Anybody here have a Raspberry Pi?

[Aleks]

Been wanting to get one for a while now I have am about to order one in. Anybody have one? How is it? What have you done with it?

[KemoKa]

What are you expecting to do with it?

[Aleks]

What are you expecting to do with it?

Starting off with basic projects, I saw a video where one guy designed his with 2 led's on red and one green, when his email was empty/all read, the green light would be one. When he gets an email it would switch to the red one. I plan to go to school for hardware engineer and I love messing with computers so I thought this would be a perfect little device to get.

[Guest]

I don't own one, but a very close friend does and he's let me play with it a lot. Unless you have a plan for it, I advise against buying it. It was a lot of fun at first, but the appeal wore off quick. If you have a plan, then by all means get one for a cool project. They are a cool little machine, but unless you have a use in mind, I say no.

[Aleks]

I don't own one, but a very close friend does and he's let me play with it a lot. Unless you have a plan for it, I advise against buying it. It was a lot of fun at first, but the appeal wore off quick. If you have a plan, then by all means get one for a cool project. They are a cool little machine, but unless you have a use in mind, I say no.

I understand so you don't think it is something to make a project with take it all apart then do another? You think it is a device to have a single use?

[QueenDemetria]

Just typed this two minutes ago lol:

 

Stuff I've done with mine:

• Email notification LED
• DLNA(or UPnP) device, for streaming videos/music/pictures to and from the pi.
• Media box with XBMC(I think the name is different though, something with pi in it probably).
• Retro pie, for emulating "classic" games(don't recommend N64 though).
• Camera and GPS tracker for RC airplanes.
• Bluetooth speakers(and host device, so you use a phone as a remote).

Stuff I'm planning on doing with my pi:

• Home automation.
• piPod(unsolder the un-needed stuff and make the ultimate mp3 player).
• ^dvd dock so I can play mp3 cd/dvd's too(and finally redeem that technology).
• car PC
• possibly a car ECU(I can dream right?)
• portable HDD "cloud"(not sure about this one, because I want to run FTP, Samba, and DLNA at once).

And I agree with @KorineFreak. As computers they are almost worthless because of how slow they are and unless if you have a specific project or use in mind they can become boring real fast.

[Aleks]

I turned mine into a arcade and a FM transmitter 

See now that sounds awesome!

[Aleks]

Just typed this two minutes ago lol:

And I agree with @KorineFreak. As computers they are almost worthless because of how slow they are and unless if you have a specific project or use in mind they can become boring real fast.

Oh yea for sure, I don't plan it to use as a computer at all. The list you wrote out are the exact things I was interested in doing. Do you think it is something should invest in? Thanks for taking the time to write the list.

[Cobalt_7]

I picked up a pi a while back, currently running minidlna, samba fileshare and bittorrent sync. It's basically setup as my headless home media server, runs fine. Well worth the $40+ dollars IMO.

[QueenDemetria]

Oh yea for sure, I don't plan it to use as a computer at all. The list you wrote out are the exact things I was interested in doing. Do you think it is something should invest in? Thanks for taking the time to write the list.

Depends on how much you are wanting to do those things. I know when the pi was first released I couldn't wait to get my hands on one and "DO ALL THE THINGS!!", but throughout my ownership of it I never found a project that could make me say "worth it". I have a relative that enjoys making projects and tearing them apart to make new things, but my philosophy is that if I make something it better be worthwhile(not something that I can tear apart and not feel regret). I have a friend that uses multiple pi's as a mesh net for hotspots and cameras for his land, and he couldn't live without his pi's. If you think you are the same way as my friend and relative then I'd say get one(or maybe even two lol), but I couldn't find a good use for mine and would rather use pi money as gas money(but then again, thats just me).

[Guest]

I understand so you don't think it is something to make a project with take it all apart then do another? You think it is a device to have a single use?

I mean, you could re use it. No problem. I'm just saying not to get it unless you plan on using it for a project. If you want it to just play with Linux or whatever, I don't recommend it.

[Aleks]

Depends on how much you are wanting to do those things. I know when the pi was first released I couldn't wait to get my hands on one and "DO ALL THE THINGS!!", but throughout my ownership of it I never found a project that could make me say "worth it". I have a relative that enjoys making projects and tearing them apart to make new things, but my philosophy is that if I make something it better be worthwhile(not something that I can tear apart and not feel regret). I have a friend that uses multiple pi's as a mesh net for hotspots and cameras for his land, and he couldn't live without his pi's. If you think you are the same way as my friend and relative then I'd say get one(or maybe even two lol), but I couldn't find a good use for mine and would rather use pi money as gas money(but then again, thats just me).

I totally understand what you mean. I do really want to do those things but that isn't my total reason for getting one. I find so much enjoyment out of working with hardware and what not I feel like being able to play with it and learn how to do write basic applications would be worth it alone. Like I said I am planning on going into post-secondary to become a hardware engineer so at this point I don't see what else is worth spending my free time doing. It is either work or school, and in my free time I will play some games. Except I never feel like my time put into gaming is worth anything.

[NeatSquidYT]

You can do a decent amount of stuff, but in some things it's unbearably slow

[Speedbird]

I have 2.  One is an HTPC, the other will soon be a file server.

[Psykomantis00]

I understand so you don't think it is something to make a project with take it all apart then do another? You think it is a device to have a single use?

 

You can build something, then if you don't like it, build something else. The possibilities are endless. 

[NeatSquidYT]

I have 2.  One is an HTPC, the other will soon be a file server.

Running XMBC?

[Speedbird]

Running XMBC?

Yup.

[NeatSquidYT]

Yup.

Mine never seemed to work that well, but I was using a Class 4 SD card

[Psykomantis00]

I have one running xbmc that the only purpose is to monitor twitch streams. Works really well. I'd really like to figure out how to auto switch to another stream in my following list every 30 minutes or so, but I've been lazy. 

[Guest]

if you get one, get the model b+. more usb, more gpio,  micro sd card slot(this could be the deciding factor, but it only needs to hold the os and you can use the extra usb ports for storage. if you don't need the direct compsite output or can use an adapter, then the extra couple of £ is worth it for the advantages.

 

what else you might need:

powered usb hub

case is a good idea, i made one out of lego for a standard model b, might be a bit harder for the b+. if you don't get a case it is fine, treat it like a motherboard, don't out it on a conductive surface if you don't want to fry it