<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></head><body style="zoom: 0%;"><div dir="auto">Hi All, <br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">I just ordered one.<br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">My thoughts so far ...<br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">Pico, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, etc. all require connections. Some understanding of circuits and how to wire them. The Micro:bit does not. <br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">If all you want to do is introduce programming of something more interesting than keyboard and screen, then the micro:bit has it covered. If you do want to teach interfacing and circuits, then maybe some other microcontroller may be more cost-effective. <br><br></div>
<div dir="auto">More to come. <br><br><br></div>
<div dir="auto"><!-- tmjah_g_1299s -->Deid<!-- tmjah_g_1299e --><br></div>
<div dir="auto"><!-- tmjah_g_1299s -->va7rei<!-- tmjah_g_1299e --></div>
<div class="gmail_quote" >On Jul 23, 2024, at 8:01 a.m., Craig Miller <<a href="mailto:cvmiller@gmail.com" target="_blank">cvmiller@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<p>Thanks Deid,</p>
<p>The table at the bottom summarizes the article well. It sill doesn't show what the python interface looks like (micro-python?, Thony?)</p>
<p>Craig...<br></p>
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On 7/23/24 07:52, Deid Reimer wrote:
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More info on micro:bit.
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<a href="https://picobricks.com/blogs/info/microbit-vs-arduino" moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://picobricks.com/blogs/info/microbit-vs-arduino</a>
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<!-- tmjah_g_1299s -->Deid<!-- tmjah_g_1299e -->
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On Jul 21, 2024, at 7:52 p.m., Craig Miller <<a href="mailto:cvmiller@gmail.com" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">cvmiller@gmail.com</a>> wrote:
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<p>Thanks Don for the Sparkfun,</p>
<p>Lots of good info about the HW on that page, including many things the Pi Pico doesn't have, such as a light sensor, micrphone, speaker (on the v2), 25 more LEDs in a 5x5 array, and an accelerometer/compass.</p>
<p>I can see why the UK has gone with this board for education.</p>
<p>I was also surprised to see that MicroSoft has MakeCode with is a graphical programming language (one doesn't see any actual lines of code), in addition to Python and Scratch.</p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://microbit.org/code/" moz-do-not-send="true">https://microbit.org/code/</a></p>
<p>Craig....<br></p>
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On 7/21/24 18:22, Donald Woods wrote:
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Sparkfun has an intro to the microbit <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/getting-started-with-the-microbit/all" moz-do-not-send="true">https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/getting-started-with-the-microbit/all</a>
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Price looks similar to the pi pico, but the microbit doesn't need a power supply like the pico does. Personally I'd favor the pico w
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I've had a couple of contacts from school board members, but nothing yet that jumped out as "We should do this" - unless going to Sooke is acceptable.
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Don
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On 21-Jul-2024 18:03, Deid Reimer wrote:
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Hi,
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At a quick read, it looks like the micro:bit is a microcontroller. Think Pi Pico with a bunch of process I/O built in.
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The goal seems to be to focus on interesting/fun coding projects. No OS. So, again, think Pi Pico.
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I am inclined to think this is a good thing. The Raspberry Pi has become too powerful and complex to fit the simple intro to programming niche. Although I'm not sure they needed to reinvent since the Pico exists.
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On the other hand, if you want to learn Linux and OSs and coding, then bring on the Raspberry Pi.
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<!-- tmjah_g_1299s -->Deid<!-- tmjah_g_1299e -->
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<!-- tmjah_g_1299s -->va7rei<!-- tmjah_g_1299e -->
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On Jul 21, 2024, at 4:08 p.m., Craig Miller <<a href="mailto:cvmiller@gmail.com" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">cvmiller@gmail.com</a>> wrote:
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<pre class="blue">Hi all,
I listen to a Tech program out of the UK, and they mentioned that the
BBC micro:bit is being distributed in all the primary schools to teach
students how to code. Other than it has more LEDs, and am not sure this
is an improvement over the Pi (perhaps I am biased). Here's some info:
<a href="https://microbit.org" moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://microbit.org</a>/
BBC Article:
<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/microbit/articles/zxrp3qt" moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/microbit/articles/zxrp3qt</a>
Craig...
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