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

 

[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

 

[Mr.Si]

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

Sorry to pick on this post, as a couple have said it, but android IS linux (just highly customised, cut down and branded as google's OS for smart devices).

On another note, there are a few linux mags in the newsagents that usually have at least one article on doing raspberry pi stuff. That could give you some ideas.

Just gotta get an idea. Create your own mini robot? Or sat nav if you can get a gps fixed to it.

 

[RyanCheetham]

Learn something new everyday

 

[stranded]

I got one, quite amazing actually. There is pretty much nothing do do with computers you cant do with them.

 

[grantr37]

There's a lot of micro miniature PC units available secondhand now that are used a lot for advertising displays, as well as being sold new for industrial use and for enthusiasts, mostly based on Atom Mobile (1.1Ghz) with a Micro SD card reader (2 slots) a Compact Flash slot (x1) and 2 USB ports, built in wi-fi 802.11b and built in graphics, they have a single head standard graphics output (VGA DE15) and a composite video out (which can be fed into a scart converter that can be bought in Tesco for 89p) most of these these(current) units have a basic Audio output in the form of one 3.5mm stereo jack, and the operating Ram is 1 x 2GB DDR2 SODIMM(Small outline Dual inline memory module) which can be changed out usually up to 4GB, there are some units with a spare memory slot which can be expanded but they all come supplied with just the one card when first sold...


These units are about the size of a DVD box cut in half in the middle and can be interfaced to a Hard Drive, they will also boot from a memory card and/or a USB memory stick (64GB ones are quite cheap now, they are sold up to 128GB at the moment but quite expensive) and can provide enough current to run a 2.5 inch Hard Disk Drive (laptop drive) they can also be internet connected via wi-fi, USB Dongle(such as Vodafone , 3 Mobile or O2) and via the Ethernet (RJ45)port to a wired network....

They will boot into and run windows 95, windows 98, windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 7, Linux, UBUNTU and with a bit of trickery will even run versions of MAC software (quite a bit of extra set up work involved) setting up windows 8 is not something that I have heard of yet, haven't tried it myself...could be hardware issues that would take time to iron out...


As well as these computer units, if you are very lucky, you can bag one of the displays as well on ebay (think of the rectangular ones in the windows of Orange mobile phone shops and on floor standing displays in department stores) and there are pub touchscreen jukeboxes as well, I nearly bagged one from a pub that closed but it was skipped along with all the other stuff before I got there...it was running windows XP Shell with in house mediaplayer software and a cut down version of windows mediaplayer from the manufacturer, this would have allowed me to stream online music and access my stored music and would have looked great on the wall....



These units have similar capabilities to a cheap netbook computer, the built in graphics are quite good but only the newest ones sold for about the last 6 months(hence none going secondhand)have an HDMI Port.....the graphics chips in these miniature computers have a high refresh/strobe rate and fast memory as they are intended to run video content by design (originally intended for advertising displays)


Power requirements - usually a 5V DC to 12V DC 200mA supply, so will run from batteries.

Interface- Keyboard and/or touchscreen interface via USB

Connectivity: 802.11b wi-fi, USB, RJ45 Ethernet 100Mb, a small 4 port USB Hub can be connected to one of the USB ports for expansion, Bluetooth mini USB dongle will function...


Graphics: VGA and composite Video out(works with Scart Adapter) this can also be connected to a projector and used as an internet surfer clipped onto the side of a ceiling mounted projector, handy space saver...

Audio: standard Stereo, will drive headphones, or speakers via a small external amplifier.

RAM: 2GB DDR2 (Expandable) Also USB Memory stick can be partially shared as operating memory.

Will run any capacity 2.5 Inch Laptop HDD (solid state SSD not advised due to set up issues and slow speed)


They can be picked up for as little as £25.00

 

[grantr37]

double post removed

 

[grantr37]

MSI Global ? IPC

here's some new ones that are being sold now

 

[grantr37]

MSI Global ? IPC - I3-945GSE-D