How would you use a Raspberry Pi device?

[ThoughtFodder]

I'm sure someone else posted something similar, but I'm going to buy a webcam and some servos, strip down an automatic airsoft gun, and make a six-inch tall motion-detecting turret that shoots at anyone who comes too close. Perhaps leave an active copy by someone's computer >:)

[ThoughtFodder]

That is, assuming the developers leave the GPIO pins well-documented and accessible from the coding end.

[Padrio]

Server Monitoring with SMS Alert wen where are some Problems

[slimplynth]

hardcore said:


It just has to be a wearable computer.
But a bit disappointed you guys went "hardwired", WIFI would have been better, would have allowed wearable networking devices, plus it would be easier to use in education.
Currently the students would be tied to the LAN cables, kids and cables don"t mix, with WIFI (without the need for a USB dongle), it would really open up the device.

HC


I like the sound of that, I wondered for a while what you could get from it that a smart phone couldn't do..

Combining many of the other idea's on this thread and the video glasses linked below.  Watch films, check on the car, the baby, the stranger at the front-door and the burglars attacking the shed.. all without having to move from the sofa once

http://www.menkind.co.uk/gifts.....gle#111070

[dbase]

I'm itching to get one of these (or more). Home pbx (asterisk) to start with me thinks.

[G7OEA]

I would like to use one as an APRS Internet gateway

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.....ing_System

http://www.aprs.net/vm/DCC97/i...../index.htm

There are number of Linux based applications out there that may be suitable. I think the Raspberry Pi is an ideal platform for Ham Radio applications. Unfortunately I am not a programmer but would love to get involved with any projects in this area.

[f0ulOli]

two ideas spring to mind, putting a handful together and seeing what sort of performance you could get out of it, compared to a modern desktop - home sever etc.

Secondly, using it to log the sort of thing you wouldn't waste a 300w pc doing.  Logging movement around the house, how often the front door is opened in a day, how many coffees made in a day etc. so you can better work out how to save on household bills.

Where I see the R Pi working is where the traditional old pc is still to expensive or bulky to be used, the silly little jobs that we currently don't do because it too time consuming for the return.

I guess some of these jobs haven't even been thought of yet!

[Mavi]

For something that Arduino can't handle.

I'm probably gonna get a small screen and use it as a datalogger. With SD card I can get a loooots of datapoints without running out of space. Plus I can plot informative (geeky) graphs etc. Maybe as a weather station displaying humidity, temperature, pressure...

A microcontroller can be used as a PID-controller, but parametrising a PID-controller by using soft computing needs a real computer. So yeah, maybe for some control systems.

Maybe for some "simple enough" image processing and real-time simulation if I get that far with this.

Mainly I'm gonna use it for learning more about computers. I can do some programming with C++ and Matlab/Simulink, and I can do implementations for measurement and control systems, but I still don't know enough about how the whole computer thingies work

[Deedasmi]

I work at the local college, I would probably introduce some of the IT people to the pi as a set up for semi-portable "known working" equipment, and maybe get it setup so that the Linux classes can have some extra/check-out machines for students with limited hard drives (They won't be primary machines, this last semester the college set up all the IT labs with second-gen i5's)

[gorn]

i'll use it as a monitoring server (nagios or something like that) for my network, and maybe one as media center (if i can manage to connect a wireless keyboard with pad and read videos on HDD or streamed from internet.)

and for possible uses, we could imagine to develop  "a digital frontier that will reshape the human condition" (you know, motorcycles, ships... :p)

[Arhenius]

My problem is I want more than one.

I want one for programming, another as a media device, one for gaming.

I think supply isnt going to meet demand for a while

[Arhenius]

mr_molez said:


Bikko said:


Actually going to try and develop for windows 8 ARM.

Makes a good testbed. Sadly I have no skills in programming


don't ruin it with windows



I defintely want a windows version too.

But the RISC one - now thats going to be fun

[jamesh]

Arhenius said:


mr_molez said:


Bikko said:


Actually going to try and develop for windows 8 ARM.

Makes a good testbed. Sadly I have no skills in programming


don't ruin it with windows


I defintely want a windows version too.

But the RISC one - now thats going to be fun


I'm afraid you may be disappointed if you want a Windows version, since there won't be one (unless MS or A.N.Other do a port, which is very time consuming, and won;t make any money). It will also run like a crippled dog.

[HansH]

Lots of possibilities..... lots of experiments

- xbmc server with an android phone as remote...

- data logger for home automation

- diaspora server

- ......

So much... and so little time

[recycledmonkey]

AVee said:


I think you could (with a proper case) there could be outdoor uses for this as well. With a bit of IO and say a smartcardreader it could do access control, run alarm systems, control your garden lightning etc. For those kind of applications a version without HDMI (but with means to control small lcd displays) could also be usefull. If the power requirements are low enough (e.g. run for years of a few batteries when mostly idle) I might even know a commercial use...

[recycledmonkey]

Hi, The key features for me are RELIABILITY, LOW POWER CONSUMPTION, LOW COST, SMALL SIZE and FLEXIBILITY.   Smarter than a PIC, more reliable than a ZX81 / Spectrum etc, cheaper than a PC, and small enough to build into a project.   Battery backup with 4 NMiH cells would keep it running during power failures.    It could be used as a controller for hardware, data gathering, and exporting the data via the Internet.

The possibilities seem endless, cannot wait to get my hands on one.

[jmlxg]

Me I would use it as a retro gaming machine for snes, gba and maybe some n64. I wonder how hard it is to learn programming? I also Wonder what programming languages I would need to learn for example C++? I know I can play descent 1 and 2 with d2x-rebirth for ARM linux. I can also use dosbox for 386/486 level emulation. $50 for a full desktop computer that uses about 3 watts sweet. $35 raspberry pi + power adapter + sd card for OS + data.

[spamel]

I will initially buy one model B, and the aim is to fit it into a custom keyboard in a similar style to the steampunk keyboards that are made by others. I hope to incoroporate the RasPi into the keyboard with a USB port on the side of the keyboard for a mouse and then a USB hub and some sort of small low powered external storage and set the whole thing up as a lightweight home pc for browsing and media. Films and music will be the order of the day, the low power consumption interests me as my ultimate intention is to move onto a narrow boat and power consumption will be important.

Later on, as a massive fan of the Fallout game series, I wouldblike to devise some sort of arm mounted personal computer that could be used for basic computing and media services, somehow with a touchscreen, etc. This is way beyond my knowledge currently so will be a highly investigated process before I go for it! I would probably use the Model A for that, the USB and ethernet not being so important but possibly adding a small internet dongle would be quite cool!

[Dan_Blood]

Two things I plan to do with a RasPi (maybe 2)

Firstly, replace the old PC tower sitting behind my TV, connected by VGA cable, so I can browse the net for bbc iPlayer in HD where possible via VNC from the comfort of my sofa.

Secondly, want to use a RasPi to power my UA-25 USB audio interface as a two channel mixer for small performances I do in pubs. This will mean I can carry my entire sound system in a rucksack! With the addition of a small monitor (or a vnc app on my android phone) and something like Audacity I could record my performances too; add a wireless dongle and I could use pubs' wifi to get recordings onto Soundcloud within minutes of finishing a performance, without having to lug my laptop somewhere it's not insured to go!.

[Helpme1986]

Discovered R-PI today thanks to TheRegister.co.uk (sorry, im probably not helping with your server loads today!)

Ive got a few things in mind for mine but not knowing linx or Programming at all im going to have to heavily rely on others coding and tutorials (im quite techy though so should be ok with prebuilt stuff). I thought this was actually like the FIGnition device which was completed a few months back which you built yourself (which I was looking forward to) but is obviously a lot more powerful.

Apart from the usual to what everyone else is saying (NAS, SmartTV equivalent, Media Player etc) these are a few things in my mind would be cool if possible

1) Not so much as a function but a feature, output video from R-PI to a Smartphone over the network(effectivly instead of/aswell as HDMI), a few reasons why include being able to continue to watch what ever I am on the TV whilst I go the loo without the need to pause, have linx on my phone, basically anything this device can do but on my phone without having it attached.

2)HDMI extender, probably not very likely but would be really cool if the HDMI port could receive video, transmit over the network to another R-PI and output, would be a lot cheaper than existing HDMI extender solutions, especially when going into different rooms.

3)Control home electronics, very similar to what ByeByeStandby had with its Internet connected device (but cost like £80 plus subscription) which sent a signal to plug sockets telling them to turn off, would obviously need some more hardware to do this

4)Option to build the unit yourself (because im a geek and what to build my own "PC")

5)Another feature, Smartphone Keyboard/mouse to keep the unit compact and not require to connect Mouse/Keyboard and be sat next to it.

[abishur]

I like your ideas, just so you know though, the 4 one just isn't possible The SoC uses such a fine pitch and BGA that a self build kit is impossible.  Sadly, even the possibility of making the PCB then having the machine solder the SoC and LAN9512 (ethernet and usb hub) for you such that all you had to do was solder on the (many) resistors, capacitors, fuses, and interface components, isn't possible.  It would cost a *ton* of money for the r-pi team to have a batch stop mid-way through production so we could have a DIY kit.  That said, I suppose you could always de-solder everything then solder it back on

[tritonium]

A few years ago I prototyped a 'system' that required a relatively hi res display, gsm connection and otherwise modest processing abilities. A small PC card with flash memory and vga abilities was the ONLY way to realistically realise this for a person like me without fpga abilities but at a still high price (£100+) - until now! At last it looks as though a practical solution is imminent and I look forward with anticipation to the release of the Raspberry Pi with lots of hardware interfaces.

As to how I will manage with Linux I dont know - I've played with Puppy bootable from a usb stick, but as soon as I try to get my head around the file structure and names and methods used I get baffled. In my opinion the next big breakthrough will be a 'simple os', with a 'simple' means of installing applications and navigating storage, a nice clean 'C' with no baggage, a nice new 'qbasic' with hi res and only good programming practices encouraged. To think I still have a couple of floppy discs (@1.44 Mbyte each) on which is my operating system (dos), programming language (quickbasic compileable) and all my programs!! In those days a gygabyte was science fiction.

Having moved from DOS and Qbasic on the PC (which is all thats needed to get my 'application' going) I hope that a similar environment can be achieved on the 'Pi.

From now on I can see my Arduino etc projects getting the Pi treatment, and at the hoped for price I will have an armful!

Dave H

[tonyblews]

Compile up SimH and emulate a VAX3900 inside a fag packet. Compile up AberMUD also, and thus replicate the entire of my university computing experience in one tiny box.

[Luny]

Like most of you Guys / Gals on here, I have many ideas on how I'd like to use a RasPi. The idea of a 'PC' with a new concept such as this project excites me and gives me a bit of a boost in the enthusiasm department. [Being a pro-coder, tends to flag this as work can get in the way of my ideas]. However these ideas always sit on the back boiler as I never get time to do any solid projects at home (I seem to need a lot of sleep), so I wil declare that I will use a RasPi as a micro.

What I mean is when I get any time I would switch it on, play around with it by either writing small programs using one of a selection of available languages, fiddle with the configs or maybe start a project which will undoubtly become unfinished. And that is it.

I'd really like to write some software that can help in the big scheme of this charity and give something to the 'kids'. I specialise in GUI development work and would love to pass on my experience on how to create a GUI engine from gound up on a platform... Who knows!

[Le_Quack]

Solar Powered PC is something I've always wanted to build dunno what real application it will have but just some fun.

I'm also gonna get one and stick and use it to build a NAS which I've been meaning to do for about 3 years (now a new years resolution)

A 3rd project if I get round to it will be an alarm clock that wake me up then reads off the latest headlines off of google news, I'll probably end up building more features into it as I go.