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Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?

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Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?

#61

Post by reubeniv »

An actual commodore64 is still an option

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Koch-International-242390-THEC64-Mi...

The mini boots straight to basic still I understand

Otherwise I'd recommend some free software and some tutorials, Udemy has a very good C# Unity course for example that can often be found at ~$/£10

Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?

#62

Post by joeberon »

veli_joza wrote: post #51
joeberon wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love pico 8, but I think that Lua is probably the worst language for coding in an editor that can fit so few characters on the screen, and it feels like using an external editor defeats the point. Granted, I haven't used the software in a couple of years, has it improved on the editor front?

I'm surprised you feel that way. Lua seems like a perfect choice for pico-8. Its syntax is friendly and concise, and it's maybe simplest language to embed, with tiny footprint. Almost all other languages I know of would be a worse choice. Scratch would be nice, but graphical editor is harder to integrate. What's more suitable language in your opinion?

Well it's only because of the issue with the built-in editor, since lua isn't really that concise in terms of character count imo. Also the official tutorial is a published book which I find a little distasteful although understandable. You are right though I can't really think of a better language to use

Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?

#63

Post by tootie »

What I bought for my kid and what is now taking over American schools is a Chromebook. I got one for maybe $140 that has an 11" screen and is super light and thin. Yes, it's a UI and yes they can surf the internet and play games. There's plenty of parental controls. Mine uses it for fun, but also to work on Scratch and use CodePen. I'm not sure teaching shell commands is actually very beneficial.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?

#64

Post by joeberon »

reubeniv wrote: post #61

An actual commodore64 is still an option https://www.amazon.co.uk/Koch-International-242390-THEC64-Mi... The mini boots straight to basic still I understand Otherwise I'd recommend some free software and some tutorials, Udemy has a very good C# Unity course for example that can often be found at ~$/£10

This thing reviews terribly. I think it's more meant for nostalgia for the older generation. Also the keyboard is just for show which is quite sad

Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?

#65

Post by ryandrake »

One other thing to add to this request is that the machine boots around as quickly as the Commodore did. Modern PCs have clock speeds thousands of times faster than the C64, and boot up 10-100x slower.

A sub-1-second “boot to BASIC” time should also be added to the requirements.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?

#67

Post by normalhuman »

swiley wrote: post #35

Just give them a computer running linux without going all the way to runlevel 5. Bash is fairly expressive and gets you the basics of programming, and then you can easily use a more complex language fairly easily and have all the abstractions from bash that lets you build fairly useful programs without having to build complex UIs.

I too grew up with a "power on to basic" computer, in my case the ZX Spectrum. I don't think that people that did not have that experience at that age can truly get it. I was able to create graphics and play sounds with a very simple language. The text editor, the graphical display, the "OS", it was all the same thing. The manual taught you how to program in BASIC. It was an amazing tool of creativity and intellectual development. It was truly magical.

I know you mean well and I have nothing against bash, but I promise you it will not replicate that experience nor excite kids.

Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?

#69

Post by modeless »

TI graphing calculators boot to BASIC. I don't know about the newer ones but the old ones are extremely simple computers with Z80 or 68k processors and hardly any operating system, fun to program in BASIC or assembly language or C.

Modern kids might find them boring but they are great places to learn how a computer really works without piles of modern software cruft between you and the hardware. That's where I learned.

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