Raspberry Pi for beginners

[Alir]

Anyone got any advice for people who are new to a raspberry pi or have an old pi lying around but never really took advantage of it because they didn't know what to do?

 

In my case, long story short, I didn't really end up doing anything on it. I do have the hope to set up a cloud server similar to dropbox and have the data encrypted (will likely be using truecrypt and then experiement with encryption by making my own algorithms).

 

So my Q: Anyone with experience with the Pi got any advice on how to get started? Not started on my specific project, but just get started in general?

 

Some limitations I found were that I'm too used to Windows so the terminal made almost no sense at all. I'm going to get started on Ubuntu after my exams so hopefully I'll get more experience. Though generally speaking, I found the raspberry pi to be not so friendly for newbies, which is in contrast to how the Pi is advertised to young people. They say it's good for newbies and kids to start programming, and while I think that is true because I do find a lot of kids getting experienced with their Pis, there are a lot of people such as myself who genuinely find themselves unable to get anywhere or to get started.

[SkywardKkalox]

We managed to get WIN 7 32bit to work on the PI at school was sick.

[Alir]

We managed to get WIN 7 32bit to work on the PI at school was sick.

 

Sounds cool, but not very practical and not helpful at getting started on programming.

Oh yeah btw guys I was referring to getting started on programming.

 

I have tried some python but considering just going to C.

[Kingofpants]

Don't bother with one of those servers unless you get an Rpi 2 , It will run at about 3-7 MBps without the encryption (Due to CPU limitation and 100mbps ethernet) and although I never tired it would probably run at 0.8 with any decent encyrption.

Also running out of ideas on a Raspberry Pi is common since it really just a weak arm server/computer. Buying a cheap Xeon server would be a lot better for game hosting, FTP servering, Webhosting etc.

[beigehornet]

I own 6.

 

1 is my garage door remote receiver.

 

1 is my KODI media enter on my TV.

 

1 is my NZB download host.

 

the others not in use yet, but 1 will run my car computer and the rest will be doing various house security things.

[Alir]

Don't bother with one of those servers unless you get an Rpi 2 , It will run at about 3-7 MBps without the encryption (Due to CPU limitation and 100mbps ethernet) and although I never tired it would probably run at 0.8 with any decent encyrption.

Also running out of ideas on a Raspberry Pi is common since it really just a weak arm server/computer. Buying a cheap Xeon server would be a lot better for game hosting, FTP servering, Webhosting etc.

 

I would prefer starting off with a Pi first just to see if I can manage to get a server running in the first place - coding it all myself and not using third party software.

 

How much would building a Xeon server cost? I would be building the pc myself.

 

I own 6.

 

1 is my garage door remote receiver.

 

1 is my KODI media enter on my TV.

 

1 is my NZB download host.

 

the others not in use yet, but 1 will run my car computer and the rest will be doing various house security things.

 

That is sick

[Kingofpants]

I would prefer starting off with a Pi first just to see if I can manage to get a server running in the first place - coding it all myself and not using third party software.

 

How much would building a Xeon server cost? I would be building the pc myself.

 

 

That is sick

Depends , Storage makes a big difference, Core Count makes a big difference and Ram makes a big difference. If you want say 4 Cores, 120 gigs of SSD and 8 Gigs of  Non ECC Ram. 

Here in Canada computer Parts are Ridiculously Expensive. So it would run you $700 for brand new. No idea how much second hand.

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/CFZhrH

(Includes GPU, If you need headless that's cheaper)

 

But in US you could probably shave off easily 40% of that and get a Nice one for $440 or so, even down to $360 if everything but the SSD and CPU are second hand.

 

CPUs , Storage and Power Supply are the things you really don't want to cheap out on and get quality.

Ram can be semi-garbage and Capacity is important. ECC is nice but not necessary unless you need it for important work.