Raspberry Pi the next nerf mod?

[RedShirtWanderer]

Good Day Ladies and Gents, Raspberry Pi has been on my mind for a while now and unfortunately I missed the first sale of it. If you don’t know what the Pi is you probably think I’m off my steamy rocker. So let me back up some. Raspberry Pi is a credit card sized micro computer built with generic parts to keep the cost ULTRA low ($25-$35 usd).  The Pi packs some impressive stats and because of everything it offers I think it may be the next “nerf mod” of the steampunk world.  Check out their website to get all its stats so I don’t have to list them here in the start of this post. I would like to take mine when I get it, mate it up to a micro projector and then shoe horn it all into a vintage film projector to watch T.V. and what not through.  Here is there website   http://www.raspberrypi.org/  What would you do with it? I know this was talked about before but I wanted to bring it up again now that the Pi is for sale.
   

[Capt James Salt]

[k-9]

i ordered one but now on a back order   

[dex drako]

I think you mean what can't you do with that.

though it may be a little over the top for most everyday mods but you can do some real wicked stuff with it. just think about it real working screens on aether scanners or  heck real working wrist computers!

the possibilities are endless

[Professor J. Cogsworthy]

I think you mean what can't you do with that.

though it may be a little over the top for most everyday mods but you can do some real wicked stuff with it. just think about it real working screens on aether scanners or  heck real working wrist computers!

the possibilities are endless

Hmmm... are small display screens on the general market or would
you need to hack an existing device?

Some of the touch screen smart phone are pretty much already there though....



ooooh... portable video calls! maybe?

[Dr. Ironbeard]

I'm just amazed at the size of the thing!! Especially when considering that I'm from the pre calculator, PC and Cellphone era. The first PC I actually used was a huge/heavy/armour plated and shielded military 8088 system with no hard drive, an amber monitor, no mouse and 7+ inch actual floppy floppy disks! Amazing!

[Augustus Longeye]

I must admit the Pi is amazing, I'd love to get my hands on one...
As to "is it the next nerf" I day; by God I hope so! I've only explored (not physically, mentally ) a few things you can do with it, but there really is no limit.
With regards to a wrist-mounted computer; to be honest you're probably better off ripping apart a mobile phone and remodelling it, the Pi is still a little too bulky to work with a screen, purely because of all the connections it has.
Other uses? Well.... aside from the computer in your pocket? I suppose with a bit of work you could get a small screen (not a tiny screen) and hook it all up, have yourself a tiny desktop?
~Longeye~

EDIT: Doctor Ironbeard; I still have a 7" floppy (minds out of the gutters lads) somewhere... It got left behind by an old technology teacher and I thought; why not?
I've got nothing to run the damned thing with, but it's a piece of history

[akumabito]

How would you shoot darts with it though?

*cough*

It's an awesome little thing though. Their computing power is comparabele to an average desktop computer of a little over a decade ago..

[dex drako]

Hmmm... are small display screens on the general market or would
you need to hack an existing device?

Some of the touch screen smart phone are pretty much already there though....



ooooh... portable video calls! maybe?

small screens are all over the internet you just have to look for them ( spark fun sells a PSP screen with touch ability)

As for your other point yes you can get away with using  a cell phone for a wrist computer but you're going to be a lot more limited. Even beyond the obvious constraints of the shape, size and arrangement of the stuff on the phone say you wanted to add some computer controlled special effects like blinked led, control an analog gauge (we are talking steampunk after all) or add sensors. With the Pi all you do is use the GPIO pins but with a cell phone you would have to run it through a microcontroller.

  Sure the connectors would be a problem but it’s simple enough to unsolder them from the board and put them where you want.  This way may not be as simple as making a cover for a cell but, at least to me, the Idea that I can not only make it nice looking but functional  and maybe even more useful makes it worth it.

[Hektor Plasm]

Two words spring to mind- Interactive Goggles!   

HP

[Siliconous Skumins]

I have several plans for these, though the first one will be for the robot vacuum cleaner I'm currently building (non steamy - so far...). It will be slightly overkill, but for the price and performance, it's a no-brainer. I need it for the localisation and mapping software (a probable combination of SLAM and wavefront algorithm) due to the memory requirements.

I also have plans for a steamy computer mod based on a RPi though.

SS

[RedShirtWanderer]

These are all great ideas! I also like the factory case they sell with it.  I had the idea today of integrating it into a self contained multi media jet pack. One tank could be the speakers the other the projector.  The Pi itself will run on 4 AA batteries for a couple of hours. It would be way cool to project your rocket flames on the floor behind you as you move with accompanying sound.   

[akumabito]

They could also revolutionize RC flying - autopilot software and hardware is insanely expensive at the moment. If you could add a cheapish GPS module and wireless networking to something like this, you're all set!

[von Corax]

They could also revolutionize RC flying - autopilot software and hardware is insanely expensive at the moment. If you could add a cheapish GPS module and wireless networking to something like this, you're all set!

How do you define "insanely expensive?" SparkFun's ArduPilot Mega lists for ~US$60. Granted, you still need the IMU shield (~US$150) and a US$60ish GPS module, but I don't think that's unreasonable if you're serious about that sort of thing.

Of course, you could go completely nuts and wire an ArduPilot and an RPi together for, I don't know, a topo mapping drone or something?

[akumabito]

They could also revolutionize RC flying - autopilot software and hardware is insanely expensive at the moment. If you could add a cheapish GPS module and wireless networking to something like this, you're all set!

How do you define "insanely expensive?" SparkFun's ArduPilot Mega lists for ~US$60. Granted, you still need the IMU shield (~US$150) and a US$60ish GPS module, but I don't think that's unreasonable if you're serious about that sort of thing.

Of course, you could go completely nuts and wire an ArduPilot and an RPi together for, I don't know, a topo mapping drone or something?

Admittedly, it's been a while since I looked into auto pilot systems.. I seem to recall prices of $600 to $800..

[James Harrison]

Someone's gotta say it.... Farnsworth Communicator.... I spent my horus at work today contemplating exactly how I would go from a Rapsberry Pi to one....

[dex drako]

Someone's gotta say it.... Farnsworth Communicator.... I spent my horus at work today contemplating exactly how I would go from a Rapsberry Pi to one....

that brings up one of my biggest pet peeves about displays of today LCD, E-ink, plasma it doesn't matter they're all rectangles. I mean how hard can it be to make a round screen or maybe just rounded corners?

Anyway beyond my issues back to the Farnsworth.

The Raspberry Pi can run a camera onboard out of the box it seems so that helps and a normal display can just be put behind a mask. What’s nice is you could use a monochrome camera and display to save a little money and make it look authentic at the same time. The biggest design decisions I see are choosing how and to whom you want to communicate too.

There are cellular modules.

Which are chips on average about one inch/2.5 cm in size, which has every function of a cell phone. This would give you the range of any normal cell phone but you have to pay for a plan to use it. Another benefit is you could use it as a real cellphone but I don’t know enough about that to know if the video part would work with a normal cell.

Another way would be to use Wi-Fi.

This has less range of course but has higher data rates and no plan to pay for which is nice. plus if you get a 900 MHz one they have a nice range inside and outside. 

Now who do you want to talk to?

If you want them to only work with other “Farnsworths” you could use push buttons like the prop does.  So in this setup Each button would be preset to call one person only.   If you want to use it as a normal phone then you’ll have to either give it a number pad or use programed drop down menus.


well that's just my view but hope it helped a little.

[queenofgoblins]

I'm just deciding how I'm going to beat strip down which operating systems. I aim to get it to at least dual boot =D

I'm thinking very basic crunchbang =3

[Wormster]

Which are chips on average about one inch/2.5 cm in size, which has every function of a cell phone. This would give you the range of any normal cell phone but you have to pay for a plan to use it. Another benefit is you could use it as a real cellphone but I don’t know enough about that to know if the video part would work with a normal cell.

Another way would be to use Wi-Fi.

This has less range of course but has higher data rates and no plan to pay for which is nice. plus if you get a 900 MHz one they have a nice range inside and outside. 

From what I understand there is NO wireless connectivity on a raspberry Pi board, afterall it IS a stripped down barebones system, that HAPPENS to us the same processor as most smart phones, not all of the aforesaid phone functions are used, I'd go so far as to suggest that because its a barebones system all of the processor power is utilised just to keep the thing going.

I'm just deciding how I'm going to beat strip down which operating systems. I aim to get it to at least dual boot =D

WHY?? it looks like it will only cope with 1 o\s why stuff it up with dual boot, the poor thing will have an identity crisis!!

A mate tried a triple boot on his dell (Ebil Gates, Ebil Jobs and the little Penguin) and it stuffed his system up good and propa, to the point that he had to COMPLETLEY reconfigure his system (Stoopid went with the Ebil Gates windowz Seben and hated it!!))

[Augustus Longeye]

I'm loving the Farnsworth idea... I'm sure that whilst the Pi doesn't come with any wireless, you could rig one up somehow. It might even be possible to bluetooth connect it, and link it to a mobile so it acts as a headset? Maybe add video somehow?
At this point you can tell I'm not an engineer, or particularly good with the physicality of electronics...
~Longeye~

[dex drako]

From what I understand there is NO wireless connectivity on a raspberry Pi board, afterall it IS a stripped down barebones system, that HAPPENS to us the same processor as most smart phones, not all of the aforesaid phone functions are used, I'd go so far as to suggest that because its a barebones system all of the processor power is utilised just to keep the thing going.

the raspberry Pi board may not have built in wireless but it does have two USB ports, ethernet port and GPIO pinsit's very easy to add it on at a low cost.  the cellular modules I was talking about are stand alone devices that runs between 40 to 200 dollars US for 4G speeds. as for Wi-Fi there are countless small stand alone ones made for robot and microcontrols that would work work just fine with the raspberry Pi

[von Corax]

From what I understand there is NO wireless connectivity on a raspberry Pi board, afterall it IS a stripped down barebones system, that HAPPENS to us the same processor as most smart phones, not all of the aforesaid phone functions are used, I'd go so far as to suggest that because its a barebones system all of the processor power is utilised just to keep the thing going.

the raspberry Pi board may not have built in wireless but it does have two USB ports, ethernet port and GPIO pinsit's very easy to add it on at a low cost.  the cellular modules I was talking about are stand alone devices that runs between 40 to 200 dollars US for 4G speeds. as for Wi-Fi there are countless small stand alone ones made for robot and microcontrols that would work work just fine with the raspberry Pi

Quite. Check out SparkFun's online catalogue. (I'm not affiliated with them; they just have the nicest online catalogue that I know of.) Cellular modules, Bluetooth modules and WiFi modules are all astonishingly tiny (I have a USB WiFi adapter the size of a thumb drive.)

I'm just deciding how I'm going to beat strip down which operating systems. I aim to get it to at least dual boot =D

WHY??

Wormster, one of the most fundamentally offensive questions I know of is, "Why would you want to do that?"

[James Harrison]

Someone's gotta say it.... Farnsworth Communicator.... I spent my horus at work today contemplating exactly how I would go from a Rapsberry Pi to one....

that brings up one of my biggest pet peeves about displays of today LCD, E-ink, plasma it doesn't matter they're all rectangles. I mean how hard can it be to make a round screen or maybe just rounded corners?

Anyway beyond my issues back to the Farnsworth.

The Raspberry Pi can run a camera onboard out of the box it seems so that helps and a normal display can just be put behind a mask. What’s nice is you could use a monochrome camera and display to save a little money and make it look authentic at the same time. The biggest design decisions I see are choosing how and to whom you want to communicate too.

There are cellular modules.

Which are chips on average about one inch/2.5 cm in size, which has every function of a cell phone. This would give you the range of any normal cell phone but you have to pay for a plan to use it. Another benefit is you could use it as a real cellphone but I don’t know enough about that to know if the video part would work with a normal cell.

Another way would be to use Wi-Fi.

This has less range of course but has higher data rates and no plan to pay for which is nice. plus if you get a 900 MHz one they have a nice range inside and outside. 

Now who do you want to talk to?

If you want them to only work with other “Farnsworths” you could use push buttons like the prop does.  So in this setup Each button would be preset to call one person only.   If you want to use it as a normal phone then you’ll have to either give it a number pad or use programed drop down menus.


well that's just my view but hope it helped a little.

The idea I've been toying with (which I feel may seem a little easy... there must be a catch somewhere and there probably is) is to use a USB hub, which would then allow me to 'plug in' various little readily-bought bits.  A micro webcam and microphone, laptop speaker and so on.  I did find Toshiba made a circular LCD monitor of about the right size.... but only as a concept piece 

As to how to make it able to ring people, my 'solution' if it could be termed as such would be to plug in a dongle (is this the cellular module you refer to?) and use it for skype... I suppose it would also be possible to (to take the concept and run with it) add in a micro keyboard into the lid of the case and use it as, in essence, a micro-transportable computer (albeit one without the capability of plugging in external hard drives, printer/scanner/copiers, memory sticks or any other such accesory.  But with cloud computing I'm sure this wouldn't be as big a deal as it may appear).  But as pointed out there are doubts it could run with a dongle or wireless device.   

At the moment I'm seriously looking into it (pricing up bits from Maplins and suchlike), but I somewhat doubt I'll get around to it.  Plus of course computer wizardry is not one of my strongpoints.   

[queenofgoblins]

WHY?? it looks like it will only cope with 1 o\s why stuff it up with dual boot, the poor thing will have an identity crisis!!

A mate tried a triple boot on his dell (Ebil Gates, Ebil Jobs and the little Penguin) and it stuffed his system up good and propa, to the point that he had to COMPLETLEY reconfigure his system (Stoopid went with the Ebil Gates windowz Seben and hated it!!))

Well I have had my laptop triple boot with Ubuntu, Windows 7 ultimate and a little minimal crunchbang. My laptop was perfectly fine with it and it's only some crappy cheap acer I got with a phone contract.

If you install operating systems carefully and don't install a bunch of unnecessary packages etc then it should be fine. At the moment I have Fedora, Windows 7 ultimate and I have a partition spare for when the newest Ubuntu comes out.

With the raspberry pi, it's for the challenge. In theory it can be done. I want to see if it would work in practice.

[Wormster]

With the raspberry pi, it's for the challenge. In theory it can be done. I want to see if it would work in practice.

Ok fair enough, I can live with that, good luck I hope you manage to get dual boot!