Raspberry Pi Store opens in the UK

Well, I have to say that this kind of store is not the one I would consider as really "useful" for someone who uses RPI. It seems to be a nice front store, where to show the products, maybe selling some, probably more useful to make some course, some seminar, some interaction with some Hacking group.

My ideal store is the one like the electronic components of the 80s/90s. That kind of store where you would enter and find endless boxes full of components from where to pick what you had in your BOM. The interaction was between people who, like you, was looking for some specific Zener or IC to complete a project that was ready to be used in real life.

The RPI store seems to be too neat, too "classy", and not full enough of all that bunch of cables, components, printed datasheet that were hanging from the shelves. Today you must rely on online stores to find what you're looking for. When I studied physics, at the electronics lab, we had tables full of breadboards, where you could test right there if your circuit was functional, before actually getting the components you needed.

Even Elak, the store in Brussels, is too neat for me. Everything is on the shelf, you cannot touch nor try anything. I think that if you want people to start appreciating electronics, you must let them have some dirt on their precious hands at the store ...

This reminds me of when I started to build my own personal computer. I first built mine in the era of the AMD K6-2 400Mhz, though I'd been inside them earlier than that.

Friends of mine, or people I knew, were afraid to touch the insides of a computer, or electronic components.

"Won't you damage it?"

"You'll get an electric shock!"

"There's so many wires it's scary!"

It's easy for us to forget that these are the first impressions a lot of people have when it comes to bare electronics, and that's what you get with the Raspberry Pi. I think if we're looking at this store and going "well, they could have done this, or that" then the store's not for us, and that's fine, because eventually people who pick up the hardware thanks to stores like this will be more confident with the hardware.

Thinking about it, I've not heard a single comment about the Raspberry Pi and being afraid of static discharge.

This reminds me of when I started to build my own personal computer. I first built mine in the era of the AMD K6-2 400Mhz, though I'd been inside them earlier than that.

Friends of mine, or people I knew, were afraid to touch the insides of a computer, or electronic components.

"Won't you damage it?"

"You'll get an electric shock!"

"There's so many wires it's scary!"

It's easy for us to forget that these are the first impressions a lot of people have when it comes to bare electronics, and that's what you get with the Raspberry Pi. I think if we're looking at this store and going "well, they could have done this, or that" then the store's not for us, and that's fine, because eventually people who pick up the hardware thanks to stores like this will be more confident with the hardware.

Thinking about it, I've not heard a single comment about the Raspberry Pi and being afraid of static discharge.

cstanton  wrote:

 

Thinking about it, I've not heard a single comment about the Raspberry Pi and being afraid of static discharge.

The static thing is difficult - while it certainly can damage components the risk varies a lot with the environment. Here in damp SW Scotland in a rather damp factory unit it is very rare to get a static shock.

When I lived somewhere drier and centrally heated with carpets it was common.

In most factories they would carry Pi boards about in conductive trays and wear wrist or heel straps. I doubt that many home/school users bother and that doesn't seem to have resulted in mass Pi death.

MK

Most people could care less about static even if they have heard of it. All that would happen is the part mysteriously does something "wierd" or maybe stops. Static is insidious and rarely kills in one blow anyway!