Eben’s on BBC Radio 4 this afternoon
Just a quick note for those of you who are able to listen to BBC Radio 4: Eben recorded an interview for Click On at the London Hackspace last week, which will be broadcast at 4.30pm this afternoon. Hope you can listen in! The BBC usually makes recordings available within 24 hours of broadcast, so the link above should have audio from some time tomorrow if you missed the show.
Don’t skip straight to the Raspberry Pi bit (which starts at 6:00); the piece about the London Hackspace is also really interesting, and well worth a listen.
41 comments
ukscone
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0174dzt it should be available on listen again sometime after it has aired (some programmes seem to take upto 24 hours but most are almost immediate) for those who can’t listen live.
ukscone
ah didn’t click the link liz posted so my link is the same one :) really shouldn’t do stuff before first coffee of the day
cnxsoft
Thanks because I think I’ll be in bed and sleeping during the broadcast.
fordp
I am listening to it now I think. The podcast has arrived before the program on the radio!
fordp
Maybe try http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/clickon/clickon_20111114-0921a.mp3
liz
Fantastic – yes, that’s the one. I’ll add it to the post as well.
JKN
That link doesn’t work here?
liz
Nope – it’s down now. There’s a newer link further down this page of comments.
JKN
Arh, thank you very much :-)
Matt
Listening to the program right now…..had never even heard of Raspberry Pi, sounds fantastic…..nice one! :)
Chris Dunn
Driving home and was captivated by the ‘Click On’ interview regarding Raspberry Pi (before i googled it i assumed it was spelt pie, hahaha).
Anyway, as a fortysomething it does take me back to the days of BBC model B and ZX81 (i sooo miss my ZX81). Will be ordering a slice of this particular Pi as soon as i can!
Thank you…
relentlessgeek
You’ve saved me having to post my own reply, Chris. I too was listening to the programme while driving home and was reminiscing about the same thing. I had a ZX80 though :)
I think Eben perfectly evoked the thrill of those early machines. He forgot to mention the hours spent typing the program listings from magazines though :)
Davespice
I’m getting a 404 error from the MP3 link, but… [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=Click%20On%20Series%209%20Episode%206]this[/url] might be helpful in the future;
Davespice
Sorry;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search?q=Click%20On%20Series%209%20Episode%206
Tom
How we are ever supposed to rekindle the British computer revolution when the BBC carry on like this? We’re not all kids trying to torrent your precious programmes BBC!
Apart from that, the programme this afternoon was excellent and brought back many memories of being huddled around our ZX80 with its black-on-white screen that jumped every time a key was pressed, and then the hotly anticipated & wonderful £25 ZX81 kit that quickly followed through our letterbox!
Matthew Evans
Heard Radio 4 prog – sounds great. As a teacher, how can I get help with getting students into programming at my school?
liz
We’ll start selling the devices at the end of this year, but our full educational release with cases, software and supporting materials will come later in 2012. One of the groups we’re working with is Computing at School – they’re writing a handbook to go with the Raspi, among other things, and you should find them very helpful if you’re looking at ways to get your own school working on programming.
bernard widlake
My daugher of 11 was very interested ina computor for $25 or $35. What will it do? Could not work that out from the programme.
liz
She can do almost anything with it; it’s broadly equivalent to a Pentium II PC. It runs Linux, not Windows, and all the software is free (open source). She can learn to write games (and play them) or other software, she can use it to surf the web, she can do word processing, spreadsheetery etc. using Open Office, she can use it to watch high-def video, she can use it to power robotics – in short, she’ll have a PC in her pocket.
Jason Phillips
Listened to this on the way home from work today. Very inspiring. I grew up with a ZX81, then a C64 followed by an Amiga 500 then 1200. I was so sad to have to move onto PCs where the fun/art of programming seemed to die for the amateur enthusiast. I’ve sat here bemoaning how much I’ve forgotten, can’t wait to get stuck back in!
WotNoName
I found the podcast for the BBC program at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/clickon
I didn’t hear all the radio program but I’ll defiantly be looking into getting one of these.
ukscone
Great interview and pretty interesting programme too. So when is Eben going to get his own sitcom or drama?
meltwater
Excellent promo. Hopefully some TV coverage will help too. As a software engineer it frightens me to think kids are taught to accept magic boxes without explanation to how they work.
The brief mention of libraries on the fablab section made me think library space could be used for such things rather than shut down, would create lots of solutions.
Tom
@Matthew Evans…
Before Raspberry Pi arrives, you could get your students started with Scratch.
http://scratch.mit.edu/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scratch_(programming_language)
I hope to be teaching 10 and 11 year olds Scratch programming basics later next year as an experimental workshop at a primary school here in Birmingham.
Ali @ Very Berry
Really great to hear the item on Clickon this afternoon. I was another one who googled ‘raspberry pie’ after hearing the interview… I am home-schooling my sons and am looking forward to get them started programming with something like this (and would love to learn myself!). Will look forward to when you start selling.
luci
Heard the programme on Radio 4 whilst cooking the kids tea. What a brilliant idea. The only programing I’ve ever done was on a Spectrum and listening to you took me right back. I can’t wait to have a go.
liz
That sort of feeling is what got us started on the project in the first place. We’ve got visions of kids propping themselves up on their elbows in front of the TV, typing away!
Jongoleur
Liz – stop him!
Too many people are getting interested……
:-)
Seriously – a terrific interview, and good stuff around it too. The Pi is in the right place at the right time and is going to be a big time hit.
All you need do now is let the robots at the parts kits.
Nightsurfer
So… Hacked FabLab Raspis next? hehe, maybe not quite yet, but just an idea. Brilliant half-hour of radio. I have the recording (purely for legal time-shift purposes, obviously) in case it ever goes missing.
John Andrews
BBC podcast “clickon” so its easy for anyone to have and keep a copy of the programme.
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/clickon/rss.xml
There is (IMHO) a better tech program from BBC called ‘Click’ ..
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/digitalp/rss.xml
they are both a must listen every week for me..
I _want_ to use the _pi in my computing classes like – now!
john./
RobinJ
Their audio player doesn’t work…
Mark D
I thought the show was great (all of it) and I wouldn’t be here reading about raspberry pi otherwise. Really exciting ideas. :)
UberEEE
Listened whilst degreasing a Mini subframe. Very therapeutic and informative!
Excellent job
Will Brown
I heard it on the radio while driving home. I am an ICT teacher and I can not wait to get my hands on one of these. Have you guys played about with any HDMI – VGA or HDMI – Scart adaptors.
Long term I am thinking about distribution to pupils who do not have access to a VDU with HDMI port at home but do have access to an old computer monitor or TV.
I will be buying one myself but the adaptors like the ones mentioned above have varying degrees of success in my experience and I wanted to check if you guys had a solution before I spend £30 in Maplin.
Thanks
PS, keep up the good work
liz
There are a few threads on our forum about why VGA adaptors probably aren’t a great idea. We do have composite out on board, though, so we’ll work with any older TV and you won’t need an adaptor; DVI monitors are fine as well (and they’re extremely cheap second-hand now everybody is upgrading to HDMI).
Will Brown
Cheers Liz! Sounds good!
I posted my message about 15 minutes after my first visit here. Should probably have looked at the FAQs first but Raspberry Pi makes me feel like a kid on Christmas morning. Bit too much enthusiasm and not enough thinking. It is like the Asus EEE all over again but even better!
Niflheyn
I listened and I have to say that i agree with the fact that in college there is no more motivation to learn true computing. I have done a BTEC in IT but the thing is that it was more with word and excel rather than exploring computers. Only writing reports the only programming part was a unit with Visual Basic, it was interesting but in general It was boring. I will do Computer Science next year in University I hope it will be better, also I am really excited about your project hope to have one soon. ^^
Joel Leaman
I downloaded and listened to it last night. I’d never heard of a FabLab before. Now I wish there was one in my little town.
Wombat140
I’m still not clear what makes the Raspberry Pi so much better to learn programming on than a regular computer. Please can you explain this for a relative beginner? (I can do Logo and am just learning Java, but that’s all. The stuff on the main website about “Qt distributions” and “compiling for ARMv6 architecture” has me baffled).
liz
I suspect you’ll find the website we’re building for the educational release next year much more helpful than this one, which is really targeted at seasoned hackers! The things that make it such a great tool are its price, which make it accessible to people who are currently priced out of owning any sort of computer, and the fact that you don’t have to buy an expensive display device to use it: you can just plug it into your TV. By the time the educational launch happens, we’ll also have a whole raft of free software tools especially for those learning how to program, which the makers are optimising especially for the Raspberry Pi.
Wombat140
By, that was quick! Thanks for the explanation. Glad there’s going to be a website for Muggles as well – I did wonder how many potential customers would have a clue what this one meant!