The Raspberry Pi Solution

The Raspberry Pi Solution

RaspberryPi.org

Recently, I was wandering through the booths at SXSW in Austin, TX trying not to think of the LONG torturous day that lay ahead of me while my teen-aged boys and their friends were playing games and screaming like 10 year old girls over YouTube stars that I will never remember.  My wanderings took me away from the Gaming Expo over the SXSW CreateATX!  If you are in the Austin area and have even a passing interest in the Maker movement, this annual FREE event is not to be missed. I was excited to see a familiar logo when I entered the main pavilion. The folks from Raspberry Pi were in town showing off their product and giving some great ideas to those of us familiar with it.

If you have never heard of Raspberry Pi, you are in for a surprise!  Raspberry Pi is a fully operational computer!  All you need is a USB mouse, keyboard and some type of   HDMI video monitor.  I now have a couple of these in my classroom arsenal.

Click to find out more about Raspberry Pi

While talking to one of the reps for this company, I found that the philosophy that I had developed was right in line with the company's-- this device could possibly be the answer to the problem of families not being able to afford a computer.  Raspberry Pi is not going to be a threat to any high powered desktop by any means, but it can definitely give families access to the internet, experience with coding, access to streaming media and some limited gaming.  Personally, other than running the online version of Minecraft, I haven't found many things that I can't do on the Pi. (Raspberry Pi comes loaded with MineCraft Pi- a version of
MineCraft formatted for the Linux OS).

The Raspberry Pi costs about $40 on Amazon.  At this price, I really don't worry if the kids do something to mess it up.  I simply reformat the MicroSD card and re-install the operating system.
I found a few places online that sell touch screens for the Pi and am in the process of making little tablets for my kiddos.  I also have one dedicated purely to running my ClassDojo on a TV that I got really cheap at a pawn shop.

There are many other uses for Raspberry Pi-- especially if you are into Making and Tinkering. I found so many things that I want to try with the Pi on Pinterest but there are many websites and youtube channels dedicated to programming and creating with the Raspberry Pi.  If you have one (some) and have a cool use for it, drop me a comment or if you decide to give this product a try drop back by to let me know how things are going for you. Check out my Pinterest Board if you are looking for ideas.

BTW......One other thing that I am tossing around is hosting a "Build a Pi"  computer class where our families can pay $50-60 and walk away with a ready to use computer.  My biggest obstacle (in my mind) is that people will not want to pay that much... BUT if they will be walking away with a touchscreen computer, maybe it will soften the blow...LOL. What do you think?