Should i consider getting a pi?

cyperghost

@wmcclelion said in Should i consider getting a pi?:

@cyperghost You forgot one for a Robotics build. I have a rover built that runs RetroPie as the OS distro. All I have to do is grab up my robot as is rolls by, turn off the battery pack for the motors and plug in a controller and HDMI cable and I have all my games ready to play.

Good place to start for robotics on the Pi: http://camjam.me/?page_id=1035
Includes source.

Hey that's pretty cool. Right I forget the robots based on RPi. It's easy to attach some ultrasonic sensors and read out distance data. So you just need to attach a LCD-panel to your robot so you can "go" retrogaming. And if you start to play Pokemon? How do you call it? Retro Pokemon Go!

cyperghost

@meleu Thank you for your efforts and energy for this project.

Arcuza

@PorkBeans For me it's one and only one reason for getting a PI compared to any other computer - It just runs, runs and runs.

No anti-virus, no system updates, no restarts, no crashes. No bloatware, no drivers...

It's like a purpose build always on system.

It's 100% quiet, no fans, no HDD spinning.

It's low power, mine consumes 8W when on and 0.2W when sleeping.

The community around the PI and its applications is great, people are experienced, willing to help and happy.

PorkBeans

As i said, i will definetly be getting one :)
Now i just need to convince my father to do this one with me, as i dont think he will be very convinced but i will try.
And about Amazon Echo, the article someone posted was about using them together. I dont have an echo. 200$...

And robots... portable pi? HELL YEAH opens Blender and starts modelling
And btw, the kit you linked, does it include some sort of way to control the robot with like a remote, controller, or such?
Thanks in advance

Meneer Jansen

If you like fiddling w/ hardware, if you're into computers, if you wanna learn something about Linux: buy one. Extra stuff you'll need are a plastic case (approx. $7) and, like the others said, a hdmi cable, a good power supply (this is less trivial than you might think), etc. etc. I bought this cheap power adapter for my Pi 1B. But the Pi 3 needs more power!

Good luck w/ convincing your dad and with using your Pi! :-)

meleu

@cyperghost said in Should i consider getting a pi?:

@meleu Thank you for your efforts and energy for this project.

You're welcome, but I think I don't deserve all this gratitude. :-)
I'm just an average RetroPie user... The credit goes to the core developers.

caver01

@Riverstorm said in Should i consider getting a pi?:

I think it would be interesting to know a bit (even if only RetroPie related) about the behind the scenes group! :)

There is a nice interview segment on The Pi Podcast, episode 13 (interview starts around 14:00.

mediamogul

@caver01

Great interview. Thanks for linking that.

cyperghost

@meleu You are much too humble :)

wmcclelion

@PorkBeans

And robots... portable pi? HELL YEAH opens Blender and starts modelling
And btw, the kit you linked, does it include some sort of way to control the robot with like a remote, controller, or such?
Thanks in advance

It doesn't directly, but I have modified python code you can connect to via ssh or a custom VB.Net app and drive the robot.

JFamily

@glennlake said in Should i consider getting a pi?:

If your married you can setup the kodi as a media center if you need a plus to sell it to your spouse.

This worked for me. I have two Pi's now! Of course, my wife played a ton of SNES when she was younger so the 2nd Pi wasn't as hard to sell to her as I thought it was going to be. The first one was a no brainer. A 50$US HTPC? The hard part was convincing her that it would be running linux.

PorkBeans

Ive done some research on Kodi.... what does it do?
Its a media center, i got it, but from what i got i need to transfer my files in, right? Well, i dont feel like its worth it i can just plug my drive to the TV and watch from there

Riverstorm

@caver01 said in Should i consider getting a pi?:

@Riverstorm said in Should i consider getting a pi?:

I think it would be interesting to know a bit (even if only RetroPie related) about the behind the scenes group! :)

There is a nice interview segment on The Pi Podcast, episode 13 (interview starts around 14:00.

Thanks Caver, this was interesting. It nice to kind hear their thoughts on the project as a whole, hurdles, how RetroPie was born, controllers, platforms, etc. I recognized Herb right away from other tutorial video's but it was a first hearing Buzz and Florian. I think it was quite useful and hope they continue to do Podcasts. I think it's really interesting knowing the guys on the backend. :)

mediamogul

@PorkBeans said in Should i consider getting a pi?:

Its a media center, i got it, but from what i got i need to transfer my files in, right?

You might want to dig a little deeper. There's almost nothing related to audio/video playback that it can't do.

PorkBeans

Installed on PC and checked it out. Its awesome! But i wont be getting a pi for it since my internet cant handle this. 400kbps download speed :/

mediamogul

@PorkBeans

The notorious uses of Kodi tend to overshadow it's amazing versatility in other areas, so here are a few legitimate uses to go alongside what you're likely to find.

Police/Fire/EMS scanner for just about every location in the world.
Access almost any radio station from almost any area of the world.
Make a karaoke machine in minutes that will retrieve the lyrics from any song played.
Access a never-ending selection of books on tape from the public domain.
Import a movie in any language and download/display legimate or fan-made subtitles automatically (I personally love Japanese horror).
Make a personal DVR machine more versatile than any commercial product with input from cable, satellite or over-the-air HD.

Meneer Jansen

@PorkBeans said in Should i consider getting a pi?:

Installed on PC and checked it out. Its awesome! But i wont be getting a pi for it since my internet cant handle this. 400kbps download speed :/

What do you mean by the internet remark exactly? I download my media files (films, music) on my desktop PC and then play it back w/ my Pi. Mind you: my Pi is connected to my home network via an UTP cable for speed and stability. I can connect an USB hard disk or USB DVD player too.

However, if you're satisfied w/ the playback capabilities of your smart-TV w/ a hard disk connected to it than a Pi might be overkill. What I like most about Kodi is that it remembers where I "left off" watching movies, but my cheap digital TV decoder does that too.

caver01

@Riverstorm said in Should i consider getting a pi?:

hope they continue to do Podcasts.

If it's not clear, or if you skipped to the interview, this wasn't a RetroPie podcast, it was a podcast called The Pi Podcast hosted by a group of Pi enthusiasts. In this episode, they interviewed our beloved core developers, but The Pi Podcast has just concluded their final episode and will be on permanent hiatus due to host time constraints.