Rasberry pi

[gabshere]

Since this is a techy geeky type if forum with all the geeks here. How will this be incorporated into. The fta side of the house ? Home theater add on. USB fta micro puter system. Just curious since this small footprint puter seem to add several things in a small package.

 

[harshness]

In and of itself, the Raspberry Pi is just a very wimpy computer (comparable to a PII-300) with a spiffy graphics subsystem. You have to add an operating system (typically a lightweight Linux), power supply and applications software and a handful of SD cards to make practical use of it.

For project ideas, see the XBMC project that has been ported to the Raspberry Pi:

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Raspberry_Pi

Note that the Raspberry Pi doesn't have any I/O options other than USB 2.0 and Ethernet and it MUST be booted from an SD card.

Like the Arduino, the absence of a built-in real time clock is a fairly major omission if you're considering using it for working with things that are scheduled. It can keep track of time once it knows what time it is, it just has to get the time from an outside source.

 

[Bob2011]

This is nothing more than an experimenter toy. The only thing it has going for it are the graphics and low power usage. The big mistake they made when designing this was targeting a specific price point. If it had a GB of RAM and faster processor it would have sold much better plus been useful as a fulltime device. Honestly by the time you are done adding on to it to make it fully functional you are better off buying a used PC or building your own minipc.

 

[Xizer]

Just get a real computer. Do you live in a closet or something? Why so pressed for space?

I was under the impression that to participate in this hobby you basically had to live in a house.

You have room for a 10' satellite dish but not a computer tower?

 

[rgk]

The big mistake they made when designing this was targeting a specific price point. If it had a GB of RAM and faster processor it would have sold much better plus been useful as a fulltime device.

The raspberry was intended to be a low cost educational tool for computer science. It does this very well and is an extremely popular item that has sold far more than they ever expected. As a result there is a long lead time to obtain one. They made no mistakes, it does what they intended it to do.

 

[Cadsulfide]

This is nothing more than an experimenter toy. The only thing it has going for it are the graphics and low power usage. The big mistake they made when designing this was targeting a specific price point. If it had a GB of RAM and faster processor it would have sold much better plus been useful as a fulltime device. Honestly by the time you are done adding on to it to make it fully functional you are better off buying a used PC or building your own minipc.

It is way more than a toy. It was never intended to be a personal computer. It is ideal for tons of embedded applications where power, space and cost are issues.

 

[gabshere]

lol yeah i see a lot of little projects coming from this device .... i wasn't planning on getting one i just wanted to know if anyone could see and practical uses for it in the FTA realm I see someone already has made ahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq5nrHz9I94"] supercomputer with 64 of them [/URL] wonder if this is something like what the new Wi Handheld is made with ????

 

[concord]

Their major reason, as rgk stated, it's for educational purposes...to help kids from all parts of the world to get involved with electronics and programming, however avid geeks set out to use it as an XBMC client also.

I put XBMC on my Pi ( http://www.openelec.tv ), it works fine. I can get to my ripped CDs and recorded videos/DVDs on my NAS box; so for FTA, one option may be to access your FTA recordings from it. Note however it's missing the MPEG-2 and VC-1 codecs, but there were enough complaint's that the Pi people have them for sale (less than $6 total). It does run hot using XBMC and uses 92% CPU.

There are a couple of drawbacks that should be noted, due to the low power power supply (5v 1A) the USB port can't handle numerous add-ons and you will need a powered USB hub to add more than two devices. However a guy came up with a power supply (called RPiPS) add-on (via the GPIO port) that will allow more power to which you can use a non-powered USB hub. Wireless is not built-in, so a USB wireless is needed (i.e. Wi Pi).

Other companies are climbing on "board" with similar or more powerful devices (A13-OLinuXino-WIFI, Cubieboard, Via APC, MK802, AMD Gizmo Explorer, etc).

By the time you get done, between the raspberry pi, SD card(s), case, power supply, breadboard, etc, you probably will have about 100.00 invested... But like any hobby, it costs money

 

[PopcornNMore]

I received a Raspberry Pi for Father's Day and this so called "toy" is providing our family with hundreds of live and on-demand channels using XBMC and Navi-X. I'm a BIG fan of the ROKU, but since receiving the Pi I hardly use the ROKU anymore.

It streams SD, 720p and 1080p video with no problems. Using a Logitech wireless up to 33' keyboard and touchpad I can control everything from my easy chair.

The many live HD channels such as "Animal Planet", "Discovery", "Nat Geo", "Net Geo Wild", "FOOD", "BBC One", "BBC Two", "USA", "ABC", "CBS", "NBC", "FOX", "FX", "Starz", "HBO", "Cinemax" and many other channels look awesome. I had Dish HD in the past and HD never looked this good!

With the Raspberry Pi I guess you could say I have "HD free for life". The best "toy" I ever purchased!

 

[PopcornNMore]

Some pictures of my "toy". These pictures don't do the real picture quality justice, but give an idea of what can be received.

 

[PopcornNMore]

A few more pictures.

 

[PopcornNMore]

FYI: Using the Raspberry Pi you can even receive many FTA channels such as "COZI TV", "RTV", "Weather Nation", "LWN", "eScapes", etc. I'm even thinking about taking down my dishes. The picture quality is very good and no dish adjustment is necessary.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Not only did my wife and daughter give me a Raspberry Pi for Father's Day I also received a Raspberry Pie.

 

[Kraven]

"Do you like pie?" The Rock, 2001

 

[mikelib]

Have my Raspberry Pi set up in my garage/workshop. I also received it for Fathers Day.

It set up as a media player and it shares my FTA flat screen TV/Monitor.

It is set up in my wireless network and I are able stream videos using the XBMC app.

My son down loaded the Servino server app to my main computers and we were able to stream movies off my main computer. I had a little UNIX experience so I am able to use the command mode. Great little computer, it gives me a chance to get reacquainted with UNIX/LINUX.

 

[PopcornNMore]

I like your setup Mike. I like the Raspberry Pi so much that I plan on ordering more to do other projects.

The new game system "Ouya" also offers video streaming and is selling like hotcakes.

 

[FaT Air]

The many live HD channels such as "Animal Planet", "Discovery", "Nat Geo", "Net Geo Wild", "FOOD", "BBC One", "BBC Two", "USA", "ABC", "CBS", "NBC", "FOX", "FX", "Starz", "HBO", "Cinemax" and many other channels look awesome. I had Dish HD in the past and HD never looked this good!

With the Raspberry Pi I guess you could say I have "HD free for life".

SSssshhhhhhhhhhushhhhhhhhhhhh =-| loose lips sink ships.
You have me interested.

 

[PopcornNMore]

SSssshhhhhhhhhhushhhhhhhhhhhh =-| loose lips sink ships.
You have me interested.

I know what you mean, but XBMC has been available for years. Also like FTA satellite these channels come and go and aren't for everyone.

Currently watching a 24/7 Three Stooges channel. I'm in my glory now as I'm a big Three Stooges fan.

 

[mikelib]

I like your setup Mike. I like the Raspberry Pi so much that I plan on ordering more to do other projects.

Check out Adafruit for accessories they are located in NYC, I use to live around the corner from them. It's own by a young lady with pink hair.
http://www.adafruit.com/about/
Shipping was fast NYC to NJ.

 

[PopcornNMore]

Thank you for the link Mike. I was asking my daughter today if she had any Legos that I could use to build a case for the Raspberry. I saw this while searching for Raspberry accessories and thought it would be a cheap way to make a case.