Raspberry Pi: any experiences?

[VJ]

Hello!

I've been looking a bit an the Raspberry Pi, and it looks interesting... But at the same time I fear that it might be this type of thing that you buy, and that ends up in a drawer somewhere...

Any experiences?

I've seen nice projects to make an internet radio out of it, and that is actually what I'm interested in: I have a hard time finding affordable internet radios that connect via RJ45 and can be controlled via network...
The idea I had was a raspberry pi, with a touchscreen and some speakers. A xbmcinstallation can be completely controlled from the touchscreen or from a web interface. I've found that all components are available, but I'm not sure my skills are good enough to put it all together... On hardware level: how difficult is it to work with? My soldering experience is very limited... But also on software: how well do things work?

Thanks!

[Evildead666]

I don't think there is really much soldering to do.

My brother bought one for his Kids for Xmas, and its in a drawer somewhere I expect.
Without a (dedicated) keyboard, screen and such, theres very little they can do with it.

I've been toying with buying one to play with, see what sort of functionality it can give, for a small fileserver, web surfer, media player,....
Its just that when you add on all the 'add-ons' the price starts to climb bit by bit, and i'm not sure it wouldn't end up in a drawer in a few months

I see it as an expensive, bur very powerful Toy. That can be upgraded, and have extra functionality added.
The 90 FPS camera add-on is also a goodie.

Someone even built a google glass type thing.
I think I still have a viewfinder somewhere, with a composite connection and about 100K pixels, or less, probably a lot less.
Its probably 160x160, if that.

Must resist....

[Jammrock]

There is a lot of competition in the Pi-like space now. Lots of companies have released ARM-based micro-computers for $50-$150 USD. Most of them are designed to be streamers and the like, with HDMI outputs, USB, and better audio outs.

The RaspPi is a educational board that people have turned into something more. These other products are more consumer grade equipment.

http://cubox-i.com/

http://www.udoo.org/

http://beagleboard.org/Products/BeagleBone+Black

http://utilite-computer.com/web/home

Some projects being built to take advantage of ARM in the house.

http://volumio.org/ (Audiophile music player)
http://linxbmc.com/2014/01/a-warm-welcome/ (XBMC port to Linux on ARM, still in development)

And so on...

[VJ]

Yes... The problem is, I don't really want to play around too much, I just want something that works... Easiest would be to buy some off-the-shelf device, but I can't find what I need... The combination of a raspberry-like device + small touchscreen + speakers provides me all I need... if the touchscreen is working under e.g. RaspBMC or OpenElec.

But if I don't manage to connect them, e.g. this screen would be ok but requires soldering, this one looks easier, but I don't see anything about drivers... They even have it in a ready kit that don't needs soldering. I'm just worried about not getting the driver side working...

I basically want an internet radio that has local controls (simple display would be ok), network based control and ethernet. An android device that can run XBMC would be enough, and then using the fact that XMBC has a touch screen interface means that by adding one touchscreen, I would have full controls.

[dZeus]

Yes... The problem is, I don't really want to play around too much, I just want something that works... Easiest would be to buy some off-the-shelf device, but I can't find what I need... The combination of a raspberry-like device + small touchscreen + speakers provides me all I need... if the touchscreen is working under e.g. RaspBMC or OpenElec.

But if I don't manage to connect them, e.g. this screen would be ok but requires soldering, this one looks easier, but I don't see anything about drivers... They even have it in a ready kit that don't needs soldering. I'm just worried about not getting the driver side working...

I basically want an internet radio that has local controls (simple display would be ok), network based control and ethernet. An android device that can run XBMC would be enough, and then using the fact that XMBC has a touch screen interface means that by adding one touchscreen, I would have full controls.

Of all the small and cheap hobbyist boards, Raspberry Pi is both one of the cheapest and one of the easiest to use out-of-the-box, despite the fact that it does not run Debian with hardware floating point.

Just the sheer size of the Raspberry Pi community guarantees that you'll have easy access to tutorials, how-tos, an and up to date selection of software as well as an unofficial port of Debian (Raspbian) for ARMv6.

Downside to the Raspberry Pi: a relatively weak CPU compared to many of the other boards.

Possible contenders to keep an eye on: Intel is busy to gain entry in this market too, using board with Bay Trail CPUs.

[VJ]

Yes, that is the reason I'm looking at the Raspberry: with such a userbase, there is more chance of things working.
The cpu power is not an issue, as it is powerful enough for what I need.

So far, it does seem that touch screen seem to be a bit hit or miss: some have working drivers in the kernel, some need them to be added, some need them to be compiled, ... I found a few posts on the raspberry pi forum on that touch screen kit I linked to, and all were questions on how to get it to work. So perhaps not too promising. Second thing: if would work in Raspbian, would it work in RaspBMC? I feel that getting the components right is imperative for me to get it working with the least hassle...

[Marshmallowman]

phone made with rasbery pi

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/04/man-uses-raspberry-pi-to-build-actual-working-cellphone-for-158/

The bit that might interst you amongst others things is the PiTFT Touchscreen 320×240.
All the components plug in and do not need to be soldered.

[VJ]

That screen is the one that made me reconsider the Raspberry for the purpose. According to the documentation on Adafruit, some soldering is requiered, but it is limited. From what I can find, the display works with Rasbian and RaspBMC (not sure about OpenElec), but the touch screen apparently only wi Raspbian.

My initial thought was using RaspBMC or OpenElec, and thus have a simple network player. But this is pointless without the touch screen. However, it is also possible to run XBMC on Raspbian... but I don't know if the touchscreen then works. I als read that the audio out of the raspberry is rather low quality, and that some usb soundcard is recommended for music playback.

I probably should just go for it, for sure I can find other uses if the radio idea does not work... and if it does, I would actually make a couple. I just lack the time to do anything, still working on some webinterface and on the home automation thing...

[Evildead666]

Well at least it would be portable, if you add an external battrey.
Those telephone charger/battery combo things work fine.

It could also go in the car, if you get bored, or it doesn't suit the TV/Radio purpose...

Paychecks through, and i'm itching to pop some cash on one, and some bits for the Niece/Nephew's Pi.

[Umfriend]

Evildead, think you can run Rosetta on a Raspberry Pi?

[VJ]

Well at least it would be portable, if you add an external battrey.
Those telephone charger/battery combo things work fine.
It could also go in the car, if you get bored, or it doesn't suit the TV/Radio purpose...

Portability is not important... rather the contrary. Ideally, I would want a compact device, with the following hardware features:

1. ethernet
2. touch screen
3. speakers
4. power over ethernet (if everything works, this would be a nice addition)

Internet radios usually don't often the whole set: either no ethernet, or no touchscreen. The POE requirement can be simply done by adding a POE extractor, so that is not an issue. It would be more elegant if it could be built in, so that there is no extra box lying around.

As for features, it would have to allow:

1. music playback (from server / internet radio)
2. allow the control of a web interface
3. allow remote control of the media playback (via network)

One option would be to get a cheap android tablet, but they lack ethernet and don't have that good sound quality. Featurewise, they would allow most (e.g. by installing XBMC as media player, which has web based control). I have a cheap tablet that came with my phone subscription, but it has to be sent back for servicing for the second time in 4 months. So that sort of put me off of cheap tablets...

The Raspberry would allow me to do it all, provided the touchscreen works with the OS. If I install RaspBMC, this is not guaranteed. But I think there might not be an option to open a web browser either. Which could be solved by installing Raspbian as OS, and runnign XMBC from Raspbian. I've read it might struggle to play back high bitstream videos, but that is not my plan anyway. If the touch screen would work in that configuration, I can would have the full functionality (if the resolution is not too low for XBMC to be readable). It may be necessary to add either a USB audio adapter, or USB speakers, as the line out is said to be not that good.

But I'm now really thinking about it: raspberry + pitft. This allows me to test it all. If the screen does not work properly, the raspberry can still be used as media player when connected to a normal display (TV, or an old portable navigation unit I have lying around which has a video in), or in the car, where I also have a video input. If it works, but the audio is not good, I can add either the usb adapter (add an amplifier circuit, and passive speakers become an option) or usb speakers, and if that works, I could add the POE. Only soldering would be in the raspberry + pitft (and later perhaps the amplifier circuit if it would go that route). As I can make the housing, I can make it so that it fits all components.

It doesn't look like that much work, but I am struggling as it is with time. I'm currently setting up my home media system, and am working on a webinterface (to use in EventGhost) to control music playback; I still want to integrated it with my home automation server and finally with my wall switches. But these all are different systems I need to get working together. So plenty of learning, and no time...

The Raspberry PI accessories are not easy to obtain here, but perhaps when I go to Belgium next time, I could get the components from there.

Paychecks through, and i'm itching to pop some cash on one, and some bits for the Niece/Nephew's Pi.

Sorry to make it itch again....

Evildead, think you can run Rosetta on a Raspberry Pi?

Bwahaha....
( but... )

[Umfriend]

Surely, with Poland being part of the EU, it should be easy to get stuff sent over? If I can help from NL, let me know.

[VJ]

Thanks for the offer! It is not a problem to order it, but shipping costs tend to be higher. For cheap things, it seems a bit pointless. Besides, I don't have time to do it now anyway (and my soldering iron is in Belgium), I'll probably look into it in summer: I plan to go in July... Perhaps other components will surface, or support of the current ones will have improved.

There is also is a 3.5" touch screen with double the resolution: https://www.tindie.com/products/ozzm...-raspberry-pi/ , and it comes in a kit that does not require any soldering.

[Evildead666]

OpenELEC 4 is out, with upgraded support for the Raspberry Pi

http://openelec.tv/news/22-releases/125-openelec-4-0-released

And theres RaspBMC which might suit your needs better ?

http://www.raspbmc.com/

I'm almost 100% going to pop for one of these this week.

[VJ]

I'm not sure OpenElec or RaspBMC support the touch screens, but RaspBian does. Also, I don't know if you can open a browser in OpenElec or RaspBMC.

There also is a USB touchscreen: http://www.dfrobot.com/index.php?rou...2#.U2n0u1eCUtU , but I have not found much info about it. I found it via this website, which has a bit of info: https://github.com/notro/fbtft/wiki .

It is really itching to get it too... but so much other things to do first...