Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer
To me the most significant event is that of a magazine giving a way a computer.<p>For me something like NVidia Jetson is a far more significant (and useful) development than the ever-shrinking bubblegum stick computers that simply aren&#x27;t that useful.  Yes, it costs 100x more but there&#x27;s no comparison when it comes to what you can do with one.<p>And, if that&#x27;s too much, how about something like this for $39 (includes CPU):<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newegg.com&#x2F;Product&#x2F;Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157594" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newegg.com&#x2F;Product&#x2F;Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157...</a><p>or this for $59 (includes CPU):<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newegg.com&#x2F;Product&#x2F;Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138417" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newegg.com&#x2F;Product&#x2F;Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138...</a><p>of this one for $99 with a quad-core 2.4 GHz Intel CPU:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newegg.com&#x2F;Product&#x2F;Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157626" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newegg.com&#x2F;Product&#x2F;Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157...</a><p>No doubt that a $5 stick computer has huge value for educational purposes and in some parts of the world it&#x27;s going to make a HUGE difference.  Bravo for that.<p>Yet, we still need a keyboard, mouse (maybe) and a screen.  Because the Pi Zero has an HDMI output the cheapest monitor you can buy is likely to be in the $80 to $100 range:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newegg.com&#x2F;Product&#x2F;Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824112027" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.newegg.com&#x2F;Product&#x2F;Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824112...</a><p>In other words, this is great in that now the cost of the computer has become a rounding error in the total cost of everything you need to actually make it useful.<p>In other parts of the world if you are going to be in computing the difference between spending $5 and spending $100 is zero.  If you have an iPhone in your pocket (very likely) you or your parents can certainly afford to spend $200 on a computer.<p>Every single kid in the FRC robotics team I mentor has a smart phone and a laptop.  If they want to hack on some hardware it&#x27;d be no problem for their parents to buy them a $200~$300 setup.  You can buy a whole new mini laptop for that kind of money.<p>Same token, every single kid in the FLL team I mentor owns one or more Lego Mindstorms kit at $350 a piece.<p>Maybe what I am saying is this:  What I would see as having more impact in education (again, the economic in other part of the world are different) isn&#x27;t necessarily a cheaper computer.  A race to the bottom with a crippled $1 computer isn&#x27;t what is keeping the kids I interact with from having access to technology and computing.  No, what&#x27;s keeping them from entering is a lack of motivation due to a decidedly uninteresting process.<p>When I was a kid I had to work hard to have a computer.  I had to build it out of chips.  Wire-wrap it.  Bootstrap it with assembler.  Write my own Forth.  Write my own text editor.  Learn about electronics and software.  Build my own floppy disk controller board, etc.  I was challenged and had to engage in discovery and there was no internet to hold my hand.<p>I am not sure what the modern equivalent to this might be.  I find that things like Pi, for some kids, make things so easy that they are bored almost instantly.  Once they get the thing up and going there&#x27;s nothing to do or whatever it is they can do gets complicated and messy very quickly.<p>At the other end of the scale I see kids absolutely ripping it with Scratch on their laptops.  It&#x27;s fun, interesting and challenging enough with some guidance.<p>I don&#x27;t have the answers.  Just a brain dump from working with about 100 kids of different ages and levels of motivation in two robotics programs.