{"id":552,"date":"2020-11-03T11:12:32","date_gmt":"2020-11-03T11:12:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/armenianews.me\/En\/?p=552"},"modified":"2020-11-03T11:12:32","modified_gmt":"2020-11-03T11:12:32","slug":"raspberry-pi-400-a-computer-for-the-coronavirus-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/armenianews.me\/En\/raspberry-pi-400-a-computer-for-the-coronavirus-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Raspberry Pi 400: A computer for the coronavirus age?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A whole computer contained in a keyboard – just connect it to a monitor and you are ready to go.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It sounds like an idea from the 1980s. Remember the ZX Spectrum, the Commodore Amiga or the BBC Micro?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Well, the 2020 version is the Pi 400. It’s the latest product from Raspberry Pi, the organisation founded to get children coding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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And the \u00a367 device – or \u00a395 with a mouse and cables – may help answer the challenge of getting cheap computing to youngsters affected by the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The idea, says the organisation’s founder Eben Upton, is to mirror the simplicity of those 1980s devices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“It gets into your life as a utility device, as a thing that you buy to do your schoolwork or play games on,” he explains.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“But it’s bundled with everything that you need and it kind of sidles its way into your life.”<\/p>\n

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With sales of 36 million since its launch in 2012, Raspberry Pi is already the best-selling British computer ever made.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But the original bare-bones device was somewhat intimidating. You needed to hunt down a set of cables, a mouse, a keyboard and a monitor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Now, apart from a monitor or TV, you can get all of that in one kit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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And the Pi 400 already appears to be selling very well, with some distributors out of stock.<\/p>\n

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Disadvantaged children<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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There has always been a danger that the commercial success of the tiny computer would divert the organisation away from its core educational mission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But Eben Upton is clear about the audience this product is really aimed at.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Seven hundred thousand kids got sent home from school in March without a PC,” he explains.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“This is a machine for anyone who needs a PC. And [if] there’s one thing we’ve learned this year – there are still vast numbers in society who need a PC.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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While most children are now back in school, says Upton, the problem is definitely not solved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The government did launch a programme to get laptops to disadvantaged children in homes without computers, but head teachers\u00a0have said there are still not enough to go round<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“We’ve known for ages that the digital divide is very real for kids,” says Philip Colligan, who runs Raspberry Pi’s charitable arm.<\/p>\n

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He says that was brought into sharp relief during the first lockdown, when for some children online learning became an almost impossible challenge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“There were lots of stories about kids using their parents’ mobile phones and interacting with software that was not designed to work on a phone,” he says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Others unconnected to the effort are also optimistic about its role in closing the digital divide.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Affordable new computers with exciting form-factors like the Raspberry Pi 400 have real potential to close this gap,” said Julia Adamson, director of education at the Chartered Institute for IT.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“But to do that, they need to be supported by content, guidance and resources, used to enrich children’s and parents’ knowledge, understanding and skills.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Old monitors<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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Raspberry Pi has launched a programme called Stay Connected with School.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It worked with voluntary organisations to provide families not just with a Raspberry Pi 4, but with all the kit and software needed to connect to a school’s online learning environment and telephone support, whenever they needed it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But that only reached a thousand families. It is now hoped that the Pi 400 can be the platform for a wider initiative.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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There will still be a problem in some homes, because plugging a computer into the family TV for hours on end will not always be popular.<\/p>\n

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And how many of us have an old computer monitor in the attic?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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But there’s scope here for a charity campaign, which would also have a green element.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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As Eben Upton points out, plenty of businesses do have old monitors just sitting around which might otherwise end up on a dump.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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There has been a major effort over recent years to try to improve the digital skills of a generation which will find them essential when they enter the workforce.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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That has seen changes to the curriculum, and thousands of after-school coding clubs have opened. But even if the schools have reopened, most of the clubs have not, so there is a real danger that the skills gap will grow even wider.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“The cost of solving this problem,” says Mr Colligan, “is now trivial compared to the negative impact it has on young people’s learning.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Pi 400 is just one small contribution to closing the digital divide, and there are other cheap computers available.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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With more children likely to be dependent on remote learning in the coming months, this looks like an opportunity for the wider technology industry – which has been prospering during the pandemic – to show it can give something back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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