Raspberry Pi is in the house

Droler

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Donor 12 years: 2011-2022
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Within one hour (without having anything ready in advance but parts were scattered about) I unpacked the small, Apple-esque box and re-reviewed the quick start guide, downloaded a Debian image and mounted it on a 16 GB SD card, plugged my Kindle's USB charging cable in and a wireless mouse and keyboard and booted right into Linux Debian. Typed startx and got the GUI - no problems. It got here at 3 and booted to an HDTV I have with a spare HDMI input before 4 PM.

I swear this has to be the biggest thing since the home PC - a fully functioning ARM computer - whole computer, with HDMI and RCA out, boots from SD card and supports all Linux supported USB 2.0 devices. You could build a MAME cab, home theater PC, or even a tablet given the right hardware. Want a handheld Sega Genesis? Reconfigure it. It outputs to any analog TV with RCA inputs for sound and video or HDMI for digital sets.

I know everything I mentioned has been already done, but this part is a beauty - $35 with enough power to almost rival an original XBOX console for gaming, but with a video chip that supports HD playback. Admittedly it is not for the novice, but it's so damn cool that you can get a complete computer for this price and then do with it what you will. It's the Arduino of the new century. I have to get a few more...envisioning a MAME mini (this is small enough to make a one foot high multi game with the right LCD); a handheld wireless battery powered home theater PC, and a homework computer for my son for school.

You literally only need a power supply, video monitor, and input (plus SD card with OS).

With a pinball emulator in Linux this would be an awesome tabletop pinball machine.

And yes, I know there are drawbacks - you can't upgrade the RAM, no VGA, the serial port is non standard, ARM processors are not powerful, and no 3D - but otherwise who can argue with this level of flexibility for the price?
 
Oh, and it will run on 4 AA batteries (probably for 2 minutes, but there are ways around that) - and I even had time to barbecue a chicken before 5:30 while working on this thing.
 
I have been waiting for mine for more months then I can could.. LOL.. its suppose to be shipping to me at the end of this month finally. Can't wait. Been planning on using these inside my NES, SNES, N64 and so on.
 
Mine got here in an envelope that was essentially open - the box was half out - and after waiting 7 months it made me angry, and worried in retrospect, but thankfully it was all there and fully operational. Here is a picture of it dismounted by a spare Centipede boardset.

pi_annote.jpg


My sig line has never been more appropriate.
 
i got mine about a week ago. Had basicly the same experience that Droler had. Plugged it in, dropped the os image in the sd slot and it booted right up.
Since then, i've learned i really have no clue about linux and will have to learn to get it to do the things i want it for - mainly streaming netflix.
I bought mine from RS components, and i think it was around 50 bucks with shipping.
 
I have a Roku 2 and a couple TiVo boxes and getting a Pi set up to stream TV would be as expensive as and harder than a Roku (a lot less expensive than a TiVo) but I am still in Toyland over the potential and yes, Linux is a part time job if you are a Mac/Windows person. You can go to Wally World and get a high quality Roku for under a Benjamin and get pretty much all the TV you ever need without a subscription....but if you like to tinker with electronics this is a real Lego chest. I always wanted to learn more about Linux, and my personal challenge - if not on this part, but my next one - will be building a low power MAME on Linux rig.
 
Good luck streaming Netflix on any linux distro. Netflix uses Microsoft Silverlight, and while there is an open source Silverlight for linux (Moonlight), it does not support the DRM needed to playback Netflix and probably never will. :(

Your best bet is to wait for somebody to get Android of some sort running on the PI.

i got mine about a week ago. Had basicly the same experience that Droler had. Plugged it in, dropped the os image in the sd slot and it booted right up.
Since then, i've learned i really have no clue about linux and will have to learn to get it to do the things i want it for - mainly streaming netflix.
I bought mine from RS components, and i think it was around 50 bucks with shipping.
 
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yeah, i figure i'll be waiting for Android to become available for it. Its been tossed around so much i suspect someone'll get it working before too long - then its just use the netflix app, that's a pretty easy workaround.
And roku - i could go that route, but i really wanted at least some of the functionality of the nettop i have on my living room tv - like email and remote desktop, even though i actually stream netflix from there through my blu-ray player.
 
Good luck streaming Netflix on any linux distro. Netflix uses Microsoft Silverlight, and while there is an open source Silverlight for linux (Moonlight), it does not support the DRM needed to playback Netflix and probably never will. :(

Your best bet is to wait for somebody to get Android of some sort running on the PI.

That said, I've run Hulu on my Ubuntu box for some time now, with no issues whatsoever.
 
i got mine about a week ago. Had basicly the same experience that Droler had. Plugged it in, dropped the os image in the sd slot and it booted right up.
Since then, i've learned i really have no clue about linux and will have to learn to get it to do the things i want it for - mainly streaming netflix.
I bought mine from RS components, and i think it was around 50 bucks with shipping.

for streaming netflix you may want to look into a roku... It's easier than learning Linux just to stream netflix..

Mark..
 
I recieved notice that mine shipped from the UK late last week. I am waiting for DHL to drop a box on my doorstep any day now.

I sidestepped the whole download and image an SD card by just buying the "official" LINUX distribution on SD from RS Electronics. On the other hand, I will need to find a power supply for it as RS only sold them with UK socketted wall warts and I didn't feel like rummaging around until I found my stash of wall converters.

ken
 
for streaming netflix you may want to look into a roku... It's easier than learning Linux just to stream netflix..

Mark..


cdjump said:
And roku - i could go that route, but i really wanted at least some of the functionality of the nettop i have on my living room tv - like email and remote desktop, even though i actually stream netflix from there through my blu-ray player.

filler 789
 
I got mine a few weeks ago... and it's been sitting here on my desk unused :(

I don't know what I want to do with it... just knew I wanted it.

I mean I know my way around Linux... I just need to think of something cool.
 
Now if someone could come up with a way to have it read the high score nvram off a bunch of games and display it on an hdtv....or perhaps use something like yak to display a ticker tape of scores under a tv streaming 80s music vids...
 
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