Raspberry Pi $25 computer update

So the Raspberry Pi is finally shipping



Heres a few videos of it in action.







I was quite impressed with the GFX so far. Its early days yet, cant wait to see what people are going to do with it

you can find out more about the $25 computer here www.raspberrypi.org...

This is one of the coolest projects I have seen in a long time. Would love to get my hands on a few of these to see what they can do. The form factor is impressive as is the price. Hopefully someone will come up with a decent case design. Thanks! S&F!

reply to post by PhoenixOD


I was just discussing this with some people not too long ago...and really, I can barely find anything wrong with it! Provided you get the right SIM card (which I am told it relies on to store memory) you should LOVE this device.

It's like a little laptop wherever you go...the only question I have is: does it come with wifi?

Other than that, I'm in love. Yay for thumbdrive portable computers!!!

Another thought to add to the thread is this: someone who can hack and mod hardware should be able to mod a few of these together to create a super computer the size of a regular hard drive. And then put together enough to make a motherboard...you have one hell of a computer going for you. Just make sure to have a compatible monitor!

How's THAT for innovative?

I've been keeping my eye on this thing and I cant wait till I can order one or two.

I would like to put one in my CRT TV because I prefer the picture of CRTs and I have one of those rare CRT HDTVs. Sure I could just put it on top of the TV but nope, I'm gonna wire it inside so it will accept USB drives like the new TVs do.

My MAME arcade machine currently runs on an x86 PC that takes forever to boot and makes an annoying hum.
Hopefully I can replace it with the Raspberry Pi and have a much more snappy machine for my classic arcade games.

I'm good at ideas so I'm sure I'll come up with some more for it.

If it will run Fedora then that means it will be a perfect way to stream video to a tv.
I wonder if it will support flash.

reply to post by grey580


Theres a standalone XBMC that can run without an OS, so that would probably be the best option for video streaming.
And I guess since the graphics look good and it can run GNU Linux it should be able to run Flash just fine.

I figure Xubuntu will work great with it.

Also, I hear that the upcoming Microsoft Windows 8 will be the first commercial OS to support the ARM CPUs, so there's an option.

reply to post by Fishticon84


I think thats an awesome idea, a dedicated MAME machine made from a Raspberry Pi

reply to post by PhoenixOD

So the Raspberry Pi is finally shipping

Still about 3 weeks to go.

I just thought up another idea for it!
I really hope this one works.

You take an old game system such as the Atari 2600 (because of its direct to controls wiring and A LOT of extra space in the box) put the Raspberry Pi in it with reasonably sized USB flash drive or SSD, load it up with emulators and ROMs.. and you got yourself the best classic game system in the world.

Imagine an Atari 2600 with Sega Genesis controllers that would be able to play Atari, Intelivision, Coleco, NES, SNES, SMS, Genesis, and maybe just maybe... SNK-NEOGEO.

I've had my eye on this for a while and I can't wait to get my hands on one! I'm dabbling in programming at the moment and I think this will be the perfect vehicle to practice on.

I'm sure I read they are going to bring two models to market at first. The $25 one and a slightly more expensive model with better specs and wifi.

reply to post by Fishticon84


It has a micro SD card slot so just slap in a 64gb and away you go.

Originally posted by Fishticon84
reply to post by grey580

 

Theres a standalone XBMC that can run without an OS, so that would probably be the best option for video streaming.
And I guess since the graphics look good and it can run GNU Linux it should be able to run Flash just fine.

I figure Xubuntu will work great with it.

Also, I hear that the upcoming Microsoft Windows 8 will be the first commercial OS to support the ARM CPUs, so there's an option.

edit on 30-1-2012 by Fishticon84 because: spelling error.

Check out the FAQ. Says ubuntu will not support the board.
And it may not have enough memory to run windows 8.
Though I imagine that someone will figure out a way to use windows on it.
I want one for sure.

reply to post by Grifter81


There are two, model A 128MB and model B 256MB with an ethernet port.

Wi-fi will have to be added via USB dongle.

The first batch is 10,000 Model B's.

Price is going to be about US$35. There will be a shipping charge but Liz from R-Pi is going to discount shipping of multiple items.

*check watch*

Damn....still three weeks to go

Check out the FAQ. Says ubuntu will not support the board.
And it may not have enough memory to run windows 8.
Though I imagine that someone will figure out a way to use windows on it.
I want one for sure.

The first generation of R-Pi will not be supported by Win8 due to ARM incompatibility.

There are whispers that the second generation will use a newer ARM processor which will be compatible with win8.

IMHO winblows is the last thing I want on one. The restricted ARM processor will shine with a bare bones linux distro. As soon as you load it up with too much crap, it will slow to a crawl.

Originally posted by OccamAssassin
reply to post by Grifter81

 

There are two, model A 128MB and model B 256MB with an ethernet port.

Wi-fi will have to be added via USB dongle.

The first batch is 10,000 Model B's.

Price is going to be about US$35. There will be a shipping charge but Liz from R-Pi is going to discount shipping of multiple items.

*check watch*

Damn....still three weeks to go

It will be a model B for me then. I'm sure I've got a wifi dongle lying around the house. Are they just releasing in the US at first? If I cant't get my hands on one in the UK I will have to see about getting one shipped across the pond.

They're that small that I doubt it will cost much to import one.

reply to post by Grifter81

It will be a model B for me then. I'm sure I've got a wifi dongle lying around the house. Are they just releasing in the US at first? If I cant't get my hands on one in the UK I will have to see about getting one shipped across the pond.

I don't know, but I had assumed that they will all be shipped from the UK. Unless Liz & Eben have outsourced the shipping and the R-Pi will go directly to the consumer from Taiwan. *Fingers Crossed*. The ten Beta boards that were auctioned on eBay two weeks ago were all shipped from the UK.

Being in the UK you should be amongst the first to get them.

I'm getting four of them (more if the Mrs doesn't notice ) so I'll probably fork-out for registered airmail for the trip to Australia.

I would like to be able to have my own render farm for creating 3D graphics images faster. Simple 3D rendering programs like Bryce have a network render feature that splits a picture up into separate parts and sends each part to separate computers linked to together to be processed.

reply to post by OccamAssassin


I do hope they are. It just threw me because whenever I have seen them in the news or online the price point has always been in dollars.

Also there is a good chance they will ship out to schools and colleges first as the project was initially envisioned to combat a lack of young programmers.

It's meant to bring an alternative to WinTel, harking back to the 8-bit era. Kids today dont cut their teeth on the ZX Spectrum like I did, it's WinTel, Mac or nothing. We learned on a BBC micro (acorn) at school when I was there. The spectrum was my home computer

Edit. Not forgetting Linux but in schools, British schools at least, its a rarity.

Originally posted by Grifter81
reply to post by OccamAssassin

 

I do hope they are. It just threw me because whenever I have seen them in the news or online the price point has always been in dollars.

Also there is a good chance they will ship out to schools and colleges first as the project was initially envisioned to combat a lack of young programmers.

It's meant to bring an alternative to WinTel, harking back to the 8-bit era. Kids today dont cut their teeth on the ZX Spectrum like I did, it's WinTel, Mac or nothing. We learned on a BBC micro (acorn) at school when I was there. The spectrum was my home computer

Edit. Not forgetting Linux but in schools, British schools at least, its a rarity.

edit on 30/1/2012 by Grifter81 because: (no reason given)

lol .....Reminiscing ..... For me it was a Tandy TRS-80 and a Spectravideo SV-318 with 32KB of memory.

Daisy-wheel printers.

Tape drives.

Monochrome monitors.

Pong.

Thumb cramps from Atari joysticks.

Mental anguish from Atari joysticks that failed to register at a critical point of gameplay.

Being grounded for getting caught swearing at Atari joysticks.

Ahhh....twas the good ole days.