Raspberry Pi discussion
 

Although I had registered an interest at the Raspberry Pi site, on the launch morning they swapped to using RSWWW and Farnell components as resellers.

I was driving at the time so I was too late to place an order and since then I've only been able to 'register an interest' at the RSWWW site (and I've not received any email confirmation that my interest really has been registered).

But this morning, I found this link at Farnell that actually let me place an order. I don't know if it will work for people outside the UK, but it's probably worth trying if you've not ordered already:

http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/pro...sp?SKU=2081185

I don't know when the thing might actually arrive as all stock is sold out, but now I at least feel as though I'm in a queue.

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

Here's where you preorder from the US:

http://www.newark.com/raspberry-pi/r...cba/dp/83T1943

I was able to get to that page before, but they had a $20 handling fee, so I didn't order. Not even shipping, just handling! They've fixed it now, though, so I have also ordered mine. Which I did before I posted the link, just in case of cutters.

It gives the estimated shipping date as April 3 or something.

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

Here is the update they posted today.

The important part is that they're going to be able to manufacture them on demand rather than in 10k batches, so there shouldn't be any more clusterfucks like the one that just happened. I've been a pretty brave hero about this, if I do say so myself, but honestly, if I'd been stuck going back to the back of the line again, after signing up for notifications 500 years ago, being there ahead of time for the announcement and everything and STILL not being able to order, I probably would get p. mad.

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

Well, now that I also have one ordered, I'm thinking about it cases and stuff again. I was trying not to before, but now I'm going to Occupy Your Thrad.

It's apparently just a tetch bigger than an Altoids tin, so that's out.

I was considering maybe doing one of those cutesy things where you put new components in the case for something obsolete. But I'd much prefer to have something that retains some function to it rather than having it be all nonfunctional and cosmetic. I have a couple of Sinclairs 1000, but modding it so the keyboard would be usable might be out of my depth. Maybe a PDA or something?

Of all the hastily constructed and mostly empty placeholder sites for project and case ideas and stuff, this one looks the most promising so far:

Raspberry Pi Hacks, Tricks & Tips: Fun ideas for your Raspberry Pi Computer

Also, this guy made a terrible video for some reason with serving suggestions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIRox_x-LUo#!

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

I received an update from Farnell that the current estimate for the delivery of my Pi is during week commencing May 14.

:waiting:

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

One of the comments there suggests removing the number pad keys from a standard USB keyboard and mounting the Pi in the resulting space. :chin:

If you could get one of those keyboards that also works as a USB hub, that could be quite a neat installation.

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

Very interesting. That is the least expensive SBC I have seen.

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

I don't even know if I have ordered at this point, but whatever. Still waiting for stuff to cool down and get sorted, so I'm just putting this here for later because if I ever manage to get one, its ultimate purpose is probably going to be as an HTPC:

OpenELEC for Raspberry Pi | Raspberry Pi

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

'Testing delays dog delivery of Raspberry Pi machines'
:dogrun:

OMG cep, they're going to deliver it with DOGS! :laugh:

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

I've been getting stuff ready for when the Pi arrives. Turns out I already had everything I needed lying around the house:

• A suitable power supply - mine is a 'universal phone charger' that puts out 5V at up to 1A, and has the right micro USB connector.
• A USB keyboard and mouse, also a USB hub.
• I downloaded the Raspberry Pi Fedora Remix 14 image and put it on an SD card I had to hand. The tool that installed the image wrote a 1.77GB image to the card. From Windows it now appears as the volume 'Raspi_Boot' with a 100MB volume size of which 85MB is free.
• The SD card I used is a TDK 4GB SD HC class 6 card, left over from a work project. I think it should be OK. :crossed:
• I have a spare HDMI cable that came free with a satellite decoder (and I didn't use it as I already had a cable from the previous unit).

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

I tried to mention the Raspberry Pi to a friend of mine, maybe he was drunk, but he went on and on about a programming language named Scratch. Does anyone one have any experience with that? It's a free tutorial thing.

Scratch | Home | imagine, program, share

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

I have, I think on my XO, and I assume I was doing it in order to make recommendations for my nephews or some other infant. Obviously, I didn't mess around with it a whole lot or I'd remember more specifically about it and how it compares to other similar tools, but I do remember being really really impressed with the general quality of kids' programming tools.

You should totally try it out, then show you-know-who some cool stuff with it and tell him he isn't allowed to use it because it is only for grownups.

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

UPDATE: I have installed it, and I made a thing where that cat walks, then turns upside down, farts ten times, then turns back rightside up.

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

My brother teaches Scratch for KS3 kids (those aged 11-14 in the UK) and he thinks it's a brilliant way to get kids doing basic programming. My niece was putting together little animations in it last week, and seemed to be having fun.

I have to have a soft-spot for anything that's built off Smalltalk.

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

Farnell have sent me a delayed yet again 'revised' delivery estimate of week commencing May 28.

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

A packet arrived in the post this morning. Photos below are thumbnails. Click on any photo to see a (much) bigger version.

<a href="http://ceptimus.co.uk/freethought/images/pi/one.jpg" target="_blank">http://ceptimus.co.uk/freethought/images/pi/t_one.jpg</a>

<a href="http://ceptimus.co.uk/freethought/images/pi/two.jpg" target="_blank">http://ceptimus.co.uk/freethought/images/pi/t_two.jpg</a>

<a href="http://ceptimus.co.uk/freethought/images/pi/three.jpg" target="_blank">http://ceptimus.co.uk/freethought/images/pi/t_three.jpg</a>

<a href="http://ceptimus.co.uk/freethought/images/pi/four.jpg" target="_blank">http://ceptimus.co.uk/freethought/images/pi/t_four.jpg</a>

<a href="http://ceptimus.co.uk/freethought/images/pi/five.jpg" target="_blank">http://ceptimus.co.uk/freethought/images/pi/t_five.jpg</a>

<a href="http://ceptimus.co.uk/freethought/images/pi/six.jpg" target="_blank">http://ceptimus.co.uk/freethought/images/pi/t_six.jpg</a>

<a href="http://ceptimus.co.uk/freethought/images/pi/seven.jpg" target="_blank">http://ceptimus.co.uk/freethought/images/pi/t_seven.jpg</a>

<a href="http://ceptimus.co.uk/freethought/images/pi/eight.jpg" target="_blank">http://ceptimus.co.uk/freethought/images/pi/t_eight.jpg</a>

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

:fixed:

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

I've been having problems with SD cards. You can see one problem on the startup screen above: "Kernel panic - not syncing:" This is with the 4GB TDK card I mentioned above.

I swapped to using a 2GB micro SD card in an adapter. That displays lots of errors on the startup screen, but works reliably, albeit slowly, once the system has finished booting.

I read on the various forums that this is a known problem, but I've not found any definitiive advice like 'buy card X and it will be okay' - it seems that there are many fake SD cards out there anyway. Some of the reports of working cards may actually be fake cards but how can you be sure that you'll buy the correct brand of fake? I shall buy a few cheap 4GB SD cards from various sources over the next few days and hope that at least one of them works well (and fast) with the Pi. :crossed:

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

You know about this site? It's kind of sloppy looking, but I have them bookmarked for that purpose. SOSFakeFlash

IIRC, the upshot is that your best bet is to buy cards from big retailers. The downside, of course, is that it costs more.

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

The TDK card I bought from Tesco (I think Tesco is the biggest supermarket chain in the UK). The micro SD that works ok but slowly, after the errors displayed on startup is a Kingston card in a Kingston adapter; I can't remember where I got that one.

I read some reports that the latest fastest class 10 cards are least likely to work well with the Pi. Also some advice not to buy large capacity cards (bigger than 4GB) as it takes much longer to flash the images to and from larger cards.

I'd really prefer to buy cards that would be useful in cameras and such if they don't work in the Pi. However, for cameras I would prefer to buy large capacity and fast cards, so it's something of a dilemma.

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

Posting this from the rPi using the default Midori browser. I bought a new SD card today - I went into Maplins and asked them for the cheapest card they had. The rPi is working from it now. It's a CnMemory (no, I never heard of them either) 8GB Class 4 card. I didn't see any error messages during the boot phase and the rPi definitely seems to run quicker than with the micro SD card plus adapter.

:woohoo:

For a 'lightweight desktop' with a 'lightweight browser' it seems pretty good. Some of the bigger animated smilies and avatars flicker, but other than that it seems pretty much like firefox.

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

Congratulations! :rasp::piecannon:

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

Pi users! Be sure to try several different SD cards, even if you have one that apparently works without displaying any error messages.

I was working away with the CnMemory card that I posted about above. It was running a bit slow, but I thought, 'What do you expect from a computer that cost $40 and only uses two watts of power?'

I wanted some more working SD cards so I could quickly switch between different set ups. So I bought a twin pack of SanDisk 4GB class 4 cards that were on offer at Tesco. They make the Pi run about three times faster than the CnMemory card, even though the CnMemory one is class 6 and the SanDisk are 'only' class 4.

I've updated the wiki at elinux.org to reflect my findings. The troubleshooting page there I highly recommend. It told me how to get sound working into my TV via the HDMI cable, and also how to resize the 'overscan' on the display to get the picture to fill the screen properly.

Re: Raspberry Pi discussion
 

Oops! To late to edit, but I realise in my last post I screwed up the bit about class 6 and class 4. It's the non-pi-working TDK card that's class 6. The SanDisk and CnMemory are both class 4. :blush:

The music playing abilities of the Pi are pretty good, even though the sound driver is only an alpha. I've got it running through a playlist of .mp3s now as I type this - and it's getting that music from a Linux server running a Samba (Windows type cifs) file share.

I've also got the Pi set up now so I can drive the command line using SSH and see the graphics screen with VNC over the network. So I can run on another PC - a Windows one if I wish, and remotely control and monitor the Pi. When I need to use a 'big' computer for something, like making notes, I don't have to keep switching mice/keyboards/monitors to swap between that and the Pi.

:geek: