Gear & Gadgets —

BBC starts sending free Micro:bit computers to a million UK students

BBC Micro:bit will hopefully help kids learn to code, like the BBC Micro before it.

Starting from this morning, March 22, about a million teachers and students across the UK will begin to receive a free BBC Micro:bit computer. The idea is to get an easily programmable/tinkerable computer into the hands of kids, to get them into techy stuff at a young age—much like the BBC Micro in the 1980s.

If you're aged 11 to 12 (year 7 in England and Wales, year 8 in Northern Ireland, and S1 in Scotland), and your school has registered for the Micro:bit program, you should be entitled to a free Micro:bit. Parents and teachers: if you haven't heard of the Micro:bit, or your school hasn't registered, go ahead and sign up.

Eventually non-students will be able to buy a Micro:bit for their own DIY purposes, but for now unless you're a teacher, student, or lucky journalist like me, you're probably out of luck. The Micro:bit's eventual commercial pricing is unknown, but it will probably struggle against the £4/$5 Raspberry Pi Zero. A BBC spokesperson told me that they are focusing on delivering one million Micro:bits to students before turning its attention to commercial availability. I would be surprised if you could buy a Micro:bit before the end of the year.

Rather than foot the entire bill for a million-odd Micro:bits and build an entire developer framework from scratch, the BBC partnered with a bunch of companies that provided support and sponsorship. Microsoft, for example, supplied the programming languages (Touch Develop and Block Editor); Samsung provided an Android app; NXP provided the USB controller, accelerometer, and magnetometer; Nordic Semiconductor supplied the Bluetooth chip; and Lancaster University designed the Micro:bit's runtime kernel. All told, there are more than 20 companies or institutions that are supporting the Micro:bit in some way.

So, what's in the Micro:bit box?

My original plan was to review the Micro:bit—to actually write some code using Microsoft Touch Develop, to see what's in store for our nation's kids. Unfortunately, and rather unsurprisingly given how the Micro:bit has been plagued by delays, the BBC only sent out the Micro:bit on Friday, for a Monday delivery and midnight-Monday embargo. I want to play with the Micro:bit for more than a couple of hours before writing about it.

A BBC spokesperson confirmed that teachers and students will receive a Micro:bit, a USB cable, and a battery holder. Teachers will also receive a quick start guide (the A4 book pictured in the gallery above) that is 32 pages long and contains enough information to create some basic programs that interact with the Micro:bit's LEDs, buttons, and sensors. Teachers and students are primarily meant to use the Micro:bit website, though, which contains a wealth of information, tutorials, etc.

My box contained some other stuff, including crocodile clips, a buzzer, and what appears to be some kind of 3.5mm-to-phono adapter. Many schools will already have a lot of similar bits and pieces laying around that they can use—but if not, there's plenty that can be done with just the Micro:bit and a battery pack.

And now, like lots of other kids around the country this morning, I'm off to play with my Micro:bit. I'll hopefully have some hands-on impressions soon.

Listing image by Sebastian Anthony

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