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Ten million Raspberry Pis

raspberrypi.org

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Re: Ten million Raspberry Pis

#41

Post by AstroJetson »

yardie wrote: post #13
creshal wrote: post #2

I wonder how many of them are just collecting dust in peoples' desk drawers. We ordered two of the original ones for our office to play around with them, but only now, after 4½ years, I finally managed to find use for one as music player, after I decided I was too lazy to plug/unplug the speakers from my laptop.

I have an original Pi 1. When I first got it it was also collecting dust. Now it's on our boat, monitoring power, watching the bilge pumps, and uploading AIS traffic to marine traffic and aishub. And when sailing it pumps out instrument data to a smartwatch. What it does is up to you, you are only limited by your imagination.

Add me to the list that would like to hear more about the boat monitor and AIS systems.

Re: Ten million Raspberry Pis

#42

Post by boznz »

One of my clients has just started using them as the smarts in its range of industrial tank controllers. I've persuaded them to open source one of the smaller hardware designs to put back to the community so there's another few hundred pi's that will be sold over the next few years. (http://rodyne.com/?p=754)

With the right power supply and watchdog controls and tons of information how to use them they are quite suitable for many non-critical automation tasks.

Re: Ten million Raspberry Pis

#44

Post by nickpsecurity »

pjc50 wrote: post #34
nickpsecurity wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. The eBay hand-me-down market is strong for high-performance gear in this range. I've also seen FPGA kits and SGI Altix servers at similar price. Nothing wrong with new products at various price points but lets not kid ourselves on their relative value.

I think people are too keen to dismiss the Pi's hardware without realising that that's not where the Pi foundation puts most of its efforts and staff: it's the educational materials that are the focus and the hardware is a means to deliver them. In other words, if you can make use of an FPGA or an SGI you're not the primary target market. Even if more Pi have gone to hobbyists than children, the children are still th…

I can easily put a Windows or Linux desktop on a hand-me-down with tons of learning potential. Likewise, things like Scratch language and OLPC were well-designed for kids to pick up with ease. RPi and its ecosystem are pretty complicated compared to most child-oriented products. So, how is it actually doing in the child market? Im curious.

Esp vs something like Lego Mindstorms.

Re: Ten million Raspberry Pis

#45

Post by pjc50 »

nickpsecurity wrote: post #44
pjc50 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people are too keen to dismiss the Pi's hardware without realising that that's not where the Pi foundation puts most of its efforts and staff: it's the educational materials that are the focus and the hardware is a means to deliver them. In other words, if you can make use of an FPGA or an SGI you're not the primary target market. Even if more Pi have gone to hobbyists than children, the children are still th…

I can easily put a Windows or Linux desktop on a hand-me-down with tons of learning potential. Likewise, things like Scratch language and OLPC were well-designed for kids to pick up with ease. RPi and its ecosystem are pretty complicated compared to most child-oriented products. So, how is it actually doing in the child market? Im curious. Esp vs something like Lego Mindstorms.

Scratch on the Pi is quite popular.

The OLPC was in some ways the anti-inspiration for the Pi foundation, who wanted to learn from its failure. Lego Mindstorms are pretty good but much more expensive.

Again, more important than the actual hardware is the collateral, e.g. http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/by-subject/computing/ra... (OCR are one of the exam boards), which meets the bureaucratic criteria for use in schools and is targeted at teachers who may themselves not be very computer literate and need handholding.

The use of a standard platform rather than hand-me-downs avoids tripping up over incompatibility issues. Also, you can't bulk order hand-me-downs as easily. Whereas you can order a box of Pi devices and pre-installed SD cards and the whole thing works with almost no setup. Remember, you can't assume anyone in the school knows Linux.

Re: Ten million Raspberry Pis

#46

Post by yardie »

ensignavenger wrote: post #37
yardie wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an original Pi 1. When I first got it it was also collecting dust. Now it's on our boat, monitoring power, watching the bilge pumps, and uploading AIS traffic to marine traffic and aishub. And when sailing it pumps out instrument data to a smartwatch. What it does is up to you, you are only limited by your imagination.

I recently acquired an old sailboat and have a couple of 1st gen Pis looking for a job- would be very interested in reading more about your system!

There is a project out there called freeboard-server it turns out boats NMEA data into html and json. Another project, kplex, multiplexes the boat data, NMEA, into something usable.

Most of this was done while we were on sabbatical. And we didn't have a lot of Internet access. But I'll try and compile my project into something presentable.

Re: Ten million Raspberry Pis

#47

Post by nickpsecurity »

pjc50 wrote: post #45
nickpsecurity wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can easily put a Windows or Linux desktop on a hand-me-down with tons of learning potential. Likewise, things like Scratch language and OLPC were well-designed for kids to pick up with ease. RPi and its ecosystem are pretty complicated compared to most child-oriented products. So, how is it actually doing in the child market? Im curious. Esp vs something like Lego Mindstorms.

Scratch on the Pi is quite popular. The OLPC was in some ways the anti-inspiration for the Pi foundation, who wanted to learn from its failure. Lego Mindstorms are pretty good but much more expensive. Again, more important than the actual hardware is the collateral, e.g. http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/by-subject/computing/ra... (OCR are one of the exam boards), which meets the bureaucratic criteria for use in s…

I didn't realize they ported Scratch, factored in OLPC, and weighing OCR. Latter is especially smart as cash-strapped schools or states might find it desirable so long as it has necessary learning materials and software for instructors with it. I agree on compatibility benefit. I didnt realize they had put this much effort into the chilren angle.

Well, thanks for telling me! You got any links showing good progress or case studies in educational use where replication is doable without ultra-talented teachers?

Re: Ten million Raspberry Pis

#48

Post by anotherevan »

nikon wrote: post #24

I found quite a good use for mine. I'm sure I could achieve it with something like DD-WRT, but it was fun: Installed Debian on a Pi 3 Model B. Put the device in a case[0]. Installed dnsmasq[1] to manage local DHCP/DNS. Forwards to Google DNS. Also have everything running on a local search domain, along with some reservations. Installed OpenVPN along with a dynamic DNS daemon[2] so I can VPN into my home network from…

I similarly use a Pi 3 as a X2Go/NX gateway box for remote access to office machines from home.

I'm hesitant on using it as a network gateway as I'm not sure the LAN port would be fast enough (just an impression, never actually got around to checking that) and would need a second LAN port (at least) to do the job properly.

Am considering using one as a MQTT server as part of a home automation infrastructure. Could even use the on board wi-fi as a separate, carefully firewalled network for the various devices I might prefer not to have on the main network.

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