Hardware Raspberry Pi 2

[Dax_Fame]

Hey all, I just ordered myself the new Raspberry Pi and am planning to set it up as a media center for my TV... Or should I say, entertainment centerpiece! I wasn't really all that wowed by the original model, but the model 2 has significantly more juice and for only $35 I think it beats the crap out of a Chromecast or any similar products as far as what you can do with it for the cost. Once I get this baby setup with RetroPie/Emulation Station life will be wonderful!.. Wonderful-er*



What do you guys think of Raspberry Pi?
Do you own one?
Has the new one caught your eye?
What types of things would you like to do or have done with your own?

 

[FAST6191]

Several 512 meg model Bs here.

They make good media players -- they play scene style H264 (a more than serviceable format) in common resolutions stuffed into MP4, MKV and other similar formats, to say nothing of being able to handle legacy xvid/MPEG4 ASP. They have a good UI, support for remote controls and can pull from my network via most protocols that matter (and SMB/windows shares).

What have I done with them...
Low power PCs to leave on client sites -- they happily run graphical linux and it is not like terminal linux is without capability either. A massive backup and redundant computing setup is a costly endeavour, the pis provide a nice facsimile of one.
Wireless access point after lightning took out my nice one.
Servers of various types. Mainly basic intranet HTTP and SMB file shares but that is what most people need.
Media players again, for me it was that natural evolution of embedded XBMC after the shift to H264. They are far from perfect and certainly no PC grade of thing, however if you do have no internet and a hard drive or a network file share for offline media then you can do well.
Basic emulation stations. I have any number of devices which allow me to do 16 bit and older devices but the pis perform admirably at it.
Signage for shops. What was once expensive, proprietary and annoying now consists of a pi setup, a web browser, some basic knowledge of video and static pictures and a TV.

Those are the main things I have done and been paid for with them. I have toyed with telecoms, presentation/media for my projector, some minor embedded computing (I have arduinos, pics, CPLDs, fpgas, teensy++... all available and more likely to be toyed with, though the ability to mess around with IO using python is appealing). The trouble is I have virtual machines and lots of old computers sitting around that I can do far more with.

Interest in a new one. I am not going to be upgrading the existing ones any time soon but I have no great reason to hold back when I do need more. The increased power draw, or at least suggestion of a 2A supply is not my favourite thing but hey.

 

[Dax_Fame]

FAST6191 Geeeez... Legit! How many do you have?

And wireless access point? Did you need additional accessories for that?

 

[FAST6191]

Right now I am down to two as I do build things with them and sell them on. That are out there in the world and accessible from my SSH client... that is several more.

Wireless access point. A network cable to speak my the modem and a wireless card capable of doing it (so most of them, in this case I went with one of those little edimax barely larger than the USB port it went in things). It was only a stopgap measure as I waited for a new one to come so it was almost more of a guest network type setup. Seen as it was running full fat raspbian though it probably could have gone toe to toe and did admirably against some of the WRT family I reckon.

As I forgot to last time around
http://www.berryterminal.com/doku.php/berryboot
Berryboot is a great little program to install all sorts of different OSes on the pi and dodge having to do all the crazy things that various operating systems want you to do to install them (no messing around with DD or anything, just click and say I want that one).

 

[Dax_Fame]

Nice nice! Thanks for the info. I'll be using that to setup my Pi when it arrives idiot friendly

 

[p1ngpong]

I have a Pi 2 and am running Kodi (xbmc) on it. For £30 its an awesome little mediaplayer and I don't think any other could beat it for that price. Other than running Kodi on it I haven't really bothered using other OS's on it because there still isn't anything that really takes advantage of the Pi 2's specs from what I have seen. I haven't tried gaming on it and probably will not bother as I have a hundred alternative and far better options for that already.

 

[Dax_Fame]

To have a nice little dedicated machine for Media streaming/emulation for my TV is all I want it for. I was going to get a nexus player, but considering that's 100usd and has very limited options, this alternative is a no brainer.

 

[DjoeN]

Just recieved my Pi2 today

I do own a model B Pi and used that as MediaPlayer (RaspBMC) until SpillPassPi got released for homepass/streetpass, so i used my Model B Pi for that, so i needed a new Mediaplayer and the Pi2 was perfect, cheap and beter than the model B.

My Linux knowledge goes as far as 2% out of 100% so i rely on pre-made sd images. but any suggestion is welcome to use it beyond a mediacentre alone (Raspbian, Rasbmc, whatever...) Also i used to use raspbmc, but if anybody has a beter solution (OpenElec, OSMC (i know still in alpha stage and build upon kodi)
i'm not intressted in retro emulation on it, i use my Wii for that.

Q: Do LCD screens for Model B+ work on Pi2?

 

[Dax_Fame]

Just recieved my Pi2 today

I do own a model B Pi and used that as MediaPlayer (RaspBMC) until SpillPassPi got released for homepass/streetpass, so i used my Model B Pi for that, so i needed a new Mediaplayer and the Pi2 was perfect, cheap and beter than the model B.

My Linux knowledge goes as far as 2% out of 100% so i rely on pre-made sd images. but any suggestion is welcome to use it beyond a mediacentre alone (Raspbian, Rasbmc, whatever...) Also i used to use raspbmc, but if anybody has a beter solution (OpenElec, OSMC (i know still in alpha stage and build upon kodi)
i'm not intressted in retro emulation on it, i use my Wii for that.

Q: Do LCD screens for Model B+ work on Pi2?

I also use my wii, but I want something that I turn on and then select a game. I debating getting a second just for media they are so cheap!

I don't see why the screen wouldn't work... It would be a little absurd if everything that worked with the model 1 was just completely incompatible lol

 

[Depravo]

I bought one two or three weeks ago to replace my Pi Model B media centre. OSMC runs a lot better than RasBMC but I decided give openelec a whirl until OSMC reaches a stable release. It runs well enough and looks great (with the Metropolis skin) but the CEC controls seem a bit sticky at times.

On the emulation side I only tried SNES, Megadrive/Genesis and GBA but they all run playably well although some of the emulators don't play well with a wired Xbox360 pad.

 

[Qtis]

I'll probably buy the Pi2 once an updated version in one way or another is released (no use for one now, but I'm very interested in it as a streaming device). I have a Model B, which isn't used for anything at the moment, but I'll probably do something with it again sooner than later.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

I plan on buying a Pi 2 in a bit, maybe when I get paid tomorrow. Could always throw my current B+ model in my living room for streaming purposes, then put my Pi 2 in my room to take the place of my B+. Maybe even try putting some emulators and things on it to mess around with for fun

 

[DjoeN]

So i decided to get myself a hard time and start from rasbian scratch
My setup will be as follow:
- RPI2
- 1TB HDD
- SanDisk Ultra "Class10" 64Gb SD with raspbian (Cause i had a few spare of those)
- HDMI to FullHD TV
- Wired Network

What i want to archieve is: Start Pi2, that's all, then the Pi2 (Livingroom) has to get my NZB's for my tv shows i follow and then download the show and place it on the external HDD that i can access then from anywhere in my homenetwork (PC/ AppleTV2 "XBMC" (TV bedroom) /Chromecast "Plex" (TV bedroom2) / Rpi model B "OpenElec" (TV Bedroom3).

So i Configured the HDD to auto mount on boot and installed SABnzbd and it also starts on boot, then i installed SickRage (better supported fork from Sickbeard) and installed Kodi.
I know i can install couchpotato for movies, but i don't watch movies that often and i can wait till a DVD/BR release is out that i can borrow/loan/buy and i'm not intrested in music (Needs Headphones installed)
SABnzbd works already and SickRage i'm working on now, (need to figure out how to get my shows from Sickbeard (PC) to SickRage (RPi2)

It's mainly for TV shows that don't get aired in my country or get aired more then 3 to 6 months later (or even a year),

So i do hope everything works out well, this way i can turn off my desktop pc that now runs 24/24 and save alot of cash on power consumption (and also help the planet a little bit )