Raspberry Pi

[RyanCheetham]

Just looking into this nifty little computer and seriously comsidering ordering one. I am just curious if any of you other sparks out there have one or have any experience with them and there uses? I am not sure what i want one for yet but i just want it, probably end up using it as a media streamer

 

[Andy78]

I would like one to mess with, but don't know enough about coding and haven't really got the time to learn.
Home automation is probably the most relevant use for them in our job.

 

[RyanCheetham]

I did some research on google and there is plenty of free open source coding for different applications. They offer these to school children so they cant be that hard to fathom i guess

 

[partypest]

I got one to play around with. So far as I can make out, you can go Linux or turn it in to a tiny Android device. In it's basic Linux guise, it's a bit of a clunky interface and not the fastest thing you'll ever use, but if you wanted to create a control device, this is an excellent tool.

 

[RyanCheetham]

I had planned on making it android so i can use it with my samsung tablet. Any one know how well they cope with multi tasking such as streaming audo while perhaps controlling lighting?

 

[Ducksy]

Well it says it will run happily at 800mhz but u can overclock probably not loads without stabilty issues, GPU equivalent of a pentium 2 probably not great for multi tasking great little device tho I'm getting one

 

[Ducksy]

Wifi USB adaptor 9 quid on eBay

 

[RyanCheetham]

Yeah i think i will get one too. Although i plan on hard wiring mine to save processing power over wifi connectivity. What do you plan to use yours.for if you dont mind me asking?

 

[DPG]

I've got one. Theey're a bargain for the money. Debian Squeeze loaded onto to it, and wi-fi adaptor in use. Works really well. Now to think of something to do with it! Not media strreaming, everyone does that! Hardware control will be more interesting. Daz

 

[Ducksy]

Yeah i think i will get one too. Although i plan on hard wiring mine to save processing power over wifi connectivity. What do you plan to use yours.for if you dont mind me asking?

P**N....joking kinda.....I like anything I can hack/mod/overclock plus the idea of having a tiny device I can boot up on anyone's tv gonna get a USB hub, wifi, wireless keyboard with a touch pad 32gb micro sd card job done....I'm gonna run a stripped back Linux probably find its less demanding then android but I haven't researched that yet.

 

[RyanCheetham]

I have zero experience with Linux which makes me more biased towards Android

 

[Ducksy]

Used it loads before last thing was on a Xbox 360 about a year ago...hopefully this thing has a dual boot so you can try both or just use two different Sd cards see what u like more.

 

[Ducksy]

Looks like u will have to use Linux just looked at there site on the faqs page and they say it can run a early based android but for everyday use its not stable.....trust me once you start using Linux u will be hooked

 

[Ducksy]

Also might use. 3000mah 7.2 volt lipo battery it would last for ages lol need a 5 volt regulator

 

[RyanCheetham]

Linux it is then lol

 

[Ducksy]

Hey peps just an update after actually getting one of these units and what i used mine for.

Had it over a week now with the intention of using as a small portable computer but due to the small processing power of the CPU it is every slow for surfing the web and will not play flash videos (so not youtube)

For me the most useful thing to do with it is to set it up as a cheap low power NAS device (network attached storage)

What this means for the peps who don't know, is I have a hard drive connected to the raspberry pi and this allows me to access the content that drive (i.e. pictures, movies, business documents like receipts, music.......any file) wirelessly from any computer, Ipad, media center, smart phone, or tablet connected to my LAN (local area network).

What this would be good for the guys on here is to back up all your work documents and be safe in the knowledge that if your computer break downs you dont lose anything as it is not stored on the computer.

You can even mirror two hard drives to the raspberry pi so that if one of the hard drives dies the other one still have all the data.

You can buy a NAS device but the advantage of this is it is quite cheap and because the power consumption is very low on the raspberry pi.



Hope you guys find this useful

 

[shanky887614]

Hey peps just an update after actually getting one of these units and what i used mine for.

Had it over a week now with the intention of using as a small portable computer but due to the small processing power of the CPU it is every slow for surfing the web and will not play flash videos (so not youtube)

For me the most useful thing to do with it is to set it up as a cheap low power NAS device (network attached storage)

What this means for the peps who don't know, is I have a hard drive connected to the raspberry pi and this allows me to access the content that drive (i.e. pictures, movies, business documents like receipts, music.......any file) wirelessly from any computer, Ipad, media center, smart phone, or tablet connected to my LAN (local area network).

What this would be good for the guys on here is to back up all your work documents and be safe in the knowledge that if your computer break downs you dont lose anything as it is not stored on the computer.

You can even mirror two hard drives to the raspberry pi so that if one of the hard drives dies the other one still have all the data.

You can buy a NAS device but the advantage of this is it is quite cheap and because the power consumption is very low on the raspberry pi.



Hope you guys find this useful

imho

you would be better with something like an intel atom for a nas

this would allow you to use a lot more hdd's for the nas


have a look at freenas which is a good free nas os

 

[DPG]

To be honest, with the price of all in one NAS drives now, I'd go with one of these. Nice and neat, all in one box, reliable. Then use your pi to do something else! Daz

 

[shanky887614]

To be honest, with the price of all in one NAS drives now, I'd go with one of these. Nice and neat, all in one box, reliable. Then use your pi to do something else! Daz

becare which one you get.

for example if you buy a drobo and the unit dies you cant access your data till you get a replacement.

this is the same with a lot of raid devices, if you get one with important data/ more than 1 disk make sure to get one that utilizes palarity data

 

[DPG]

Good points there. Definately use straight mirroring without striping. Don't forget incremental backups (deltas) as well. Daz