Re: "I can't go out today and license a RISC-V core,"
Competition is normally a good thing, if both sides have to raise their game to get the traffic.
Minor complaint with both ecosystems. In my line of work I need folks that can deal with the down and dirty of TTL logic circuits and the like.
Still, Pi is a hell of a useful tool for getting "easy-mode" electronics out into a wider audience.
I forget the name of them exactly, but in the early 90's I recall my school having a ton of logic boards showing and/or/not gates etc that you could plug bits of stuff into. Teacher I remember set me away building a 4-bit safe lock (not very safe!!!) - which took me about 5 mins to prove (through brute force naturally). I built a half-adder out of the boards later that day. I suspect scared the bejesus out more than a few of the staff.
Of course, having used the C64 since 1985 it was all pretty trivial. The C64's manual covered logic gates well, and a copy of "the way things work" had me building a half-adder later the same day out of a stack of these boards.
One downside, they didn't have a bloody clue what to do next, being "that far ahead". Which wasn't really that far ahead, but principle of the thing stands...
I do wish education generally would leap on the strengths of individuals and develop them. Yes, yes, some fundamentals needed by everyone. But not to the detriment of actually getting good at what interests you!
Biting the hand that feeds IT
