Access to information is cheap! we will show you how! - Georgios & Daddy
Hello Friends of Woodbridge Primary School,
Welcome to our 2022 challenge!
As most of you migh not be aware, this year is all about the two's. So we decided as a family to raise £20.22 (till 22/02/2022) by trying to build a fully capable computer that would cost £20.22 or less!
Our effort is inspired by Sir Clive Sinclair. Sir Sinclair was the first ever to mass produce a computer for less than £100 back in 1980 (the Sinclair ZX80), when they would normally cost a small fortune. In addition to that, Sinclair's computers would be called 'home computers', as they were small enough to be treated as home appliances when all other computers of the era required small cranes to be moved around and large rooms to be operated from. By doing this, the ZX80 was catalytic in igniting the video game revolution, as people would now
have the right tools to help them turn their imagination into video games.
Sir Sinclair managed to keep the cost of the ZX80 low by providing the absolutely neccesary hardware parts only. The users would have to assemble the parts (which added even more to the charm of the system). The was no monitor in the bundle. The users would have to use their own tellies.
This task is significantly easier nowdays. Hardware is cheaper, smaller, faster and far more energy-efficient. People can buy it and have it delivered on their doorsteps in a couple of days only. However, following Sir Sinclair's principals, we decided not to use a monitor, a set speakers & a power supply.
The idea is to reuse as many resources as possible from our household. Therefore we will use a tv instead of a monitor and a set of speakers and an old phone charger instead of a dedicated power supply unit.
The remaining parts and costs are:
1) The computing unit
https://thepihut.com/products/raspberry-pi-zero-w?src=raspberrypi
Cost: £9.30 incl. VAT
2) The memory
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B088RQ6G7R/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_P097YK48NFVNX6NVPRMF
Cost: £4.08 incl. VAT
3) a keyboard and a mouse
https://www.cclonline.com/product/371294/1910-1080/Keyboard-Mouse-Bundles/Tactus-Wired-Keyboard-and-Mouse/KBD2290/
Cost: £5.57 incl. VAT
Total: £18.95 (which is less than £20!!)
The aim is to have a computer fully capable to browse the web, perfom office tasks, allow access to several programming languages and play games.
However, due to covid related hardware shortage worldwide, we could not find the computing unit and therefore decided to buy a used one for £20 (it is a more advanced unit). With the budget depleted, we decided to replace all the rest of the parts with used parts.
The memory comes from one of the old daddy's phones as well as the power supply unit. And the keyboard and mouse are borrowed from his personal computer.
1. keyboard, 2.old phone charger, 3.mouse, 4. SD memory card, 5.Raspberry Pi 3
1) find a name for the computer - Daddy & Georgios will have to come up with a name. Daddy will explain rules for computer names and Georgios will help Daddy to come up with a few alternatives!
2) build housing for the computer - Daddy & Georgios will work together. This will either be based on card boxes or lego bricks!
3) put the parts together - Daddy will mostly do this on his own
4) install an operating system - Daddy only
5) use the computer to perform at least two basic tasks:
(a) listen to music by using youtube - Daddy will launch a browser & Georgios will type in his favorite song!
(b) log in to Oxford library and read a book using their system - Daddy will launch a browser & Georgios will choose a book to read and answer the quiz in the end!
6) play Georgio's favorite game (sonic the hedgehog) using this computer - Daddy & Georgios
7) make a simple educational game and use it - Daddy will prepare it and Georgios will use it
If you find all the above fascinating and would like to sponsor our little project, please follow the link below:
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/homecomputer?utm_term=7VV8eBJrX
We are aiming to raise £20.22 pounds which we will give to the woodbridge primary school.
Any contribution is welcome!
Please return to this page, for updates.
We will upload updates and photos from our milestones!
Thank you all,
Panos (daddy) & Georgios
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