Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Why the Raspberry Pi Zero Isn't a Practical Tool For Teaching Students (hackaday.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the some-assembly-required dept.

An anonymous reader writes: This article criticizes the Raspberry PI Foundation's new computer the Zero. It points out that the Foundation says the purpose of the new Pi is to reach students but with all the needed equipment and experience it is ill suited for students. From the Hackaday story: "For development you need to set up the Zero with a power supply, mini-HDMI to HDMI adapter, HDMI cable, the USB OTG cable, USB hub, a keyboard, and possibly a mouse. After some hours of work you’re ready to try the software in your device. The cables are all disconnected and the board connected to the device. Tests are run. You pull the Zero out and plug everything back together for further software work. That’s going to get old really fast so you get a second Zero so one can stay in the device. Now all you need to do is swap the SD card. If you’re going to do that, you don’t need a second Zero since you can use a Pi 2 and get the advantages of its higher speed in development. Alternatively, you can use the USB OTG with a WiFi dongle, copy files to the Zero’s SD, and restart or reboot the device. Over WiFi you can also use SSH or a remote console to monitor the device’s activities. How long did it take you to figure out all the cable connections in the second paragraph above? Do you think a student without a hacker friend will understand that? Remember, the goal is to reach students who don’t know computers."

5 of 190 comments (clear)

  1. Is this meant for beginners? by mwvdlee · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This $5 board seems to be something for current Pi users who want to have "throwaway" boards or only require the GPIO for their project.
    The main selling point of these boards is the price. At this price point it becomes more viable as a core component for standalone products.

    --
    Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
  2. But is one's phone user-programmable? by tepples · · Score: 4, Interesting

    everyone has a phone these days.

    A user-programmable one? Flip phones aren't user-programmable, and iPhones aren't very much so either. Even a brand-new iPad Pro can't run Xcode.

    It's about preserving the economies of scale of programming as a hobby. As mobile devices continue to encroach on the PC's turf for more and more applications, students are more likely to end up with access only to locked-down devices, such as game consoles, iPhones, and iPads. A cheap computer such as the Raspberry Pi is commonly touted as a workaround in comments like this and this.

  3. Re:$5 computer by jandrese · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Probably, but it would have been the tallest connector on the device. Once of the features of the Pi Zero is that you can stick it in exceptionally narrow spaces. The whole thing is only 5mm tall. A full size HDMI port is 5mm for the jack alone, not counting the board beneath it.

    --

    I read the internet for the articles.
  4. Every platform has exclusives by tepples · · Score: 4, Interesting

    LUDDITE Linux can't play Halo!

    Nor can Windows 10 play Gran Turismo 7. Only Orbis OS on PlayStation 4 can, and Orbis OS is based on FreeBSD.

  5. Is that you Bill :) by nickweller · · Score: 3, Interesting

    He says the Raspberry PI isn't suitable for education because it requires effort to configure and students would lose interest and he doesn't like the Raspberry Pi Foundation ..