Today is the 10th birthday of the Raspberry Pi! (sort of… it is not a Leap Year, so today is as close as it gets).

I have been a Pi fan for many years - since before it was released, actually! It was more than ten years ago, in September 2011, when I met Eben and Liz Upton at an Open Source technology conference in Oxford. They were showing off some interesting new hardware: a credit-card sized circuit board called a “Raspberry Pi”. Eben went on to speak about the background to the project, and his passion to create an affordable computer that any child can own, learn to code, and build hardware projects.

I made a video that day, showing the pre-release board. It remains by far my most-watched YouTube upload!

The Pi was a huge additional validator for Linux, and also for growing the developer base for Python. The Open Source community quickly embraced the boards.

My main experience has been using the Pi in a variety of “Internet of Things” projects (my background is in the MQTT community). I’ve got a number of Pis around my house, for functions including acting as a bridge between smart home devices and Apple HomeKit using HomeBridge; for self-education (see more about my Pi Cluster, below); as MQTT brokers and clients. My “bits box” is filled with Pi accessories and HATs (expansion boards) that I enjoy tinkering with and using for prototyping, much as I’ve been pivoting to MicroPython and ESP32 more recently.

Building a compact Pi cluster

Andy Piper ・ Jan 3 '22

#raspberrypi #cluster #linux #cheerlights

Not only that, I’m a fan of all things Raspberry Pi, and wrote about the arrival of the Pico last year, as well - that definitely spurred my interest in MicroPython even further.

Raspberry Pi Pico - getting excited about the smallest things!

Andy Piper ・ Jan 24 '21

#raspberrypi #micropython #microcontroller #pico

So, Happy Birthday, Raspberry Pi! 🎂 and Thank You for helping to make software and hardware, coding and electronics, accessible to a much broader audience.

I’m a volunteer moderator for the #raspberrypi topic here on DEV, and I’ve taken the opportunity of this anniversary to spruce up the topic page. Feel free to use the topic tag when you’re sharing your learning experiences on Pi!

What have you used the Pi for? I’d love to learn more, in the comments! 😁