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Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

raspberrypi.org

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Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#211

Post by trymas »

DiThi wrote: post #207
trymas wrote: post #31

Next awesome step would be RPi with integrated wifi/bluetooth, and it would become ultimate IoT/embedded development platform. Such step would increase price, I know, but AFAIK, most people are almost always buying either wifi or bluetooth dongles anyway. All in all, RPi ables to deliver exciting, rather (for me) unexpected and most importantly great and user-friendly products.

Have you heard of this? http://vocore.io/

I have read of many alternatives, though RPi has one feature, nothing can beat it today - community support.

99% problems you'll see on your RPi, you can find a solution to them in 5 minutes with Google.

Maybe it will sound like nitpicking and also RPi has versatility and extensibility for rapid development. Want add camera? No problem. Connect to screen? No problem. Few USB devices? No problem. GPIO control? No problem.

Probably it's just a rant with possibly very long discussion, but if you do not know what crazy or fun thing you going to do tomorrow, RPi probably got your covered, whereas others - not so much. So if RPi (let's say the 'normal' one, not the Zero) had builtin WiFi and BT, personally I would be covered in any way I need and would not need any dongles at all.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#212

Post by simon_vetter »

bambax wrote: post #202
girishso wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two years after buying mine, I put the pi to a good use only last week! Now I am using it as ad-blocker thanks to http://pi-hole.net/ , works like a charm. I ported the web interface for pi-hole to Go single executable ( https://github.com/girishso/pi-hole-web ) Now looking for something interesting to do on my second pi! Edit: Added pi-hole-web link.

That's great, thanks!! I have a pi as a media server* connected to a projector via HDMI, that reads media files from a NAS on my home network; very efficient and lightweight. I will definitely try pi-hole; maybe I can have both running on the same pi. * via Raspbmc, which I just found out has apparently ceased to exist...

> * via Raspbmc, which I just found out has apparently ceased to exist...

Try OSMC [1], it's a massive improvement over Raspbmc and is being developed actively. Works like a charm. If I'm correct, the main Raspbmc dev went over to OSMC a while back.

[1] https://osmc.tv

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#213

Post by Tepix »

sklogic wrote: post #195
jgowans42 wrote: post #184

I find the lack of ethernet or wifi concerning. I get that they're trying to keep it small and low cost, but I can't immediately see any use for a Pi that can't run standalone.

It's easy to imagine multiple simple designs. You can couple it with an ESP2866, for example, using a number of attinys to access their analog inputs, or with a CAN-SPI head collecting data from multiple sensors, processing and then reporting through an ESP2866.

The ESP8266 is quite slow, network wise. You could hook up the sensors to the Pi Zero directly using the GPIO ports and use a cheap USB WiFi adapter to upload the data.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#214

Post by bambax »

simon_vetter wrote: post #212
bambax wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's great, thanks!! I have a pi as a media server* connected to a projector via HDMI, that reads media files from a NAS on my home network; very efficient and lightweight. I will definitely try pi-hole; maybe I can have both running on the same pi. * via Raspbmc, which I just found out has apparently ceased to exist...

> * via Raspbmc, which I just found out has apparently ceased to exist... Try OSMC [1], it's a massive improvement over Raspbmc and is being developed actively. Works like a charm. If I'm correct, the main Raspbmc dev went over to OSMC a while back. [1] https://osmc.tv

Yes, thanks, but for now raspbmc works really well, I'm not sure I want to go through the whole update now unless there's a big compelling reason.

I might upgrade to a 2B though, it's probably a lot faster (the current setup tends to freeze a little on rapidly changing frames).

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#215

Post by codecamper »

aerique wrote: post #126
codecamper wrote: post #113

The biggest problem I had with my Raspberry PI was that it is seriously slow compared to a desktop machine. It takes time to setup. Time is money, right? I suppose if you have some mass deployment to do, then great. But for the individual maker hacker.. there must be a better way to setup and experiment than waiting for this computer to reboot with the new config, recompile, etc.

I found the Pi1's to be unusable as a desktop but thought the Pi2 was pretty good. Which Pi are you talking about?

I have a B+. Is that a 1 or a 2?

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#216

Post by kbart »

maheart wrote: post #26

This is seriously impressive. While the Raspberry Pi is not the perfect hacker-friendly computer, it has done a lot of good. Some reasons off the top of my head: 1. Providing a low cost computer has given many people access to computers. Giving more people access to the web, email, an office suit, a programming environment AND giving people the ability of safely tinker without the fear of bricking an expensive device…

"1. Providing a low cost computer has given many people access to computers. Giving more people access to the web, email, an office suit, a programming environment AND giving people the ability of safely tinker without the fear of bricking an expensive device."

I seriously doubt about your first point. Adding the cost of accessories (mouse, keyboard, screen) and a shipping cost, Raspberry Pi costs the same as a decent, used laptop that can be used to install a full Linux distro. Even getting Raspberry Pi Zero with essential kit (cabels + the smallest SD card) to my country rises its costs to 20£, add the cost of accessories, and you can get another working used laptop (and as a bonus Ethernet/WiFi connection which RPi Zero lacks). Don't get me wrong, Raspberry Pi is great for tinkering and home projects, I have much respect for what they are doing, but getting "computer to every home" is not it's strongest point.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#217

Post by pkaye »

Natanael_L wrote: post #134
makomk wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is probably the result of boards like the $9 C.H.I.P. stealing their thunder a little. (Which should actually be able to run Debian, unlike the Pi - Debian Jessie has built-in support for that generation of Allwinner chips.) The Pi has not actually been all that cheap lately compared to the competition. There's no reason they couldn't have done this years ago; like that Allwinner chip, the BCM2835 is an old, slo…

This could even act as a custom chromecast-ish device. Still cheaper too! (Although it lacks WiFi AC that the new chromecast has, and probably way weaker graphics, but a cheap WiFi adapter or ethernet and having most stuff streamed should be workable.)

Other than hack value, I don't see it as a replacement for a $35 Chromecast. Even then probably better to root a Chromecast due to all the hardware benefits mentioned above.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#218

Post by vidarh »

prophet_ wrote: post #180
cconcepts wrote: post #158

Amazing. If only I'd get my act together and do all the amazing stuff I planned when I bought my first pi - then I could justify buying this

Amusing that most people I speak to (including myself) fall into this category. Great deal nonetheless, especially when considering the bit where he mentioned being much faster that version 1, which is considerably slow if you ask me.

They're cheap enough to be a "cool, I have to play with this" impulse buy...

At last count I've got about 7-8 different devices like this sitting around that I've aspired to play around with at one time or other, all of them have seen way too little use.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#219

Post by geofft »

Tepix wrote: post #208
jgowans42 wrote: post #184

I find the lack of ethernet or wifi concerning. I get that they're trying to keep it small and low cost, but I can't immediately see any use for a Pi that can't run standalone.

I can think of plenty of interesting projects¹ where the Zero is perfect as-is. However, you can just add WiFi or Ethernet via USB if you need it. Remember, on the first Raspberry Pi, the Ethernet port was connected via USB internally, too. ¹ One example https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1985705009/piplay-deskc...

This one has micro-USB ports, which mean the usual slim USB wifi interfaces will need a cable. Are there micro-USB wifi interfaces? (Is it even possible to make a similar form-factor interface that fits mostly inside a micro-USB plug?)
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