Raspberry Pi

[secrets in symmetry]

Does anyone else plan to buy one?

If so, what do you plan to do with it?

Note for Moderator: please don't move this thread to Recipes. :cool:

[John Little]

I want one to play with :)

[secrets in symmetry]

Me too. :cool:

I have all the spare bits needed to make it go sitting doing nothing on my spare desk.

I was going to wait until the next version comes out before buying one - because it will surely come fitted with more goodies - but they're so cheap that I'll probably buy the first edition, and the second edition, and - well, we'll have to wait and see....

[Phill]

Yes I plan to get one.

Not a bliddy clue what I'm gonna do with it.

But it's worth a giggle.

[Moira]

Yes I plan to get one.

Not a bliddy clue what I'm gonna do with it.

But it's worth a giggle.

Dinna bother Phill. I bought one last week from Tescos. The crust was thick and the filling dry. Even the double cream didn't help. I would give it a miss. :-)

[secrets in symmetry]

Yes I plan to get one.

Not a bliddy clue what I'm gonna do with it.

But it's worth a giggle.I don't have a clue either lol.

On a more serious note, I think the Raspberry Pi project is a fantastic one. The Facebook generation is comfortable with IT like no other generation before it, but most of them know sod all about how it all works. Our country needs the latter for a successful future.

[joxville]

Apple, Orange, Blackberry and now Raspeberry Pi; I remember when they just gave us vitamins! One wonders what the ladies will do with a Banana ;-)

[secrets in symmetry]

Don't forget Apricot, and the ARM itself out of a little Acorn grew....

[joxville]

With all that's gone before, maybe now would be a good time to register all the fruit names then licence them for use by technology companies :-)

[secrets in symmetry]

Sadly, someone has http://pomegranate.com/ already....

[ducati]

Sadly, someone has http://pomegranate.com/ already....

I'm afraid technology went beyond anything I have a need for at least 10 years ago. :confused

[Phill]

I'm afraid technology went beyond anything I have a need for at least 10 years ago. :confusedOld school nuclear fusion, that's why you'll never make it work! In fact, that's what I could use the RPi for, controlling the moderator. I think that might do it, the iPad wasn't up to the job as the touch screen disnae like thick gloves.

[billmoseley]

i'm afraid my raspberries didn't do so well think it was the wind so no i won't be buying a new one this year [lol]

[secrets in symmetry]

I'm afraid technology went beyond anything I have a need for at least 10 years ago. :confusedThe Raspberry Pi isn't fast or full of fancy features, it has the minimum you need, and it's incredibly cheap.

Phill, I don't think fusion reactors will have moderators, I hope that doesn't affect the RPi's sales figures!

Where is RecQuery when you need his expert opinion?

[ducati]

Old school nuclear fusion, that's why you'll never make it work! In fact, that's what I could use the RPi for, controlling the moderator. I think that might do it, the iPad wasn't up to the job as the touch screen disnae like thick gloves.

I'm glad you still have an eye to Health and Safety, I had to ditch my lead suit as I couldn't move my arms.

As for the moderator, I just keep a couple of buckets of water handy.

[secrets in symmetry]

You'll get a refraction if you pour a couple of buckets of water over the Moderator on this forum!

[weezer 316]

What exactly is it?

[Corrie 3]

What exactly is it?
C'mon Weezer, even I know what was is and I am a poor old pensioner!!!

Shame on you Laddie!!!

C3..................:eek::roll:;)

[weezer 316]

C'mon Weezer, even I know what was is and I am a poor old pensioner!!!

Shame on you Laddie!!!

C3..................:eek::roll:;)

Lol! You will notice distinct lack of posts recently as i have been workgin my wee fingers to the bone!

Must say it looks impressive for that price. Must actually get my own linux install back on track.

[Big Gaz]

the makers claim its to get children interested in coding & computer programming......reckon the only way they will get kids interested in them is to attach a screen and a touchpad and stick a simcard full of free texts up its jaxx. :eek:

[RecQuery]

I'm going to get one, probably a few actually it's only about £25. I'm thinking right now of using it as a download machine and possibly seeing how well they cluster. Then again perhaps a SheevaPlug would be better for the former, I'll have to see.

My biggest hope though is that schools and colleges do something with them. Computing in schools has become Microsoft Office and web browsing class, and even then it only covers the basic stuff and computing in colleges (most universities still haven't fallen into this trap) has become vendor certifications class.

[squidge]

Anyone pre ordered one? Where is best place to get one from?

[RecQuery]

Anyone pre ordered one? Where is best place to get one from?

They sold out in minutes, there's currently a 30 day wait but I'd try:

Farnell (http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/bespoke/bespoke7.jsp?ICID=I-RASP-HPBLOF-0015&bespokepage=farnell/en_UK/promotions/raspberryPi.jsp) or RS-Components (http://uk.rs-online.com/web/generalDisplay.html?id=raspberrypi) - eBay may have them also.

[wick]

I'm going to get one, probably a few actually it's only about £25. I'm thinking right now of using it as a download machine and possibly seeing how well they cluster. Then again perhaps a SheevaPlug would be better for the former, I'll have to see.

My biggest hope though is that schools and colleges do something with them. Computing in schools has become Microsoft Office and web browsing class, and even then it only covers the basic stuff and computing in colleges (most universities still haven't fallen into this trap) has become vendor certifications class.

Seems that schools are recognising the importance of Computing Science: http://www.wickhighschool.org/

[RecQuery]

Seems that schools are recognising the importance of Computing Science: http://www.wickhighschool.org/

Not bad, A bit bandwagony in places, in that it jumps on too many technology bandwagons for my liking and there is probably too much of a reliance on frameworks. Perhaps that's to increase interest, though it runs the risk of whoring itself out and appealing to the lowest common denominator.

From the Computing in S3 (Third Year) Presentation


Topics Covered

Games Design
Kodu (Xbox)
Scratch
Stencylworks

App Design
iPhone/Android

Information Systems Design
Website or Database

What I'd like to see is some actual systems programming, I'd use Python as a teaching language but Ruby or C# would do also. Some tech support, server and networking stuff also, things like operating system theory, how to build a computer, how a network works. Even if these are covered earlier or later in the curriculum they should really be continuously covered and expanded upon.

It was nice to see the Apache and MySQL logos in there.

On a side note I do wish government and public organisations would stop calling it ICT.

[secrets in symmetry]

I'm going to get one, probably a few actually it's only about £25. I'm thinking right now of using it as a download machine and possibly seeing how well they cluster. Then again perhaps a SheevaPlug would be better for the former, I'll have to see.What do you mean by "using it as a download machine"

The SheevaPlug was a lot more expensive last time I looked, but IIRC it's more highly specified.

[secrets in symmetry]

What I'd like to see is some actual systems programming, I'd use Python as a teaching language but Ruby or C# would do also. Some tech support, server and networking stuff also, things like operating system theory, how to build a computer, how a network works. Even if these are covered earlier or later in the curriculum they should really be continuously covered and expanded upon.That all sounds good. The Raspberry Pi chefs plan to support Python as their principle programming language, with support for Ruby too, IIRC.

We all have our hobby horses - I would like to see some scientific programming, and perhaps some simulation of simple physical systems. Yes, I know we don't all need that, but neither do we all need a lot of chemistry, poetry or religious education (to pick a few random topics already taught to kids for years at school.)


On a side note I do wish government and public organisations would stop calling it ICT.Indeed - and we all know that ICT is a football club, not a school subject. :cool:

I think one of the main pluses of the RPi project will be to show a whole generation of school kids (and perhaps adults!) that there is more to computing than comes out of a certain large company based in Seattle. This is already happening on a large scale with Android, but only at the level of ICT.

[RecQuery]

What do you mean by "using it as a download machine"

The SheevaPlug was a lot more expensive last time I looked, but IIRC it's more highly specified.

Using it for peer-to-peer downloads (all Linux distributions and creative commons content of course). rtorrent, hellanzb etc or digital content I've bought from places. Though I use a server as a seedbox nowadays so it'll probably just be for FTP downloads.

You could also use it as a media server, NAS or even a TV attached media player. Maybe run an emulator on it and attach it to or build it into a controller and use it as a portable retro gaming machine. Even a relatively cheap computer for the less affluent. I'm sure you could attach it to use a USB monitor (http://www.mimomonitors.com/) and do something with that also.



We all have our hobby horses - I would like to see some scientific programming, and perhaps some simulation of simple physical systems. Yes, I know we don't all need that, but neither do we all need a lot of chemistry, poetry or religious education (to pick a few random topics already taught to kids for years at school.)

That's an idea I was just thinking about its use in computing. It could definitely be used elsewhere.



I think one of the main pluses of the RPi project will be to show a whole generation of school kids (and perhaps adults!) that there is more to computing than comes out of a certain large company based in Seattle. This is already happening on a large scale with Android, but only at the level of ICT.

That and I think people younger than say 22-24 now see computers as appliances and have never tinkered with them or really know how they work. So I'm hoping it reverses that trend.

EDIT: I imagine it'll be used at college and university level or at least I hope it will be. Ideally a buy-one-give-one option like the OLPC project would be good also.

[mi16]

Awooo,Awooo
Geek alert, geek alert

[secrets in symmetry]

Thanks for the expositions and ideas RecQuery. I like the idea of plugging a touch screen into the RPi and using it in interactive displays for science festivals, etc. One of my colleagues does a lot of this - he tends to use old laptops or PCs, but the RPi could be a cheaper option. We have rooms full of old LCD displays (and keyboards) lying around, but the touch screen would be better.

I hope it will be used for hands on programming and development in schools, colleges and universities. So let's hope it works as advertised, and that their manufacturing quality is up to scratch.

Do you have any comments or recommendations concerning which Linux distro to use? Fedora seems to be RPi's recommended distro, but I would guess Debian (or Arch) would be fine.

[RecQuery]

Thanks for the expositions and ideas RecQuery. I like the idea of plugging a touch screen into the RPi and using it in interactive displays for science festivals, etc. One of my colleagues does a lot of this - he tends to use old laptops or PCs, but the RPi could be a cheaper option. We have rooms full of old LCD displays (and keyboards) lying around, but the touch screen would be better.

I hope it will be used for hands on programming and development in schools, colleges and universities. So let's hope it works as advertised, and that their manufacturing quality is up to scratch.

Do you have any comments or recommendations concerning which Linux distro to use? Fedora seems to be RPi's recommended distro, but I would guess Debian (or Arch) would be fine.

I can see uses for it in monitoring and control stuff too or any location where space is an issue. You could probably use them as thin clients running LTSP (http://www.ltsp.org/) or even RDP to give people Windows desktops.

I'd be happy if they just did anything with them, at least they'd be tinkering. Even if some just continued to do office and web browsing stuff at least they'd be using different products and getting exposure to different things.

I'm a Debian and derivatives (Mint (http://linuxmint.com/), Crunchbang (http://crunchbanglinux.org/), Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/), about 110 others) man. The Redhat family (Fedora, CentOS, etc) is fine and I'd rank it second behind the Debian family. I just prefer Debian though, in my opinion it makes better design decisions, Apt/Debs are easier to use than YUM/RPM and more software has been packaged Debian style and it's the most stable thing ever even the testing and unstable trees are more stable than other distributions stable trees.

Arch tends to attract two types of people, former Ubuntu users who want be 'l33t h4x0rs' or just generally snobbish and former Gentoo users who want something easier to manage. It's a binary distribution with a rolling release cycle. They tend to favour command line, ncurses or light GUI stuff. They have a wiki that's quite good in general if you favour that sort of stuff.

According to their FAQ:


What Linux distros will be supported at launch?

Fedora, Debian and ArchLinux will be supported from the start. We hope to see support from other distros later. (Because of issues with newer releases of Ubuntu and the ARM processor we are using, Ubuntu can’t commit to support Raspberry Pi at the moment.) You will be able to download distro images from us as soon as the Raspberry Pi is released, and we will also be selling pre-loaded SD cards shortly after release.

That being said your distro is as well support as the community makes it.

I'd recommend installing some lighter applications at least a lighter GUI, something like XFCE, LXDE or Openbox instead of Gnome or KDE. I mean Linux will run well on anything - I've been able to get a 486DX with 8MB to play video using Damn Small Linux (http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/) and Puppy (http://puppylinux.org) - but making it run fast is always a good idea.

Some video tutorials here (http://www.youtube.com/user/RaspberryPiTutorials) including some installation stuff, http://www.raspberrypidevelopment.co.uk/forum/ has some guides also.

EDIT: If it's a major rollout in a school for more than just individual tinkering I'd probably run one of the specialist education or science distros:


Skolelinux / Debian Edu (http://www.slx.no/)
(http://www.edubuntu.org/)
Edubuntu (http://www.edubuntu.org/)
Scientific Linux (http://www.scientificlinux.org/)
Tons more, too many to link.

[secrets in symmetry]

Just how many Linux distros have you used, tested or "tinkered with"? :cool:

I'm familiar with the Debian and Red Hat families, but I've never (knowingly) used ArchLinux.

Thanks again for your suggestions for configuring and using the Pi - you've given me plenty to think about. I just have to go out and buy one to play with now. :cool:

[secrets in symmetry]

Has anyone bought (and used) a Raspberry Pi? If so, what have you done with it?

I'll have some time on my hands for the next few months, so I'm thinking of ordering one. Delivery time from Farnell is claimed to be down to 5 weeks.

[.Martin]

My one arrived 20 mins ago! If anyone's looking to buy, PM me an offer :D

[weedonald]

I have to wait a month or two according to Canadian supplier. A nice small unit, that I can us with amateur radio to decode digital modes and just the fun of experimenting. Maybe interfacing with Arduino also. I will be back in Caithness in Sept. and will try to get to the C.A.R.S meeting.

[George Brims]

Can you run Occam on those beasties?

[weedonald]

Aye George you can http://concurrency.cc/2012/06/12/hackathon-occam-pi-raspberry-pi.html While having a pint it seems...

[secrets in symmetry]

Can you run Occam on those beasties?Evidently you can, but why would you want to?

That's a serious question.

[George Brims]

Just a hobby-related question. I've done a lot of occam and haven't touched it for years. Just managed to stop our IT manager chucking out some old transputer hardware last week and it reminded me how much fun we had getting things going on the transputers. Anyone curious as to what I did with them, Google NIRSPEC and NIRC2. Transputers were used quite a lot in the astronomy instrumentation field years ago. Now we're about to take them out of service and replace them with up to date stuff.

[RecQuery]

I've noticed various performance improvements from installing Raspbian (http://www.raspbian.org/) in place of stock Debian or other builds. The project downloads page now links to it but previously it linked to a different build.

[secrets in symmetry]

Just a hobby-related question. I've done a lot of occam and haven't touched it for years. Just managed to stop our IT manager chucking out some old transputer hardware last week and it reminded me how much fun we had getting things going on the transputers. Anyone curious as to what I did with them, Google NIRSPEC and NIRC2. Transputers were used quite a lot in the astronomy instrumentation field years ago. Now we're about to take them out of service and replace them with up to date stuff.Thanks George. I had no idea transputers were used much outside the UK. I'm amazed you have transputer-based hardware that still works - that's pretty impressive! :cool:


I've noticed various performance improvements from installing Raspbian (http://www.raspbian.org/) in place of stock Debian or other builds. The project downloads page now links to it but previously it linked to a different build.Yes, the Pi looked awfully slow on the original demo videos using stock Debian, which is one of the reasons I didn't order one. But things evidently change with some fine tuning and, perhaps much more importantly, use of the GPU by the OS.

[George Brims]

Transputers were at one point the world's biggest-selling processor! Some company put the T4 series in a washing machine, or so I was told. The company that built our custom boards also did a series for the US military that flew on the AWACS aircraft, and on some guided missile destroyers. There are quite a few of the things on the top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii since we did those two instruments, and our former colleagues at ROE built some into instruments for the UK Infrared Telescope (where my boss and I worked before we moved to California).

[secrets in symmetry]

Transputers were at one point the world's biggest-selling processor! Some company put the T4 series in a washing machine, or so I was told. The company that built our custom boards also did a series for the US military that flew on the AWACS aircraft, and on some guided missile destroyers. There are quite a few of the things on the top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii since we did those two instruments, and our former colleagues at ROE built some into instruments for the UK Infrared Telescope (where my boss and I worked before we moved to California).I find it hard to believe that transputers ever outsold Intel x86 processors, although I believe they were once the dominant RISC design. They were certainly way ahead of their time in many respects.

[secrets in symmetry]

I've noticed various performance improvements from installing Raspbian (http://www.raspbian.org/) in place of stock Debian or other builds. The project downloads page now links to it but previously it linked to a different build.I think I may have mis-read your post a couple of days ago....

Are you speaking from personal experience here? I.e. do you have have your own Raspberry Pi(s)?

[webmannie]

RecQuery has my pi, i bought it on launch day for a wee marine project of mine and who better to give it till but a linux guru. It will be taking to the high seas once he finishes playing with it. ;)) It may even end up underwater in the Pentland Firth at some point!

[secrets in symmetry]

I hope you have a waterproof case for it! :cool: