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University of Cambridge Offers Free Online Raspberry Pi Course

Posted by samzenpus on from the learn-all-about-it dept.

Barence writes "The University of Cambridge has released a free 12-step online course on building a basic operating system for the Raspberry Pi. The course, Baking Pi — Operating Systems Development, was compiled by student Alex Chadwick during a summer interning in the school's computer lab, and has been put online to help this year's new recruits start work with the device. The university has already purchased a Raspberry Pi for every new Computer Science student starting in 2012."

12 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Free Raspberry Pi *... by hattig · · Score: 2

    Wish I had got a free computer when I went to university there. They should buy all their ex-compsci-students one as well, IMO.

    Free PC + £100 of mouse/keyboard/SD/monitor is a lot cheaper than a full PC. However I suspect that most development will be done on a main PC cross-compiling to the device.

    And this hardware will provide a baseline computing platform to teach upon.

  2. Re:teknohabercim.com by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 2

    When will it start this course?

    In due course. The Rasp Pi doesn't have a lot of power, it takes a while to boot up...

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    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  3. Do they have a course on how to order one... by supremebob · · Score: 2, Interesting

    And actually get it delivered to you? I ordered mine back in mid June, and I'm STILL waiting for it.

    Latest ETA was late September.

  4. "operating system" by Hazel+Bergeron · · Score: 2

    I think it's a miniature course in elements of systems programming rather than a tutorial on writing an operating system in the modern sense.

    It worries me that something as simple as a Raspberry Pi is offered to all Cambridge undergrads, though. This is supposed to be the best university in the country - why are there people being admitted to its courses who aren't already playing with stuff like this in their spare time as kids?

    1. Re:"operating system" by bugs2squash · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What do you mean by simple ? It's as complex to program as anything else, the development environment is as rich as any other and it has the backing of a sophisticated community. Or are you one of those people who think real comp sci is all about using excel and word.

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      Nullius in verba
    2. Re:"operating system" by inasity_rules · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Ever try to write an OS? In assembler? I did. Got as far as memory management before I gave up. I had a text graphics driver and all too. The device may be simple. Programming it and what can be done with it is not. All you need is imagination. And move them to a C compiler fast. Assembly gets hectic too quickly. Sure minuet did it, but those guys are certifiably insane. My kind of insane, but insane nevertheless...

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      I have determined that my sig is indeterminate.
    3. Re:"operating system" by jareth-0205 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This is supposed to be the best university in the country - why are there people being admitted to its courses who aren't already playing with stuff like this in their spare time as kids?

      Because not everyone has the support & background to be already proficient at something before they go to university - this is why we have educational establishments!

      It's not like the 80's when consumer computers were geared towards programming, there were languages build-in to the micros and monthly programming magazines. The kids of today have it *far* more convoluted and difficult to get into than I did. In fact, this is the entire reason the Raspberry Pi was created, to bring entry-level programming back.

    4. Re:"operating system" by Hazel+Bergeron · · Score: 2

      What? I have written a couple of toy operating systems for the x86 platform. The first time round was around 1998 using the Risc PC 486DX4 copro, and the second time round was much easier because I could test using a VMware / VirtualBox VM. They both boot on the bare hardware too.

      I don't see why I need a Raspberry Pi for any of this this. And it is indeed not like the '80s, where only the more privileged kids had computers at home, and the programming environments were far more limited.

      The Pi may be quite useful as a controller for embedded devices, but it really has very little point as an educational tool for general-purpose systems programming.

    5. Re:"operating system" by davidshewitt · · Score: 2

      I disagree - I think it's easier than ever to get started with programming. The kids of today have an entire Internet full of programming tutorials. It's much easier to Google a question than it is to try to look it up in a book, which is what one had to do in the 80's.

    6. Re:"operating system" by pointyhat · · Score: 2

      Yes but you don't want to have to reinstall it every 5 minutes when you break something. Please don't say the word QEMU either as it's not the same.

      I notice you are from the UK. In the mid 90's we had a surplus of BBC micros from schools available. We used them to test hardware interfaces for micrcontrollers so they didn't blow up expensive dev hardware. If it blew up, you'd throw the beeb in a skip and get another one out of the cupboard.

      That's what the Pi is for both with respect to software and hardware. It's a "shitbox" you can trash every 5 minutes.

  5. Re:Free Rapberry Pi *... by pnot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    .... *(mouse, keyboard and large HDMI LCD panel for your room not included)

    Also not included: electricity to run the LCD panel, a room to put it in, food and drink to nourish yourself while using the Pi, room heating, toilet paper, organic fair trade coffee with unlimited free refills, jumbo size jar of dill pickles, free haircut, health insurance, manicure, or personal trainer.

    Seriously though, if you're being given a free thing, it's a little churlish to complain that you're not being given more free things. Anyone who doesn't want their RasPi can probably sell it to a fellow student who wants an extra one...

  6. Onboard programmable LED! by Kevin+Newman · · Score: 2

    I think the course is great. After the initial excitement of getting my Pi up and running (to the point of doing a Google search) this little board has been sitting around on my desk for a few weeks gathering dust. Finding out that the little LED labelled "OK" on the Pi's PCB is hooked up to the GPIO and can be turned on/off with a few lines of assembly language is exciting news! Browsing through the pages of this online course... 10/10 to the author for an ace job at tutorial writing. You end up compiling to a new kernel.img that you copy over to the SD card. Plug it in, turn it on and it boots into your assembly. Somehow not as super-human feeling as directly controlling a 286 with Turbo Assembler back in the teenage years but certainly the most excited I've been in a long time. My only prayer is that those pimply faced youths appreciate just how awesome it is to be controlling a piece of sand to make some gallium arsenide pump out bursts of photons are regular intervals. The tutorial goes as far as describing and working with the message API to control the display driver. Gives a great overview of how the system works at a low level. Fantastic.