Raspberry Pi - $35 Linux computer

  • Thread starter Thread starter daz
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TimBrad said:
Recieved mine today :) Never got any dispatch emails so didnt buy any SD cards etc. yet, whats the smallest SD card I could get away with for RaspBMC?
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Just get an Integral SDHC Class 10 Memory Card 16GB for £8.


Radiation said:
I ordered about 3 or 4 weeks ago and my order has just been shipped so i guess they must be making a lot more of them now, i expected to get it next month. :)
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From RS?
 
Anyone know of where I can get prebuilt OpenELEC image that I can load onto the SD through Windows (I don't have any other Linux machines, or any Linux knowledge for that matter).

If not is there a simple step by step guide on building an OpenELEC image in Windows?
 
Thanks Evilpaul!

The image turns my 32GB SD card into a 128MB device when you write the image to it. Is there any way to either increase the image size so it uses all the SD card, or create a separate partition on it?

Or am I then into the realms of compiling the image myself?
 
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I'm fairly sure what it's done is partitioned the disk into a 128Mb 'Boot' partition that is FAT, and the rest of the disk into an ext2/3/4 partition which windows obviously ignores.

If you're going to be doing any of this type of stuff It makes a lot of sense to install linux in a VM, takes barely any time/effort and gives you the proper tools for this :)
 
Received mine this morning but I have to set off for work now, I already had a prepared SD card so just got it up and running but will have to wait until later to have a proper fiddle with it
 
SKILL is correct. OpenELEC has a FAT partition that is just large enough to contain the Kernel, System image and the 3rd party boot files. This is what you would see when looking at the SD card under Windows.
There is a second partition in ext4 format, that windows cannot read, that contains all of the database information that XBMC creates.

If you want to explore the structure on the SD card then once you have loaded OpenELEC on the RPi, try using SSH (putty) to remotely log in and use the command line to explore the file structure.

XBMC is a front-end that does a good job of hiding everything that happens underneath. If you want to learn more about Linux then I'd suggest either having a second card with a more general Linux image (e.g. the official Raspbian image), or host a Linux virtual machine on your Windows box using something like VirtualBox.
 
Cheers guys, that makes sense. I didn't think about there being a partition that Windows would ignore.

I think I will setup a Linux image either in a VM or on a bootable USB stick to allow me more control. Will a VM be able to see my SD card if I mount it to the VM from within Windows, or would I be better using a bootable USB drive to remove the Windows/VM layer of complexity?
 
As long as you configure the VM environment to have access to your peripherals then it will be able to use them directly. This is normally done either in initial configuration of the VM, or can be done dynamically while running for certain peripheral types (e.g. USB).

The only real layer of complexity I find in using a VM is to ensure that networking is correctly configured for how you want to use it (NAT, bridging, etc.). For most work VMs are now mature enough that there are very few downsides to using them (as long as you've got a shed load of RAM).

Using a bootable USB Linux image is OK for quick stuff and recovery of a borked system, but you may find that they are too limiting based upon how they are configured. You will find that certain devices (especially WiFi) are not supported by the image as it has been made for general purpose usage rather than your exact hardware configuration.
 
Radiation said:
Is it a good idea to get a powered usb hub and power the pi with it including usb hard drive etc?
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As with most things like this, I've seen some people say "no, don't do it, you will break your Pi!", while others have been doing it without any issue for months...

For the sake of a phone charger which I already had lying around, I'm going to power my Pi on its own using a dedicated charger, and then if I need any USB peripherals I will buy a separate powered USB hub.
 
I got a few chargers around which i can use to begin with, a new huawei one that came with my g300 looks ok, it's 5v 1A, where as the others are all 700ma with odd voltages above and below 5v, i got a multimeter which ill use to test once the pi arrives.
 
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