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A Raspberry Pi-powered live train station sign

balena.io

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Re: A Raspberry Pi-powered live train station sign

#22
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They would, but the Pi Zero is a much better UX for people who don't deal with microprocessors on a regular basis. It has SSH, I can get in and look at logs from my desktop, wifi is standard. It all adds up - and for something like this, the power draw is not an issue, and the cost is minimal.

This is the hardware equivalent of bloated webpages HN tends to dislike :P

It costs six bucks and runs something very close to stock Debian, which greatly eases software development.

Re: A Raspberry Pi-powered live train station sign

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the hardware equivalent of bloated webpages HN tends to dislike :P

It costs six bucks and runs something very close to stock Debian, which greatly eases software development.

Yes, and Electron allows people to use JavaScript and CSS which simplifies cross-platform software development.

Re: A Raspberry Pi-powered live train station sign

#25
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They would, but the Pi Zero is a much better UX for people who don't deal with microprocessors on a regular basis. It has SSH, I can get in and look at logs from my desktop, wifi is standard. It all adds up - and for something like this, the power draw is not an issue, and the cost is minimal.

This is the hardware equivalent of bloated webpages HN tends to dislike :P

It is - but the same applies to a lot of webpages - would people create them if they had to lovingly handcraft every html tag on a page? :)

Re: A Raspberry Pi-powered live train station sign

#26
post #15

Very cool but I find a pi is overkill for something like this. ESP8266 or ESP32 would work just as well.

On the other hand, it is also overkill to learn how to program and deal with an ESP32 if you already know some light linux sysadmining and some high level programming language to set this up.

ESP32 can run μPython which should make it quite a bit easier for those that know some high level programming language. For me using an ESP32 seems like the more reliable, secure, easier and faster solution but people have their preferences and I relate to it being a bit scary at first.

Re: A Raspberry Pi-powered live train station sign

#27
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the hardware equivalent of bloated webpages HN tends to dislike :P

It is - but the same applies to a lot of webpages - would people create them if they had to lovingly handcraft every html tag on a page? :)

They would probably create them less, but suggesting people to sometimes hand-craft HTML tags for less resource usage and more speed isn't bad, is it?

Re: A Raspberry Pi-powered live train station sign

#29
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They would, but the Pi Zero is a much better UX for people who don't deal with microprocessors on a regular basis. It has SSH, I can get in and look at logs from my desktop, wifi is standard. It all adds up - and for something like this, the power draw is not an issue, and the cost is minimal.

This is the hardware equivalent of bloated webpages HN tends to dislike :P

I think the relevant distinction that should be made is that a bloated hardware project is only going to be seen and experienced by one person, whereas a bloated website is slow for all.

Re: A Raspberry Pi-powered live train station sign

#30
post #14
post #2

That is super cool. But admittedly when I saw the title i was hoping for a mini version of those massive flipboard signs. Those things are amazing.

They're really cool! The original Solari board modules are mega expensive though. I looked at getting some to make a clock, and it probably would have cost me in the thousands. As an indirect result I now have a project in the works to make them. The concept is simple, but building them to be inexpensive is a challenge. Every extra bracket or fastener gets multiplied by _n_ modules.

I too have been wanting to make a split-flap display. I would be interested to hear more about your project if you have any posts or resources somewhere.
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