Pi in the sky?

[ffutures]

I'm mildly interested in the Raspberry Pi mini linux computer on a board, so a while ago I put my name down in the queue to order one. Yesterday I got my order code, with an estimated shipment date of 11 weeks from placing the order. Which is into the next academic year, so I may not have a lot of time to mess around.

The snag is that I'm not a linux guru or hardware / application developer, and I'm really not sure what I'll do with it if I get it. Plus a power supply, memory card etc. will take its price over £50, which is a little high for something I don't really need. Unless someone can suggest a killer application that I can't get more easily as a commercial prodict?

The other possibility is that I buy it and auction it, hoping that someone wants to jump the queue. This assumes that there will be continued interest for another 3 months or so, and that something newer and shinier doesn't attract attention away from it. Does this seem plausible, or would it bring in too little money to be worth it?

Decisions, decisions... sny suggestions?

Update It turns out one of the teachers at work is keen to have a play with one, I've ordered it for him.

Comments

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

I think the target market is people who really want to play with it and try stuff out. I don't think it actually has a killer application.

For instance the target market probably has all the extra kit lying around already.

Me? I have enough hobbies already and don't need another one.

My opinion would be that if you don't really want it then you should let your place in the queue expire. It will probably be too much trouble to auction it.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

You're probably right.

[robertprior.livejournal.com]

If your school does anything with robotics, this might well be useful to them.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

They undoubtedly know about the things - if they're interested I'd imagine they'll place their own order.

[thermalsatsuma.livejournal.com]

We've got one and it's a nifty little computer. It's cheap enough that I can justify having it to tinker with for its own sake rather than having a pressing need for it. The software at the moment is at the beta stage and the idea is to get it into the hands of sufficient people with the capability of coming up with interesting stuff before it is launched into the educational market in a more finished form.

As for the bits you need, if you have a micro usb phone charger or cable you don't need a power supply, any usb mouse or keyboard will work and a 4GB sd card will act as the storage. You can plug it into a tv with an hdmi cable and connect it to your router with an ethernet cable, and hey presto you have a more than capable little pc on a bare circuit board the size of a credit card. There are various different options for the operating system from a beginners version of linux, to a hacker's version and one that will act as media player that can happily stream hd video to your tv.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

The media player might be interesting, does it work with online sources or is it local files only? Not having a remote might be a problem, or do they have a way around that?

[thermalsatsuma.livejournal.com]

I've installed a remote VNC service on mine so I can control it from my phone if I want to. The media server is XBMC which seems to do everything that you might expect.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thinking about this more - I can buy a network media player with remote for £50; there really doesn't seem to be a lot of point messing around building my own. I think I'm going to bow out, let someone else move up the line.

[thermalsatsuma.livejournal.com]

Probably a wise move - unless you enjoy tinkering with things for fun, then there's not much point getting one at this stage. I suspect there will be a lot more stuff around for them in six months or so, but not at this point.

[ggreig]

I haven't had the spare time to monkey with this stuff much and confirm what I'm about to write, but I read it all elsewhere, so it must be true ;-)

It can certainly work with files on a local network (this bit I have tried), not sure to what extent internet-sourced files are supported. Last time I checked, there were two XBMC (media center) implementations you could try, RaspBMC and OpenElec. OpenElec seems to be the preferred option, but it's the one I haven't yet tried. The cheap Hama MCE Remote might be an option, as it includes a USB IR receiver.

There's useful information about what hardware is known to work with the Raspberry Pi at this Wiki.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I haven't had the spare time to monkey with this stuff much

I think that about sums it up.

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

Its not the £50, is the time you will need to devote to it, as lots will be unfamiliar. How far will your mild interest stretch?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Not far enough, I think - I've decided to pass on it.

[uk-sef.livejournal.com]

You need to be the one to write the killer app for it. Not rely on other people to do that.

I'm currently in the "not enough time" bracket rather than the "not enough money" one - since it's a lot cheaper than a new laptop or Wacom tablet. However, one of the first things I'd probably do is port my pattern software over to it.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I've decided to pass on it - I'm already short of time, and really ought to be getting on with things that will make me money, not cost it.