Raspberry Pi: any experiences?

[Umfriend]

How's the renovation coming?

[VJ]

How's the renovation coming?

I was wondering when the question would pop up...

The big things are finished, but still some minor things. Shower parts have started rusting, but we will get replacement parts under warranty; today we'll put together a small cabinet in the bedroom, then I still need to find a nice furniture for the livingroom, hang some shelves over the washing machine and we have to hang things on the walls. Currently, it is a bit of a mess, but I will try to make some photos when the mess is gone. Promise!

[VJ]

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

One of the things that is stopping me always is the price... I know the raspberry is cheap, about 40 euro, but I feared extra costs. I quickly checked on a website, and the cheapest MiniITX atom mainboard (Asrock) + cheapest 4 GB modules costs 95 euro.
Especially for me, it feels risky to go with some DIY-experimental setup. I first was going to write how it is difficult to justify the raspberry: for not that much more you can have a system that for sure outperforms it. Both can run OpenElec, and be used for basic things, with the Atom for sure outperforming the raspberry and be more compatible.

But thinking more about it, the benefits of the raspberry became clear.
Powersupply: USB Powersupply (Raspberry, probably some mobile phone supply suffices), cheap PC powersupplies start at 30 euro.
Touch screen: PiTFT is around 35 euro (2.8", 3.5" might be similarly priced), PC touchscreen (either via hdmi or usb) starts at 130 euro (but is 7" or bigger)
Size: any raspberry construction can be kept much smaller (PC powersupply is big, unless one considerss PicoPSU, but it is more expensive).

So for my purpose, the benefit of being able to make it smaller is a big one...
I really hate not having time now to play with this...

[dZeus]

One of the things that is stopping me always is the price... I know the raspberry is cheap, about 40 euro, but I feared extra costs. I quickly checked on a website, and the cheapest MiniITX atom mainboard (Asrock) + cheapest 4 GB modules costs 95 euro.
Especially for me, it feels risky to go with some DIY-experimental setup. I first was going to write how it is difficult to justify the raspberry: for not that much more you can have a system that for sure outperforms it. Both can run OpenElec, and be used for basic things, with the Atom for sure outperforming the raspberry and be more compatible.

But thinking more about it, the benefits of the raspberry became clear.
Powersupply: USB Powersupply (Raspberry, probably some mobile phone supply suffices), cheap PC powersupplies start at 30 euro.
Touch screen: PiTFT is around 35 euro (2.8", 3.5" might be similarly priced), PC touchscreen (either via hdmi or usb) starts at 130 euro (but is 7" or bigger)
Size: any raspberry construction can be kept much smaller (PC powersupply is big, unless one considerss PicoPSU, but it is more expensive).

So for my purpose, the benefit of being able to make it smaller is a big one...
I really hate not having time now to play with this...

If size and sub 10W power consumption are not a requirement, best performance for money are a micro-atx (not mini-itx) 1150 motherboard with a Celeron G1820. Can be had for 34+42= 76 euros (excl. RAM, PSU and case). If you buy a half-decent PSU, power consumption will still be very good (15-30 watt range).

The beauty of the Raspberry Pi is that it is tiny, uses less than 5 Watt, and is completely silent.

[Brian Ellis]

I bought a Chinese mini-PC for $150 + VAT +post incl a beautiful case and a PSU. It has an Intel m/b with Atom 1.8 MHz 2-core CPU, SSD, 2 GB RAM (8 GB max), WiFi, all the usual connectors, incl. HDMI, VGA, COM1. I measured 15.6 W consumption. It is about the size of a paperback novel. After 3 months, it glitched and I found the RAM had failed (It was a standard Kingston KVR1333D3 device); I replaced it, also with a Kingston, bought locally, and it has been fine since. What has been extraordinary is the "floor" of the case. Before I took it apart, I thought it was just a 3 mm thick sheet alu but then I found it was a machined extrusion with a solid bar about 12 mm high and 20 mm wide all the length along the centre. The CPU presses on this bar which is a heat sink and conducts the heat evenly over the floor. In intensive use, the case is vaguely warm to the touch, probably ~35-40°C (no fan, of course). It can do anything a desk top can do, except ultra high performance. although it streams video nicely. I'm running it with Win7 HP 32-bit. Overall, I give it 4½ stars (not counting the RAM failure, which I think was bad luck).

I use it for on-line weather forecasting and reporting (http://weather.cypenv.eu/forecast/ and http://weather.cypenv.eu/current/WDL/default.html respectively).

[VJ]

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

Did you?
I looked a bit further, and found The Pi Hut. They seem to have very good prices, and the components I would need (raspberry, pitft)... And the have low shipping costs (they say free for over 50 GBP, but I don't know if that also counts outside of UK.

I bought a Chinese mini-PC for $150 + VAT +post incl a beautiful case and a PSU.

Yes... And that is my dilemma. I basically want a feature-richt internet radio with a touch screen. A cheap PC or even Android computer could be an option, but then I would need to add a USB touchscreen. It quickly increases the price, and would still look messy (e.g. on a countertop). The Raspberry would allow me to make it more compact and cheaper (32 euro Raspberry, 27 euro touchscreen), but I still have to figure out if I would manage to make a nice case. I've been browsing DIY shops to see which things I could use to make a case, bearing in mind that I live an in appartment and have limited tools.

[gt40]

I've got one of these set up at the cottage, to monitor water levels in the river (we've had flooding issues), and snowfall in the winter. Basically it will take a picture every 9 minutes for 15 hours, assemble this pics into an mp4 video, dial-up my internet provider (YES, dial up - no other option there) via a usb v.92 modem, upload the video to a website so I can access via web a timelapse of the previous day, and then email the same with a date stamp so I have a daily log of what the property was like.
the pi was $35, camera $25, and modem $12 (with shipping)! It is also set up without monitor, but I can SSH via wifi into it from my phone if I need to make any changes. ALL done from the Raspian Linux command line.
Scheduling is handled via crontab, and all commands are processed though bash. Pretty powerfull stuff. I'm in the process of setting it up so I can call in via modem and turn water/heaters/lights on/off remotely before I get up there on the weekends.
(Made my own aluminum case btw, but there are so many available)

[VJ]

Nice one!

The more I think about it, the more I want one. It would be the Pi+PiTFT. Primary goal would be to make a feature rich internet radio for the kitchen, but if that fails I have some fall back uses: movie playback without pc, printserver, even just as a simple webinterface to control the home automation if all else fails.
Particularly the primary goal would require making a nice casing, which includes a touchscreen, so I will have to check how I can make it nice...

[gt40]

Here's the temp web based video I've set up:
here
It's mp4, some browsers may not view. It's updated daily (boring), but it lets me keep an eye on water levels in the spring, and snow in the winter.
Currently it's in infrared, I will switch to normal spectrum next time 'm up.
Also, I just installed the quake3 arena port on a pi, and it runs unbelievably smooth! It's a real testimony to the computing power this little thing has.