THE RASPBERRY Pi SENSATION
The Raspberry Pi was released in 2012. Inspired in part by the success of the BBC Micro (hence the monogram model names) in the early 1980s, the Raspberry Pi aimed to bring practical computer science to the classrooms and bootstrap the UK electronics industry. It was only ever expected to have been produced in the thousands. Of course when it was launched, Linux was the de facto OS of choice.
While many of these devices are now empowering young coders, a great deal have become part of diverse man-cave projects: The 30-somethings who cut their teeth on BBCs, Spectrums and Commodore 64s are reliving and reviving the thrills at the interface of coding and creativity. The Raspberry Pi’s GPIO pins mean that all manner of add-ons have been developed, so that the pint-sized computer can power anything from robots to remote watering systems.
The lingua franca of Pi projects is Python which, like Basic, is easy to learn. Unlike Basic, though, it’s consistent, extensible and won’t need to be unlearned should users move on to more advanced languages.
The Pi’s support for 3D graphics is impressive, but CPU-wise it’s more limited. The original Pis struggle to function as a desktop computer, even with the modest Raspbian distribution (although recent work on the Epiphany web browser has improved this).
In 2015 the Pi received the Pi 2 reboot, gaining a quad-core processor and extra RAM, and yet still only cost £25. Jump forward six years and we have the Pi 4 in its various forms including a full-desktop capable 8GB version the Pi 400, a range of industry-friendly models and over 30 million sales. Splendid.