IchigoJamP is a novel electronics and BASIC programming education tool. It’s coming soon from Programming Club Network and we especially like it because it’s built around our $4 Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller board.

It allows the student to assemble the system, learning along the way. After adding some supporting circuits and a USB keyboard, they’ve built a little computer that runs an interactive BASIC programming prompt. You don’t need a fancy PC monitor either; this supports any TV with a DVI input, which most have.

We think this is a great way to get new users up and running with BASIC programming in a fun and affordable way. Once you’ve programmed the Raspberry Pi Pico using BASIC, you can do things like play games on the TV, and even control little desktop robots.

Strawberry Jam

Ichigo means strawberry in Japanese, so learners are partaking in a Strawberry Jam rather than the Raspberry Jams you might be more familiar with. Which reminds me to remind you about our excellent network of Raspberry Pi enthusiasts who are organising regular community events all over the world. You can find out when and where these take place on our events page. There’s everything from informal monthly gatherings in local libraries, to bigger annual events like the Pi Wars robotics competition.

Fancy hosting your own Raspberry Pi meet-up?

If you’d love to meet like-minded nerds but don’t see an event listed in your area, why not arrange something yourself? Whether it’s for six or 60 people, weekly or once in a blue moon, we’ll list it on our events page and promote it for you on our social channels. The only requirements are that the focus of your gathering is tinkering, making, coding, or computing and that it’s open to the public. Just scroll to the bottom of our events page and let us know some details about when and where you’re hosting your shindig and who it’s for: is it especially for primary school-aged children, for adults only, or for everyone?

Thank you to everyone who gives their time to make scores of events happen all over the world. You’re brilliant. We love being tagged in photos and videos whenever you meet up, so keep at it!