The Kano: a computer for young people, to build and program yourself

It is delivered in spare parts and young people (or not so young!) Must assemble and program it: here is the Kano computer!

Here is a "toy" that may end up under several trees and in several classes this year: the Kano. It is a "kit" for assembling your own computer, powered by Linux technology and designed in a code learning approach, a trend that we hear more and more about.

Close to home, it was presented on September 19 by Anabel david as part of Free Software Day 2015, organized in Quebec by Linuq.

The Kano company, of British origin, was able to start its activities thanks to the unexpected success of its crowdfunding campaign in 2013. The objective of the founders was to make possible the marketing of a set of parts which, once assembled, give a fully functional computer. Their target audience is primarily students and their teachers.

The kit, which costs 150 $US, is composed of a motherboard Raspberry Pi (a nano-computer dedicated to education), a wireless keyboard, a speaker, a Wi-Fi access key, some cables, stickers (to decorate!) and a memory card with the Linux-based Kano operating system installed. The idea is to allow children to assemble their own computer, which they can then plug into a monitor. A history book walks them through the process, while teaching them the basics of code to program their device in the Kano environment. Among other things, they will be able to build a wireless server themselves, reprogram the game Minecraft to build exclusive worlds, create music or simply do word processing.

In interview with the Wired site, one of the founders explains that this allows "to ignite the spark of creative confidence in young people", in addition to allowing them to better understand the action and the functioning of computer hardware and software.

For more information, visit: http://kano.me