A brief history of the Raspberry Pi
The Raspberry Pi is a low cost, credit-card sized computer. The idea behind a tiny and affordable computer for kids came in 2006, when Eben Upton, Rob Mullins, Jack Lang, and Alan Mycroft (all based at the University of Cambridge's Computer Laboratory) became concerned about the year-on-year decline in the numbers and skills levels of the A Level students applying to read Computer Science. From a situation in the 1990s where most of the kids applying were coming to interview as experienced hobbyist programmers, the landscape in the 2000s was very different; a typical applicant might only have done a little web design.

Many designs from 2006 to 2008 resulted in the early prototypes of what is now known as the Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a registered educational charity based in the UK. The Foundation's goal is to advance the education of adults and children, particularly in the field of computers, computer science, and related subjects.

The Raspberry Pi can be plugged into a computer monitor (or TV), mouse, and keyboard; or it can be operated without an attached monitor, mouse, and keyboard (known as headless). In many instances the Raspberry Pi would also be connected to your local network (either via the build-in wired Ethernet port or via an optional USB-based wireless interface). If you choose to use a wireless connection to your home network, make sure you purchase a supported USB wireless device.

It is a capable little device that enables people of all ages to explore computing, and to learn how to program in languages such as Scratch and Python. It's capable of doing everything you'd expect a desktop computer to do, from browsing the internet and playing high-definition video, to making spreadsheets, word-processing, supporting websites, and playing games.

What's more, the Raspberry Pi has the ability to interact with the outside world, and has been used in a wide array of digital maker projects, from music machines and parent detectors to weather stations and tweeting birdhouses with infra-red cameras. It is hoped that the Raspberry Pi will be used by kids (as well as adults) all over the world to learn how to program and to understand how computers work. Click on Raspberry Pi Foundation for more information.

Information about the Raspberry Pi hardware
Coming soon!

Getting started with the Raspberry Pi
I have developed a document that should help you get started with using your new Raspberry Pi. To download this document, just click on the link, RaspberryPiSetup.pdf.

Select list of interesting Raspberry Pi / Linux applications
I have developed a few interesting applications / scripts that you might find useful. You can download any of these by clicking the links below.
  • As some of you may already know, I have become a fan of the nano text editor. A version of nano is included with macOS as well as most Linux distributions. I have created a simple cheat sheet of the various nano 6.4 keyboard shortcuts. It also includes information on how to upgrade your version of nano to the most recent version. Download it by clicking on the link, KeyboardShortcuts_nano_8_1.pdf
  • A Perl application to display information about your machine. This is typically run via your .bash_profile file (or equivalent). Download it by clicking on the link, showmotd.
  • A couple of Perl applications to display calendars. I run cal3 via my .bash_profile file. Download them by clicking on the following links: cal1 and cal3.
  • Bash script to setup authentication keys between your host and another one so you don't have to use passwords. If you set this up for all of your hosts, you could (and probably should) reconfigure SSH to not allow password authentication and only permit authentication keys. Download the script by clicking on the link, setupRemoteSsh.