I know many don’t care for technical type posts as a rule, but just in case someone happens to be searching for information on a RaspberryPi, they can see the set up I have made.
I thought I would try one of these small computers that were developed in the UK just a few years ago. They are very small, some can be had for as little as $29 bare bones. I wanted a better one so opted for the newer version. Raspberry Pi 3 B. This one has a quad core processor that runs about 1.2-1.6ghz. It has 1GB of on board memory you share with video. (4) 2.0 USB ports, Wireless, Bluetooth HDMI and Ethernet. A lot packed into a small computer slightly smaller than a playing card. Michelle ordered this for me as a late birthday present. She ordered the deluxe Kit, which is more at around $69 but comes with everything including a fan, and SD card 32GB, HDMI cable, power adapter.
- 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARMv8 CPU, 1 GB RAM
- 802.11n Wireless LAN, 10/100Mbps LAN Speed
- Bluetooth 4.1, Bluetooth Low Energy
- 4 USB ports, 40 GPIO pins, Full HDMI port, Combined 3.5mm audio jack and composite video
- Camera interface (CSI), Display interface (DSI), Micro SD card slot (now push-pull rather than push-push), VideoCore IV 3D graphics core.
You can get a kit with everything but the micro SD card, for around $49.
For something to play with it is fun and interesting. Much cheaper than a desktop. It runs various Linux distributions which are free, the most popular being “Raspian” which is a mix of some Raspberry programs and Debian Linux. You can install Ubuntu or other Linux flavors. It has an HDMI port so you can hook it to a monitor, I don’t have a monitor with HDMI so I am using VNC to connect into it and use my computer monitor. Parts are cheap for the Pi, a simple case around $5-$6, power adapter $8 or cheaper, 32 GB SD card, if you want one that big. $14 at Walmart. The latest Pi with all the above listed features, just the board is $34. Webcam for it that plugs onto the board with short or long ribbon cable is only about $19 for a 5 mp or $26 for an 8 mp! I am going to save up and get me a 5 mp camera. Which brings me to the only shortcoming.
Shortcoming: The only thing I found wrong with it was limited webcams that work with it. It is hit-and-miss. Some super cheap USB cams work, some don’t. Unfortunately, none of my cheap ones work. But I can solve that with a Pi camera for what I pay for a cheap USB cam.
I have posted to the forum from it, after all it is a full Linux computer, just small and not super charged. You won’t do video editing I don’t think (but I bet I try). It has office software, mail, chromium or Firefox browser, just like larger computers. You can install what you want just like from a normal Linux computer.
I got this one to learn on, I wanted something that could run my weather station 24/7 and not use the main computer for that. So this tiny machine can sit on the desk off to itself and happily monitor the weather station and generate the pages and upload them to the website. I am still working on it, Trying out a simpler weather software. Anyway… here are some pictures of it’s size. This one is in a layered clear plastic case, with a tiny fan to cool the CPU. It currently is running wireless on the WiFi here in the house. The pictures and a video may show it with an Ethernet cable. I used that to set up the vnc and configure the wireless. The only cable running to it now is the weather station.
It’s small!! Just un-boxed it.
We have the case assembled and on it now. You can stack them one atop the other with some cases. Note the small, half-dollar size fan.
My car-keys look nearly bigger than the computer.
Future plans: Since it will run 24/7, I plan on
Running the weather station.Setting up a service on it to monitor my websites and alert me by email. Seems my “free” monitoring service, isn’t too reliable notifying me at times.A Time lapse, and picture upload program, for the forum, blog, and Wunderground weather service. It already uploads weather conditions to my Wunderground reporting station every 5 mins. Currently It updates the weather web page of my website every 10 minutes.
It seems to run very snappy for a 1.2-1.6ghz. It is running a server and SQL database, without noticeable lag. It is using about 400mb of the 1GB of memory when running the graphical interface through the monitor, but just running as a machine, it is using about 150mb of memory. Running cool as well. 36c
I scrounged around and found a Blue-tooth keyboard we aren’t using, and a wireless mouse. I stopped by the thrift store last week, there sat a 14 inch monitor for $10. I was pleased to see it worked being just $10.
Now I can say, I have Raspberry Pie (Pi) in my office. I just hope it doesn’t attract ants.
Comments welcome,
Note: I receive no compensation of any type, for mentioning, linking to, or posting about an item. All references are for informational consumption.
That Raspberry setup has been highly praised over here , Ron. Intended for school kids to learn computing, it has proved to be a popular system, available at an excellent price.
Pleased to see that you have employed it, with great success.
Best wishes, Pete.
I’m enjoying learning something new. I have always wanted to learn how to right some simple code, now’s my chance. Thanks for the comment, I think I will be buying another one soon.
OMG Ron. I am so impressed. The last time I tried understanding things at this level was with my Commodore Vic 20 in 1980. Now I just buy someone else’s hard work.
Oh how I remember the Vic 20 and the Commodore 64. Those were the days. Of course our modern computers do more for us than back then.
Thanks for the comment, always nice to see you.
I enjoyed this post. Like many, my eyes glaze over when things get very technical. You write so clearly that a mere human can follow along.
I try to do that so that anyone that might be looking for information on a subject, won’t be immediately turned off by tech speak. Thanks for the nice compliment Anne, it’s much appreciated.
Good, as long as the RaspberryPi doesn’t leave a bad taste in your mouth.
Now that was a good one Michael. No bad taste so far, but I had a headache trying to learn a thing or three along the way. Thanks for the comment this evening.
Amazing!
Thanks Kate, I’m glad you liked it, I enjoyed working to get it going.
Glad to see your a wunderground user. Being a weather buff myself, Wundeground is my go to site. You are quite the technocrat. I keep the doctor away and use my Apple every day.
Thanks Rooster, I still have some design work to do on the weather website of mine, but I just need to find the time. I recently converted over from Weather Display to Weewx. I appreciate the comment, and good to know another is into watching the weather.
Wow. I’m envious of your bravery and knowledge to experiment like this. My daring is I turn on the computer and hope it works. 🙂
I have known that feeling Kathy, I turned on one a couple months ago and it went right back off, never to come on again. Thanks for the comment Kathy.
Goodness Ron it seems like a great value purchase. Technology sure is advancing.
Seems like a great bargain! Got bogged down reading all the technical stuff (I am so not a techie), but two things did stand out for me.
1) Had there never been Apple, there’d be no Raspberry Pi! (Though love the pun!)
2) How big is the hard drive?
Thanks!
That is a good pun Ellie, I like that. The hard drive is the micro-sd card, 32GB. You can expand it if you want to an external drive, or use thumb drives to store or back up things to. Thanks for the comment Ellie.
Wow, seems like its just a tad bigger then one of them smart phones. Those smart phones can do anything, print from them, watch tv, etc. I saw my grandson take a video on his and then when he replayed it he put it on slow motion, then fast speed. I think they are too smart for me.
I get along with computers better than I do my smart phone. The phones can do nearly anything a computer can.
I just checked now that you had mentioned it, my cell phone (DroidXturbo) is nearly 2 inches longer than the Pi, and just slightly wider. Thanks for the comment.
I thought I was going to get a recipe for raspberry pie. Ah well…
Sorry about that, got your mouth to watering huh. I didn’t think about the recipe angle, or I would have included the components as ingredients. Thanks for the comment, always great to see you.
WOW ! How can they put so much in such a tiny box???
My heart lurched a little when you mentioned the Commodore Vic 20! My first introduction to the computer and I fell in love. I wish I knew how many different computers I have had since then. I think that is the one I had so much FUN playing PAC MAN on. My youngest son had a job when he was a HS Senior, with a computer company in Huntington Beach, Calif. and came home one day with the computer and set it up in the corner of our dining room. It was ALL MINE to use during the day time…he said “But not until you get your daily chores done, remember?” That was a rule I had set of for my children when they had home chores, and school assignments to be done first…before TV.
I enjoyed this so much Ron. Glad you started this!
I’m glad you enjoyed the post, and thank you very much for the nice comment. The Vic 20 was truly an amazing machine in it’s day. My very first computer was in 1983, a Timex Sinclair 1000, very simple and limited but it was fun to learn.