A long time ago I had a Commodore VIC-20 which was a gift from my cousin. The IBM-compatible PCs were firmly entrenched by this time, so the VIC-20 was obsolete but still functioned.
I spent many hours playing with it. Once I discovered the User I/O port, I realized its true power. It wasn't a powerful computer on its own, but the fact that it could easily interface with the real world gave it abilities that the PC clones of the era didn't have.
This Raspberry Pi PC reminds me of that VIC-20. Like the VIC-20, it's got a User I/O port and encourages tinkering. Unlike the VIC-20 I had, this is a modern computer that can be used for everything that we expect a modern computer to do.
I hope this encourages a new generation of tinkerers!
That's what I was thinking about as well when I saw it. It's very reminiscent of the VIC-20 and C64. A tinkerer's computer. It's really cool that products like that exist again today, and are so affordable. Almost anyone can buy this for their kid for Christmas!
I guess Python is the modern BASIC? I feel like what it's missing is an easy to use graphics package for drawing lines, circles and other basic shapes (kind of like the JS canvas, but more oriented towards beginners). I wonder if there's a pip package that does this well (and doesn't require installing a bunch of dependencies)?
I'm also thinking this computer could be further made easier to use for beginners by having a kind of breakout board that plugs into the GPIO and has written labels, makes it easier to connect things (screw terminals?).
There are easier libraries, but turtle [0] and tkinter (tcl/tk) are both included in the standard library that could be used for graphics. Turtle especially is geared towards beginners its similar to LOGO.
I spent many hours playing with it. Once I discovered the User I/O port, I realized its true power. It wasn't a powerful computer on its own, but the fact that it could easily interface with the real world gave it abilities that the PC clones of the era didn't have.
This Raspberry Pi PC reminds me of that VIC-20. Like the VIC-20, it's got a User I/O port and encourages tinkering. Unlike the VIC-20 I had, this is a modern computer that can be used for everything that we expect a modern computer to do.
I hope this encourages a new generation of tinkerers!