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Raspberry PI $25 PC

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  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    Well....it looks like the 10,000 number they were talking about is gone by the wayside. They have PCB's ready though and by god they're small (actually credit card sized).

    Picture-002-copy2-e1322775411416.jpg

    They're doing up 100 boards now, then starting full production in January it sounds like. I'm a bit cranky that I wont get my hands on one before Christmas, but such is life.
    I don’t think, sadly, that you’re going to be able to give them away as Christmas gifts this year. We will, however, be making as many of these as we can sell (not just 10k) in the new year, so I suggest you get planning for birthdays, anniversaries and wedding presents!


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,506 ✭✭✭shizz


    http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/12/meet-cubox-a-tiny-arm-powered-media-centre-capable-of-running-ubuntu/#disqus_thread

    Seen this and thought some people here would be interested in it. What you think? Bit more powerful and far more capable.


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    It's a shed load more expensive. 4 times the price of the basic raspberry pi or 3 times the price of the more expensive one. Very nice though. Obviously the gig of RAM makes it capable of running a semi-decent OS interface. The laptop I'm currently using has only a gig of ram for example and I never hit swap usage (currently running ubuntu 11.04).

    What does "800 MHz dual issue" mean for performance? A quick google makes it sound a bit like hyperthreading.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,983 ✭✭✭Tea_Bag


    God I hate my love for gadgets. I really want one of these and I have no use for it. I've already got a powerful media center PC so no justification at all. arg


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    I invented a need to justify it to myself. :) I really have no need for one of these. The "need" that I invented was perceived ownership of any personal data that would otherwise be on my work PC and ownership of the encryption keys that I use to encrypt any data that goes in and out of the company network. Paranoia approaches 1 as age approaches death. :D

    I am buying two though. The youngfella should get good use out of his as I have an NFS share set up on the linux based HTPC. I also don't mind if he wrecks it (software-wise) so he's free to flute around on it a bit (the intended use on their end anyway) which he wouldn't be able to do with the family laptop. Even told him I'd give him an introduction to programming if he wanted one.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 8,930 ✭✭✭Doge


    Khannie wrote: »
    The youngfella should get good use out of his as I have an NFS share set up on the linux based HTPC.

    This is exactly what I want to use mine for.

    The only wireless devices in the house are 2 Laptops, 1 desktop and an xbox 360.

    And I'm certainly not going to leave my xbox 360 on all day as a NAS host, as it would probably burn the house down. :P
    Finally I'll be able to access my external hard drive from anywhere in the house
    without having to worry about power consumption
    and even better I can VNC to it, to download torrents, and stream the downloads from all the other computers.

    Feck it, I could use it to make our Printer wireless also, those ethernet printer servers actually cost more than the Pi!


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    waveform wrote: »
    and even better I can VNC to it, to download torrents, and stream the downloads from all the other computers.

    Have a look at qbittorrent-nox. You leave it running on the linux server and access and control it through a browser (pic). It's a super piece of kit.

    Also worth looking at NX (freenx is likely to run on arm). It is far, far superior to vnc and there are clients for all platforms.

    But yeah, it really is perfect for low power applications. My HTPC is a very low power afair anyway (ion2 based system) so I leave it on 24/7.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,506 ✭✭✭shizz


    Came across this nice looking OS http://www.slitaz.org
    Anyone know if it will run on the processor?


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,930 ✭✭✭Doge


    Khannie wrote: »
    Have a look at qbittorrent-nox. You leave it running on the linux server and access and control it through a browser

    That looks great thanks for that! :)

    @shizz
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SliTaz

    Seems to only support the x86 platform, so won't work on ARM i think.


    Came across a cheaper and more powerful alternative in development to the Raspberry PI here:

    http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/news/

    Here's the specs of the processor it used, which is used in some very cheap android tablets out there atm:

    http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10


    The site looks a bit dodge, but there's a lot of pre-order requests for it.

    Must look up discussion on it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,930 ✭✭✭Doge


    Also found this article from back in 2000 while looking up about SoC's (System-On-A-Chip)!


    http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/Linux-For-Devices-Articles/Onechip-Linux-systems-hasten-arrival-of-PostPC-Era/


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  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    waveform wrote: »
    Came across a cheaper and more powerful alternative in development to the Raspberry PI here:

    http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/news/

    Here's the specs of the processor it used, which is used in some very cheap android tablets out there atm:

    http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10


    The site looks a bit dodge, but there's a lot of pre-order requests for it.

    Must look up discussion on it.

    That is interesting indeed. Very nice spec for potentially very little money. Some stuff I don't get:

    IDE type interface.
    PCMCIA type interface (do laptops still come with a PCMCIA interface? even if they do...I just don't get it).
    Looks like a single micro USB port which would be very restrictive.

    Overall, if they had taken the raspberry pi and replaced the processor and upped the RAM I think they would have been on to a massive winner. As it stands it's a bit....confused to me.


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,930 ✭✭✭Doge


    I think they're going with the pcmcia idea to drive down production cost,
    the 68 pins would be hooked upto some breakout board which will have all the bigger connectors like ethernet etc..


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    Ah ok. I think the pi is a good base to try and copy tbh. The only very minor flaw I think it has is the 2 USB ports (where there's a good chance you're going to use one for wifi, it leaves you needing an external port for a keyboard and mouse).

    Actually, does anyone know if there's a keyboard and mouse on a single USB port? or a keyboard that has a usb hub built in?

    edit: I think the ideal spec for me would be a pi with faster processor, more ram (512M would probably be enough for a lightweight distro to do useful stuff though a gig would be ideal) and 4 usb ports. I'd happily pay 50 euro for that.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,506 ✭✭✭shizz


    Is there anyway to increase the ram size by devoting apart of the ROM, as in the SD card, towards it?


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    You could set part of the SD card as swap space. The OS will effectively use that as RAM when it runs low. It would be significantly slower than actual RAM though.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,506 ✭✭✭shizz


    Ah yeah. Was just wondering is RAM's make up essentially that different to SSD?


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    It's just on a much faster bus. That's the major difference really. Suppose a decent fast SD card might take the edge off the low RAM alright.


  • Registered Users Posts: 7,692 ✭✭✭Dublin_Gunner


    shizz wrote: »
    Ah yeah. Was just wondering is RAM's make up essentially that different to SSD?
    Khannie wrote: »
    It's just on a much faster bus. That's the major difference really. Suppose a decent fast SD card might take the edge off the low RAM alright.

    That's incorrect.

    The type of memory used in RAM and SSD/ SD etc are different.

    The major difference is NOT the bus type, its the fact that RAM loses all its data when power is removed, the other non-volatile memory types don't.

    SSD and SD cards / usb sticks etc generally use NAND based Flash memory, RAM does not.

    Back OT:

    I'd definitely be interested in on of these devices, or indeed one of the other slightly more powerful devices in development. Its crazy to think that we can manufacture pretty much fully functional, and very capable computers on such a small budget.

    Imagine going back even 10 years and showing someone one of these.


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    We were discussing using it as a backup to RAM. In that instance the speed becomes the biggest differentiator. Not its volatility or physical makeup or otherwise.


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    Imagine going back even 10 years and showing someone one of these.

    Yeah, that's mad. I think this and computers like it will change the way we look at computing in general in the medium term.

    I'm reading The Stand at the moment which is set in 1990 and I keep thinking what it would be like if what happens in that book came to pass today. I would be focused on:
    OMFG! DOWNLOAD THE INTERNET! QUICKLY!!!!


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  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    New video up on their site.




    Two things of note:
    LXDE for the window manager
    Midori for the browser

    I just installed midori there. Nice and fast. Not sure how old the version I'm using is (it's the default from the ubuntu 11.04 repositories, which would be old enough at this stage). Had a slight problem with the dublin bus site. Seems like a reasonable enough browser though.

    Update: Got the latest version of midori. Actually a super little browser. No more problems with the dublin bus site and very fast rendering of boards.ie. Supports plugins (i.e. flash), tabbed browsing, etc. etc. Very nice little piece of kit.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 11,631 ✭✭✭✭Hank Scorpio


    Khannie wrote: »
    100FPS at 1080p and 4xAA'd quake 3 for $25 is shockingly good.

    You meant 10 fps? In the video they showed the framerate was 10-30 with some drops under 10, very poor imo for a game released in 1999


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    nuxxx wrote: »
    very poor imo for a game released in 1999

    It's running 4x AA'd at 1920x1080 on a $25 piece of hardware and they've stated that that's below what they've seen before. Can you honestly say you've seen performance even approaching that at a similar price point anywhere? I certainly haven't.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,091 ✭✭✭Antar Bolaeisk


    That thing looks fricken awesome, already coming up with plans on putting one or two of them to use!


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,506 ✭✭✭shizz


    They've got boards up on ebay for auction at the moment, with the rest expecting to be in volume production by the end of January. The first Board on ebay is already up to nearly 2 grand :O

    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180786734741?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649#ht_500wt_1413


  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    Fairly shocking money that. I think it's probably just people effectively making donations.

    I note in the video no their site that talks about the auctions that they're going to ship with a debian based distro. Interesting stuff. Can't wait to get one.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,506 ✭✭✭shizz


    Yeah I thought as much. Really can't wait for them to come out now.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 12,456 ✭✭✭✭Mr Benevolent


    Interested in this now myself, especially running Android, a small LCD screen and a LiPo battery.

    I give it a 50:50 chance of it going into full production no matter what the RPi team says.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,506 ✭✭✭shizz


    Ah don't be saying that :(


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  • Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    Confab wrote: »
    I give it a 50:50 chance of it going into full production no matter what the RPi team says.

    I'll take that bet. Seriously, I'd give you odds of 2:1 up to a reasonable amount (but not gigantic) if you fancy putting some money on it? I have no insider knowledge.

    The bet would be that they start production from a factory (rather than the hand assembled jobbies they have now) and an average punter can purchase one (this rules out the 2000 pound ones on ebay).

    Let me know if you're game. ;)


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