It's good to see that some things stay the same. Many years ago there was something called the BBC microcomputer, which was a very basic computer used as a teaching device by a series of BBC TV programmes. I had a work colleague (who sadly passed away last year) who was a real nuts and bolts engineer. He designed his house as a "passive solar" house and used the BBC for his calculations. There were other, similar "toy" computers, which were of course more of an intellectual challenge than professional computers. One of the most famous was the Apple 1, made (literally) by the Steves - Wozniak and Jobs at their "Homebrew Computer Club".
It is pleasing to see that this sort of tinkering has not died out in this age of twitter and flashing windows. I recently heard of the Raspberry Pi computer project started by some people at Cambridge University.
I don't know where you can buy these things, but they would make good presents for the child (of any age) who like to make things work.
My stepson bought 2 of these for the boys for Christmas. You can programme them but I think my boys are still a bit young.
ReplyDeleteFor $35, I ask where is the rest of whatever that contraption is!. If that thing is a Rasberry, I'd prefer a Blackberry. And if that thing is a Pi, I'd prefer a meat pi rather than a rasberry pi. Yours pi-r-squared. ChrisM.
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