riquenunes 54 Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 (edited) About: The idea behind a tiny and cheap computer for kids came in 2006, when Eben Upton and his colleagues at the University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory, including Rob Mullins, Jack Lang and Alan Mycroft, became concerned about the year-on-year decline in the numbers and skills levels of the A Level students applying to read Computer Science in each academic year. From a situation in the 1990s where most of the kids applying were coming to interview as experienced hobbyist programmers, the landscape in the 2000s was very different; a typical applicant might only have done a little web design. Something had changed the way kids were interacting with computers. A number of problems were identified: the colonisation of the ICT curriculum with lessons on using Word and Excel, or writing webpages; the end of the dot-com boom; and the rise of the home PC and games console to replace the Amigas, BBC Micros, Spectrum ZX and Commodore 64 machines that people of an earlier generation learned to program on. There isn’t much any small group of people can do to address problems like an inadequate school curriculum or the end of a financial bubble. But we felt that we could try to do something about the situation where computers had become so expensive and arcane that programming experimentation on them had to be forbidden by parents; and to find a platform that, like those old home computers, could boot into a programming environment. From 2006 to 2008, Eben designed several versions of what has now become the Raspberry Pi; you can see one of the earliest prototypes here. By 2008, processors designed for mobile devices were becoming more affordable, and powerful enough to provide excellent multimedia, a feature we felt would make the board desirable to kids who wouldn’t initially be interested in a purely programming-oriented device. The project started to look very realisable. Eben (now a chip architect at Broadcom), Rob, Jack and Alan, teamed up with Pete Lomas, MD of hardware design and manufacture company Norcott Technologies, and David Braben, co-author of the seminal BBC Micro game Elite, to form the Raspberry Pi Foundation to make it a reality. Three years later, we’re just going into mass production through licensed manufacture deals with element 14/Premier Farnell and RS Electronics – although it’s just the beginning of the Raspberry Pi story. We’ve had enormous interest, support and help from the educational community, and we’ve been delighted and a little humbled by the number of enquiries from agencies and people far away from our original targets for the device. Developing countries are interested in the Raspberry Pi as productivity devices in areas that simply can’t afford the power and hardware needed to run a traditional desktop PC; hospitals and museums have contacted us to find out about using the Raspberry Pi to drive display devices. Parents of severely disabled kids have talked to us about monitoring and accessibility applications; and there seem to be a million and one people out there with hot soldering irons who want to make a robot. We don’t claim to have all the answers. We don’t think that the Raspberry Pi is a fix to all of the world’s computing issues; we do believe that we can be a catalyst. We want to see cheap, accessible, programmable computers everywhere; we actively encourage other companies to clone what we’re doing. We want to break the paradigm where without spending hundreds of pounds on a PC, families can’t use the internet. We want owning a truly personal computer to be normal for children. We think that 2012 is going to be a very exciting year. Website: http://www.raspberrypi.org/ The Pi in itself: http://www.avc.com/.a/6a00d83451b2c969e201...761ef970c-500wi Edited October 26, 2020 by Kirsty changing OP Link to post Share on other sites
Whiskey 330 Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 That's pretty damn awesome. I've never heard of them until now now. Starting computers in college hopefully in August and it will be great to practice with. Also it will be great to use as a media center in my living room. Link to post Share on other sites
Crokey 10,460 Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 I hate the way I.C.T. is taught in schools. It's general knowledge mainly, computing is how to learn what computers do and the arcitecture of them. So it's not changed since I was at school all those years ago, when GCSE IT was basically the Windows 3.11 and MS-DOS 6.22 Manual I like this idea, could be a little bit fun to start tinkering with it, and kinda taking things back to what they once were (invokes old clause) when I were young nipper trying to program my old BBC micro. Link to post Share on other sites
Ronnyboy 10 Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 I've been following the project for a bit and it's a genius idea. I can't wait to get mine, just so I can f*ck around with it. My friend who's big into linux keeps telling me to dual boot my gaming PC. Problem is, I don't have the time nor the need for it on my main machine, so it'd be nice to have this to play with. Link to post Share on other sites
Pico 85 Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 I had a preorder in the day they opened up... only to find out two weeks later the order never submitted. Could have sworn I went all the way through with it. But seeing as how it was back ordered to the end of time by then I decided to leave it alone for now. I like the idea of a tiny PC. I planned on using it as a media center PC. I've got different plans now that don't center around a Pi. Link to post Share on other sites
riquenunes 54 Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 So here's an alternative to Raspberry PI: http://liliputing.com/2012/06/gooseberry-d...spberry-pi.html Looks pretty cool too if you ask me. @Indi: I didn't know about those issues with XBMC, I thought as it is able to run Linux it would also be able to run XBMC without a problem. Link to post Share on other sites
Ben Again 0 Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Has anyone tried to run a GTA game on one of these? I'd think it could run GTA III, but is there even a Linux version of that? Owait, you can get android on it. Would that work? Link to post Share on other sites
sivispacem 21,724 Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 There's no way it could run any GTA game. Even hacked and extensively modified ones only just have the minimum requirements to run full builds of comparatively sparse operating systems- Linux variants like Ubuntu and Mint properly. Link to post Share on other sites
3niX 2 Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 Well... FreeRTOS and Raspberry Pi would make a lovely combination. Would love to experiment with it one day. Link to post Share on other sites
Forty 811 Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 I bought one of these recently along with a starter kit that includes extra power cords, HDMI cable, a spare SD card and a protective case for $75 all total. I got RaspBMC set up wonderfully but then came to the realization that I need a powered USB hub for my Seagate external hard drive, as the Pi doesn't have enough juice to keep it running. I didn't plan for this, and the setup has been put on hold until I can acquire that piece. Link to post Share on other sites
sivispacem 21,724 Posted March 3, 2013 Share Posted March 3, 2013 They've been really slow on the up-take producing peripherals for them. We've got a few we used at work as pentest tools and half the peripherals for those are entirely custom. Not even interesting stuff, either. Link to post Share on other sites
trip 14,734 Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 I can't tell you how many time I go to order a Model B only to back out because I can't come up with a good project to use one of these cute little Pi`s for. If I could [properly] run an arcade monitor off it I would use it for MAME cabinets. Just curious. For those who have one - what have you been doing with it? Link to post Share on other sites
sivispacem 21,724 Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 I've not done anything with mine yet- I'm waiting for the release of some pentesting hardware for it. I've seen them used for pentesting, various pet projects like controlling LED and LCD displays, gaming, as ICS/SCADA systems to control domestic HVAC, and as mild gaming machines. trip 1 Link to post Share on other sites
trip 14,734 Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 I have 2 model 3 B's on the way. They'll be here next week. 4 years since my last post in this thread and I finally have my project. I'm gonna go with piplay (http://piplay.org) and run a bunch of console emulators. Sure sure sure it supports MAME but I'm a purest. Also gonna toss kodi on one. Link to post Share on other sites
SpooferJahk 391 Posted March 13, 2017 Share Posted March 13, 2017 Looking into making a small build myself for a video player on my CRT TV. Want to watch the likes of my Bob Ross collection on a screen that will make it look as sharp as possible. Link to post Share on other sites
trip 14,734 Posted March 15, 2017 Share Posted March 15, 2017 Neat...got all my sh*t...just fired one up. gajrajgchouhan, RedDagger, Natasha and 1 other 4 Link to post Share on other sites
Presidential 308 Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 You've literally got the same idea for yours as I will have one when I get mine. I'll also be using it for Kodi and game emulators too though. trip 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Natasha 1,005 Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 (edited) There's no way it could run any GTA game. Even hacked and extensively modified ones only just have the minimum requirements to run full builds of comparatively sparse operating systems- Linux variants like Ubuntu and Mint properly.True, but I did get mine's running Moonlight last night and it streamed GTA:V quite happily via wifi from my desktop in the livingroom to my beadroom upstairs. Overall I was pleased at the framerate I was getting. Just in the event you never knew (unlikely I do appreciate Siv) Edited March 16, 2017 by Natz_83 Presidential 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Presidential 308 Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 There's no way it could run any GTA game. Even hacked and extensively modified ones only just have the minimum requirements to run full builds of comparatively sparse operating systems- Linux variants like Ubuntu and Mint properly. True, but I did get mine's running Moonlight last night and it streamed GTA:V quite happily via wifi from my desktop in the livingroom to my beadroom upstairs. Overall I was pleased at the framerate I was getting. Just in the event you never knew (unlikely I do appreciate Siv) So instead of moving my big ass PC around to play my more demanding games, there's an option to just stream it to my TV in the living room? Damn, these just keep getting better. Natasha 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Natasha 1,005 Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 There's no way it could run any GTA game. Even hacked and extensively modified ones only just have the minimum requirements to run full builds of comparatively sparse operating systems- Linux variants like Ubuntu and Mint properly. True, but I did get mine's running Moonlight last night and it streamed GTA:V quite happily via wifi from my desktop in the livingroom to my beadroom upstairs. Overall I was pleased at the framerate I was getting. Just in the event you never knew (unlikely I do appreciate Siv) So instead of moving my big ass PC around to play my more demanding games, there's an option to just stream it to my TV in the living room? Damn, these just keep getting better. If I remember it doesn't work well with AMD/ATi based cards. But GeForce works wonders! trip 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Presidential 308 Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 I'm AMD but I'll still give it a shot once I get around to getting a Pi. I'm holding out until I can decide on what I wanna use to house it. Love the Nintendo printed case but not sure if I wanna go through with that or not. Natasha 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Natasha 1,005 Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 Mine isn't housed in anything, it's been naked for over a year propped up behind the TV, hasn't done it any harm. And no one see's it, as stingy as it seems I couldn't justify spending money on something that wasn't actually needed and no one would ever see! Link to post Share on other sites
Presidential 308 Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 Well see, part of the experience for me in getting a Pi is the housing. I do like the stripped-down-naked approach with them but since I'll be using it to play older games with all my gaming buddies I just feel it needs housing. Anyone know any good sites for Pi casing? Link to post Share on other sites
Natasha 1,005 Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 Well see, part of the experience for me in getting a Pi is the housing. I do like the stripped-down-naked approach with them but since I'll be using it to play older games with all my gaming buddies I just feel it needs housing. Anyone know any good sites for Pi casing? Honestly mate, eBay. Link to post Share on other sites
trip 14,734 Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 (edited) Yeah, tons on ebay. My Surface Pro came with 3d builder installed and one of the templates happens to be a raspberry pi case. I might take the time to do a super cool case in 3D builder and have my case 3d printed (part of the software is the ability to send your design to be printed and delivered to you). But...even cooler. I juse created my boot SD for RetroPi. Tested everything out with using the controller to navigate and all that. Now I just need to round up my nearly 100% complete collection of roms. Not kidding...I've been doing emulators since their birth and have all the roms for every system. Yay! Fun! e: Yeah boy!!! Take that NES Mini Edited March 16, 2017 by trip gajrajgchouhan 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Shmoopy 192 Posted March 16, 2017 Share Posted March 16, 2017 (edited) Has anyone tried running HTML5 games on it? If so how does it handle them? Edited March 16, 2017 by Shmoopy Link to post Share on other sites
Natasha 1,005 Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 My Surface Pro came with 3d builder installed and one of the templates happens to be a raspberry pi case. I might take the time to do a super cool case in 3D builder and have my case 3d printed (part of the software is the ability to send your design to be printed and delivered to you).That is freaking awesome! I wouldn't mind doing that if it meant a totally personalised casing, would be more than worth the cost offset. But...even cooler. I juse created my boot SD for RetroPi. Tested everything out with using the controller to navigate and all that. Now I just need to round up my nearly 100% complete collection of roms. Not kidding...I've been doing emulators since their birth and have all the roms for every system.I've never saw that before, what consoles can it emulate? I've got a Spectrum in the loft somewhere, along with my Megadrive and N64 for that matter! Link to post Share on other sites
trip 14,734 Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 I've never saw that before, what consoles can it emulate? Nearly every emulator. I kid not. Check out their site for the list. https://retropie.org.uk Link to post Share on other sites
Natasha 1,005 Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 I've never saw that before, what consoles can it emulate? Nearly every emulator. I kid not. Check out their site for the list. https://retropie.org.uk I'm sold on this idea now, Amiga! Atari 7800! Commodore 64! Nintendo 64! God I must sound like a right old fart Which version does this run on? I've only got the model 2 I beleive. Link to post Share on other sites
trip 14,734 Posted March 17, 2017 Share Posted March 17, 2017 Yeah, I'm old too. I grew up before video games existed. They support model 2, but damn...get a model 3. Link to post Share on other sites
