Raspberry Pi - $35 Linux computer

m3csl2004

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Goldy said:
Finally got my hands on the RPi delivered by Farnell. Delivery time was 16 days from date of order, so lucky i wasn't in a hurry.

My first impression was that its nice to finally see one in the flesh after months of hype. Also glad i waited until the model B. Currently using the Debian wheezy OS which seems to be the distro of choice.

Had a quick play in the Python IDE (IDLE). Seems simple enough to pick up once you have a basic understanding of programming concepts (which is all I have). Always surprises me how much you can achieve when you glue together various bits of code from other sources without really knowing how it works.

I've been tinkering with the RPi all weekend and im beginning to realise there are a huge amount of applications this could be used in. I recently found that you can get the Arduino IDE with all the libraries. I can now wire together an arduino project and connect it the the RPi's USB, then VNC into the OS and write the code or tweak it.

Only thing I would say is that the GPIO support still needs some improvement.
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Sounds like you may well benefit from a BeagleBoard / Bone?
 

Evilpaul

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The $25 cost was the one hard and fast restriction when they were making the RPi, so that meant ARM7 chips were not viable at the time.

Ubuntu is basically Debian with Mark Shuttleworth's special sauce thrown up all over it, so using the Raspbian distribution shouldn't be too dissimilar.
 

Goldy

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I think my Pi may have corrupted my SD card. Its a 2gb micro Sandisk SD. Windows shows it as being between 44 and 55 mB in capacity - its different each time I reinsert. 1.75Gb is showing as unallocated. Tried reformatting a few times and no different.

Done some googling and theres been other cases, possibly caused by:
- low quality power supply
- not shutting down linux properly
- overclocking to 900Mhz
- inherent bug in Rasbian Debian Wheezy OS
- combo of the above...?

The SD Card is a couple years old and done a good service. Im now concerned this will happen with my new 4gb SD card. Anyone else come across this?
 

boxman2000

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Murray said:
I'm guessing this would be good to use for watching movies on the tv and such? Would use my PC but its way too loud :o
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Been running RasBMC on my Pi for months now in my lounge and have been thoroughly impressed with how it's run. Certainly a conversation piece as well when you're using it and friends are around! :)

I had an HTPC before and it's much better and tidier.
 

boxman2000

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Xire01 said:
Been advised to get one of these. Are they easy to setup? easy to install apps etc? Im a complete linux noob.
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As long as you have a good quality PSU, a good SD card (I have two class 10 Samsung 8gb) and can follow instructions then you'll be fine!

I'm a Linux noob as well and although the installer can be a little fiddly I believe they have sorted this with the later RC.

Reason I suggest two is that when a new version comes out it's always good to try it on a spare card rather than the working version.

Addons are fine, although not an area I've explored much I must admit but there are loads around that's for sure.

About to buy a second to put in kitchen - really are fantastic bits of kit.
 

Trick

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I'm also a complete linux noob but I've managed to set up my 3 Pi's to run XBMC (using OpenElec to play films off the NAS), Logitech Media Server (to serve mp3s and flacs on the NAS to my hifi via a SqueezeBox Touch) and the Raspbian desktop along with an Amiga emulator and a SNES emulator. It's not without a bit of faff but it's all pretty easy if you follow the threads on the RPi homepage forum.
 
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Xire

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boxman2000 said:
As long as you have a good quality PSU, a good SD card (I have two class 10 Samsung 8gb) and can follow instructions then you'll be fine!

I'm a Linux noob as well and although the installer can be a little fiddly I believe they have sorted this with the later RC.

Reason I suggest two is that when a new version comes out it's always good to try it on a spare card rather than the working version.

Addons are fine, although not an area I've explored much I must admit but there are loads around that's for sure.

About to buy a second to put in kitchen - really are fantastic bits of kit.
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Will not a standard mini usb PSU work? or should I be looking for a better one.
 

Bunko

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Just installed raspbmc and everything works fine except updating the library. Just scanning a single folder for new content has taken me 8 minutes for 16 files. I'm connecting to an smb share, is this the issue or am I missing something?
 

Greeny1994

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Have XBMC on my Pi through openelec. I use http://www.berryterminal.com/doku.php/berryboot as a boot loader in case I want multiple OS.I had a 2GB SD that my Pi ate, so I bought a 32GB SD which my Pi has corrupted on a few occasions. But for £25 it is more than suitable for 25fps 1080p playback. Managed to get my Pi up to a stable 900Mhz core and made a custom case with a USB hub in it :)
 
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