You can now install and use Scratch 3 Desktop for the Raspbian on your Raspberry Pi! Scratch 3.0 now runs on Raspberry Pi operating system, Raspbian with a Raspberry Pi 4, with at least a 2GB RAM.

The Raspberry Pi is an offline, installable version offering students and beginners easy environment to start coding using visual ‘code blocks’ language, paint, and sound-editing tools.

Scratch 3 requires you to first install the latest version of Raspbian called ‘Buster‘ for Debian Linux users.

The new Scratch 3 support for Raspberry Pi comes ahead of the first Scratch Conference 2019 that kicked off in 2019 across the globe.

The new version of extension in Scratch 3 for Raspbian allows users to create Scratch code to control both the add-on Sense HAT and the GPIO pins on the Raspberry Pi board.

The extension allows for users to use the buttons and the LEDs connected to the GPIO pins. The GPIO extension is a replacement of the existing Scratch 2 extension. The layout and the functionality is similar and users can use the drop-in replacement.

The GPIO extension allows for flexibility to connect and control the host electronic device in whole. For instance, users can easily add an LED or button controller for a game.

The new Sense HAT extension comes with new code blocks to allow HAT to sense tilting, orientation, and shaking, measures the temperature, humidity, air pressure, use of joystick, and use of the LED matrix to display text, numbers, patterns, and characters.

Additionally, the Raspberry Pi Foundation is working on creating a software that will enable the extensions for micro:bit and LEGO devices with Scratch 3. Currently, the Scratch Link, the software responsible for allowing Scratch to communicate with bluetooth devices is not yet available on Scratch Link for Raspbian.

If you have any question or comment, do not hesitate to ask us.

Quote: The moon looks upon many night flowers; the night flowers see but one moon. – Jean Ingelow

Advertisement