26 Feb
2013
26 Feb
'13
5:45 p.m.
On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 08:07:46PM +0000, Tony Duell wrote:
The Internet exists and these days, that is something that is pretty much
assumed as a given fact. Besides, where did you _get_ your Raspberry? Don't
tell me you mailed Farnell (or whoever sold it to you) a filled out order
form via snail mail. ;-)
Yes, they could have included a set of "programming starter books", but
that would probably have been another USD 100+ on the bill.
If you want to host a duplicate of the repository, debmirror is the tool
to use. You can then point your machines via sources.list to that local
copy and keep it updated via debmirror & cron.
As for "just download it": A full repository mirror fof Ubuntu Lucid for
arm has almost 90000 files in it. I don't expect a full Raspbian mirror
to be much smaller.
On 2/25/2013 2:45 PM, Tony Duell wrote:
Well, probably. But I am wondering jsut who the Rpi is marketed at.
It's not really suitable as an ambedded controller (nowhere near enough
I/O, and a dififuclt PCB to mount).
It's not really suitable as a machien to laarn programming on if you
don't have anything else. BEcuase you need 'something else' to use it.
Like the internet connection. Yo uget a bit of paper telling you it
doens't meet the EMD directives (!) and a single sheet telling you how
to set it up. The latter is very incomplete.
I suspect most of the people are now
upgraded from 300 baud and TTY Gettign back to the requirement for itnernet access,
by all means make it
networkable., But don't require it. Have a docuemnted way (i.e. one that
does not require you to geusess at the dpckg command) to install from
local storage devices. And make a complete archive of sources and
bianries aviaalble on soemthign that can be read by the Rpi, possibly
with an add-on device (I have no idea if the Rpi supports USB CD-ROM or
DVD-ROM drives).
Unless they dropped the relevant drivers from the Raspbian standard kernel,
accessing USB optical drives should be trivial. It _is_ running Linux,
after all.
connections to
the internet. And shipping the > 500,000 units already
shipped with more paper would make no sense. I was perfectly happy
with what I got.
Hmmm.. DOcuemtnatio nsi a sore point with me. My view is that no matter
how good a product, it's useless if you can't work out how to use it. For
a machine aimed at beginners, you need simple (not dumbed-down and
content free, but explaining things from step 1) docuemtnation.
If people get lost in the first few minutes, they are not going to carry
on with the thing. They'll find soemthign else ot play with.
I have a similar feelign about the GPIO connecotr. Make a msitake, you've
wreked the Rpi. Yes it's cheap enough to replace, I guess (even though
that doens;'t fit with how I work). But people starting out make a lot of
mistakes. If they blow up 3 or more Rpis is quick succession, they will
give up. On the other hand, if they blow up a repalcable chip, even if
it's not cheap, they will not feel the same loss. Or at least I wouldn't.
I will certainly be hitting one of your software complaints, and that is
that I plan to duplicate the software and source repository locally at
some time soon, but have not gotten around to it. Look up how to
How do you go aobut that? There is no obvious way to download it. It is claimed to be the 'spiritual successor'
of the BBC micro.
It isn't.
Kind regards,
Alex.
--
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
looks like work." -- Thomas A. Edison