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Raspberry PI

Started by DavePEI, October 25, 2012, 09:06:54 PM

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DavePEI

Hi All:

In my shopping around for parts for my main computer and rebuilding it, I came across something neat...

It is a miniature Linux Computer for $35.00.

http://tinyurl.com/d34a5cz

In North America, it is distributed by Allied.

The one I have ordered is revision 2:

Broadcom BCM2835 700MHz ARM1176JZFS processor with FPU and Videocore 4 GPU
GPU provides Open GL ES 2.0, hardware-accelerated OpenVG, and 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode

GPU is capable of 1Gpixel/s, 1.5Gtexel/s or 24GFLOPs with texture filtering and DMA infrastructure

512MB RAM

Boots from SD card, running a version of Linux

10/100 BaseT Ethernet socket

Some of the VOIP people are experimenting with loading asterisk on them. The PI is a credit–card sized computer board that plugs into a TV and a keyboard. It's a miniature ARM–based PC which can be used for many of the things that a desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word–processing and games. It also plays High–Definition video.

Various sellers have cases for it, Debian loaded SD cards, wireless dongles, keyboards, cables, etc. for it.

Kind of reminds me of the Timex-Sinclair TS-1000 (Sinclair ZX-80 in the UK) computer I had in the early 80s, only a heck of a lot more powerful!

I have ordered one for fun to see what I can do with it...

Fun!

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

twocvbloke

I have one myself, bought it a month ago, not done anything with is since mostly due to my 14" TV dying that I was going to use as it's monitor... :-\

It's a neat little thing, certainly harks back to the days of the Sinclair ZX80 era, compact little thing that can do a surprising amount of stuff... :)

Mine is one of the newer Revision 2 boards, made by Sony in their Wales factory, earlier ones are made in china, so I'm happy to have a proper British computer in my hands, quite literally with the Pi... :D

There's a forum full of stuff for the Pi too, so worth a look if you're planning on playing with it in-depth:

http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/

twocvbloke

I just remembered, you should be able to get them through Element14/Farnell too, they're the ones who have the Sony UK contract, RS/Allied have been causing problems for people with extremely long lead times (including me, wasn't set to receive one from them until December!!! Hence ordering from Farnell), so have a few sources to buy them from... :)

And I thought I'd get a picture of mine so that you can get a measure of how small the thing is compared to my NE2500:

DavePEI

#3
Quote from: twocvbloke on October 25, 2012, 11:04:28 PM
And I thought I'd get a picture of mine so that you can get a measure of how small the thing is compared to my NE2500:

They are neat. Time will tell how long it takes to come. John Jones posted tonight how he set his up for Asterisk on the Voice Over IP Tandem for Analog Switches list, so I may give that a try..

Believe it or not, I still have a Timex-Sinclair here, though I haven't booted it up for years.. They were a neat machine - I had one before I started messing around with Commodore and Tandy computers. I had it doing logging for my Ham Radio, Beam Antenna direction finding with home made Basic programs, later rewritten for the Commodores. At the time, I used a KSR-33 teletype and home brew interface for i/o...

I am looking forward to the Raspberry Pi's arrival. It is the newest version, but they say there are limited numbers being produced right now due to slow production of the microprocessor chips... Can't wait for it to come, but then again, still have to build up the other computer and get my software moved over, so that itself will keep me busy for a while!

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

twocvbloke

I think there's also a new version with more RAM available (or will be available) too, 512MB instead of 256MB, not sure which company is selling those though... ???

DavePEI

#5
Quote from: twocvbloke on October 26, 2012, 12:41:29 AM
I think there's also a new version with more RAM available (or will be available) too, 512MB instead of 256MB, not sure which company is selling those though... ???
According to what I have read, all unfilled orders are being filled now with the 512 MB version... I specifically ordered the 512 MB version. You can go a long way using 512 MB in Linux.

I ordered a flexible roll-up silicone USB keyboard for it this morning for $5. Pocket sized PC!

Sounds like you and I have a lot of common interests!

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

twocvbloke

Mine's the 256MB model, so, may have to upgrade... :-\

Still, they sell nicely on ebay do the RPis, so I wouldn't lose my money...  :D

Like I say, I've not used mine since I got it, only powered it up and got Raspbian (the Debian distribution for the Raspberry Pi) set up and running, had a play on an included set of games, and back in the box it went as my current 9" CRT TV was giving me a headache trying to read the screen... :D

Haven't really figured out what I want to use it for, initially it was to be a media player, streaming stuff from my desktop to the TV, but I found I can use, of all things, my mobile phone for that, plus I lack a power supply too, I tested it out with my mobile phone/Galaxy Tab's charger, and can't really use it all the time as those two devices like running out of battery... ::)

I've often thought about getting one of those silicone keyboards, the first time I saw something like that was in Star Trek: The next Generation, where someone had a roll-up piano keyboard, not long after they came up with a real one, and the computer keyboard too... ;D

DavePEI

I found an interesting list of uses a Raspberry PI has been put to so far:

    Webcam server
    Vehicle tracking (using an add-on GPS module)
    Streaming internet radio box
    Vehicle Diagnostics, full OBDII logger with touch screen interface
    Baby monitor
    Media server by adding a couple of USB hard drives
    Media receiver (hopefully we'll get a port of XBMC or PLEX)
    Video chat
    Game emulator, running MAME (build your own arcade cabinet?)
    Network Attached Storage setup (NAS)
    Mini web server
    FTP server
    Proxy server
    Firewall
    Portable Media PC
    Run an alarm system
    Security webcam (with motion sensor)
    Control garden lighting
    Control sprinkler system
    Wearable computer
    HTPC for TV web browsing
    HTPC for streaming Netfilx / Hulu etc
    In car Computer
    Thin client computer
    Game server
    IRC / chat server
    build a cheap laptop
    build a cheap tablet
    create a digital photo frame
    Asterisk VOIP server
    PBX
    Home automation system
    MP3 player
    Portable personal computer, you can use it anywhere you can find a monitor.
    multitouch screen coffee table
    Wall hanging screen with voice control for network pictures, weather, news and RSS feeds
    Cyber Cafe computer
    Video conferencing system
    Personal weather station / logger
    Control a light display
    Control an LED board
    Put it in an old mac classic or mac plus case as a general purpose computer
    Intelligent photo frame with touch
    Wardriving setup
    A dedicated Synth, possibly with touch screen
    Solar powered desktop computer
    CNC controller
    High tech birthday / Xmas presents
    Backup server
    RSS ticker
    High tech alarm clock
    Mini projector
    DOSBox for games
    Processing farm for SETI@Home
    Cafe media player
    Brains for Arduino setup
    Mumble server
    Industrial manufacturing controller
    TOR server
    BitTorrent seedbox
    Family notice board
    CD / DVD ripping device
    Car black box with video
    Wall mounted, interactive mood lamp
    Robotic telescope / camera controller
    Display photographer portfolio images
    BitTorrent client
    SMS gateway

To me, the most interesting uses are as a VOIP server and as a PBX server, as well as a media server and similar things. Love to have a 7 inch monitor so I could build it into the car!

Looks like I will have some fun with it when it arrives.

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

sebbel

I hope you're aware that it's built on an ARM architecture. You may find that a lot of software usually found for the average computer built on an x86 architecture is not available. Just be prepared to play a little and don't expect it'll work like you normal desktop does.

I had not realized I was surrounded by Linux enthusiasts. I'm liking this place even more! Linux is what I do for a living.

Seb.

DavePEI

#9
Quote from: sebbel on October 26, 2012, 10:53:43 PM
I hope you're aware that it's built on an ARM architecture. You may find that a lot of software usually found for the average computer built on an x86 architecture is not available. Just be prepared to play a little and don't expect it'll work like you normal desktop does.

I had not realized I was surrounded by Linux enthusiasts. I'm liking this place even more! Linux is what I do for a living.


Hi Seb:

ARM is now open source, so look for a lot of software in development.  At first that was one thing which held back development, but recently it was opened up to all.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/2221

"If you've been following the developments of building Android, Chromium, and other OSes for the Raspberry Pi, you'll come across a common theme. The drivers for the Raspi's chip are closed source and protected by Broadcom with an NDA. This limits the ability of devs to take on projects that involve messing around deep inside the CPU.

Today, this is no longer the case. The CPU on the Raspberry Pi is now the first ARM-based system with fully functional, vendor-provided drivers.

Previously, the drivers for OpenGL ES, OpenMax, and other goodies inside the ARM chip have been closed source, available only to the Raspberry Pi foundation and those willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement with Broadcom. With this release, the drivers are open source, allowing the devs behind the Android, Chromium, Haiku, *BSD, and the RISC OS to dig deep into the Broadcom drivers and get their projects working." - http://hackaday.com/tag/raspberry-pi/

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

twocvbloke

I'm not a Linux enthusiast, I'm a linux novice... :D

Owain

#11
Quote from: DavePEI on October 26, 2012, 12:46:15 PM

To me, the most interesting uses are as a VOIP server and as a PBX server

all contained within a 2500 phone case.

Comment from Dave: Maybe even in a Princess phone case  :)

DavePEI

#12
Quote from: twocvbloke on October 27, 2012, 12:28:16 AM
I'm not a Linux enthusiast, I'm a linux novice... :D
Nether am I, but I have done quite a bit of work on our servers, and now am learning about Asterisk, and from time to time had other Linux machines set up here. Right now, I have only two Linux machines (one for playing. and the other is my Asterisk server) set up in addition to the Windows machines. I figure that this might be just the thing to get me playing more with Linux. My son, Jeff is the family expert in Linux - he had been setting up servers since he was 7 years old on an old PC I built up from parts, and recently won number two in Canada at a competition in Network Administration in Edmonton.

His fingers just fly over the keys when he is working in Linux. Has says, Now you know how to do it yourself. Only I don't - he types far too fast to follow him :-) He's a genius, and I am proud of him. Funny, you can really affect a child''s life with the gift of a computer at a young age.

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

AE_Collector

Did you receive this yet Dave?

Terry

DavePEI

#14
Quote from: AE_Collector on November 28, 2012, 02:29:04 AM
Did you receive this yet Dave?
Terry
Hi Terry:

Nope, not yet. Allied is known for being very slow service PI. It should arrive some time this month, hopefully early. I now have all the accessories, i.e. SD card with linux on it, case, extra heat sinks for it, and all sorts of other goodies - just waiting for the actual slice of PI.

Update: The one ordered from Allied finally arrived last Friday!

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001