What can I do with a raspberry pi ? without spending on extras

2013

2013

2013

Soldato
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29 Dec 2012
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What can I do with a raspberry pi without spending on extras, I know a lot of people purchased them and then sold them after a week.

I want to make the most of it out of the least money.

I dont know how to use linux either(I know my heads already looking down)

Ive seen people use pi talk about Pi hole and open vpn which sounds good but what else can do with it.

Im considering the new Pi zero W
 
2013 said:
What can I do with a raspberry pi without spending on extras, I know a lot of people purchased them and then sold them after a week.

I want to make the most of it out of the least money.

I dont know how to use linux either(I know my heads already looking down)

Ive seen people use pi talk about Pi hole and open vpn which sounds good but what else can do with it.

Im considering the new Pi zero W
Click to expand...

Don't worry about the Linux bit, i had no knowledge of it whatsoever, there's lots of tutorials and information on line.

For media centres look at librelec, openelec, raspbmc and others
Retropie for arcade and older console based gaming.
Pi hole
Openvpn/pivpn
Motioneyeos for security camera systems
Time lapse camera systems, photo booth setups.
I'm also currently working on a gps data logger to fit on a race bike.

Think of something you'd like to do with it, Google it and there's a good chance some one will have already done it :D
 
I have the pi zero, it's bloody tiny lol like half if not under half the size or a pi.

Haven't done anything with mine yet, only had it since Sunday, I've out Jessie lite on it and connected it to a powered hub from b&m, I'm not used to cmd based so still getting my head round it lol, i like Linux on desktop, but right now I'm having issues getting wireless adapter to work so then I can look in to getting a desktop visual package, but right now my only plans are to set it up with a hard drive full of my movies and use it as a media player for downstairs tv, ultimately I want to make a retro console out of it, either with a custom arcade box or link it with a controller and crt or get a screen and make a handheld out of it and have all the sega and Nintendo games on it and possible original Xbox games if there's emulators.


They was aimed more for educational use so you can pretty much do as you please
 
If you want to connect to a Raspberry Pi via WiFi "out of the box" without having to plug a monitor into it at all, it's quite simple.

Download your image, it doesn't matter if you use Jessie Lite or Jessie.

Write it to your SD card on either your PC or Mac, doesn't matter.

You'll have a partition you can read and write to called 'boot'.

Firstly make a file there called 'ssh' with no extension. This is to enable SSH at boot, otherwise you won't be able to get into it using SSH and will have to connect monitor, mouse and keyboard.

Then create another file called wpa_supplicant.conf

In this file, add the following

Code: 
country=GB
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
network={
    ssid="*** YOUR WIRELESS NETWORK NAME HERE"
    psk="*** YOUR WIRELESS PASSWORD HERE"
}

Then move the SD card to your Pi and boot it. Providing you edited the two lines with your own wireless details and saved the file, your Pi should connect to your WiFi automatically when it boots.
 
Okay thanks for that, I was already running prior to my reply and use monitor, keyboard, however after a reboot as prompted from a site after connecting the wifi adapter it came up with a list of networks in my range, but I couldn't figure out how to scroll up or how to even access a network as I don't know the rundown of typing in order to do so.

I was under the impression I had to use raspbian of some type, would I be able to use something like Mint or zorin ? Those 2 are my favourites out the few I put on disc before, I think I would just find things easier for what usage I want right now if I had a desktop view to operate everything.
 
I have a Pi on order to use with PiHole. What is the Pi3 like for htpc use. Im going to be changing my htpc soon anyway, can the Pi play HD 1080p video And HD/ dts/dolby surround sound, FLAC, Bluray Folders. I will be using a NAS. My current htpc has a AMD 6450 graphics card that i use to bitstream FLAC and i can play HD surround from mkv and bluray. Is the Pi going to be slower and provide a lesser sound and video quality to my 60" tv?

I dont mind if i have to build another htpc i just thought i would ask how capable it is.
 
I have 10 Rpi's currently. 8 of them are Plex clients, 1 is an ADS-B & Airband Receiver/Server, the last one I was planning on making into a RetroPi Retro gaming station but I'm considering holding out for an Rpi 4.
 
RuneAudio or similar is another option if you like listening to music. Able to play music stored locally, on a share or stream from the web. Remote controlled from your phone / browser. Think I might have to add Pi-hole to the same Pi having done some reading, the Pi2 should be able to cope with doing both I imagine!
 
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