You could try adding init=/usr/bin/ipython to your kernel command line, but I bet that won't end well (way too lazy to try this).
Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?
291–300 of 340 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?
#292Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's a number of mods for Minecraft that put Lua into the mix. One I was using (ComputerCraft?) had all the common UNIX commands implemented as things like ls.lua, so typing "ls" actually just ran a Lua script with the corresponding name. You really couldn't get a more hackable computer. These instances can have 4-16MB of memory allocated to them which honestly is way more than is necessary. They can make remote H…
Unfortunately ComputerCraft is no longer developed, even though you can still use it on an older version of the game.
OpenComputers is actively developed though, and arguably a more fleshed out Lua mod than CC
Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?
#293The closest thing I've found to this is Pico-8: not a computer, a piece of software, but it's very cool. It has a simple text editor for writing Lua code, a simple sprite editor, and a simple sound editor, all for creating games. It's a nice little sandbox for playing with code and creating things. https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php
I upvoted this but I need to reiterate my support. When I was a kid, I was heavily into video games and had a burning desire to create my own. However, the options for doing so were not great. One of my middle school teachers tried to introduce us to programming via creating Space Invaders in perl, which went as well as you might imagine. There were a few GUI game making applications that were all terrible and extrem…
This sounds really good!
Also of note: it was made by the creator of Voxatron (the only game I know of that really explored voxels), and is available as a $5 add-on to that.
Wikipedia page told me of a pocket computer preloaded with PICO-8: Pocket CHIP[1]. It seems to be exactly what the OP was asking for.
Alas, the Kickstarted company went belly up, failing to deliver all the preorders.
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIP_(computer)#Pocket_CHIP_an...
Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?
#294There is exactly this: https://basicengine.org/
The catch is that you have to build it yourself, and there is some surface mount soldering. I put one together and found it to be an enjoyable project.
Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?
#295microcontrollers... arduino seems to be a popular smoothed-over platform/IDE/ecosystem that's friendly to beginners.
The actual C++ is largely hidden and one deals with statements inside one of a few preset event handlers in an event-loop...
Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?
#296Earlier quoted context omitted.
Kids have it too easy today, they don't have to work very hard to get decent computing experiences, and its not like they have to do any programming at all to have fun. It is also super easy to get addicted to just consuming all the time. It is quite depressing. My kid is still a toddler, but I think I might put a stripped down CLI-only computer in his room when he reaches 5 so he can at least play with it if he want…
Is this so new? 25 years ago kids were addicted to cable/phone/Genesis/VHS and never "had" to do any programming to have any fun, either. There was a phase where people expected that people starting on iPhones even younger than people started on Windows in 1993 would make them more technologically literate, but that was optimistic - they're iPhone-literate to the same level kids then were Windows-literate. Actually u…
It's new, passive screen time and active screen time are getting a lot of attention in the pediatrics community.
Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?
#297For those of us who grew up in the 8-bit era, this has a lot of appeal since that's how we got engaged. But for most kids today, is this sort of ab initio approach really the right way to go about it? Based on my experience with a few different types of kids/personalities, I'm skeptical. Dropping them into the command line / IDE of any language / environment is likely to leave them both unimpressed and lost. Neither…
Besides the novelty of the actual 8-bit machines, that era pushed the 'kid hacker hero' character (hard!) Whiz-kids Richie, Wargames David, Ferris Bueller, kids programming supermodels, spaceships etc.
What came first the enthusiasts or the role models? A generation of kids might have easily been bedazzled into chef'ing or carpentry instead. Mightn't have been a bad thing.
Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?
#298Earlier quoted context omitted.
You think you had it rough, at 15 I taught myself C/C++ Win32 programming with COM and early DirectX versions from textbooks and online tutorials. I'm thankful now though, as most modern frameworks are a breeze to learn by comparison. Looking back it was a bit like learning to swim by jumping in the deep end of the pool. It certainly gave me the confidence that I can figure stuff out, even in a new domain. And it's g…
Mine was Pascal in Turbo Pascal (6?) for DOS, circa 2004. It speaks volumes to the outstanding quality of Turbo Pascal and the Pascal language that it still holds up, more than 20 years later.
I feel old. Mine was commador64 basic in 1988
Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?
#299Earlier quoted context omitted.
Pico-8 was my son's very first introduction to programming. He does much more with the integrated sprite editor and sfx/music editors than he does with actual coding. I would like to get him interested in TIC-80 as a replacement. Key weaknesses of Pico-8 for kids learning to program: 1. The editor runs at the same resolution that the games do. Maybe this is because they didn't want to make their VM flexible enough to…
All of these are explicit design choices, for example a fixed palette is important to give games a "Pico-8" look and also reduce decisions regarding color choice. I suggest you watch Joseph White's practice talk ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87jfTIWosBw ) if you're curious about design decisions that guided Pico-8. Multiple resolutions would absolutely break the "Fantasy console" feel of Pico-8, even though I und…
My ideal pallete would consist of all the C64s colors and all the ZX Spectrums colors combined. A few of them would overlap, and the resulting pallete would be restrictive but pixel artists could work magic between both the familiar old hues.
My ideal machine would be a C64 and Spectrum combined, 4 commodore sound chips, screen resolution increased only about 50%, 256kB ram, possibility of running 6502 and z80 in parallel, at quadruple speed.
Could be just nostalgia, but the continuing demo scene for these computers is incredible[a] and beautiful new games also get made to the old frugal specifications.
Re: Ask HN: Is there a modern “power on to basic” computer, for kids to learn on?
#300Earlier quoted context omitted.
I upvoted this but I need to reiterate my support. When I was a kid, I was heavily into video games and had a burning desire to create my own. However, the options for doing so were not great. One of my middle school teachers tried to introduce us to programming via creating Space Invaders in perl, which went as well as you might imagine. There were a few GUI game making applications that were all terrible and extrem…
This sounds really good! Also of note: it was made by the creator of Voxatron (the only game I know of that really explored voxels), and is available as a $5 add-on to that. Wikipedia page told me of a pocket computer preloaded with PICO-8: Pocket CHIP[1]. It seems to be exactly what the OP was asking for. Alas, the Kickstarted company went belly up, failing to deliver all the preorders. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/…
I have a Pocket CHIP. It’s really cool. Comes preloaded with PICO-8, some other software (a synth, etc.), and a dead simple graphical launcher. But under the hood it’s running full on Linux. I got the Swift compiler installed and running on mine, for example.
Really too bad that the company went under.