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Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

raspberrypi.org

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Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#471

Post by Udo »

soggypretzels wrote: post #467
Udo wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been searching for the same thing, ideally I'd like to buy an electronic scale with a digital I/O port. You may have more luck finding these in the US than I had in the EU, but in any case I wasn't able to find anything that hooks up to a computer in a non-proprietary way. As with home automation, all products seem to sync to the cloud, most of them in a one-way fashion. I lost track of this idea a few years a…

What about option 2.5? Rather than hack the hardware, hack the software; buy a cloud-synced scale and sniff the traffic it sends out with the pi.

Wouldn't that be option 1.5? ;)

Yes, in principle. If they are not obfuscating and/or encrypting their data, which is a big if. And you'd be bound to keeping that packet sniffer online forever, piping matching data to where you need it.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#472

Post by nagash »

HiroshiSan wrote: post #464
Udo wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as a counterpoint, I have found many, many uses for Pis in my life. One is hosting my home automation software, I have built several information radiators with it, one is acting as a network-controlled media player, I even made one that acts as a faux remote control for the AC with IR diodes attached to the GPIO ports. By contrast, I have several Arduino boards sitting here, and never found a good use for them.…

I have a Raspberry Pi 2 and would like to buy a digital scale, and somehow tweak it so that it can sync my weight with my myfitnesspal account anytime I weigh myself, how do you suggest I get started with this? I don't have much of an electronics background.

Why not use bluetooth and a Wii balance board? eg. https://github.com/damariei/wiiscale

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#473

Post by agumonkey »

Jemaclus wrote: post #417

I've got three Raspberry Pis. I don't know why. I don't know what to do with them. None of the projects that I've seen have been particularly compelling to me, and I'm not creative enough to come up with a good idea. So they sit on my desk, gathering dust, and act as a conversation piece when friends come over. "That? Yeah, I can build X, Y, or Z." and they say, "oooh, cool" and then I never actually follow through.…

The pi was an odd thing. Out of the box it was 'suited' for GPIO from python. For any better project you'd need to know electricity. Or going below and learn the SoC weird architecture...

But recently I used one as an IRC bouncer, and another as a XBMC host.

Before that I just wanted to see how arch+dwm+emacs would feel on a 700MHz prev-gen. ARM CPU. Acceptable. I tried to underclock it down to my first desktop computer freq (p75), I've never seen linux run on such slow freq.

I also enjoyed the pre-compiled cross compiler so I could write factorial on my x64 machine and then deploy it on my rpi cluster of 2. None of this is amazing and no hard requirement on a pi (I could have done the same in VMs or with MIPS emulators but ... it would be more setup and less toying).

Impulse buy for most.

ps: One more major downer for me, hardware compatibility, too frail. SDCard would fail, usb would fail, first psu would not push enough amps ... It made you realize how the ATX desktops shielded you. And now I was at the point where I couldn't be sure of anything without researching wikis for hours. Again electricity.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#474

Post by locusm »

Jemaclus wrote: post #417

I've got three Raspberry Pis. I don't know why. I don't know what to do with them. None of the projects that I've seen have been particularly compelling to me, and I'm not creative enough to come up with a good idea. So they sit on my desk, gathering dust, and act as a conversation piece when friends come over. "That? Yeah, I can build X, Y, or Z." and they say, "oooh, cool" and then I never actually follow through.…

I used my first Raspi to build one of these - got me interested in other music projects like DACs etc.

http://www.pimusicbox.com/

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#475

Post by dheera »

betandr wrote: post #443
dheera wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely an impressive feat. I really, really, really wish it had on-board Wi-Fi though. At least that would make it a useful web server. The way it's designed now, it's kind of unusable for anything useful without making it a 3X larger package. Add a Wi-Fi dongle and the converter from regular to micro-USB is about the size of the board itself. And since it only has 1 USB port, you'll need a full-blown hub to conn…

I totally agree. One of the reasons I've started using an Onion Omega is because of this reason. IoT is pointless if you can't connect to the I easily, IMHO.

Yeah, I played with an Onion Omega for a while. The downside to it is the horribly limiting 16MB flash (with 64MB RAM, WTF?). When I first read it, I thought it was 16GB and a typo. (We have 128GB micro-SD cards already, and all they could put was 16MB onto it?)

That's where the Pi excels since it has a micro-SD slot (and a much faster CPU of course). But then, no Wi-Fi ...

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#476

Post by nl »

HiroshiSan wrote: post #464
Udo wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as a counterpoint, I have found many, many uses for Pis in my life. One is hosting my home automation software, I have built several information radiators with it, one is acting as a network-controlled media player, I even made one that acts as a faux remote control for the AC with IR diodes attached to the GPIO ports. By contrast, I have several Arduino boards sitting here, and never found a good use for them.…

I have a Raspberry Pi 2 and would like to buy a digital scale, and somehow tweak it so that it can sync my weight with my myfitnesspal account anytime I weigh myself, how do you suggest I get started with this? I don't have much of an electronics background.

http://jcehle.com/bees/2013/10/16/sensing-weight-with-raspbe...

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10245

http://www.nerdkits.com/videos/weighscale/

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#477

Post by mrob »

dheera wrote: post #475
betandr wrote: post #443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally agree. One of the reasons I've started using an Onion Omega is because of this reason. IoT is pointless if you can't connect to the I easily, IMHO.

Yeah, I played with an Onion Omega for a while. The downside to it is the horribly limiting 16MB flash (with 64MB RAM, WTF?). When I first read it, I thought it was 16GB and a typo. (We have 128GB micro-SD cards already, and all they could put was 16MB onto it?) That's where the Pi excels since it has a micro-SD slot (and a much faster CPU of course). But then, no Wi-Fi ...

Not all flash is equal. If it's 16MB of fast NOR flash for direct code execution then it's not so bad.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#478

Post by aaggarwal »

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…

This is so cool, it's even cheaper than an Arduino. This could turn into a standard embedded development, OS development and learning board for every enthusiast and students.

The cost makes it a great choice for students with less resources.

This is easily my pocket pc now.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#479

Post by dakotasmith »

el_benhameen wrote: post #438
rsanders wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an awesome board for embedded development. Not as powerful or I/O rich as the Beaglebone Black, but add $6 worth of CAN transceiver chips and a 12V->5V switching power supply and you've got an incredibly powerful automotive compute unit. The Pi 1 was a bit underpowered for what I'm doing, and this might hit the sweet spot while dropping $35 off my unit cost for small quantities. None of the issues you mention…

That's exactly what I'm going to use this for, too. Right now I have an original Pi B logging GPS and OBD data, but it's crammed into a small storage spot in the car and is a big waste of space. I'm super excited to be able to cut my project to less than half its original size. I don't need ethernet (other than for debugging), four usb ports, etc. etc. I think this is going to be fantastic for creating homemade embed…

Do you have or did you follow a write up for this? I know I would be interested in reading how you set that up!

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#480

Post by lfowles »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #84
teh_klev wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure if you fancy the risk of your house going up in flames because you bought some dodgy no-name power supply knocked out in a Chinese electronics sweatshop.

How big is that a risk, though? Serious question - because I'm really considering using Chinese USB power supply units as power sources for my home automation project. I've been using one of those units for the last 5 days with no visible problems - no overheating, no noise, etc.

Anecdotal, but I replaced my eeepc's charger with a cheap compatible charger from ebay and about a year later, I heard some buzzing on the speakers at my desk followed by a bang at my feet. The caps blew the wall wart's case right open. :\
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