I'm 19, so I've never experienced a terminal running BASIC on a TV screen or anything else from those early days. I think my oldest memory of computers is Win 98.
What got me into programming originally was Lego Mindstorms (the original version, the second iteration was no good). My dad and I made robots that could follow black lines on the ground and read barcodes, and it was all with the drag-and-drop interface Mindstorms ran on. ( http://www.bouwvoorbeelden.nl/MindStorms/ShootOut_bestanden/... ) And it was fucking awesome.
It taught the concepts of programming like loops and conditions and variables, but in a watered-down way that took care of the stuff that's not fun for a kid. As you grow you find joy in tackling more complicated things, but as a kid Mindstorms was perfect. Great role-model for any aspiring curriculum in younger education.
Even though it would be way out-dated technology now I feel like Lego should start manufacturing those kits again - they were really amazing. Maybe that would be a good startup idea? Raspberry Pi for kids?
Meh, I mean they are aiming it at education which I think is great, but I doubt many kids would know what to do with Raspberry Pi if you just handed it to them.
My impression is that the main interest in it has been from older people who like to hack on hardware.
That's true of the current ones, but I think the idea is to develop it into a kit with case, manuals, pre-loaded software, etc. to support some sort of programming or robotics curriculum.
Personally, I think it would be neat if the R-Pi could be made into a graphing calculator, which most kids need for their math classes any way (actually they don't need it, but are required to have them). That way, it can be a bog standard calculator by day, and a full Linux workstation by night (after plugging in display/keyboard).
Having just graduated high school a few years ago, I'd say graphic calculators are sort of needed. Most of the time a simpler calculator would do the job and having a $100 Texas Instruments is just a luxury because they're better laid out and show a history of operations like a terminal. Even when graphing and matrices were part of the curriculum, those things can all be done by hand if you really have a lot of time, but it would be harder to learn that stuff without a reference to compare yourself to.
TBH I think books, calculators, computers, and basically every other tool kids use in school will soon be replaced by the iPad, or a similar device. If someone can make a cheaper alternative with R-Pi that catches on (very doable), well great.
I think something more fun for kids would be (apart from the obvious game platform) some kind of communication device. Something like walkie-talkies.. but maybe communicating via IR LEDs with morse code rather than voice. Another idea is using the R-Pi as a counter for a LaserTag-like game.
I've had this project in my head to build a graphing calculator thats a full Linux workstation for some time. It'd be really nice if the display and keyboard could be in the device to start with. Ya know, so I could walk around and use the thing.
There is a lego store near me and trust me, they still sell mindstorms. They have a few different components now but are mostly the same. They cost several hundred pounds however.
What got me into programming originally was Lego Mindstorms (the original version, the second iteration was no good). My dad and I made robots that could follow black lines on the ground and read barcodes, and it was all with the drag-and-drop interface Mindstorms ran on. ( http://www.bouwvoorbeelden.nl/MindStorms/ShootOut_bestanden/... ) And it was fucking awesome.
It taught the concepts of programming like loops and conditions and variables, but in a watered-down way that took care of the stuff that's not fun for a kid. As you grow you find joy in tackling more complicated things, but as a kid Mindstorms was perfect. Great role-model for any aspiring curriculum in younger education.
Even though it would be way out-dated technology now I feel like Lego should start manufacturing those kits again - they were really amazing. Maybe that would be a good startup idea? Raspberry Pi for kids?