SparkFun Forums

[InactiveUser001]

Hi folks, my 15yr old is showing keenness to get a little board, the Rasberry pi that has just been developed - I am sure some of you know of this. However as it is very new personally I would have thought that the Arduino may well be better supported and have more accessories.

Myself I know nothing of what either can do, does anyone know the pi and can advise which is better?

He is not too sure what he wants to do with it but thought of making a media player.
As he is keen to learn about electronics and be a chip off the old block I want to help him as best I can.

Thank you folks.

[leon_heller]

The Arduino is more suitable for controlling hardware, and is available now, with plenty of applications and good support. The Pi isn't available yet, support is an unknown quantity, and there are no comparable applications.

[InactiveUser001]

I thought so.

I think I'll get him to learn how to control the cybot robot kit I have stored away instead.
Thank you.

[Philba]

I'm quite keen on getting a Pi but it's definitely on the cutting edge. For a student, the arduino is 10X better. Your boy will be up and running very quickly. This gives positive feedback to the neophyte. The Pi is going to take a lot longer to get anything going. It is a significantly more powerful board and you can do a lot more sophisticate things with it but the learning curve is much higher.

I'd make a deal with him - start with the arduino and once he has mastered that, get him a Pi. The model B is only $35 (at least today...). I don't think you'll be able to get until next month at the earliest. He can have an arduino within a few days. I'd get him an arduino with an mp3 shield.

[russdx]

definitely start with arduino then move onto the PI

im gussing to get any of the IO to work on th PI your gonna have to know about what cross compiler to use, make files and low level c registers and stuff.

arduino hides all that away and does it for you!!

[Philba]

Exactly. the secret of Arduino's success is in the IDE. It's bone head simple to get up and running. It's also got enough capabilities to exploit a lot of features of the chip. Right now, the Pi IDE (PIDE?) is pretty much "what ever" so I expect it to be a mess for a while. If the students have to do cross platform builds to get something going, it will most certainly be a FAIL. If the Pi-guys were serious about education, they would have focused more on a simple IDE to get the kids going.

[InactiveUser001]

Cheers, where can I find the programming info for the Arduino?
The language, the IDE etc. (Never mind - found it).

He tells me that the pi is a complete processor that just needs an OS installing on it ?

Looking at the pi some more, t does appear to be a different beast to the arduino though.

Thank you for your advice.
Matt

[leon_heller]

The Pi is intended to be a complete computer, running Linux. The Arduino is a typical embedded system with easy to use development software.

An Arduino could be connected to a Pi, just like connecting one to a Windows PC or a Linux machine.

[macegr]

I think the PR around the Pi is a little damaging, honestly. The Arduino is a perfect introduction to basic concepts of integrating firmware and hardware. As simple as it is, a lot of people new to the field have plenty of difficulty grasping simple electronic concepts and learning C. The Raspberry Pi will require more advanced concepts to start developing applications. If you use their premade OS, sure, you can plug it in and browse the web or whatever. Beyond that, you really should be an experienced embedded systems developer with several years of workplace experience. Extra power is useless if you don't know how to use it.

What I'm worried about: kids interested in embedded development will latch on to the Pi, since it's "better" than the Arduino. They'll quickly become tangled in the snarl of incomplete toolchains, hazy documentation, OS integration, competing GUI toolkits, etc. That will turn them off so much, they decide to just give up on the whole idea. Whereas, the Arduino can be difficult for a new experimenter to grasp, but usually the goal is hanging just barely within reach.

[Philba]

I think the PR around the Pi is a little damaging, honestly.

Especially since the goal of it is to be for education. I think the guys doing it are completely starry-eyed if they really believe that school children are actually going to use it to learn stuff right away. Especially, without a lot of software developed for it. Just building a blinky light application isn't going to be easy. On the Arduino, it's falling off a log easy leading to an immediate sense of accomplishment. Exactly what kiddies need to spur them onward.

[Philba]

Oh, yeah, to answer your question - http://arduino.cc/en/ look under learning for tons of tutorials.

[InactiveUser001]

Thank's folks.