Arduino has the very approachable scratch as a language + beginner friendly ide and a good community but I feel like a pi or similar board that you can drop ubuntu on and run some python scripts opens up more possibilities.

Then point them at chatgpt and see what happens haha.

But what does that give you that a regular desktop can't provide?

The only novelty of a PI or a audrino is the pins.

That's like saying the only novelty of trolley bags are the wheels.

That's. The. Point.

Instead of a closed down consumer hardware like a phone, tab, laptop, there's something that you can physically expand, read data from nature using it, and make changes directly in the physical world using code.

That's fantastic and exciting.

We are in agreement.

The pins are the point.

> there's something that you can physically expand, read data from nature using it, and make changes directly in the physical world using code.

You can't do this with _just_ a RPI though.

A RPI without any extra sensors or electronics is just a desktop.

By coincidence, the pins also _have_ a point :)