On day 2, I realized that I can put Linux on the raspbpi and get a computer that looks kind of like Windows when I connect to the TV. All I had to do was format a memory card (right click it and then click “format), download a version of Linux (I used Wheezy), and then burn the image onto the memory card using a program called win32diskimager (also free online). It took me a while to figure out, but when I turn on the raspbpi and it goes into non-graphical Linux, I type “startx” to get into the graphical Linux. Now, I can play games, get on the internet, program python using the mouse and keyboard instead of typing commands.
Then, I went online and downloaded an emulator that would let me play old Atari games. I played reversi, moon patrol, pacman, and baseball. The graphics were really cheesy compared to my wii, but it was fun to do. I used an emulator called Stella. As part of this, I learned about a unix command called apt-get. To install Stella, I just connected the raspbpi to the internet and typed “sudo apt–get install stella”.
After a while, the graphical Linux stopped working. Startx just didn’t do anything anymore, so I had to format the memory card again and again and again and reinstall Linux before it would work. It’s working ok now, but vi doesn’t work on this memory card. I don’t know why. I’ll just put my uncle’s memory card back in if I need vi.
I copied a program from someone online called adafruit that lights up an LED when a gmail comes in. It didn’t work when I typed it exactly like hers, but my dad and I figured out how to fix it (we removed the first line and the exclamation mark at the end and fixed some of the indentations). We tried to change the program so that it would do different number of lights the more emails that came in, but we couldn’t figure it out. Tomorrow, I’m going to the library to get a Python book.
Today, I also played with a program called “Scratch” a little bit. It’s supposed to teach kids how to program computers by dragging commands instead of typing them. You can program a cat to move around the screen and things like that. Pretty fun, but I want to learn Python. Here’s a video that shows more about Scratch:
Here’s a link to adafruit’s page about the gmail notifier project: http://learn.adafruit.com/raspberry-pi-e-mail-notifier-using-leds/overview
Raspberry Pi Kid 
Terrific work! That is the type of information that are supposed to be shared around the net. Disgrace on the search engines for not positioning this put up upper! Come on over and visit my website . Thank you =)
nice work you are really talented,i heard about raspberry pi like some few weeks ago and believe me i have searched the whole country but i cant get some to buy.am from GHANA in WEST AFRICA am jonathan by the way..am still searching and i hope to get one.
Nice blog. Your issue with vi is just that it is not part of the standard install.
sudo apt-get install vim
will install vim (vi improved).
Thanks! That explains why it works on my uncle’s memory card and not the one my dad and I made. At least it’s easy to fix.
guys seriously i need your help,i cant still find some of the raspberry pi to buy here in GHANA(west Africa). who will help me out anyone please i will send the money to anyone who is willing to help me so that he/she buys it for me.please
Hi there this is somewhat of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML.
I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding know-how so I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience. Any help would be enormously appreciated!
My dad had to explain what WYSIWYG means. If you want a simple blog, you don’t really ahve to do anything buy type just like in Word. But some people have advanced things and you have to know more about computers. I learned a little about html and it was enough to embed youtube videos. There are buttons to put links and stuff. You don’t even have to do that yourself. I use WordPress and my dad uses Blogger (blogspot) and they are both the same way.