Raspberry Pi ?

[amancalledoss]

Has anyone had much experience with these Raspberry Pi's , Ive been watching videos on them and they do look like quite good fun although mostly pointless as mostly your mobile phone / cell phone does 90% of what you can do with them but Im still keen on having a try 

[Valley_]

2 minutes ago, amancalledoss said:

Has anyone had much experience with these Raspberry Pi's , Ive been watching videos on them and they do look like quite good fun although mostly pointless as mostly your mobile phone / cell phone does 90% of what you can do with them but Im still keen on having a try 

Honestly, I bought one and got bored of it within 30 minutes. But a lot of people can make some crazy things with them.

If you know a lot about computers (and I mean some real advanced shit) then sure go for it. You may have fun, if you are just an average user, you'll get bored of it.

But saying that, they are fairly cheap so maybe get one and just try it?

[samcool55]

If you are prepared to dive into the embedded world, using sensors and aren't afraid of a bit of scripting it's a nice thing.

I have one and i had fun with it, in the end you can always use it as a HTPC or something if you want to.

[LUUD18]

It's nice if you want a small server or something. Use cases:

- Print server

- File server

- Web server

- Torrent downloader

- Slideshow computer

- HTPC

- And many more

[Sauron]

44 minutes ago, amancalledoss said:

mostly your mobile phone / cell phone does 90% of what you can do with them

That's not true at all, their purpose is completely different. Pis are a cheap platform for embedded projects.

[DnFx91]

i have a Pi 3 that i use for linux tinkering. basically it has kodi installed, remmina, and gparted. I just use it as like a spare tool, like if i quickly need a linux environment to format or partition a drive, i can just run gparted on it instead of booting up partedmagic on some random laptop. I also use it as a 2nd RDP client, for the common times that i need 2 RDP sessions on the go and don't want to overcrowd my main workstation.

[decibelCooper]

The beauty of the RPi is the that you get a flexible and small system for cheap that can readily interface with hardware.  IMHO, you shouldn't buy an RPi for hooking up a mouse and keyboard or for running as a server.  My advice is to start with a hardware project, and then figure out how the RPi can help.  Something that is dumb that you want to make smart.  If your goal is to learn, you will learn rapidly this way.

 

Here is a project that I was working on last fall, but because of graduation and moving I had to abandon temporarily:

https://youtu.be/Yha_cdHu1CA

 

What you see in the video is an RPi (top) stacked with a couple custom PCBs with an FPGA on one for real-time stuff (computes 3-pole brushless/sensorless motor phasing), and motor power-handling electronics on the other.  At the bottom is a 3D-printed heat spreader to pull heat away from the power-handling switches.  The job of the RPi is to talk to the Wiimote and send signals to the FPGA about throttle and such, and also manage the battery.  Currently, the power-handling board blows itself up under heavy regen braking, so it has to be redesigned a bit, whenever I can find time.

 

EDIT: On a side note, I run Arch ARM (https://archlinuxarm.org/).  I recommend it.

[Lolucoca]

That's all boring stuff... Build a retro console, use it as a webserver... Boring! How about using the GPIO to hook up sensors to build something like a DIY drone?

[Captain_France]

I am in the process of making a portable retro gaming console using the case of an old PSP 1000.

 You can do some epic shit

[amancalledoss]

16 hours ago, Lolucoca said:

That's all boring stuff... Build a retro console, use it as a webserver... Boring! How about using the GPIO to hook up sensors to build something like a DIY drone?

I love this idea , Im not the most technical guy in the world but Im sure over the vastness of the internet Ill be able to find the answers 

[Tsuki]

im working on turning one of mine into a an network music player with an amp for my passive speakers.

and ive got another one running Pi-Hole as a network wide ad blocker

[8bitbeliever]

I used a RPi2 and created a VPN that ended up functioning better than I expected. I tried to host some servers for simple games (i.e. Minecraft) but ran into some performance issues, but maybe the RPi3 is better suited for that task. If you are going to get one definitely have some projects in mind first that way it doesn't just end up collecting dust. Otherwise they are a lot of fun and can be a great way to get some linux experience if you haven't worked with it before!