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by quinkInk 2081 days ago
Isn't this a competitor with the Raspberry PI - who had the same goals? And this was sponsored by the BBC (i.e. via licence payers money). And free devices given to children. Shoudln't the BBC worked with the Raspberry PI foundation (charity) and given Raspberry Pis to children? Also the investment spent in making the PI not 'overwhelming' - which my 9 year old says it isn't (btw).
1 comments
jansan 2081 days ago
No, it's not. This is specifically targeted at kids to learn simple programming. It does not play in the same league as the Raspberry PI.

Programming this thing is amazingly simple. You use a browser based visual editor (at https://makecode.microbit.org/ ), and when finished you download the file and store it on the micro:bit just like storing a file on an USB drive. It will start automatically. Really simple so children see results as fast as possible.

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nottorp 2081 days ago
Gods, how complicated has "simple" become :)

Back in my day, you plugged in your 8 bit computer and it started on a BASIC prompt. It was all self contained.

Also, I had to walk uphill to school in the snow, both ways.

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dboreham 2081 days ago
Lived in a shoe too.
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jansan 2081 days ago
You should compare it to programming an EPROM with your 8-Bit computer, because the micros-bit obviously does not have a screen, keyboard or connection for external storage.
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nottorp 2081 days ago
That makes it easier for the kids, I'm sure.

Btw the 8 bit computers I'm talking about connected to the TV. No need to buy a separate screen.

Now if only modern tvs would accept a digital connection to a computer... oh wait...

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jansan 2081 days ago
I know what you mean, I still have my Commodore 64 and it still works, even the Competition pro does. And I still have S.E.U.C.K., which can be seen as the ancestor of Scratch, on floppy disk.
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MarcScott 2081 days ago
There's also a great addon for Scratch, which means you can make visual games where the micro:bit is used as a controller, for example.
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quinkInk 2081 days ago
But that's software not hardware. That could run on a pi. A PI has a 'usb drive' and you could code the OS to 'start the file' as soon as it is downloaded. Were PIs not conceived to be targeted at kids to learn programming ?
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mmoskal 2081 days ago
You can't run Pi on batteries (at least not for long). If you want any input or output device, you'll have to buy it, which makes it difficult/expensive to embed in projects (eg https://makecode.microbit.org/projects/toys).

Also you can program a micro:bit from a Pi :)

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