Learn me Rasberry Pi

OK, I am a computer Luddite. Never heard of this thing until this morning. A 50.00 computer? Sounds like an interesting thing with a lot of applications. What say you, hive?

Damn You! I am on my fast day of the 5/2 diet and I did not need this mental image!!!

Very cool but it requires you to do all the interfacing of components... like a super-powerful microcontroller. Think of it as an Arduino on roids. People will offer packages with it in I/O boards and running things but those will cost something on top of it.

A much better deal to do real work is to get a used DroidX smartphone for free off a relative or friend who upgraded. It comes with all the interfacing in place, wifi, BT, storage, display, etc... so all you need to do is write some code to do your bidding (you have to do that with the Pi too).

The raspberry pi can run Unix/Linux or whatever. No need to write code...for the most part

Yeah it's just like a very low-end PC with no peripherals (like the home theater PCs or low-end office PCs you sometimes see stuck to the back of monitors) but the big difference is that the CPU is an ARM architecture instead of the x86 that desktop PCs use. What that means is that you can't just drop Windows on it and run anything you want, apps would have to be recompiled for the different architecture. That's not a problem on Linux since basically everything is open source and you can get an ARM distro with pre-compiled packages in the repos ready to be installed.

To make it simpler, you can run Linux on it and not notice the difference in CPU architecture, but Windows is a no-go. Even if you get a copy of the recent ARM build of Windows somehow, typically Windows is used with closed-source apps you can't recompile. That means no MS office, most videogames, ACCPAC or Quickbooks...anything commercial really, and you won't get much support for ARM windows apps so a lot of manual recompilation would be involved - it would be a challenge for a l33t geek, and total hell for a computer luddite.

So does this do anything for me?

If you want a cheap Linux PC and have no problem plugging in all the peripherals you want to use, sure. It's quick enough for general office work, web browsing, and older games.

RossD wrote: The raspberry pi can run Unix/Linux or whatever. No need to write code...for the most part

linux comes with lots of tools... but you still need to give it something to do. For that you need interfacing. Peripherals.

I see these as an open platform to get tons of processing power into routers, other net appliances, robotics, and automated machinery rather than a general purpose computing platform for the masses. You could, but there are already $70 tablets that come ready to help grandma read email from her park bench.

^Yeah as a general-purpose PC, a Pi is only competition for those "micro-PCs" I was talking about that are often stuck to the back of monitors (they're popular for PC-based point of sale systems around here). But those little computers are just what some people need.

pinchvalve wrote: Damn You! I am on my fast day of the 5/2 diet and I did not need this mental image!!!

Dipping a toe into intermittent fasting, eh?

I've been using the aptly titled "cheat mode" for roughly a year now. I guess I'm going to have to stop now that it's becoming mainstream.

But seriously, Cheat Mode:

I looked at these a little bit a few weeks ago. I think the concept is very cool, BUT... by the time you add everything you need to make it actually work as a computer: Monitor, keyboard, hard drive (or other storage), mouse, powered USB port expander (to make the previous stuff work), power supply, coffee maker, you have as much or more than what an Acer Aspire One or other small windoze based computer will cost you with all that stuff built in.

I have one that we use to play movies off of my home server. It works well for that purpose and I can stream YouTube etc on it. Downsides are that you can't use Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc.. because they require Windows. I'm running Raspbmc.

It would be cool to run as a diy car computer for things like digital dash or running megatune (<- if it can run mega tune?!)

Or to have run an arcade machine emulator software in a tidy bar top chassis.

Friend of mine uses the Pi as servers.. they seem to do well

The Pi intrigues me, but heaven knows I don't need another thing to kill hours with right now. Definitely not for the smartphone/dumbkid crowd.

jeffmx5 wrote: I have one that we use to play movies off of my home server. .... I'm running Raspbmc.

+1

great little media centre machine. If you haven't tried it, look for the yatse app for your smartphone which lets you use it as a remote.

jeffmx5 wrote: I have one that we use to play movies off of my home server. It works well for that purpose and I can stream YouTube etc on it. Downsides are that you can't use Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc.. because they require Windows. I'm running Raspbmc.

There is Hulu and Amazon plugins for XBMC???

I'm setting up my RPi for duty in my truck, replacing my radio with internet streaming via phone tethering, mp3s, videos for my kid, etc. My plan is to set it up with a 7" HD touch screen. I just have to get on it.

Hold on, let me blow the dust off it.

BradLTL wrote: There is Hulu and Amazon plugins for XBMC???

They are not in the default add-on repository, you have to hunt for them. I think they are in the Bluecop repository.

Apparently the Hulu add-on will work to some degree in Raspbmc. I don't have an Amazon Prime or Hulu account, so I haven't really tried them.

http://forum.stmlabs.com/showthread.php?tid=1404

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=121023

In reply to cwh: If you're planning on writing custom code to build a new security camera solution...maybe. For general purpose computing, probably not - I can't see that being worth it over a Kindle Fire.

According to a bright supplier, it can be loaded with the operating system to run IP cameras. A miniature NVR, but I do not plane to share that with my clients.

I just saw the Pi in our MCM Electronics catalog this week. For $35-65 depending on accessories, it sounds like fun.