Can someone please explain to me why the Pi is good for those looking to learn to code in python or scratch? Both are cross-platform, and both rely very little on the OS they run in, at least at the basic level.
The problem isn't what computer you run it on, the problem is having a computer to run it on in the first place. There are still many schools and many households without computers. The school I went to is still using Apple IIe machines given to them in a grant decades ago.
The raison d'être of the Raspberry Pi is to be cheap enough that every school could have one for each student.
I just read the article and apparently it also has composite RCA. They should advertise that part more than the HDMI, it is more useful for their target audience.
Actually the Window Manager seems to be OK (if a bit blurry). There may be problems with games going full screen for example open-invaders is a few pixels short on my PAL TV so only half of the score characters are visible, dunno if I should fix the display settings or fix the program.
Biggest problem I can see is that Midori as a browser seems to struggle on things like Google+ Photos (This may just be an out of memory and hitting swap problem, I've not investigated)
I haven't thought about what I'm going to do with mine yet (it was a gift from my father). It does come with Squeak so if thats useable on a CRT I may give that another go.
I believe there was a menu option to handle TV's overscan in the text-only interface that appears the first time you power it up with Raspbian installed.
The foundation did say they were planning a whole host of accessories to go along with it, and were hoping the community would rally around some of their own. This likely includes cases, mice/keyboards, and possibly small, cheap monitors.
A kid being able to save for and buy a computer that is all their own is a good experience for getting them enthused about learning with it.
The board is just a tool though. The real strength will be in creating a common experience and specific learning systems that teachers can use, share and improve and have a frame of reference that could work worldwide.
Some teachers are able to create a syllabus and teaching around programming already, but I'd say they're in the minority.
Plugging sensors and actuators into the Raspberry Pi and using them from a Python script in its Linux distribution is potentially easier and way cheaper than on any standard PC I know about. It has I2C and SPI ports that are easy to reach. It still needs some work though, but mostly software.
In addition to the 'cheap hardware for those that buy it as _only_ platform, not gadget no 17' reason that others provided:
I think for real progress (in a language/as a programmer) you need a goal. A project.
The Pi is even hyped and interesting among people that already have their other 16 gadgets lying around and a couple VPS on top: It's so small and so inexpensive, that you can get really creative. Never learned to solder? Doesn't matter that much if the (capable) main part of your pet project costs about as much as two dozen Cheeseburgers from McDonalds.
The PI is a standard platform which allows further tinkering - including hardware tinkering.
Lots of people write software. People could just follow Learn Python the Hard Way - guided by a clueful teacher that could be a successful method - but the critical mass of a bunch of people doing cool things on a standard platform exposes exciting possibilities.
Imagine a 512byte / 1k graphics demo challenge. Everyone has the same hardware, so you don't have the cross-platform woes of modern intro challenges.
