If you read here, you’ll recall that Noel (@noelportugal) and I have been supporters of the Raspberry Pi for a long time, Noel on the build side, many, many times, me on the talking-about-how-cool-and-useful-it-is side.
And we’ve been spreading the love through internal hackdays and lots of projects.
So, yeah, we love us some Raspi.
The little guy has become our go-to choice to power all our Internet of Things (IoT) projects.
Since its launch in early 2012, the little board that could has come a long way. The latest model, the Raspberry Pi 2 B, can even run a stripped down Windows 10 build to do IoT stuff.
Given all that we do with Raspis, I’ve always meant to get one for my own tinkering. However, Noel scared me off long ago with stories about how long it took to get one functional and the risks.
For example, I remember reading a long post early on the Pi’s history about how choosing a Micro USB was critical, amperage too high burned out the board, too low and it wouldn’t run.
The information was out there, contributed by a huge and generous community. I just never had the time to invest.
Recently, I’ve been talking the good people at the Oracle Education Foundation (@ORCLcitizenship) about ways our team can continue to help them with their workshops, and one of their focus areas is the Raspberry Pi.
After all, the mission of the Raspi creators was to teach kids about computers, so yeah.
I figured it was finally time to overcome my fears and get dirty, and thanks to Noel, I found a kit that included everything I would need, this Starter Kit from Vilros.
Vilros Raspberry Pi 2 Complete Starter Kit
Armed with this kit, I took a day and hoped that would be enough to get the little guy running. About an hour after starting, I was done.
Going from zero to functional is now ridiculously easy, thanks to these kits that include all the necessities.
So, now I have a functioning Pi running Raspbian. All I need is a project, any ideas?
Coda: Happy coincidence, as I wrote this post, I got a DM from Kellyn Pot’Vin-Gorman (@dbakevlar) asking if knew any ways for her to use her Raspberry Pi skills in an educational capacity. Yay kismet.
Jake, Thanks for you and your team’s support of OEF – you’re going to help make some great experiences! How about a time lapse of a project build with an over-workbench mounted PiCamera? Sort of an offshoot of http://www.raspberrypi.org/learning/push-button-stop-motion/
@Jess: Ha, workbench, not in my office. I like the PiCamera idea as a project, and thanks for the project link. Maybe I’ll start there w the easy stuff.
I never knew about any micro USB-related burnouts. I’ve always treated my Pi 1 flagrantly.
I think the process to get going is more streamlined than ever, even without a kit. Last time I tried, it seemed extra easy.
@TO: Noel always made it seem super sensitive. The kit is awesome, so now all I need is a project and time.