Putting the Wolfram Language (and Mathematica) On Every Raspberry Pi 99
An anonymous reader writes "Working with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, effective immediately, there's a pilot release of the Wolfram Language — as well as Mathematica—that will soon be bundled as part of the standard system software for every Raspberry Pi computer. Quite soon the Wolfram Language is going to start showing up in lots of places, notably on the web and in the cloud."
Blatant Shill (Score:3, Insightful)
lol no. It's far more likely that this language will be ignored by practically everyone. Remember Arc?
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No. What's Arc?
It is a Lisp dialect [paulgraham.com] that nobody uses.
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Woah, can't believe anyone else knows about Arc. I was one of the unfortunate few that had to use it for a regression class in college. The language is used in the textbook Applied Regression including Computing Graphics. Since the professor also wrote the textbook and Arc has strong ties to my alma mater, I figured they just had blinders on since the rest of the statistics world was already using R.
If you are interested in trying this (awful) software out for yourself, it is available for download here
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bloat? (Score:2)
Why? I'm sure it's great, but...
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Wolfram = English guy associated with english computing
Raspberry Pi = english project designed to teach children computing
Wolfram + Rasberry Pi = vehicle for english technology sector growth
Re:bloat? (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, we discard the AxPROT AXI signals as they leave the ARM complex, so it's not possible to distinguish between trusted and untrusted transactions at the memory controller. BCM2835 is actually one of the few ARM APs *not* to use TrustZone technology.
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>at the memory controller.
Of course, this is disregarding everything else about the TZ stack..
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The British Empire is long dead.
Not entirely, its former colonies still uses the imperial units.
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No, they use units which are named like the imperial units, but slightly differ in size.
TIOBE (Score:2)
I'll believe it when I see it here.
http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html [tiobe.com]
Web AND Cloud? (Score:3, Interesting)
Isn't the web a "cloud" in of itself?
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Isn't the web a "cloud" in of itself?
No, it is not.
Re:Web AND Cloud? (Score:4, Funny)
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Isn't the web a "cloud" in of itself?
More like a layer of smog...
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The web is a kind of cloud, a limited subset of what cloud computing can do, but useful to mention specifically since so many peope are familiar with it.
Why not just release it for the home users too? (Score:1, Interesting)
Why not just release Mathematica for the home users too? There are hundreds of millions of potential users out there who would love to have Mathematica for non-commercial use on their home computers. It would benefit Wolfram tremendously to have such a huge user base that knows his software, instead of just a fraction of anoraks that happen to work in universities or as engineers.
If it's the full Mathematica on Pi, though, I'd probably have to buy one just for that. The home version is several hundred bu
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Which is exactly what he said, so how is that full of crap? $300 is too much for something he'd just putter around with.
That's a bold claim. (Score:5, Informative)
Raspberry Pi comes with no operating system. There are a number of Linux builds, including the recommended Debian build, which could be made to include the free Raspberry Pi version of the Wolfram Language and Mathmatica. To claim "every Raspberry Pi" is a bit hyperbolic.
Re:That's a bold claim. (Score:5, Informative)
Looks like you're right. A few links deep found this: "Today, at the CBM education summit in New York, we announced a partnership with Wolfram Research to bundle a free copy of Mathematica and the Wolfram Language into future Raspbian images."
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That will allow desktop users to have a ghetto Mathematica by running Raspbian in a VM.
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Given that the Athlon 64 X2 3800+ is a relative antique, and the Pi is only a 700MHz ARM core of not pa
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The real Pi was 3-4 seconds faster
This is a completely meaningless number, unless you tell us what one of the total times is.
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I don't think that I would have expected emulation to match one of the actually-competitive top of range ARM SoCs; but I figured that a comparatively antique ARM11 part might be within shooting range.
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Unfortunately, Raspbian does _not_ come bundled with the Raspberry Pi, for the simple reason that the RPi comes without memory card. You are also completely free to use something else than Raspbian.
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From personal communication with him I can say Stephen Wolfram is all about making money. There is no need for a commercial language, no one cares. If a student license costs 500 dollars or more, people rather use R (a really shitty language, but on par with mathematica) or fight their way with python.
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... might as well freely use the software that is maintained and updated regularly than fuss with getting pirated software to work, even if that amounts to less than a day of screwing around.
It is actually really easy, Run the linux install script, then run the key generator that has worked for previous version. Enter key and you are done.
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But if you go to the Raspberry Pi site there certainly are sets of "standard system software." So it's very possible it's not "hyperbolic" at all, maybe your interpretation of the statement is just extreme.*
* I know, I know... Slashdotters are never extreme in their interpretation of anything... sorry, my bad.
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maybe your interpretation of the statement is just extreme.
There is only one possible accurate interpretation of "every". That is the problem with using absolutes like "every". If they had said "many" or "most" then interpretation could be an issue.
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Every Raspi can run Raspbian at no extra cost. Splitting hairs much ?
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Every Raspi can also run a build that does not have Wolfram or Mathematica. There is a difference between "can" and "is".
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Every Raspi can also run a build that does not have Wolfram or Mathematica. There is a difference between "can" and "is".
Yes, and neither TFA nor TFS claim "is". Beyond "is a part of the standard bundle", which will be true soon.
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It it necessary to install a standard bundle on every new Raspberry Pi? No. Therefore it is possible to get e new Raspberry Pi and never have the mentioned packages on it. Therefore the "every" is inaccurate.
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There's only one way to interpret "every" as far as I know. Sorry for wanting more accuracy in the articles I read.
Re: That's a bold claim. (Score:2)
TFA States it will be bundled as part of the standard operating system for the Raspberry Pi. It doesn't state it will be on every Pi.
basic reading comprehension.
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Oh dear.
You do seem to have "issues".
Have you talked to your therapist?
Why do you fear Wolfram?
Has Mathematica intimidated you?
Are you afraid that Wolfram will take over your life?
Wolfram Mathematica and the Wolfram language will be included in the Raspbian distribution. Raspbian is the standard recommended distribution that most people install. There are other OS distributions, of course, such as XBMC for specialized uses.
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Yes we know. You already posted this.
Re:Why not just release it for the home users too? (Score:5, Funny)
Sample code (Score:5, Funny)
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Beginner's mistake --- you need square brackets for function calls. And Wolfram's ego is far too large to fit on a single line of sample code.
Clap for the Wolfram! (Score:2)
The Guess Who Clap for the Wolfman (Dutch T.V.) [youtube.com]
Young Steve Jobs Could"ve Used This (Score:3)
STEVE JOBS: A FEW MEMORIES [wolframalpha.com] As Mathematica was being developed, we showed it to Steve Jobs quite often. He always claimed he didn"t understand the math of it (though I later learned from a good friend of mine who had known Steve in high school that Steve had definitely taken at least one calculus course). But he made all sorts of make it simpler" suggestions about the interface and the documentation.
Or, free Mathematica with $35 purchase of a Pi* (Score:3)
An offer of over $300 in value! Get yours now!
* Based on purchase of a Model B from direct authorized sellers. Does not include shipping or purchase at authorized resellers. Must be run from a Raspbery Pi computer board. Storage, display, keyboard, mouse, and power supply not included. Model A does not include Ethernet.
tl;dr - Still Proprietary Software (Score:5, Insightful)
Just in case you thought things might have changed:
As with Wolfram|Alpha on the web, the Wolfram Language (and Mathematica) on the Raspberry Pi are going to be free for anyone to use for personal purposes. (There’s also going to be a licensing mechanism for commercial uses, other Linux ARM systems, and so on.)
I give the RaspberryPi folks credit for making amazing and fun toy for children (that turns out to actually be a quite powerful and useful system for all ages, but shhhh, don't tell the kids! :-). I dearly wish that more of the RaspberryPI system could be Open Hardware [wikipedia.org], and love the fact that schoolchildren are getting their hands on their own computer that runs FOSS that they can program and tinker with and invent and dream.
But I dearly hope that the Foundation folks say "Thanks but no thanks" to this offer of crippleware. The platform should remain open to all, and putting something like this in a default install will perpetuate a system of haves and have-nots. If Wolfram wants to market this independently, then that is their perogative, but educational tools given to kids should be reuse- and remix-friendly.
Re:tl;dr - Still Proprietary Software (Score:4, Insightful)
I hope the Foundation folks say "Thank you, much appreciated", and let the kids decide.
That was pretty much what I spent the day saying. Atmosphere among the educators in the room when Conrad announced it this morning was pretty electric. If people don't like the fact that it's only free as in beer, there's always Sage.
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I hope the Foundation folks say "Thank you, much appreciated", and let the kids decide.
That was pretty much what I spent the day saying.
Educators the world over have often decided to insulate and protect children from the gamut of choices available to them in the Real World(tm). I don't always agree with the extent to which we "protect" children, especially as they grow older and feel very limited by society's restrictions, but I believe some amount of guidance can be helpful.
Letting the children decide between Mathematica and alternatives sounds amazing to me, and I'm very appreciative that you proposed the idea.
Atmosphere among the educators in the room when Conrad announced it this morning was pretty electric.
What do these educators thi
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Are kids always paragons of making thoughtful, long-term philosophical decisions? Give a kid something that, *today,* is free (as in beer) and easy to use, and they might not carefully balance the long-term repercussions of tying themselves to an incredibly expensive and proprietarily locked-down solution (instead of devoting their effort to getting over the learning curve of something far more valuable in the future). Part of an educational product/effort should be educating kids --- guiding them towards b
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If you consider the "software freedoms" of the Free Software movement to be entirely void of meaning, then that philosophical stance would seem just "new speak." Why do you think Free Software [fsf.org] (as in Speech) does not provide real freedom not found in proprietary lock-in to free (temporarily, at least) as in beer? Do you not think that the Free Software environment produced around, e.g., the Gnu utilities and the Linux kernel has not contributed positively to society, and it is not worth fostering such goals
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(Not the GP)
Why do you think Free Software (as in Speech) does not provide real freedom not found in proprietary lock-in to free (temporarily, at least) as in beer?
Because, like most philosophical extremist propaganda, it relies on some strange redefinition of concepts.
To say "Free software" is "more free" than proprietary software: fine and dandy. No objections. But the FSF doesn't stop there.
The concept that "Free software" (as in copyleft) is more free than more permissive licenses (BSD, MIT, etc. just to name two) is contradictory from step 1. Both GPL software and Oracle software contain license clauses that say "You can use this software, but not in
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So you don't agree all the way with the FSF "extremist" position (which, I think, has repeatedly shown its value in countering the everyday anti-freedom extremism of corporate profiteers). However, "free" Mathematica isn't even anywhere near the "more permissive" free licenses; in general, Mathematica is a prime example of one of the most heavily locked-down, DRM'd, annoyingly-invasively-restrictively-licensed pieces of software out there. If you even think BSD/MIT-license style freedoms are valuable to enc
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More valuable to encourage is software that works. In my limited experience (a couple of stats classes in college), R filled my needs as well as Mathematica, so I didn't need it and didn't use it. There's plenty of free software that just doesn't work worth crap (I'm looking at you, GIMP).
When you use your computer for your livelihood, rather than just some political statement, then philosophy comes far down the list of priorities (above it being "budget" and "does the shit work", for starters). Then there
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I use my computer for work (graduate level physics research) --- that's why I found proprietary software like Mathematica unacceptable. I can't have my research and calculations go *poof* because a licensing server coughed up a hairball. Being unable to share results with collaborators also makes anything I do *completely worthless.* My "political statement" is closely joined to the reality of getting work done, and knowing that everything I do isn't chained to the whim of some proprietary system. Experienc
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You're either confusing or conflating the software with the output. There is plenty of proprietary software that produces output in standard formats.
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Standard formats are part of it --- but, often, by the time you've produced a "standard format" you've lost the ability to use whatever capabilities you were using the proprietary software for in the first place. Sure, I can dump my Mathematica notebook inputs to a text file, or make a PDF with all the pretty graphics --- at which point I've rendered the content useless from a functional point of view. A collaborator without their own Mathematica license can't run my algorithm over their own inputs from a P
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You probably also think America got less free when they forbade slavery. One more regulation, you no longer have the freedom to own slaves!
And people still wonder why the FSF isn't taken seriously?
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The concept that "Free software" (as in copyleft) is more free than more permissive licenses (BSD, MIT, etc. just to name two) is contradictory from step 1.
The FSF considers permissive license to be free software [gnu.org]. They do not consider copyleft licenses to be "more free" than permissive licenses. Please stop spreading false propaganda.
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I'm curious where you concluded that the FSF and Gnu think GPL is more free than BSD. I did a lot of reading on the philosophy parts of gnu.org and don't remember encountering such a thing. There was a list of free licenses, and Stallman did classify them by copyleft and GPL compatibility, but that's all I remember.
Now, the FSF wants you to use GPLv3+ for all your sofware, but that's largely a strategic drive, not because it is freer. One idea of the Gnu project was to provide a large and very useful
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There is no "default install". Raspberry Pis don't even come with SD cards. You download whatever OS image you want and extract it to your SD card, and there are many to choose from, both "official" and 3rd party.
breaking news / interesting (Score:1)
as i read this, said "language" is already available immediately, as i assume it's as open source as the raspy itself.
can someone point me to the source, please - i'd like to know what this is about, and the official site is acting very coy.
judging from all the ad hominem reactions, it certainly seems to have set some kind of cat amongst the pigeons, around here..
-- be aLert, your country needs Lerts.
There is no "standard system software" for the Pi. (Score:2)
Unless you mean the boot-loader firmware running in the graphics hardware. After that you have a kernel of you choice and a RPi Linux distro (or something else that runs on it) of your choice.
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Yet another language I, whose opinion can be safely extrapolated to the entire of humanity, don't need...
FTFY.
wolfram on the pi? (Score:3)
I'm pretty sure his ego can't fit in 512 mb.