When the Raspberry Pi was first produced, it took weeks or even months for some people to receive coveted board. Within that time, the lucky few who got their hands on theirs showcased what they could do over the internet, and some gave helpful insight on how to go about creating projects with this new foreign device. Over the summer, Cambridge University noticed the interest the Raspberry Pi was creating within the computer science field, and decided to have their summer interns create a tutorial to help students getting started with the Raspberry Pi. Additionally, they are now offering a Pi to every incoming freshman in their computer science department.
Alex Chadwick is one of the summer interns who has helped produce the free course on simple operating systems for the Raspberry Pi, which is now free to the public. The course, called Baking Pi,
is a 12 step course that will take you through the basics of operating systems development in assembly language. The course begins with some general information on what assembly language and operating systems really are, and then the course delves deeper into practical work. Beginning with manipulating an on board LED, the course will head into graphics theory, generating lines, text, and numbers, and will eventually teach you how to create your own command line interface.
The creators say the course was created to be accessible to everyone with or without programming experience, although past experience would surely help. The only requirements needed are your own Raspberry Pi, along with an SD card and a computer to write to the card. Since its release, the Pi has definitely generated lots of interest and excitement in the computer science communities. Also with the makers now producing 4,000 units a day, there should be no more problems getting your hands on your very own Raspberry Pi.
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