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If you have questions or need any assistance with your Boolean Box or other product, check the Frequently Asked Questions or just contact support at Support@booleangirltech.com
Frequently Asked Questions
In rare instances, the computer may not boot to the desktop and instead ask for a user name and password. The default user name is ‘pi’ and the password is ‘raspberry’. I changed the menu font size so that it’s very large and I can’t find a way to decrease it. It appears one can’t adjust the font in the GUI to select a smaller font because the text is so large you can’t see/get to the place to make the font adjustment. To fix this issue, press ALT +Space and select “Move” from the menu that appears allows one to grab the pull down menu and move it up until you can get to the place to change the system font. The best way to buy a Boolean Box is on Amazon. From the US Amazon site you can purchase a Boolean Box and they will ship it almost anywhere in the world. Their shipping internationally is much cheaper than any we could offer. https://www.amazon.com/Boolean-Box-EDUCATIONAL-electronics-Minecraft/dp/B071HWPKN5/ref=sr_1_2? There are lots of reasons for not having sound. Before you try anything else verify that your monitor/TV has sound. There are two ways to get sound out of the computer: 1) through the HDMI cable to your monitor/tv. 2) through the audio port or headphone jack. If you are trying to get sound through the TV, make sure the HDMI cable is plugged in to the TV and the TV is on before you start the computer. For sound to work the computer must sense that the speakers exist. If the computer gets booted up before the monitor is connected the computer may be defaulting to headphones. If sound is not working, try restarting the computer. If your TV has modes try game mode. Some TV’s only take 3rd party sound in Game mode. If that doesn’t work, there is a configuration setting. In the upper right corner is a volume control. If you right click you get a selector. Pick HDMI and that should work. Also, make sure the volume is turned up. If that fails, there are several other ways to configure the audio output if it does not work after a reboot. Checkout this article for the details. The audio port is great for headphones. Again, if the headphones don’t work, try rebooting first. The Raspberry Pi audio port is designed for headphones. It cannot supply the current required by a passive speaker, so you’ll need to buy a set of powered speakers. Recommended power speakers are here. Mostly likely, your SD card has become corrupted. This can happen if the computer is unplugged instead of shutting it down. You can fix the SD card by following these instructions. You can also buy a new SD card with the latest SW here Please contact us if you have questions. support@booleangirltech.com Start by right clicking on the task bar near where the wifi icon was. Visit Boolean University: https://booleangirl.org/boolean-university/. Click on Get Started, register on the website, and you’ll see a video showing you how to build your Boolean Box. One you’re connected, you can start your first project! The beauty of this kit is that your daughter (or son) can do tons of things with it. Younger children (7 or 8 years old) can learn to program in Scratch a block programming language designed for kids. Once they know a little about programming in Scratch, they can build electronics projects using the lights and buttons included. These projects can be programmed in Scratch. BTW, high schools and colleges use Scratch to teach students to code so it is not just for little kids. There is also a cool animation package: 9va-pi. Older kids, 5 – 8 grade and beyond, can learn to program in Python. A great place to start is modifying Minecraft (included) with python. They can also learn Python by building the electronics projects in python instead of Scratch. There is tons more: Java, Mathmatica,…. You can see many projects on the Boolean Girl website but the internet is full of additional projects. People have even added components to the kit and build there own version of an Amazon echo powered by Alexa. Yes! Check out our recommendations page. https://www.amazon.com/shop/booleangirltech Please send us an email at: support@booleangirltech.com and describe your problem. Attach photos if you can. Please include your order number. We will ship you a new piece right away. For the most part Wifi is not required. We never use a network connection in our classes. Advanced user do connect to the internet to download new software Etc. All the projects can be done with the software installed on the Raspberry Pi. If you want to connect to WiFi, there is an icon for setting up WiFi on the upper right side of the desktop. Yes, we update the software at least once a year. You can always get the latest software by either downloading the latest image and updating your SD card following these instructions or by purchasing a new SD card here. Many laptops have an HDMI connection so you might think I can just plug the Boolean Box Raspberry Pi in to that connection and use the laptop monitor. We’ve never seen this work. Most laptop don’t take HDMI input, instead they are designed to output the display on HDMI to support a second monitor. You can share the Raspberry Pi desktop to your laptop over WiFi but it is not a perfect solution. You are much better off using a real monitor, including your TV or an inexpensive monitor. Any monitor that has an HDMI port will work. If you want to use a laptop, the instructions are here. Our nonprofit arm, Boolean Girl, is active on social media. Connect with us! Twitter: @booleangirlproj Here are a few easy to by options for monitors: This is similar to the monitor we use in our clubs: Elecrow 11.6 Inch 1920X1080 HDMI VGA Other options: HP Pavilion 21.5-Inch IPS LED HDMI VGA Monitor Elecrow 12-Inch 1920X1080 HDMI DVI-D VGA
Yes! Check out our recommendations page. https://www.amazon.com/shop/booleangirltech Great news, you can order Boolean Box on the US Amazon site and they will ship to most locations around the world. They get great international shipping rates so the cost is mush lower that we could ever do. Go here to order. Please contact us at support@booleangirltech.com and include your name, phone number, and the best time to reach you and we will give you a call to discuss some options. Before you start the return process, please contact us at Support@booleangirltech.com. We’d like to see if we can address your issue with out making a return. If you need to make a return of an item purchased on Amazon, follow the Amazon return process. If you purchased from us, just email us and we will send instructions for returns.Troubleshooting
Audio through the HDMI cable
Audio through the headphone jack
Click on Add/Remove Panel Items
In the popup that appears, click add
Find the item names Wireless and Wired Network
Click add
Once it is on the task bar, you can use the up and down buttons to move it around. Using
Misc
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