Raspberry Pi?
- Thread starter rynnor
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Zenith.UK
Part of the furniture
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I got one through from RS Components in the middle of May. I pre-ordered at 6.05am on "launch day" 29/02/12, and I wasn't in the first 5000 but I was in the first 20,000.
It's exactly what it says on the tin. A PC computer with all the basic connectors. The first thing everyone does is burn an OS image onto an SD card to boot into Linux for the first time. Once they've had a quick play and realised that it works, the fun begins.
Many people just want an RPi for a portable media centre. There are OpenELEC SD card images that run XBMC with little or no configuration. I had a go at it and it works flawlessly. It played everything I threw at it, from a 350MB TV episode up to a 4GB 720p movie. It even played a 10GB 1080p MKV without a single dropped frame and perfect audio. Since it's XBMC, you can remote control it over the network from another device like a phone or tablet. I'm going to be ordering 2 more specifically to attach to the back of 2 monitors, one for the kid's room and one for the kitchen/dining room. It may be rough and ready, but there are VESA mounts and cases becoming available as more RPi's reach the public.
I've got some ideas for home automation, network proxy to strip adverts from my home network and as a testbed for trialling software configs. My personal pet project will be to use an RPi along with a low power touchscreen to drive a "go to" system for a motorised telescope. Plonk the scope down, line up the equatorial mount, set the location by GPS, then start picking targets. I would probably need a Gertboard to take the control signals from the RPi and pass them onto the motor controller, but that's what it's all about. Learning how to do something then actually doing it for the satisfaction of doing it yourself.
Finally it is *possible* to power it from 4xAA batteries, but that could be a problem. You need at least 5.0v-5.25v and > ~750mA through your microUSB to power it properly. Put it this way, I thought I had a broken unit at first but it turned out that my keyboard was drawing almost 200mA and the RPi couldn't boot with too much power drain. I got a low power keyboard with 100mA draw and it started perfectly. Powering USB devices is a balancing act. A 1000mA mobile phone charger is perfect as long as it's a steady stable supply.
It's exactly what it says on the tin. A PC computer with all the basic connectors. The first thing everyone does is burn an OS image onto an SD card to boot into Linux for the first time. Once they've had a quick play and realised that it works, the fun begins.
Many people just want an RPi for a portable media centre. There are OpenELEC SD card images that run XBMC with little or no configuration. I had a go at it and it works flawlessly. It played everything I threw at it, from a 350MB TV episode up to a 4GB 720p movie. It even played a 10GB 1080p MKV without a single dropped frame and perfect audio. Since it's XBMC, you can remote control it over the network from another device like a phone or tablet. I'm going to be ordering 2 more specifically to attach to the back of 2 monitors, one for the kid's room and one for the kitchen/dining room. It may be rough and ready, but there are VESA mounts and cases becoming available as more RPi's reach the public.
I've got some ideas for home automation, network proxy to strip adverts from my home network and as a testbed for trialling software configs. My personal pet project will be to use an RPi along with a low power touchscreen to drive a "go to" system for a motorised telescope. Plonk the scope down, line up the equatorial mount, set the location by GPS, then start picking targets. I would probably need a Gertboard to take the control signals from the RPi and pass them onto the motor controller, but that's what it's all about. Learning how to do something then actually doing it for the satisfaction of doing it yourself.
Finally it is *possible* to power it from 4xAA batteries, but that could be a problem. You need at least 5.0v-5.25v and > ~750mA through your microUSB to power it properly. Put it this way, I thought I had a broken unit at first but it turned out that my keyboard was drawing almost 200mA and the RPi couldn't boot with too much power drain. I got a low power keyboard with 100mA draw and it started perfectly. Powering USB devices is a balancing act. A 1000mA mobile phone charger is perfect as long as it's a steady stable supply.
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I've got one and it's now running http://www.raspbmc.com/
Same as above, works flawlessly. I've also had other ideas of possible uses again of an automation style, as I'm self employed there are times when it would be very handy to be able to kick my desktop into action when I'm out and about. It would also be helpful in the office to have a low power machine that I can leave on top of our router / switch setup that I can VNC or shell into again for when people in the office turn off key machines because they're morons (i.e. if I stick this in a box where they can't reach it, job done).
Same as above, works flawlessly. I've also had other ideas of possible uses again of an automation style, as I'm self employed there are times when it would be very handy to be able to kick my desktop into action when I'm out and about. It would also be helpful in the office to have a low power machine that I can leave on top of our router / switch setup that I can VNC or shell into again for when people in the office turn off key machines because they're morons (i.e. if I stick this in a box where they can't reach it, job done).
It seems like you're trying a bit too hard to think of a use tbh; LogMeIn (or something similar) with a computer with wake-on-lan support will do all of the above.
Well if a computer is off and it supports wake-on-lan (and it's enabled in the bios) then you can turn the computer on remotely from your "My Computers" list on the LogMeIn site.
And yeah there's probably hundreds of valid uses for the Pi, I just didn't think those ones you listed were very valid in light of what current tech can do (you're essentially putting another power-consuming device - no matter how low-power it is - in the chain when you don't need to).
And yeah there's probably hundreds of valid uses for the Pi, I just didn't think those ones you listed were very valid in light of what current tech can do (you're essentially putting another power-consuming device - no matter how low-power it is - in the chain when you don't need to).
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That's where I got to but I'll give it a go.
Also, valid is a perspective thing caLLous. If logmein doesn't work, then what? I'd rather have logmein and the Pi for certainty, business is business.
Yaka
Part of the furniture
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got mine plus another 2 from peeps who ordered em but didnt want em.
my plasma is quite old now 8-9 years i think, got it 2nd hand and it uses these type of modules for connections gonna try and get one of these boards and see if i can fit a rpi inside and possibly have the first xbmc ready tv!
crap part is figuring out what every thing is inside cant believe no one ever have bothered opening these up.
other 2 are gonna go towards a project im thinking on.
my plasma is quite old now 8-9 years i think, got it 2nd hand and it uses these type of modules for connections gonna try and get one of these boards and see if i can fit a rpi inside and possibly have the first xbmc ready tv!
crap part is figuring out what every thing is inside cant believe no one ever have bothered opening these up.
other 2 are gonna go towards a project im thinking on.
As far as I can see you need to have a LogMeIn'd computer switched on on the same LAN as the one that you want to switch on so it's not actually ideal. But you can use something like this on dslreports to wake up 1 and then go from there I suppose. It's doable.
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They've just released their own spin of Raspbian: http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/1605 the original Raspbian can be found here: http://www.raspbian.org/
My current thinking now is run Raspbian + XBMC + LAMP stack + Owncloud
This would give me the ability to "wake" my PC, a file store away from things like dropbox, etc and I can still run the cable to the back of the TV. Plus I wouldn't have to run a LAMP stack on top of my FreeNAS install which frankly, I cannot be bothered to figure out how to do as it would likely break with each update.
My current thinking now is run Raspbian + XBMC + LAMP stack + Owncloud
This would give me the ability to "wake" my PC, a file store away from things like dropbox, etc and I can still run the cable to the back of the TV. Plus I wouldn't have to run a LAMP stack on top of my FreeNAS install which frankly, I cannot be bothered to figure out how to do as it would likely break with each update.
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http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/26/raspberry-pi-mpeg-2-vc-1-licenses-cec-h264/
Seems the Pi just got even better for anyone using it as a media player.
Seems the Pi just got even better for anyone using it as a media player.
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OpenElec is already fairly stable mate, they've got builds floating around
http://sources.openelec.tv/tmp/image/openelec-rpi/
Been using one of the older ones for over a month now with no issues.
http://sources.openelec.tv/tmp/image/openelec-rpi/
Been using one of the older ones for over a month now with no issues.
DaGaffer
Down With That Sorta Thing
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Fucksticks. I just got a mail too. Says up to five weeks for me.
soze
I am a FH squatter
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http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/1959
Rev 2 board announced, I will be pissed if I am waiting another 3 weeks only to get a old version of the board lol
Rev 2 board announced, I will be pissed if I am waiting another 3 weeks only to get a old version of the board lol