, and somebody goes, okay, so 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:32.000 you have a car. What makes it go? Well? I 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:34.440 step on the gas and it makes it go. Yeah, 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:37.279 but what about the engine? What about the parts of 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:40.159 an engine? And they go, I don't, I don't know. 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:42.719 The gas makes it move forward. I know that I 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:44.600 put the groceries in the trunk and at the other 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:49.360 end there's something exactly. And that was that was Upton's point, 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:53.719 was that students only had a very superficial understanding of computers. 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:57.400 They had nothing. It's it seemed like it was getting 0:06:57.400 --> 0:06:59.839 worse each year. Yeah. Now, I mean you you have 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:04.159 computers now, um that come with programming language is built 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.920 into the computer when you take it home and unwrap 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:08.760 it and take it out of the box, it's got 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:11.480 that stuff. But a lot of people don't even mess 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:14.840 with it. And he wanted um, he wanted people to 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:20.360 be able to get started programming in a very inexpensive way. Yeah, 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:24.200 and so he Upton realized, and it's this is all 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:29.520 stated on the Raspberry Pie Pie. It's it's stated on 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:32.240 their on their web page. So if you go to 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:34.160 the web page, you can actually read this whole story 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:38.280 that we're summarizing here. But Upton's point was that he 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:42.960 knows that access does not automatically solve a problem, no, right, 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:46.920 but that without access you can't solve a problem. And 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:49.480 so one of the things he thought would be important 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.760 is to try and create a very very low cost 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:56.760 computer that would give people the opportunity to really play 0:07:56.840 --> 0:08:00.160 with programming in a way that hasn't been seen. It's 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.480 the days of the Common War sixty four and other 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:06.000 computers of that era. Yes, And so he set out 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:09.360 to try and create as an affordable a computer as possible. 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:12.960 This is essentially it's a nonprofit approach. It's a charity 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:16.280 approach to this, UM too, so that you could get 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:19.080 as many of them into schools and into private hands 0:08:19.120 --> 0:08:23.400 as possible, so that people kids mostly could really get 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:27.080 their hands on some programming and perhaps this would inspire 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:30.760 the next generation of computer engineers. In fact, they're talking 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:34.400 about the possibility of a buy one, send one approach 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:37.280 in the future. Um. They as the time we're recording 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:41.000 this in January twelve, they just started manufacturing these devices, 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:44.240 probably within the last uh six to eight weeks from 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:46.760 what I understand, So they're still pretty new and if 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:48.800 you go to the shop, they are not actually in 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:50.440 the shop. The only thing that's in the shop right 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:53.800 now are stickers for keyboards. Um, so they might they 0:08:53.840 --> 0:08:57.320 might send one later. A lot of the places like 0:08:57.360 --> 0:08:59.880 a one laptop per Child do that where you can 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.840 can purchase a machine for someone else who may not 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:04.920 otherwise be able to afford one, and they will send 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:07.319 it out and help somebody get started, which I think 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:09.920 is is a nice idea. And Raspberry Pie does the 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:13.120 same thing where you can choose pie where you can 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:16.920 choose to actually send it to huh. You know, instead 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:20.000 of purchasing one for yourself, you just spend the money 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:23.000 in order for someone else to have this device. So 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:27.440 let's talk about what the device actually is. Well, the device, Um, 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:29.960 if you're looking for something, if you're one of those 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:33.160 people who looks at a computer and it just works, Uh, 0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:35.319 this device maybe kind of mystifying to you because it 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:38.439 doesn't have a case. It looks like a circuit circuit board, 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:42.560 UM with stuff on it. Yep, it's it's kind of interesting. 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:45.600 It is. It is. It's the heart of a computer. 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:49.680 But it's a tiny, tiny size. Actually, I think I 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:52.760 have the the the diagram looks it looks like this. 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:54.520 I'll hold it up to the mic and you can 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:57.080 do you want to look at it at the Raspberry 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:59.080 Pie site right now, I was gonna I was gonna 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:03.319 actually give the out the measurements. Okay, eighty five point 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:07.679 six millimeters by fifty three point nine eight millimeters and 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:14.000 that's length and width that for. So it's it's tiny, Yeah, 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:15.800 it's it's about the size of a I don't know, 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:21.240 a smartphone, a fablet. Yeah, it's the slice you did 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:25.600 that just in my forehead. It's um, it's got, it's 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:29.200 got a few UM interfaces soldered onto the board. Um. 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:30.960 Of course, it's got. It's got a process or chip 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:34.560 a Broadcom b C M five ARM chip. It's seven 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:37.560 hundred mega hurts. It's not the fastest thing in the world. 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:39.840 But it does have an r C A video out, 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:44.840 an audio jack, UM USB too, an Ethernet jack on 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:46.079 one of the two. They have an A and and 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:48.719 B model UM. They have an h B H D 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:53.400 M I port, micro USB for power, and an SD 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:56.920 card slot. It also will work on batteries. Yes, four 0:10:57.160 --> 0:10:59.480 double as I think is what it will work on. 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:03.440 But you can also use the micro USB and plug 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:05.920 in a cable and either plug that into another device 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:08.120 or into a wall to power it. So it's got 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:10.600 no monitor installed, though you can hook it up to one. 0:11:10.600 --> 0:11:14.400 It's got um no, you know, it's got networking capabilities, 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:18.800 no WiFi. It weighs forty five grams or one tenth 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:21.160 of a pound. It does have a few L A 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:24.679 D s to tell you how it's working. Um and 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:27.600 UM yeah it's it's so essentially what you would do 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:29.760 with this thing is uh, let's say that you have 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:32.440 the Model A. Okay, so you would use an HD 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:35.000 M I out probably for you to go out to 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:38.120 a television or a monitor, and then you would use 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:41.040 a three and a half millimeter headphone jack. You would 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:43.079 plug your headphones and so you could get sound. Although 0:11:43.080 --> 0:11:45.240 like with hdm I, that's gonna carry sound too, so 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:47.280 you can actually have sounds straight through the monitor if 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:50.120 your monitor has UM speakers in it, So if you're 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:53.320 using a television, you could just use the TV speakers. Uh. 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:57.640 You would also use a USB keyboard and plug that 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:00.760 into it, and then you've got your keyboard user interface. 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:02.199 If you want to have a mouse, then what you 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:04.960 would need to do is get a USB hub, plug 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:09.480 that into a keyboard. That right, what in which case 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:12.280 the keyboard itself as a hub. Um. But anyway, you 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:15.280 gotta have a USB hub, possibly in the shape of 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:18.199 a keyboard, and then you can plug your mouse into that. 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:21.679 And the thing is that it doesn't have a hard 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:24.760 drive on it, but you could get a have a 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:26.720 clock on it either. Yeah, you can get an external 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:29.320 hard drive and and plug that into it if you 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:34.480 wanted to. Um, so you would have the using a 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:36.719 using a lot of existing technology. You might have to 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:38.480 actually go out and buy the keyboard. The funny thing 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:42.360 is the keyboard might actually cost more than the Raspberry Pie. 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:45.600 It depends on because yeah, the two models. The Model 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:49.040 A that has no Ethernet is twenty five dollars. The 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:54.400 model B that has eithernet is a Princely bringing the 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:56.959 Princely back. There was a Model T and you could 0:12:57.000 --> 0:12:58.760 get it in any color as long as it's black. 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:04.720 But that's a Ford joke. So yeah, the two models. Uh, 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:10.000 that's incredibly affordable for a fully functional computer. And you 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.880 might wonder, well, what does this computer run? These are 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:17.559 designed to run uh, specific Linux distros. Yes, so we're 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:21.240 not talking Windows or the mac os or or even 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:25.000 certain Linux distributions like a Buntu do not work with 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:28.240 it yet. It doesn't run Android at the moment. Originally 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:32.720 it was going to run a Buntu, but then Buntu realized. 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:35.080 The people behind a bunt to realize that they were 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:38.600 not hitting their schedule properly, so they knew that they 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:40.720 were not gonna be able to build in support for 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:44.720 Raspberry Pie. Uh. They did at the top, it did 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:47.880 sound like that. It's something that Canonical, the company behind 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.800 one Too, and other distributions of Linux are are working on, 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:54.640 but it's not currently available. The specific ones that are 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:58.920 available at launch are Debian, Fedora, and arch Linux. Those 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:00.880 are the three that can work right at the top 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:03.199 of the as soon as it's ships and there have 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:07.280 been some beta once sent out already. It also sounded 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:10.360 like it's possible that they that that the makers of 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:15.840 Raspberry Pie Pie would be willing to accept uh Android, 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:18.240 but they're not going to port it themselves somebody else. 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:20.640 If somebody else does it, they'll be cool with that. 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:22.920 But in other words, this this is a very open 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:25.560 source kind of approach where the community is going to 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:31.960 provide a lot of the actual content and functionality beyond 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:35.680 just the basics that that the foundation that has been 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:38.160 created to do this will will do. Also, the Model 0:14:38.160 --> 0:14:40.360 A and Model B, I should mention they also have 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:45.440 different amounts of memory. Yes, a megabytes of memory. Model 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:48.440 B is two und fifty six megabytes of memory, and 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:50.600 uh I think I think the Model B actually has 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:53.640 two USB ports, which could be good because you could 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:58.480 plug in a WiFi dongle into uh you know, one 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:03.320 of the Raspberry Pie devices um to to give it 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:07.000 WiFi connectivity, but it's not built into the to the board. Yeah. Yeah, 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:09.960 That's the nice thing about USB, right is that there's 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:14.160 so many different peripherals that use that standard that can 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:18.600 really extend the functionality of any computer, but particularly for 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:21.920 something like this, where it's just a very creative approach 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:26.040 to solving this problem. So yeah, the whole goal here 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:28.320 is that you get this device in as many hands 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:32.520 as possible, and the Linux distros are designed in such 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:35.400 a way that that they do kind of harken back 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:37.880 to that common Wore sixty four day where it's it's 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:41.720 it requires a certain level of investment on the part 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:44.680 of the user to learn how the system works and 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:47.840 and to really kind of explore it. Um. And that's 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:50.040 the whole purpose of this is not you know, it's 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:52.920 not just that it's a cheap computer that can get 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:55.160 into the hands of people. That the ultimate purpose is 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:58.840 to inspire people to really look into programming and learn 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:01.920 more about it and and possibly become the next you know, 0:16:02.440 --> 0:16:06.640 genius programmer. Um. And so mainly they're going to be 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:10.640 working with the Python programming language, but there are also 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:16.680 other languages supported, including Basic, although it's from what I 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:21.360 understand it's a form of Basic called BBC Basic. There's 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:26.640 also the C programming language and Perl. So um, there 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:29.240 will be other languages probably added in support will be 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:34.400 added in later. Uh and UH, it's any programming language 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:37.000 that the limitation is that the program gramming language has 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:40.560 to have support for Linux because that's the obering system 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:45.280 and for ARM processors. Yeah, because not every programming language 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:48.440 works with every processor. It's one of those tricky things 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:50.960 about computers is that you know, you've just when you 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:52.600 think you get it all figured out, you realize that 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:56.560 there's a hardware limitation. Yeah. But those those languages that 0:16:56.640 --> 0:17:00.600 you mentioned, for the most part, are process are neutral. 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:03.640 I mean those those uh, you know, Python, C Pearl, 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:07.920 those are they're all you know, cross platform. Um. And 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:10.400 you might be saying, well, you know, you guys, that 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:13.760 sounds pretty cool and all, but uh, you know, for 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:16.600 the general public, why is that interesting? Well, for one thing, 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:20.120 it gives more people a chance to try out computer 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:23.080 programming inexpensively. I mean, this is something that if you've 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:25.520 always wanted to do, this could be a cool way 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:29.080 to get into uh uh to hacking and learning how 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:32.720 to write your own software and how computers work. This 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:34.960 is this is an inexpensive way to get your your 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:40.639 not your feet wet, you're you're you could dive into 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:45.359 you could try programming. But um, but yeah, there there's 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:50.000 also another audience. That again, the Raspberry Pie people are 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:54.160 not discouraging at all, And those are the people who 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:56.960 already know how to do this stuff but want to 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:59.560 try and making something else out of this little computer. 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:01.800 And of the things I've already seen them do is 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:05.840 messing with XMBC, which is a media center at an 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:10.560 open source media center. Um and uh it's available again. 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:13.600 This is cross platform you can build your own. Remember 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:15.639 now is a podcast from a long time ago, building 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:19.240 your own uh media media center. Um. But this and 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:24.520 this operating system works for existing machines Lennox, Windows, mac 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:28.240 os ten um works on all of them. But they've 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:32.680 seen XNBC running on a Raspberry Pie. Um. So the 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:36.080 question is what can makers do with this device. We 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:39.520 talked about the Arduino and the micro controller board. This 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:42.640 is another device like that, exactly in the way that 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:46.200 you can I would say, this is this is two computers, 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:49.840 is two circuits. Yes, so uh yeah, I've already heard 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:53.720 about people who are interested in robotics using this as 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:57.480 a component in in uh their next robot. I also 0:18:57.520 --> 0:19:01.040 saw a video online of a guy who had created 0:19:01.280 --> 0:19:05.639 a essentially what what it amounts to an Apple TV 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:10.040 using this where he could he could push video from 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:16.440 an iPad to a television through the raspberry pie pie. 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:21.879 So yeah, so, I mean they're the applications are numerous. 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:24.120 So and and the nice thing is at twenty five 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:27.960 or thirty five dollars a pop, it's a really affordable component. 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:30.639 I mean, you're talking about hobbies that you know, hobbyists 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:34.280 in these areas are sometimes accustomed to spending multiple hundreds 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:37.000 of dollars on on projects. So when you suddenly have, 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:39.600 like the brains of your project is twenty five or 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:42.520 thirty five dollars, that opens up a lot of opportunities. 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:44.479 I mean, even if you went down to the computer 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:48.400 store you said, I wanted to build a computer, use 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:53.160 for my computer to have a computer cheaper than and um, 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:55.080 I believe they're also talking about a case. So if 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:57.800 that that's putting you off, Yeah, there's no case right now, 0:19:57.840 --> 0:19:59.720 but that there are plans for that in the future. 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:03.560 So it's uh, because that's that's one thing some folks 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:07.159 have said, like, well, it looks a little cluji. It 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:09.840 looks a little like, you know, you've got this hardware. 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:13.040 Showing that to some people just seems a little weird, 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:15.080 like it looks like you naked circuit board. Yeah, it 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:16.960 looks like looks like someone went crazy and took a 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:19.679 radio apart or something, and now there's just these pieces 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:23.280 sitting around. So there is talk about creating a case, 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:26.480 although I'm sure there's gonna be plenty of people out 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:28.640 there who are going to. The folks that I think 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:30.600 really this appeals to are the same ones who will 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:33.359 go out and build their own cases. Who will you know, 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:38.440 you'll end up seeing like some really crazy interesting variations 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:45.280 on cases for the raspberry pie pie. Uh and I've 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:49.800 already seen a Lego based case. Yeah, yeah, it makes 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:51.800 perfect sense to me. Yeah, of course you don't want 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:53.959 to completely steal it off because you've got to not 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:56.800 only provide access to the porch, but also provide a 0:20:56.800 --> 0:20:59.760 little cooling. Um, make sure a little air can get 0:20:59.760 --> 0:21:03.320 to it. But um, but yeah, I mean for considering 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:06.680 it will take wired or wireless connections and I'm including 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:10.320 power in that. Um, you can do all kinds of 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:14.320 things with this little device, um, and possibly get a 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:17.760 whole new generation of people interested in what it takes 0:21:17.800 --> 0:21:22.040 to uh to learn programming and learn what you can 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:26.240 do with computers of all kinds. Um. You know, I 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:29.960 think this is an excellent opportunity and I'm a great idea. Um. 0:21:30.000 --> 0:21:31.760 And the nice thing is too that all the hackers 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:34.919 will who are buying up the machines will also provide 0:21:34.920 --> 0:21:38.480 money for the charity side, um, who can then possibly 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:41.760 distribute these two people who are just getting started, who 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:45.119 may not necessarily have the money to to get involved. Yeah. Yeah, no, 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:48.199 it's a it's a really cool idea. And I all, 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:51.119 I can predict already that I'm gonna pick one of 0:21:51.119 --> 0:21:54.719 these up as I can, because I mean, for thirty 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:58.080 five dollars, how can I not? And Uh, it would 0:21:58.080 --> 0:22:00.639 be just be cool to have something where I could, 0:22:01.080 --> 0:22:05.120 you know, have a device specifically where I'm learning to program, 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:08.320 maybe do a couple of these hacks, uh and uh 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:10.320 and just sort of experiment with it, you know, use 0:22:10.359 --> 0:22:12.520 it for what it was intended for, really, to to 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:17.640 to learn about programming. And uh, frankly, I've I've while 0:22:17.680 --> 0:22:20.639 I know about programming, I've never really gotten into it 0:22:20.680 --> 0:22:22.360 on a deep level. Back when I was a kid. 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:26.359 I started getting into it with basic, but you know, 0:22:26.400 --> 0:22:30.119 I never went far beyond the program that when you 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:32.520