Raspberry Pi - $35 Linux computer

masterluke · 10 May 2012 at 11:06

I havent come across that one. I've tried a lot of MKVs and they worked fine. What audio\video codec are you using and what build of openelec\XBMC are you on?

EDIT - Just came across this on the forums which may help - If you are on composite video.

Need to set "audio output device" to "analogue (OMX)".
Note: setting "Audio output" to "Analogue" is not sufficient.

Basically we can only drive one of composite or HDMI. And the opening the HDMI audio means the composite gets shut down…

jennidc · 10 May 2012 at 23:43

Finally got my email to say I can order a Raspberry Pi - can't wait to get it and try it out.

Just ordered - now to find a case - I'm officially excited

**edit** just found the link to modmypi cases earlier in the thread - so I've ordered a black case.

Mp4 · 11 May 2012 at 22:26

Anyone have any idea if Minecraft would work on the Pi?

n maybe as a server host for 4x people or something?

jennidc · 12 May 2012 at 21:47

The lowest spec I could see in this thread is an ATOM 1.6 on Windows 7 - it runs at 35fps on that setup so with the lower overheads of Linux and with 3d acceleration it should run ok as long as the settings are low.

When my Pi arrives I'll try it out

http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Hardware_performance

jennidc · 12 May 2012 at 21:56

Just found further down someone has played it on an AMD C50 1ghz with no 3d card and it only got 11fps but the Pi has a 3d chip so fingers crossed

Plus you can tweak it to run better - eg Particles off, Lowres, Distance Low, change texture pack from default to 256bit and run in offline mode.

masterluke · 13 May 2012 at 09:24

Assuming that full support for Java is released (unlikely), minecraft is (I think) opengl and RaspberryPi only has hardware support for the cut down opengl es which is quite different. This means that it would be mainly rendering in software which would be VERY VERY slow. I think minecraft is a no-go.

EDIT - Remember a 1ghz AMD netbook would blow this away in CPU power (even overclocked to same frequency).

Mp4 · 13 May 2012 at 18:34

masterluke said:
Assuming that full support for Java is released (unlikely), minecraft is (I think) opengl and RaspberryPi only has hardware support for the cut down opengl es which is quite different. This means that it would be mainly rendering in software which would be VERY VERY slow. I think minecraft is a no-go.

EDIT - Remember a 1ghz AMD netbook would blow this away in CPU power (even overclocked to same frequency).

doh oh well thought id ask

Rooster212 · 15 May 2012 at 00:23

Can't wait to get my Pi - getting it next week, I'll be making blog posts about it over the summer (mid June onwards) about programming in Python and possibly other languages if anyone is interested in following!

Audigex · 15 May 2012 at 14:41

Rooster, I'd take a look if you're posting fairly regularly and doing fairly interesting stuff

Evilpaul · 15 May 2012 at 19:12

Had a few days to mess around with the Pi and I'm really liking it!

When using Linux on my main PC or Laptop I'd end up getting frustrated with something and just go back to Windows. With the Pi there is no real alternative to Linux, so it's in your own interest to do a bit of research and figure out why things have been done the way they have.

I loaded the debian image first and it only took me 5 mins before everything was up and running, in what was quite a usable desktop environment. There were definitely some rough edges (browser performance), but for a 700MHz processor, it does and admirable job.
Hopefully mpthompson's effort to recompile debian specifically for the Pi will give good results and really show what the hardware can do.

I then tried out the OpenELEC XMBC builds and while initially they were laggy and prone to crashing, the latest builds are really stable and usable. The OpenELEC build environment is also top-notch, so it's incredibly easy to roll your own customised build.

I'm not sure I'll do any heavy development on the Pi, as I get to do enough embedded programming at work, but for a cheap device to occasionally muck about with I'm very impressed.

Tavalin · 16 May 2012 at 13:21

Evilpaul said:
When using Linux on my main PC or Laptop I'd end up getting frustrated with something and just go back to Windows. With the Pi there is no real alternative to Linux, so it's in your own interest to do a bit of research and figure out why things have been done the way they have.

I completely agree with the above!

I'm still finding the latest builds of OpenELEC laggy and prone to crashing though. I've found that sometimes even just navigating the menus will max out the CPU and sometimes it just never recovers from that. Also using the airplay feature causes it to crash or freeze for long periods.

Is that the yoctopuse case btw?

Edit: I think I'm going to give Raspbian a go tonight and see if I can get it up and running and see if I notice a difference.

Evilpaul · 16 May 2012 at 13:53

Tavalin said:
Is that the yoctopuse case btw?

yup, that's the one. It's a shame they've stopped making them for the moment as it's a nice bit of kit.

MarcLister · 16 May 2012 at 21:34

Evilpaul said:
yup, that's the one. It's a shame they've stopped making them for the moment as it's a nice bit of kit.

That does look pretty cool. I work in a school and that case would be a brilliant way to let the students see the actual components that make the Raspberry Pi up.

When it was for sale, how much was it?

Evilpaul · 16 May 2012 at 21:39

Due to them being made in Switzerland, ordering to the UK would have been a hassle (high P&P costs, tax and import duty). A guy over in Brum order a job lot and is reselling them on ebay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yoctopuce-Raspberry-Pi-case/170842508906

Mine was £12, but the price is £15 now

You can read about why the price is what it is here:
http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5858

MarcLister · 17 May 2012 at 06:25

Evilpaul said:
Due to them being made in Switzerland, ordering to the UK would have been a hassle (high P&P costs, tax and import duty). A guy over in Brum order a job lot and is reselling them on ebay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yoctopuce-Raspberry-Pi-case/170842508906

Mine was £12, but the price is £15 now

You can read about why the price is what it is here:
http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5858

Thanks. I'll read the link later.

quickshot89 · 17 May 2012 at 18:51

Got my email from RM today, ordered the Pi and a case from modmypi too

Excited now

JamesRJ · 17 May 2012 at 18:52

Got my email from RM today

RM ???

quickshot89 · 17 May 2012 at 20:05

JamesRJ said:
RM ???

RS even

aceface57 · 17 May 2012 at 21:59

Well i've got mine now. Have xbmc running on it. OK the menu system is not silky smoth but it is playing 99% of my content (a mix of 720 and 1080p stuff) just fine. Well as long as I have dts switched off. It doesn't seem to like more than two streams of audio either at the moment.
Controlling it using the android app on my phone mostly. Brilliant piece of kit to be honest. Need to pick up some more SD cards now so I can play about a bit more!

Tavalin · 17 May 2012 at 22:52

aceface57 said:
Well i've got mine now. Have xbmc running on it. OK the menu system is not silky smoth but it is playing 99% of my content (a mix of 720 and 1080p stuff) just fine. Well as long as I have dts switched off. It doesn't seem to like more than two streams of audio either at the moment.
Controlling it using the android app on my phone mostly. Brilliant piece of kit to be honest. Need to pick up some more SD cards now so I can play about a bit more!

Have you got yours hooked up to an AV receiver? I'd imagine if you did both audio and video for the 1080p would be near perfect.