Raspberry Pi - $35 Linux computer

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booyaka said:
Going to grab one of these starter kits and see how I get on. I have ZERO experience with linux at all) but it's mainly for XMBC duties so I guess it's pretty easy to install stuff and go from there.

http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/level5/module.jsp?moduleId=cpc/678727.xml
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Go for it! If you just want an XBMC box you'll probably be able to get away without needing to tackle much actual Linux coding (if any at all)

Learn some Linux anyway though ;) You might like it
 
That's the simplicity of the RPi, if you get that XBMC kit then you've essentially got all you need. If you want to try Linux stuff at a later point then you only need to swap the SD card and you can be in a full Linux environment in just a few minutes.
 
cheers gents.

Going to have a play with it and might get one for the wee lad and see what he can do with it. He's only 6 but very bright and looks like a great cheap way for him to have a play with a "computer".
 
booyaka said:
Going to grab one of these starter kits and see how I get on. I have ZERO experience with linux at all) but it's mainly for XMBC duties so I guess it's pretty easy to install stuff and go from there.

http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/level5/module.jsp?moduleId=cpc/678727.xml
Click to expand...

OpenELEC requires no linux knowledge what-so-ever.

  1. Download the latest build from here: http://openelec.thestateofme.com/official_images/
  2. Load it onto an SD card with Win32 Disk Imager (using your windows machine)
  3. Plug the SD card into the Pi and power up

Downside with openELEC though is it's locked down, so cannot install new programs etc, but if it's just for a media center, it's great.
 
Iv got few things for xmas this year, tablet and a Raspberry Pi, I have been bought the board and a kit for XBMC which comes with



This XBMC media centre kit includes:

1 x Kingston 4GB SD Class 4 SDHC Hi Speed Card (made in Japan) pre-installed with OpenElec XBMC.
1 x 5V 1000mA Micro USB Power Supply.
1 x 1.8M Gold Plated HDMI Cable.
1 x 3M Network Cable.
1 x Clear case with GPIO cut out and access to all ports

With regards to the SD card, I am probably going to upgrade that, infact I "may" have a bigger one lying about, will have to check, I also have an 8gb USB stick to get me started.

What will I need to update here? I want to get as much as I can out of a media centre, be able to add/remove/customise things, add things like iplayer, 4od, tv catchup services, want it to be a good allrounder media centre so I can watch films and possibly other things, this is the first time I have used XBMC so need to read up on what I can do.

Would OpenELEC be ok with this or is there a more preferred option?

Thanks all :)
 
DJMK4 said:
With regards to the SD card, I am probably going to upgrade that, infact I "may" have a bigger one lying about, will have to check, I also have an 8gb USB stick to get me started.

What will I need to update here? I want to get as much as I can out of a media centre, be able to add/remove/customise things, add things like iplayer, 4od, tv catchup services, want it to be a good allrounder media centre so I can watch films and possibly other things, this is the first time I have used XBMC so need to read up on what I can do.

Would OpenELEC be ok with this or is there a more preferred option?

Thanks all :)
Click to expand...

You know you might be fine with that SD card, as you could do an OpenELEC install onto the USB stick instead of the card itself. There are a few reasons for doing this - most agree that XBMC performs a bit better from USB, but most importantly it reduces writes to the SD card which greatly lowers the risk of the card becoming corrupted (for example when trying to overclock for more performance).

If you do this then all the SD card has to do on boot is direct the pi to boot from the USB, so it doesn't matter how good the SD card is at all (in fact a decent card is almost a waste when running this way!!)

Now, onto capabilities... iplayer I think XBMC can do out of the box (and possibly demand-5 and ITV player), but last time I checked channel 4 had changed something which has completely broken 4od support in XBMC :(

For TV catchup type stuff I believe the most effective way to get a good experience is to actually use a 2nd more powerful server machine to recieve the TV signal and deal with that stuff. Some have had luck with a USB tuner plugged into the pi but I get the impression the experience is not fantastic (certainly not as good as even a basic in-built TV freeview tuner). Even with a 2nd server to deal with the TV stuff I'm still yet to see a setup which is responsive enough to rival sky/virgin/youview or anything else - in the examples I've seen flicking between channels sees a several second pause "Loading Stream..." while the pi adjusts itself... I too would love a setup where this works but currently I haven't got all the kit to properly try it out (if I ever do I'll be sure to update here about my experiences)

I have found OpenELEC to be the better distro of the 3 (OpenELEC, raspbmc and Xbian) although I have not tried Xbian
 
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Thanks very much for your input :) greatly appreciated, so you think run it from USB instead? do I still need the SD card or can that be used for maybe a little storage?

I dont mind having a couple of services, really this is going to be used for films anyway :)

I guess I better get reading, already seen an app to control XMBC through the new tablet I will be getting :D
 
DJMK4 said:
Thanks very much for your input :) greatly appreciated, so you think run it from USB instead? do I still need the SD card or can that be used for maybe a little storage?

I dont mind having a couple of services, really this is going to be used for films anyway :)

I guess I better get reading, already seen an app to control XMBC through the new tablet I will be getting :D
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You do still need an SD card of some description, as the pi cannot boot without it, and if you do a USB install the SD card will only be storing a small handful of tiny files, with the rest of the space wasted (I don't know that there is a way of using any of that space, though part of the reasoning is to prevent too much writing to the SD, so doing so would defeat the point a little)

I have my pi running OpenELEC from a USB drive and it's been absolutely perfect. It requires a few extra steps to get it setup, they are on the OpenELEC wiki somewhere. Essentially though you just put the files onto the SD card as with a normal installation, but then edit the file which tells the pi where the root of the system should live (and point it at the USB port with your stick instead of the SD card's partition).

App works great, there are actually 2 (the "official" XBMC app, and a third party one called "Yatse")... In my opinion Yatse is a lot nicer to use, but they're both free so give both a try. If you're lucky and your TV supports it they actually have HDMI-CEC support built in, so on many TVs your existing remote can be made to work for controlling things (it doesn't work for me though :( I have an LG TV, not sure what model)
 
Ahh yeah I had a feeling I would still need SD Card, I was planning on controlling it via tablet, then, ill use the SD Card to boot, now you have said it OpenElec install on USB, then I have a spare USB port for an external drive of some sort where I can store my media.

I am using a 24" 1080p PC monitor for this.

Thanks for the advice again and I will take a look at those apps.
 
uncle_rufus said:
If you're lucky and your TV supports it they actually have HDMI-CEC support built in, so on many TVs your existing remote can be made to work for controlling things (it doesn't work for me though :( I have an LG TV, not sure what model)
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What happens when you press the 'Ok' button on your remote when in XMBC ?

I've used mine on about 4 or 5 different LG models now. Look at the options on the screen when you press Input. On one of the LG's I used (my newest one), I had to press the Green button on the LG remote to bring up the 'Enable Simplilink' screen. Once turned on, it works perfectly.

What model is your TV?

How new is the HDMI lead. Stab in the dark here, but do all leads support CEC? Or is it just 1.3/1.4 spec leads?
 
bledd. said:
What happens when you press the 'Ok' button on your remote when in XMBC ?

I've used mine on about 4 or 5 different LG models now. Look at the options on the screen when you press Input. On one of the LG's I used (my newest one), I had to press the Green button on the LG remote to bring up the 'Enable Simplilink' screen. Once turned on, it works perfectly.

What model is your TV?

How new is the HDMI lead. Stab in the dark here, but do all leads support CEC? Or is it just 1.3/1.4 spec leads?
Click to expand...

I think I've found the "Simplink" setting before and as far as I know it is on... pressing the buttons on the remote just does nothing

I'm not sure what model the TV is but it's from about 5 years ago so not a recent one.

The HDMI lead coule be a good shout actually... I think I only have 1 other lead I could try it with but it's worth a shot. Thanks :p
 
Does it have an ethernet port? Tried updating the TV? Or just manually looking online for an update?

I'd explore the HDMI cable first.

Any TV with Simplilink should work iirc
 
bledd. said:
Does it have an ethernet port? Tried updating the TV? Or just manually looking online for an update?

I'd explore the HDMI cable first.

Any TV with Simplilink should work iirc
Click to expand...

Nope, it's a pre-"Smart TV" model so it has no online features, doesn't even have any USB ports or anything like that so I'm not sure it's possible to update it...

I'll try swapping the HDMI with the other one I have in a bit and see if it makes a difference
 
Am using Raspbian as my OS, set to boot into desktop automatically. I've set a website as my home page on Netsurf.

How can I make it that when the pi boots Netsurf opens without any input
 
think I'm getting a B for Christmas, learning Python as we speak, written a couple of scripts for things and working through different problems with it.

Don't fancy reading through all 82 pages, so what kind of things are people doing with the RasPi and where's the best place for a noob to get started?

No idea what I fancy doing yet, something simple like a media server/player would be easiest but want to tinker :)
 
Anybody got ideas for a small display output? I want to start a little project that has, say, a small 7-inch monitor that it will display it's output on, but can't seem to find anything for a reasonable price..?
 
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