[Chadford]

This may be of interest for the more techy folk here..

BBC News - Bare bones Raspberry Pi PC gets ready to launch

...more here...

Raspberry Pi | An ARM GNU/Linux box for $25. Take a byte!
1080p

[Badger0-0]

Yes, I saw this yesterday.
It looks impressive for the money.

I'm a bit confused as to it's application though

As soon as someone puts it in a box and markets it, what would it cost then?

Of course if you can get to buy it as is, that'd be a different kettle of fish.

[MrStinky]

Originally Posted by Badger0-0

Yes, I saw this yesterday.
It looks impressive for the money.

I'm a bit confused as to it's application though

As soon as someone puts it in a box and markets it, what would it cost then?

Of course if you can get to buy it as is, that'd be a different kettle of fish.

It's supposed to inspire a new generation of kids to play about with electronics and stuff. They've already developed some plug in boards for it to let it interface with things. I think it'll be pretty cool and can see people coming up with novel ideas for enclosures. I'm waiting for them to launch so I can buy the ethernet version, just to play with.

It might lead to some pretty cool DIY projects, would be awesome for media in the home, should make installing computer based entertainment in older cars a lot more practical and most of all it'll be fun.

[oakie]

dedicated rtorrent board - nice!

[pandemic]

Been following the RasberryPi info. for last few months. I hope they do finally get these things on the market, so many applications for the ARM/linux enthusiast. Unfortunately, so far they've missed all their deadlines.

I was thinking about sticking a shell on it and sticking it behind the TV as a media player, which backs up as a PC for browsing, etc.

[oakie]

Originally Posted by pandemic

Been following the RasberryPi info. for last few months. I hope they do finally get these things on the market, so many applications for the ARM/linux enthusiast. Unfortunately, so far they've missed all their deadlines.

I was thinking about sticking a shell on it and sticking it behind the TV as a media player, which backs up as a PC for browsing, etc.

Dump LXDE and install Enlightenment windows manager on there and it would look pretty slick when hooked up to a TV - not sure about dedicated media players though like XBMC etc probably wont have enough ram - looking at the video i guess it is using mplayer, it does say there will be a media player ready my guess is gnome-mplayer.
I wonder how the Pi will handle streaming flash video if at all?

[pandemic]

I don't think XBMC will be a problem with the 256MB version ($36), someone will need to optimise the build for ARM and broadcom video chip. Already seen demos of it running Quake 3. Not sure about flash, depends on how good the hardware acceleration works.
I've only seen it running Fedora distro so far. If it's successful in terms of people buying the chip, hopefully we'll a whole bunch of open source projects dedicated to the device.

[Noggin1980]

I think there is meant to be an ARM version of xbmc in the next few weeks. The xbmc devs have one of these Raspberrypi's to play with so it might well happen.

[Wild Weasel]

I'd like to get one too when they come out. The circuit board is the size of a credit card. They say they might sell it in an enclosure later on for the same price.

[Sonic67]

Originally Posted by pandemic

I was thinking about sticking a shell on it and sticking it behind the TV as a media player, which backs up as a PC for browsing, etc.

Like this?

Play.com - Buy Western Digital WD TV Mini Media Player online at Play.com and read reviews. Free delivery to UK and Europe!

[oakie]

Originally Posted by Sonic67

Like this?

Play.com - Buy Western Digital WD TV Mini Media Player online at Play.com and read reviews. Free delivery to UK and Europe!

I think that is just a media player - the R-Pi will have the multi functionality more like a (basic) PC as it will run arm version of popular Linux OS's - which will be a big draw for the free software hacking community.

[Sonic67]

Still not sure it will have appeal outside of a few geeks. TV's are now around with built in Internet, Android etc. There has also been a few micro PCs designed to mount onto the back of TVs. For those who want it there's plenty of choice. This is cheap but a lot less functional as well. To make it useful you need to add storage and TVs can already read from USB sticks to play data or record to them.

The only real use I thought of would be in Africa where they do cheap $99 laptops already or perhaps some people might stick it in a car though there are kits for that as well.

[FishDUDE]

Looks very cool
been keeping an eye on these I think they are looking to have resellers stocking them Q2, I've had a fair few customers asking if we will be stocking them, hopefully we will.

[Chox1988]

Originally Posted by Sonic67

Still not sure it will have appeal outside of a few geeks.

We're on an avforum on xmas eve talking about a micro pc, i think we fit the bill .

On a more serious note though I think youre right, i cant see it being of any use to anyone outside the 'hardcore', I'd love to see what the modding community can get running on the thing, would love a cheap in car pc running spotify or something along those lines

[pandemic]

Originally Posted by Sonic67

Still not sure it will have appeal outside of a few geeks. TV's are now around with built in Internet, Android etc. There has also been a few micro PCs designed to mount onto the back of TVs. For those who want it there's plenty of choice. This is cheap but a lot less functional as well. To make it useful you need to add storage and TVs can already read from USB sticks to play data or record to them.

The only real use I thought of would be in Africa where they do cheap $99 laptops already or perhaps some people might stick it in a car though there are kits for that as well.

It has educational values as they are so cheap, the chips can be purchased by schools and as the firm is a registered charity that is probably their main aim.

Storage is not a problem, it's an embedded device so shouldn't need large amounts of space (embedded OSes can be tiny). 2-4gb would be enough, but SD cards are cheap up to 32gb.
I currently work on a embedded control device (won't go into details), which uses a SoC (x86-based arch.) that has nowhere near this sort of power and costs $200. I can think of so many commercial applications that this could be used in, hence why I've been following its development since I heard about it.

One thing many people still like is a dedicated unit to do a specific job. That's where I believe the potential of this sort of device lies, but it'll need to evolve. In a sense this is just the first step.

[balidey]

I've been following the Raspi for a week now. Really want to get one and have a play.
I am not a developer, never have been, never will. I like the idea of gadgets, but have hardly any. I can't see the point in most of them, but mainly because gadgets are too effing expensive.
Now here is a fully operational PC that you can get all touchy feely with, and its £20.
I have run Ubuntu exclusively in my house for a few years now. I enjoy getting old 2nd hand PC's, installing Ubuntu and making good use of them. This is another reason why I want to just have play with one.
And my two boys are probably going to help me. infact, I think I can get two, they can then help me make their own media streaming PC's for their rooms.

[pandemic]

RasberryPi people put 6 of their beta boards for sale on eBay to raise cash and more so, publicity. One of them is currently going for over £2K. 0_o

eBay: raspberry pi

[Chadford]

I'm guessing these are going on sale tomorrow...

Raspberry Pi | An ARM GNU/Linux box for $25. Take a byte!

...I'm also guessing they'll be sold out by 6:01am.

[happpzzz]

XBMC Demo on Raspberry Pi - YouTube

i think i might get one to mess about with :D

[walleee]

i'll try and get one but who knows how much stock they have.....

does anyone know if these ones will have ethernet connectivity or is that to come later?

[willj12]

They are selling the first batch of 10,000 and yes they are the 'B' model with ethernet and 256mb ram.

[Miss Mandy]

I've been keeping an eye on these as I'd love to have a go at a bit of developing, but I suspect that these will sell out really quickly.
I hope that a decent amount of them get sold to people that will actually develope them and push them to their limits, but I suspect a lot will be bought by normal people who have no idea what to do with them and will the just dump them in a draw and forget about them.
On the flip side though, if they sell out quickly that might mean that the charity can get more support and get more stock made at a decent cost price.

There's even a post on HDUK about them which has become the hottest deal of the day and its got people posting on there saying "going to get one at that price as they're a bargain, what do they do?"

[pandemic]

I'd love to get one, but I'm guessing the site will effectively be overrun with traffic causing a DDoS.

Those who are planning to run devices off it i.e. wireless dongle, cd/dvd drive, etc will need a way of powering the device i.e. with a powered usb hub as the board has a 1 Amp cutoff fuse so cannot deliver much power. It's obvious when you think about it, but I thought I'd point it out anyway.

[nonumb]

Will be up early trying to get 1. Will be used running raspbmc when it comes out.

Will also be looking to get one and use it as a file server or possibly running a webcam with access online.

If I dont then so be it as long as some devs get some, I can wait! 10000 should be enough to get the ball rolling though!

[rampant]

i to have followed rasberrypi for a while and will be trying to get one tomorrow!

[djcla]

So what sort of charger do they need as I really want one

[davidegee]

micro usb I believe

[pandemic]

Originally Posted by djcla

So what sort of charger do they need as I really want one

It's powered via micro usb or the GPIO onboard. Easiest way is to use a mobile phone charger (assuming it's micro usb) or via a PCs usb port.

[balidey]

They've been 'launched' but both sites selling them are struggling, and that means two major electronics manufacturers websites have been taken down by volume of traffic at 6am.

[happpzzz]

I can't even get the sites to load :S