What could be more helpful to inspire a non-technical crowd to become more interested in programming and technology than to provide a simple, inexpensive, unassuming computer only slightly larger than a credit card? While I'm not sure this was the precise thought of the developers of Raspberry Pi but one could imagine similar thoughts occurring to the development team.
In 2006, proponents and supporters of the Raspberry Pi concept brought together a cadre of like-minded people, educators, academics, computer scientists to design a small computer board. In 2008, a group met to form the basis of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The Raspberry Pi Foundation was officially chartered in the UK in 2009. (
wikipedia; Raspberry Pi Foundation)
The Raspberry Pi went through a series of iterative designs phases from 2009 to 2012. The eventual 2012 was based on a Broadcom ARM11 processor with 128MB of RAM; later editions would be upgraded to 256MB of RAM. (
engadget; 2/29/2012)
Raspberry Pi can be connected to a wide variety of devices via USB and HDMI ports. No local hard drive is available but boot operations and local storage is accomplished using an SD card. SD booting allows cards to be configured with a variety of operating systems. To change an operating system, one simply removes the SD card for the current OS and inserts the card containing the desired OS.
Programming the Raspberry Pi can be accomplished using nearly any of the popular programming languages, C/C++, Java, Perl, Python, and some cards support a version of BASIC. For children, languages have been developed, such as Kids Ruby and Scratch, to promote programming in primary schools.
As with any of these open source efforts, like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Python, etc., "official" sources of support do not exist. Do not expect to email the company from which you buy hardware and have them answer your questions, or help you set up your device. To address this void, "communities" have evolved to support people at all skill levels. Before posting questions in a forum, make sure the question is directed to the appropriate community sub-group. There is an etiquette for the use of forums; to avoid protracted and unproductive emails, just make sure some time is spent to direct questions to the appropriate community.
Getting Started
- eLinux :: Probably has more technical jargon than a non-techie would like but another source of detailed information.
- HowToGeek :: HTG has a nice article on the tiny details for getting a RaspPi board up-and-functioning.
- RaspberryPi.org :: The official RaspberryPi website; includes Quick Start guide, downloads, codecs, and a forum.
Support / Help
- Element14 :: Element14 offers the first online community specifically for engineers - from electronic design all the way through maintenance and repair. The community is a place where engineers and electronic enthusiasts.
- MAKE :: If you are really interested in DIY electronics, a subscription to MAKE is almost mandatory.
- Reddit :: Reddit's forums are a decent source of information and help for discovering solutions.
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