Is raspberry pi enjoyable (for kids?)

Hi my fellow g units. I have a son diagnosised with high functioning autism and is really into technology and programming. Ever since he was a baby he was more into breaking his toys to figure out how they work.

He has asked for stuff like an zip drive, apple i, c64 and a windows 95 computer for christmas but reality is I don't think they would hold his interest for long. (He watches that weird guy with the cats on Youtube.. tech guy or something)

So led me to raspberry pi. I was vaguely familiar with it when it came out, and I've looked up stuff like Kano computer which is basically a raspberry pi for kids which is selling out in America (not a shill) and retropie. I see amazon has some premade sets for stuff like retro gaming. Can the pi handle that kind of emulation? Is the pi any good or just a novelty that fades away after a few weeks? Are there any cool things you can do with it? Would an autistic kid whose into programming like scratch like it? Thank you i hoped you enjoyed my post. Thank you merry cristmas g

Yes.

With the amount of documentation available, he would have a good start with it.
Also a C64 would be nice for him because of BASIC and GPIO on it. Basically like a older Pi. Also easier to get into assembly on a C64 then Pi.

Pi is also OK for retrogaming.
Not great, but okay, especially if you don't have any previous experience on how the games should run on real hardware.

Timings can be a little harder on the Pi as it has slightly more lag, but for most games that won't be as important.

To be fair, autistic or not, nothing can keep a child's attention for long nowadays

No. Get them an original xbox, let them enjoy the original titles, THEN show them modding on it.

This is also true.
But if he has actual interest in it, he will come back to it from time to time.

Might aswell get him every console by that logic.

How old is he that he has interest in retro stuff?

For retro gaming, you're better off with an Original Xbox if you have some technical inclination. It can emulate more than an rPI and it's about the same price.

If it's only about retrogaming, a Wii would be better.
Obviously the Xbox also has original Xbox titles and lots of nice Sega games.

Hi there. Aspie here. Get him a fucking C64, the Pi won't be amusing at all. On the Pi you can't visually see how everything works since it's all in an SoC. Keep in mind that the experience will have to be engaging in every way, including tactile and visual. As a kid I had an Amstrad CPC 464 and loved the crap out of it, and it was also fun to open it up every now and then and wonder at the traces flowing frome one chip to another, or in parallel in the case of the RAM.
Or just get him some trains, I'm dead serious here.

Oh that's cool. I wasn't sure if there was much merit in old tech but maybe I'll have to look out for a C64 when I hit up thrift stores.

I'm not too worried about technical differences, he is young and has played minecraft on really outdated computers and hasn't complained.
That was really my fault as a single dad. His mom passed on shortly after birth and I was not prepared to balance everything I would stick him infront of screens. I try now to limit screen time but damage is done. It sucks to know it's my fault. :/

Yeah, a Wii would be even better than an Xbox, but they tend to command more than $50 these days.

I'd say get both, the Pi isn't that expensive. Yet it offers some more modern and up to date options for higher level stuff.

>Oh that's cool. I wasn't sure if there was much merit in old tech but maybe I'll have to look out for a C64 when I hit up thrift stores.
American?
Good luck. Those are pretty hard to find these days in just stores. Might need to lurk eBay for a cheap one if it comes along.

I'm fucking retarded and forgot to mention he is 7(8 in a few months). He can write codes in those scratch and tynker kind of websites, most of the time copying other work and changing a bit. I told him it is what made zuckerberg billions so why not.

>I told him it is what made zuckerberg billions so why not.
Nice motivation.
I'll remember that one for the future if I ever have kids and FaceBook is still relevant.

I'm not autistic but when I was 8 I was messing around with Linux and many old computers.

Well I was soldering my own shit when I was his age. Get him the C64 and if he wants anything more modern buy him a Pi, some veroboard and some level converters so he can connect both via serial. Seriously, make him figure his own shit out, or he'll end up a 20yo neet like me.

This.

Xbox might be an even batter idea than I thought, you can mess around with Linux and hardware mods on them as well.

Good luck dude and Merry Christmass.

Screens are okay as there's lots of interesting content.
If he has a way to experiment and learn by himself at the side, that would be great.
Try to do stuff together also.

At least I'm sure he won't turn out like the kids are these days that don't even know anything else then how to use touchscreens.

So you could on an old laptop though.
Xbox Linux is pretty open though, PS2 Linux is far more limited.

Shit I was playing sim city when I was 7. I am still terrible with soldering. I'll have to keep an eye out for a C64 and an Xbox. I still have a lot of my retro consoles in a closet but I really don't want them to get broken. It's not really special but I'd rather just do an emulator.

I used my PS2 as a desktop for a month or two when I was poor, I would have had a much better experience if I'd had an Xbox.

Thanks pal. When he was first into tech, it was alot of autistic shit like most kids are into watching on youtube; minecraft let's play and egg opening stuff and it used to irritate the shit out of me, but now he is mostly watching technology videos like Tech moan, 8 bit guy, and linustechtips lol.

Just consider yourself and your son lucky that he's been diagnosed so early. I was diagnosed when I was 18, after a failed suicide attempt and tons more shit. Not my thread though, not my blog either. Just make sure he socializes and gets along with the other kids as well as playing with his old tech. You don't want to know the shit my parents had to go through when I was a teenager.

That's rough man. He has been in programs since he was 2 or 3 for speech delays. He is currently in a school program for kids with high functioning autism and they work with them. His best friend is into trains lol.

Thanks all for the help! Have so many great ideas for christmas and his birthday

That's nice. Those are pretty nice (Yes, even Linus).
Unironically, even when people might not agree (as they think some of them are hipsters), you might want to tell him to watch things like Lazy Game Reviews, CuriousMarc, Tinkernut, Make, Nostalgia Nerd, Modern Vintage Gamer, Jeri Ellsworth, Fran Blanche, EVVBlog, Dan Wood, Computerphile, RetroGameModz, the list goes on.
Those are just a few examples from the top of my head, you could check them out yourself too. They generally talk about retro stuff, soldering and related.

Not the same user, I'm high functioning and into tech and trains as well, and I'm nearly 30 and not having a terrible time. For me at least, things have gotten easier the older I've become. Happy holidays, and good luck user.

haha your son is autistic

Do you realize what board you're on?

I knew a post like that would pop up sooner or latter.

So what if he's son is autistic? So are you.

Glad to help you and a fellow 'tist. And thank you for making the first serious thread we've had in Sup Forums in months.
Play With Junk is another good one. Also make sure he doesn't watch ITTFami. It's me and I'm getting exposure, but I'm serious about not letting him watch my channel. At least not until he's a bit older and has his social stuff sorted out.
Life's been pretty ok for me for the last couple years, too. The diagnosis/therapy really helped treating my social problems from their roots.

>And thank you for making the first serious thread we've had in Sup Forums in months.
This. It's actually nice.

I purposely excluded you from that list.

a pi'd be pretty fun
set it up with him and the lot
>Would an autistic kid whose into programming like scratch like it?
yes

>Can the pi handle that kind of emulation?
a Pi 3 can do up to PS1 acceptably
you'll need to fiddle with a handful of things to kill lag (namely, disabling threaded video helped a bunch)

>He can write codes in those scratch and tynker kind of websites, most of the time copying other work and changing a bit.
This is great. Seriously. I spent my 10-13's playing gmod and copy-pasting source from other people's hacked minecraft clients. Really wish I didn't try to jump into programming and instead learned the mindset through something like Scratch.

Pi 3 will run every retro console up to the PS1.

I know this is Sup Forums and all, but I have to say that psychedelics really helped me. Unfortunately, it took until I was 18 to get diagnosed, and I didn't really have the means to seek out traditional therapy. I am not saying the route I took is for everybody, but if tread upon carefully I can attest to it's possible usefulness.

user I red trough the thread and I want to wish you a merry Christmas!

AS for the Pi, altough it sometimes lags, it Can run n64, most fun I have had ist with Mario Kart 64. Setting it all up will take some work from him, but the reward will BE worth it :)

rip