[ML-General] Looking to develop curriculum for childrens technology camps

[david]

Nits to pick:
Computers:
mainframe -- huge, multi-million dollar dinosaurs that have 1 to few
processors but engineered to serve thousands of ($$$) terminals and
designed to centralize data and functions.  Examples IBM, Unisys, Honeywell;
mini-computer -- washing machine sized computers, mostly for engineering
departments.  examples DEC PDP 8, PDP 11, Wang mini's, and so on.  Cost
tens of thousands of dollars and up;
micro-computers -- desktop machines originally designed for
single-person computing, but boy, did it grow up!  Cost around $1,000
and up;
Now, we have what I term the pico-computers (to follow the name history)
-- mostly designed as embedded device, grew into system-on-chip capable
of handling some desktop functions as long as they are not
comute-intensive.  Cost $5 to a few hundred, with peripherals covering a
wide spectrum.

What's next?  A nano-comuter (quantum machines?)  Interfaces to humans
still gonna cost the same as all tiers but the (outdated) mainframe. 
Capable of enormous compute power, memory requirements/accomodations
will be phenomenally large.

Meaningless historical trivia:  The IBM PC was designed as a *terminal*
only, for their mainframes and the IBM engineers and marketers had
deduced it was incapable of operating as a stand-alone computer. 
Follow-on trivia: in 1983, I designed and installed a network of PC's in
a department in a nuclear power plant, for purposes of database,
record-keeping, and some compute-intensive jobs.  When IBM came out and
examined what I had done, they turned white as a sheet and said, out
loud and to the room, "This is impossible."  And after the PC has
already established itself as a capable (sort of) stand-alone office
computer.  Yet it worked for many years.  My OS of choice at that time
was QNX, a variant of UNIX, of course.

David Merchant
Man, how I do ramble sometimes.


On 02/07/2016 06:01 PM, Chris Bero wrote:
> Yes, it's called a thrift store. Raspberry Pi sized computers are good
> for things that require small space, no peripherals, and low power,
> but once you kit them out like a regular desktop then they're just as
> expensive as a desktop/laptop from a local goodwill.
>
> Additionally, thrift store computers usually come prepared with a VGA
> output to use with the ancient CRT (aka electron gun we point at
> students' heads) monitors that local school systems seem insistent on
> cluttering lower grade classrooms with.
>
> Really, it's a win-win. But I'm speaking from the perspective of a
> classroom rather than a STEM camp or the like, so there's definitely
> still good opportunities around to use those mini computers.
>
> Chris Bero
>
>
> On Sun, Feb 7, 2016 at 5:13 PM, david <ainut at knology.net
> <mailto:ainut at knology.net>> wrote:
>
>     And is there a "total system" that will come in cheaper and as
>     rugged?  Children break things often. :)
>     I know, 'cause I've been breaking things since forever.
>
>
>
>
>     On 02/07/2016 05:06 PM, Michael Greenway wrote:
>>
>>     While Pi Zero is $5, remember, you will need keyboard, on the go
>>     adapter, mini hdmi to hdmi adapter, and micro sd with whatever os
>>     to use. Costs will add up quickly in adapters etc. Good to keep
>>     this in mind...from someone who found out the hard way ;)
>>
>>     On Feb 7, 2016 4:45 PM, "david" <ainut at knology.net
>>     <mailto:ainut at knology.net>> wrote:
>>
>>         The Pi Zero, at $5 each, seems like an obvious choice as the
>>         basis from which to grow.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>         On 02/07/2016 01:21 PM, Greg Brown wrote:
>>>         Hello all!
>>>
>>>         This weekend at the PyTennessee conference I spoke with Amy
>>>         Flatt, Director of K-12 Initiatives for the Nashville
>>>         Technology Council.  She is looking to develop a curriculum
>>>         for introducing school-age children to technology.  She is
>>>         really looking for some hands-on type projects like a
>>>         microcontroller based Rube Goldberg machine, Minecraft,
>>>         robots, and programming in Scratch.  I shared some of the
>>>         things we had done with community education and she was very
>>>         interested in collaborating with us.
>>>
>>>         I am writing this to gauge the interest in helping out with
>>>         this initiative.  At some point she wants to come visit us
>>>         from Atlanta.
>>>
>>>         -Greg
>>>
>>>
>>>         _______________________________________________
>>>         General mailing list - General at lists.makerslocal.org
>>>         <mailto:General at lists.makerslocal.org>
>>>         A service of Makers Local 256 - https://256.makerslocal.org/
>>>         http://lists.makerslocal.org/mailman/listinfo/general
>>
>>
>>         _______________________________________________
>>         General mailing list - General at lists.makerslocal.org
>>         <mailto:General at lists.makerslocal.org>
>>         A service of Makers Local 256 - https://256.makerslocal.org/
>>         http://lists.makerslocal.org/mailman/listinfo/general
>>
>>
>>
>>     _______________________________________________
>>     General mailing list - General at lists.makerslocal.org <mailto:General at lists.makerslocal.org>
>>     A service of Makers Local 256 - https://256.makerslocal.org/
>>     http://lists.makerslocal.org/mailman/listinfo/general
>
>
>     _______________________________________________
>     General mailing list - General at lists.makerslocal.org
>     <mailto:General at lists.makerslocal.org>
>     A service of Makers Local 256 - https://256.makerslocal.org/
>     http://lists.makerslocal.org/mailman/listinfo/general
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> General mailing list - General at lists.makerslocal.org
> A service of Makers Local 256 - https://256.makerslocal.org/
> http://lists.makerslocal.org/mailman/listinfo/general

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.makerslocal.org/pipermail/general/attachments/20160207/6d70f5d2/attachment.html>