Raspberry Pi 400 - a keyboard or a computer?
The Christmas Gift
As a gift for Christmas this year, I got a Raspberry Pi 400 computer kit. Luckily it was not wrapped so I did not have to go through a week thinking what's inside. On the box was an image of a keyboard and mouse with a few other wires. There was a title saying Raspberry Pi 400 printed on the opposite of a text stating personal computer kit. Finally the day came, Christmas day, the day I could open the kit. I had imagined it to be some sort of kit that I had to build but I was wrong.
The Unboxing
As I was panicking thinking that they forgot to put the screen in, I had a read of the book that was included in the kit. It said that the computer was in side the keyboard. How was that possible? At least that was what I was wondering until my dad told me you don't need a screen for there to be a computer. It turned out that a computer actually means the programming to make the device work. The kit consisted of a mouse, power wire, monitor-connecting wire and the keyboard. The setting up was actually very simple. The keyboard had a clear label of which hole was for what. After I finished setting it up, in about 3 mins, I realised that the aim was not to build the computer but to use it.
The Operating System
Once I plugged the cable to the spare monitor I had, the device greeted me with the welcome wizard app. It had already set me up with the login but to be safe if asked me to come up with the password myself. Then it asked me some details and it was almost ready for the go. After a long software update I was ready to explore. The system had a cool menu with fun animations. I was surprised how many different applications were installed and you could even download many things your self. It had a well performing web and even YouTube. Soon I realised that there was actually no reason for my surprise when my dad said it was basically a real computer that one would buy and that this one comes with apps helping you to learn programming. Quite basically I had been gifted a computer for Christmas. The manual came with detailed instructions on how to use almost every app they had given in the programming topic. This totally epic gift has opened a door for me to be an excellent programmer as well as tempting me to go further and further into the depths of coding.
