Raspberry Pi

[cully]

no its not a drink or anything to eat

its a development computer based on the latest mobilephone chips
i have been seeing reviews on these and they looked a real good base for all things processor based and mobile

its basically a pc the size of a pack of cards built for school kids to develop there programming skills, its new only just released here but the boards have been around for a bit now in the wild and developers/hackers have made some wonderful bits of kit with them

   

powered by a 5v usb charger or even 4AA battery's it has HDMI out capable of HD @ 1080

http://www.raspberrypi.org/

i decided to buy one after reading a blog on how to turn one into a on demand tv media centre

the blog is here http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/desktops/how-t...-50008599/

all my bits have turned up over the last few days and today i decided to have a build.
to be honest there weren't much to do other than load a SD card from a PC with the boot loader then it all set up automatically via a wired net connection

   
   

so basically Ive built a media centre that can access and play all my stored music and videos its got iplayer/itv/4oD/5 on demand channels
Ive also found NASCAR speed on demand redbull web TV and there are loads of other stuff

its Linux based running XMBC and its operating system is all on an SD card so if you have other applications for the board you just change SD cards and plug new peripherals in and away you go

say an incar computer with touch screen or home automation system controlling lighting heating via an app on your phone

[Alee83]

Sweet, technology moves so fast these days! Hard to keep up! Could you attach a solid state HDD then, give you more room for stuff?

[cully]

yes it recognised my 8 gig mem stick i assume it will see a external hard drive too as it has two usb ports but can be split using a hub
i have my media centre controlled by a ir remote control too but what would be nice is a glass touch screen for the coffee table Hmmmmmm!

[Matt]

So cool. Would live something like this to play around with

[THE_Liam]

That sounds amazing, wish I understood any of it

[Scott]

These are really smart. I saw a demo of one running XBMC the other day, I'm very much considering one after seeing it handle 1080p with relative ease! Much cheaper than the WD offerings, and the XMBC community is really good and has a great UI.

How much did you pay for it if you don't mind me asking?

[cully]

the board was £29.95 delivered from Farnell
remote control £5.85 play.com
usb power supply £4 Farnell
HDMI cable 99p Farnell
SD type10 4gig card £6 play.com still waiting for this. using a type2 @the mo

usb keyboard and mouse for original setup already have here

[kyleo92]

Does it connect using a micro HDMI to HDMI cable?

Ive been thinking about one of these for a while now...

[Toms306]

That sounds amazing, wish I understood any of it

Exactly what I was thinking haha!

[zx_volcane]

thats pretty amazing

beats a pic 8051

[Midnightclub]

Does it connect using a micro HDMI to HDMI cable?

Ive been thinking about one of these for a while now...

No, it has a full size HDMI port for HDMI out, uses micro USB to power itself.

[Niall]

Coluld work pretty well as a car computer...hmmm might be looking into this

[Midnightclub]

Thats what my plan was niall...

[Niall]

Ordered it

[Fooby]

ah very interested indeed, i was going to build a home automation server, using an i5 or whatever, didnt actually realise the Pi could do 1080p. I will be investigating this.

[Niall]

Fooby your helping me with mine!

[cully]

if you get one i advise to get a fast sd card
i started on a class2 4 gig
my class10 4 gig is here now all installed and its very quick on the menus compared to the c2 card

[Niall]

will do when it arrives. Dont think ill be as lucky as you and get it next day!! Dont know what to do with it yet though....probably another car pc

[cully]

hope your good at programming as i havnt seen a good car app yet
i may wait till i see one then try it

the media streamer is doing what i want and more
im going to be looking for a mini wireless keyboard i think though as it will be easyer searching the program menus

[cully]

Ive got this up and running now it works really well,
there are lots of add ons available some work some don't trial and error seems to work for me.

list of add ons i have working include
4oD
Demand5
DTMtv
Icefilms
iPlayer
itv
Nasa videos
Nascarx
Redbull.tv
Tvcatchup

these all stream via the Internet connection

[kyleo92]

I want one now... But that means I'm not only copying your wheels but also your technical interests

Do the apps kinda 'sideload' from a pc..?

I install android apps onto my blackberry playbook through something called sideloading thought it might follow a similar method

[Scott]

This is a fully fledged computer, applications are installed as normal depending on the OS you choose

[kyleo92]

This is a fully fledged computer, applications are installed as normal depending on the OS you choose

HAHA ok so depending on how the OS was designed means which apps are compatible with it... Fcuk it I'm buying one just so I can play about.. I love doing stuff like this but don't dare with my phone in case I brick it and obviously not buying a new pc to mess it up..

I'm having ideas now... Mwhahaha

[Scott]

I've already looked into a few things to do with Niall's when he gets his

If you've ever used a linux-based OS you should be fine.

[cully]

follow the blog link instructions all the software links are there

once you have the base running add ons are just downloaded and installed via a menu or onto a mem stick from a pc then transfered via the menue again

get a fast sd card class10 as it speeds up the operating system as it uses it as cach for video streaming if you use a slow card you will get bad buffering

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pss,,, ive never touched linux and im no programmer

[kyleo92]

follow the blog link instructions all the software links are there

once you have the base running add ons are just downloaded and installed via a menu or onto a mem stick from a pc then transfered via the menue again

get a fast sd card class10 as it speeds up the operating system as it uses it as cach for video streaming if you use a slow card you will get bad buffering

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pss,,, ive never touched linux and im no programmer

Haha I installed Ubuntu to my laptop ages ago and it couldn't find my WiFi drivers so I just gave up and uninstalled it lol! Yet i can build a pc blindfolded lol

OK that good to know I've got a class10 at home!! Again for fast transfers!

[Eeyore]

looks good now ive looked into it. 5V PSU and can be connected with composite to all the cheap in car screens on ebay. got to be worth a go!

[Niall]

I've already looked into a few things to do with Niall's when he gets his

If you've ever used a linux-based OS you should be fine.

Scott were having a beer, curry and geek out evening round mine when it turns up....in 12 weeks

[Scott]

Sweet! I'm going to do a little more research. I'll send some stuff over your way soon. Fingers crossed it won't take that long though.

As Sam said it's easy to connect to a cheap screen, I've seen numerous blogs about connecting an OBD2 port so you can connect to the ECU...I think we could build a damn good CarPC with this!

[procta]

class little thing, be great for a carpc buy shoving the software on a portable HDD and mounting the little thing behind the dash.
also i remember something like this coming out back in 2005, about the size of a light switch. these could be powerd off the network or off a mains adapter. ideal of diskless workstations etc.
shame this little fella hasnt got a parell port ( spelling) as my mate needs a pc with one to run his cad system.