My Raspbery Pi has arrived !!!

[Ostap]

Finally after almost 2 months of waiting since ordering it
It has arrived !!!

Unpacking !!!

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i've ordered clear plastic box and power adapter to ease the first setup ...

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Here it is ... very small - whole computer for just 35$

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Connecting all external parts

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First boot..

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First configuration to select location, language etc....

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Network cable connected now as well

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Lets put all in that shiny plastic box :)

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And here we are !! - Raspberry Pi OS ...(Linux)

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Minor changes in config - and we got internet as well

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Installing some missing parts for HD video Playback
VLC failed to play so eventually had to use pre-installed OMXPlayer that had hardware acceleration

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And there it is - its playing 1080p movie just fine !!!!

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OMXPlayer is bit bulky - has no GUI at all - so next step is to configure XBMC
but it also failed at first attempt - (some missing dependencies) ...but i will run eventually..

So this is my new kitchen media computer !!! only need touch monitor and its done :)

[CLICK]

Awesome toy :P

[Ostap]

Update:

Finally ...there is that XBMC (Raspbmc)
Fully operational home theater ....

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Installation was kinda weird - had to install complete OS with prepackaged XBMC in it ...but who cares ? ...it works !!!!
Almost all works , xvid and h264 - no problemos (mpg and wmv - nada... )
Anyway - no need for that crap .. those other formats are mucho bettero

[BlacK SpiRiT]

is it a pc? LOOL

[Barktooth]

Hmm, this thing can probably run faster than my PC :D

[Ostap]

is it a pc? LOOL

It is :)

it has ARM11 RISC CPU that runs at 700Mhz (now overclocked to 800)
There is 512Mb memory (128 given to the GPU)

Qua performance - its comparable to Pentium2 300Mhz ...but with all those nice 3D and Video decoding accelerations in hardware.

[Skyward]

This raspbery looks delicious.. :P

[Ostap]

This raspbery looks delicious.. :P

Can't get enough of it :)

---------- Post added 22-12-2012 at 20:38 ----------

I'll write tonight some manual about how to set it up in few steps for those who's interested.
There are some issues - i'll try to cover them all

[Ostap]

Raspberry Pi installation


Well first of all - lets clarify some things ...
RPi - was designed for educational and DIY purposes...
It is low cost SoC (System on Chip) computer.


But dudes who maded it - made it "too good" :) ..it is just a candy ...
Even that it has limited memory - its interns are pretty impressive ...
Hardwere video decoding , accelerated 3D rendering ..(with OpenGL)


It is a beauty!


I got it 2 days ago ..but 1 day was enough to test it ..
First impressions:
1 - its slow
2 - its fast
3 - it works


The company that designed it - prepeared it pretty well ...and community of DIY freaks took it over...
right now - there is a bunch of software available for it.


My first goal was to create kitchen media computer ...
and while doing that i wanted to test all other possibilities i can explore later for my other projects


Installing RPi OS - is pretty strait forward - ...copy to SD - start up - use it :)
there is a choice of different OS's presented for this device - (http://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads)


Here i'd like to cover few steps for those that are not familiar with linux.
I'm not the guru my self - so it also took me some time to find it all out...


So lets start:
First - you have to decide what will you do with it !!


Posibilities are endless : (as example)
home automation ..
robotics
entertainment
space exploration


As I already noted - i wanted to make a home theather from it ..
After installing RPi "Wheezy" - an OS that is quite enough to start from
I've tried to play some media ... boohoo :) - its linux ... you got to do everything your self :)


1 - lets mount an windows share ..


Mounting - is pretty easy ..if you know where linux is being stupid ...
so lets say you want to mount a share on your comp that is named as "music" and your computer is located at //192.168.0.1 on local net


usualy - you just do this:
1 - create an directory somewhere ...(for example on your desktop)
mkdir /home/thatsme/Desktop/Music


2 - then you mount the remote share:
sudo mount -t cifs //192.168.0.1/Music -o myusername /home/thatsme/Desktop/Music

Now we can lean back and start cursing that freaking linux - coz that wont fucking work ...even it is specified in documentation that was outdated 5 years before it was published.
but who cares - we are the DIY dudes - we dig dipper...
after hours of searching - here is solution that does works ...
sudo mount -t cifs //192.168.0.1/Music -o username=myusername,password=bladibla /home/thatsme/Desktop/Music (it will be documented in 2017..dont worry...)

it is absolutely no mater that we expose the password like that - coz linux is a secure system ...right ?
I'm absolutely being sarcastic - coz this is the ONLY way to connect to windows share ..(do not even boter to install samba ..it wont)


But enough of sarcasm - we'll have more opportunities for it later...


Lets install a home theater -
There are 2 to choose from at the moment:
1 - Raspbmc
2 - openELEC


Both are using existing XBMC software but in a different way (it is actually complete RPi OS with preinstalled XBMC)
I've tested them both:


Raspbmc:
Solid but overloaded:
1 - CPU is at 100% all the time
2 - HD movie playback goes fine but it stops for exactly 1 second every few minutes
3 - It feels slow as well ...(i know - RPi is not a fast board ...but rendering 3 words on the screen should be easy enough)
4 - Network settings are ignored (dont try to fix it manually - you'll loose network completely)

openELEC:
Solid and paranoid:
1 - CPU is at 97% all the time
2 - HD movie playback is flawless
3 - Whole system is set to "read only" ..making it quite annoing to modify...
4 - Network is fine. if you want to set static IP - its possible (dude who made it has an android ...so you'll have to deal with a single number instead of netmask ..) settings are not ignored.

I've tested them both and my choice was "openELEC"
its more compact ...but screw that - HD movies played fine...no delays or stuttering...

so lets install that one
for that you need:

1 - extra SD card ( 2Gb ) (extra card is optional ...coz if it is primary use - you need just one)
2 - internet (with configured DHCP ...coz if you have manual config - it wont work)
3 - Disk Image Software (https://launchpadlibrarian.net/102917339/win32diskimager-binary.zip)
4 - hmm - some bier and 1 hour of time


Steps:
1 - download the OS image at - http://openelec.thestateofme.com/ (select the newest one from the bottom (the ".....img.zip" one))
2 - plug your SD card into computer and star DiskImager...
3 - Select unzipped .img file of openelec OS...
4 - click "write" ....(its just ~900meg - so you wont have time for making coffee)
5 - done - plug your SD card into RPi and start it up ...


after starting - it will continue installation and download remaining parts of the software...
(here - if your local net is not configured (DHCP) - you might get stuck till you fix it )


once its all done - it should just boot up into working XBMC environment...


after that - you sure need to map a few drives from your local net to get some media right ?
look a bit up in this post - you'll find how...
You'll need some SSH software to login into your new XBMC ...(best suggestion is putty...google it)
login info :
user: root
pass: openelec

But here is a "BUT" .. :)
Direct mount works fine ...OS is not stripped to to last bone ...cifs support is still there...but
if you want to "auto" mount your shares on boot
modifying system wont work coz its "read only" :)
(do not even try to modify /etc/fstab ... or /etc/rc.local)


here are some solutons:
http://openelec.tv/forum/76-network-filesystems/37249-nfs-ok-via-ssh-command-line-but-how-to-automount-at-boot


basicaly:
you have to create autostart.sh located in /storage/.config
that would contain your mounting commands:

something like that:

#!/bin/sh
mount -t cifs //192.168.0.1/Music -o myusername /home/thatsme/Desktop/Music

but in case of openELEC: (there is no home dir)
mount -t cifs //192.168.0.1/Music -o myusername /storage/Music

This has to do with completely paranoid setup of openelec that stripped system down to the bones and locked it down
(and lockdown was motivated by security issues ...yes of coz :) ...
i've 1000 chineese outside my window who would like to break into my raspberry pi right now ...i see that they even fighting between each other who's gonna be first)

Anyway - it works!
And works better than the other alternative...so beat it ...


Here are some tips as well - that will allow you to change OS internal settings (advanced users) if you want to.
http://youresuchageek.blogspot.nl/2012/09/howto-raspberry-pi-openelec-on.html



Conclusion:
RPi - is a nice platform for everyone to tryout the skills and develop other products for "newly" discovered RISC processors..
It might not offer alot for some...but those who spend hours and crates of bier while programming PIC processors -
already exploring the not yet fully discovered potential of this board...
(damn..im gonna write a book after this post)

[provocation]

Nice one! Mine arrived some days ago, but i've to wait till...tomorrow :P gifts unpacking
Gonna doing smth with GPIO (there's a python module for it :wub: ) and sensors and probably smth more software-side

I'll post a pic of my "case" :P

[provocation]

Here it is :P

Temporary no-cost case

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/4559/25122012073.jpg
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3176/25122012075.jpg

Pins-protection mode ON

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/8977/25122012081.jpg
http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/7048/25122012080.jpg

[Barktooth]

LOOOL nice one Provocation :)

[CLICK]

Lego! :D

[provocation]

Indeed :china:

[Skyward]

looool were you good at building lego forms? :P

[Ostap]

And there we go..:)
today ive got the monitor ...and i'm deploying my new kitchen computer...!!! Raspery Pi



Ok ..this is how it was.....
this is my 133Mhz Pentium laptop :)... that played music for over 5 years when i was cooking...
It will have to go now ...:/.. it is retired ..

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New monitor was bit bigger than i expected ...so it will have to land on this shell for now ...
i was planning to fix it on the left side box - but its too big ...
Anyway - its fine now ...for now...

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[regi]

im sorry to say, but rasberry is just a hype.
buy cortex a9 devices.. depending on what purpose you can buy it really cheap.
the fastest micro device is the RK3188 quadro cortex a9 28 nm @ 1.8 Ghz .. but that one is new about 70 euro
there are also dual core with the same decent videocard which is about 40 euros new, RK3066 at 40nm.
but if you want to use it for a server then a a10 based minipc is more then fast enough and can be bought for about 20 euro.. this one has to be run headless though because desktop will be sluggish elseway.
rasberry is nice for ppl that want to interface it with custom hardware, but if you want to run serv ers.. go for the rk3066 at least, and if those servers are p2p and heavy traffic, or if you want to use it as minimal desktoip, buy rk3188

[regi]

my chat and mailserver runs on a gk802 cortex a9 quadrocore 40nm with headless debian, but its absolute overkill :P
gk802(quadcore cortex a9 @40nm @ 1.2 ghz+quadcore video Vivante GC2000(more gflop, about 8 times then mali, but somehow much slower in desktop and 3d):
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Tronsmart T428 (rk3188)(quadcore cortex a9 @ 28nm @ 1.8 ghz + quadcore video Mali400:
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MK808 (rk3066) (dualcode cortex a9 @ 40nm @ 1.6 Ghz + quadcore video Mali400:
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and the oldest, 1st gen A10 minipc
MK802 (a10) (singlecore 1 ghz @ 40nm + bs gpu:P)
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