The Raspberry Pi Foundation Raspberry Pi review

For those used to smartphones, game consoles and Windows computing, the Raspberry Pi presents a steep learning curve. For a start, there’s a need to learn some basic Linux commands and concepts, such as the use of ‘sudo’ to obtain elevated privileges and ‘apt-get’ to install software packages. We encountered various other hurdles, not the least of which is that the data partition occupies 1.6GB of the SD card, of which 1.3GB is full. After installing GIMP, we ran out of space when trying to install OpenOffice.

To fully utilise our 8GB card we had to boot a laptop into the GParted partition editor and use this to stretch the partition to fill the disk’s 5.5GB of empty space. There were a couple of other problems in the 19 April distribution we used: Enabling elevated access required the one-time use of ‘gconftool-2 –type bool –set /apps/gksu/sudo-mode true’, while getting the sound to work in the X window system GUI required ‘modprobe snd_bcm2835’ after each reboot.

Such troubleshooting is a challenge, but it’s also a learning process, and that’s key to the point of the RasPi. While experienced Linux users will doubtless quickly find their way around various hitches, novices will need to learn the answers from resources which include the wiki and excellent community forum at www.raspberrypi.org. The latter also includes sections dedicated to the various programming, automation or robotics projects for which the RasPi is really intended, and it’s here that the real learning and challenges are likely to be found.

There’s great help on the forums, accessed here using the pre-loaded Midori browser

All of which raises the question of whether the RasPi will achieve its goal of stimulating and enabling a new generation of coding talent. It’s already easy enough to boot a cheap or old PC into Ubuntu and install various free coding tools. In most cases, the results are likely to run more quickly than on the RasPi – particularly until its GPU is used to speed up the sluggish X window performance; an improvement slated for a future Debian release. It is possible to surf the web on the RasPi using its Ethernet port and the included Midori web browser, but it’s incredibly slow.

The RasPi is pre-loaded with coding tools, such as the Scratch scripting environment

It’s important to remember, though, that the availability of limited or flawed resources is often a great stimulation to creativity – just ask anyone who wanted to display more than two colours in a single 8×8 pixel square on the ZX Spectrum. Though unsophisticated and tricky by mainstream standards, the RasPi is powerful enough for HD multimedia and even gaming projects. With a growing community of users offering support, it will reward those with the will, aptitude and patience to learn.