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Anyone else use a Raspberry Pi?


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Anyone else use a Raspberry Pi?
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2015-02-26, 19:51

So does anyone else here use a Raspberry Pi and if so what projects are you doing with them?

I had a buddy at work that made a home security/puppy cam out of one and it got my attention. This is the guide he used and the one that got me started going with the idea. I didn't order the parts like he did though, I ordered it though Amazon as a kit that gave me more parts for less. The kit I got (Raspberry Pi Model B+ Ultimate Camera Kit) is no longer available but it was only $76.

So I've gotten mine running as a camera all wireless and headless now. In fact at this very moment mine is running on a power pack (when it was only $5) with a script writing the date and time to a file so I can see how long it will run on that battery pack. My reason for this is so it can be a mobile weather proof time lapse or motion camera. This article was my inspiration for this. Of course you can use a larger battery pack if you want longer run time.

What ideas do you have for a Raspberry Pi? Did you see a very cool project to do with them? Share and talk about them here!

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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JohnnyTheA
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2015-02-27, 02:27

I just got a Pi. My version is the Pi 2B. I have only played around with it once, getting basic C programs to compile and run. I have an old beater car that I am think of turning into a Pi-dev car. I have all kinds of ideas. I'm thinking of doing a laser range-finder to track following distance, maybe a license plate scanner. Building a GPS/INS would be interesting as well. Or maybe a dash-cam that links video to a remote server (over WiFi->G4). I don't drive in really corrupt places but say you were driving in Russia or Mexico and the cops pulled you over and hassled you. When they find you have a dash cam, what happens? Crunch. But you got the video back home...

For starters I'm gonna play around with doing basic multi-core programming at the C or even assembly level. I've never played with ARM before, it should be fun.

JTA
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curiousuburb
Antimatter Man
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: that interweb thing
 
2015-02-28, 06:46

Been using my old Model B as a media player running XBMC to feed thumb drive movies to my HDTV.

Debating whether or not to replace it with the spiffy new quad-core model and let the old one turn my weather station into a web-accessible killer robot or similar.

Truth be told, I'm sure I could be doing more with it... I've just been procrastinating and waiting for the right project that offers the perfect mix of awesomeness, usability, and less intimidating coding.

While I've been given books and magazines "full of Cool Pi Projects", IMHO too much Pi stuff is pitched as either Build a stop light / Make flip book animations (ages 8 -18) or Design/Build/Code a PiCade console (full blown Linux nerd required).

The extra power of the new units (now with multitasking, woo) should open up opportunities to do more for the same price. For those who still can't get enough horsepower out of the same form factor... See Odroid for overkill on an itsy-bitty board.

Then there's the whole world of options available for those who want to delve into Arduino gadgetry...

All those who believe in telekinesis, raise my hand.
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turtle
Lord of the Rant.
Formerly turtle2472
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Upstate South Carolina
 
2015-02-28, 18:37

I have thought of getting a new Pi 2 also, but not sure what I would do with it. Since MS is going to give Windows 10 away for it I might get it just for that. I'm sure there will be some level of limitation, but it would be fun to play with in some way anyway.

I'm actually thinking I want to make a weather station with a Pi. A pulled air system for an accurate outside temperature. Barometric pressure and humidity would be nice too. All of these sensors and more are available for the Pi. I would have to figure out how to make the data provided usable to me, but that should be too hard. I'm sure I would be able to make it viewable with json and show up in my Status Board app on my iPad.

The battery pack I posted about in the first post only got me about 4.5 hours of use. This isn't very good as you could imagine. While I can shave off power by dropping the wifi adapter and stopping the web streaming of the video it's recording too, I would then loose out of the ability to see what's going on with it when it's in my yard. That is where I'd use it most. If I were to use it in an environment like the one in the article I linked to then I wouldn't need them. I might just have to see how well it works in that case. For now though, I know it's not a long time.

JtA, I like the idea of doing stuff like that with your car. I have a truck that fits the description and I might have to think about doing that kind of thing for it too.

curiousuburb, the thing I discovered and what held me back from getting a Pi is that I always wanted to know what I would do with it if I got one. I got mine because I had a specific goal in mind, kitty/kid cam. You used yours for a media center box. However, the procrastination of waiting for the perfect project is why I never got one until now. It always seemed like the kind of device that someone with taped glasses would buy, not me.

Now that I have one and started to play with it more I'm seeing more and more things to tinker with on it. Like the weather station idea. I think there is a lot that can be done without having to cross the line from geek to nerd.

Louis L'Amour, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”
Visit our archived Minecraft world! | Maybe someday I'll proof read, until then deal with it.
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ThunderPoit
Making sawdust
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
 
2015-02-28, 23:48

i got one for my nephews so they could learn some programming as part of their home schooling. The two middle ones were fascinated by Scratch and were having some fun moving that cat around on the screen.
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