The big 'ole Raspberry Pi topic

[Dan Graves]

I've been wanting to do something with an Arduino but don't know what to do. I watched about 8 YT vids on the introduction to how it works. also saw a guy that set up a aquaculture system in his side yard and it checks the water level, ph, basically automates the whole deal.

I can't think of anything to make though. Where can I go to find out about some of the stuff you built? ... and why do people pick Raspberry Pi for some things and Arduino for others.

In reverse order :

People pick the Pi's for their price, the fact they are a lot more accessible than complete Arduino sets (which takes more die-hard involvement than most can muster), and some of the Pi's specs are better than the other small footprint ARM processor based systems.
For instance, while the Pi has on 256 or 512 mb's of RAM depending on the model, it does put out full HD, which makes it ideal for a small mediacenter.
It also draws less power than some of the other ARM systems out there, and there is a metric xx--xx ton of people thinking of cool things to do with these little things.
There's also the fact that for some reason the Linux community LOVES the Pi's, which makes controlling stuff through scripting a hell of a lot easier, as the cornerstone of any system is it's OS (or lack thereof), and Linux is a damn good starting point for DIY stuff, in my not so humble opinion.
Arduino, however, is a GREAT platform to interface/meld with an RPi, because of the enormous amount of boards and stuff they have.

My sources for many of my projects (Some of them not just for Pi related shizzle ): Lifehacker Pi hub (most DIY ideas i get from lifehacker, and then modify or merge to suit my needs) Hack-a-day, my go-to site for odd hardware hacks Pi Musicbox (<that serves my parents' music needs in their kitchen, found mention of it on the official RPi forums)  Adafruit industries, maker of fun Pi hardware and innovator in many fields.
I get lots of stuff from ladyada and adafruit, Limor Fried FTW !
Hell, i remember the first time i heard of her was through hackaday, in an article about this : http://www.ladyada.net/make/wavebubble/ , a project which i paid a good friend to do for me (twice), because it was too complicated at the time, too many small solder joints, PCB's to get screened and such... They're great for shutting up chatty teenage girls with cellphones on public transit, so they were well worth the money )

Some further Pi project links for you : http://readwrite.com/2014/01/21/raspberry-pi-great-projects  http://www.instructables.com/id/Raspberry-Pi-Projects/ http://www.howtogeek.com/163541/build-a-35-media-center-with-raspbmc-and-raspberry-pi-redux/

For my Hackbox i'm relying on the resurrection of an old friend : i used to religiously use a (heavily modified and extended) Backtrack Linux based laptop for any Pentesting/Auditing jobs.
Then the Backtrack project sort of died, and was reborn as Kali Linux, and the first thing they announced was their enthusiasm for the Raspberry Pi.

If you hoped for build specifics/logs of my projects, i'll have to disappoint you there, i keep no logs, and trial and error stuff is lost in translation with me (as has been established, my thinking can be right off the map and into the twilight zone at times, but somehow it works when i muck about with computers and gadgets).
If anything specific seems appealing i can run you through what i remember about the build, but i have no readily available build logs or anything.

Anyway.... I want to build something cool and cheap... has does data share for LAN sound... by that do you mean NAS ( data share LAN ).

Yes and no.
It's a NAS, but i's also more than a NAS, it's more like a central server node/data exchange server with central storage and autonomous clients attached.
And then there's the automation it does, i have sensors and a microphone hooked up to it, so it takes voice commands, and it turns on my light(s) when the photosensor i used detects that natural light has faded beyond a certain point.
It obviously can't do all it's tasks at the same time, hence why i make extended use of order queueing and assigning priority markers so certain tasks always get done first.
I can tell you i used a mix of this : http://scruss.com/blog/2012/12/08/x10-home-automation-with-raspberry-pi-heyu/ , this : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuD42ZPOto8 and just running an Apache server to handle data exchange.

And i must admit i had lots of help from some of the other hackers at the local hackerspaces, and i'm contemplating borrowing some ideas from these guys : https://revspace.nl/Projects

[TB-AV]

It will take me a bit to sift through those... I can't for the life of me remember how I found adafruit... I did find this this .... http://www.elazary.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56:hampi&catid=17:misc&Itemid=17

But no links to ada.... .... yeah, that wavebubble is kinda frowned upon  ... I can think of a few times I wish I had one though.

[TB-AV]

Have you seen this? Not a R-Pi but very interesting.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mossmann/hackrf-an-open-source-sdr-platform/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPKNpsTDKfI

[LievenDV]

that lifehacker site has some cool examples and heck, I know I can develop for web so if you can run a webserver on it I could imagine a dozen of things.

I think, on this forum, the used of music would be of course the most relevant
- build a synthesizer unit: build a box where you plug in an usb or midi keyboard
- build a guitar/basswhatever multieffect unit
- An internetradio/audio streamer
- build a multitrack recorder
- A music "training" unit; the combo of your own application and pitch recognition could get you into aural training, playing notes and chords and detecting them etc...
(That last one is a bit complicated to program, with these Fourrier stuff etc I know


non musical ideas I like are
- home surveillance
- a calendar screen
- moviestreaming,
- attach HD's and create a fileserver with plug n play HD's for streamlined backup and picture exchange processes both physically and over network and web
- gaming
- build a retro style home audio device (built in radio, mp3 player, etc) that fits in your interior  and sounds good

[bradt]

I think, on this forum, the used of music would be of course the most relevant

I've had something related to that in mind, though it wouldn't require a pi. I've been thinking about attaching a distance sensor to the headstock of my guitar and basically setting it up as a wah. Basically, you kick the switch and it takes a base reading. from that point on, yanking the guitar up and down acts the same as a wah pedal.

Obviously that is not utilizing things to their fullest, but could be a cool project.

[LievenDV]

wah operated by headstock movement?

There used to be a user active here, Inventor, who used the mechanic of a Wii controller to create such a thing. I have him on my facebook so if you like; I can get you in touch with him

[bradt]

It would really just require a distance sensor and a way to transmit. The distance sensor reads how far the headstock is from the ground and establishes that as a baseline. After that, up is more and down is less.

I dunno exactly how it would work, but could be fun to noodle out.

[LievenDV]

well, you'd rather not go post there but just as a good read; this was the old thread:
http://justinguitarcommunity.com/index.php?topic=10315.0

[Majik]

I have had a Pi since picking one up at Oggcamp 2012, but I've not had the time to do anything with it yet.

As far as music projects go, I'm pretty familiar with the Linux audio subsystem (ALSA) having previously contributed patches which ended up in the kernel.

The audio hardware on the Pi isn't well regarded, and a lot of people seem to prefer cheap USB audio adapters.

There's also a matter of processing power, which the Pi is relatively limited on. I honestly doubt you would be able to do any significant amount of (for instance) guitar audio processing, such as amp modelling, on the Pi.

There are, however, a lot of potentially interesting projects that can be done on the Pi. I was, for instance, quite interested in the idea of building something using the sooperlooper backend, with some sort of LCD/hard button interface.

As far as audio over LAN is concerned, Jack is your friend there (as it is for most pro-audio type projects), specifically "netjack". I have successfully used this to pipe audio to and from different machines on the same LAN, although I've not tried it using a Pi.

There's also a bunch of audio streaming frameworks that work with Jack. Implementing these on a Pi should be relatively easy.

I've been doing music on Linux for years, as well as a fair bit of messing around with music and streaming apps. Subject to the limited resources on the Pi, most of this stuff should work on the Pi fairly easily.

I also follow Adafruit on G+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+adafruit

There's also a couple of communities dedicated to Pi projects, including the beautifully named "PiCurious": https://plus.google.com/u/0/114556619227408148485

Cheers,

Keith

[Dan Graves]

Well, as Keith so eloquently pointed out, unfortunately using the RPi's for audio signal processing wouldn't work very well, too much latency and too precious little processing power, this is where the Beagle and Arduino sets would be a good starting point.

@ Lieven : http://www.woutervanwijk.nl/pimusicbox/
Music streamer 
My parents control their kitchen radio from their desktop pc, or my mom's nexus 

[TB-AV]

Ok, let's say I want to make a media server / NAS route...  Or one or the other.... what specifically would you look at? Which specific components.

Like let's just say NAS with Gigabit port..

Look at items ( hardware, software, extras, etc. )... Ok, I'll start with what I know as specific...

A. Raw hard drives - have an assortment of IDE, SATA and different sizes from notebook to normal
----- 1.
----- 2.

B. Power supply --- not sure here... build,,, buy... which
----- 1.
------2.

C. Ard, Pi, Other ( and other can be store bought NAS if it's better and makes sense on money )

D. Software - no clue
---- 1. learning curve is an issue?
---- 2. costs
---- 3. custom code?

E. Boxes, components... I'm ok with DigiKey, Mouser etc but what about other specific type parts.



Ok, so help me fill in some blanks with specifics so I can look at the project and see if the cost, details, etc, are something I think I can do or want to tackle.

[Majik]

Ok, let's say I want to make a media server / NAS route...  Or one or the other.... what specifically would you look at? Which specific components.

If you are specifically looking at a Pi, then most of what you need to be a basic NAS is pretty much built into Linux. You just need to know how to configure it all up.

This may help:

http://www.howtogeek.com/139433/how-to-turn-a-raspberry-pi-into-a-low-power-network-storage-device/

There are specific NAS based distros too, which wrap a lot of this geekery up into something that is much easier to install and configure, usually with some sort of web-interface. These are normally designed for installation onto a general PC, rather than a Pi, but....

Like let's just say NAS with Gigabit port..

I wouldn't start from a Pi, or in fact from any of these smaller systems. They simply wouldn't be powerful enough if you think you need Gigabit networking performance.

I would look at small form-factor PCs, or embedded appliances upwards. Even an old PC or laptop would do this. I know people who have build perfectly good NAS devices from old EeePCs. I believe there are barebones suppliers who can supply a power-efficient motherboard in a chassis designed for hot-pluggable drives.

One of the more popular of the aforementioned distros:

http://www.freenas.org/

They seem to have quite a rich community and lots of information on there about the sort of hardware that's available.

Cheers,

Keith

[Dan Graves]

A) You'd want to go with SATA drives over PATA (IDE).
Best bang for buck for the storage part would be a pre-made NAS, as doing that through/with a Pi is NOT effective (i'm going to replace my self built drive rack with a proper NAS along the line), or worth the time, unless you magically have all the needed parts, cables and whatnot (i did cause i'm a packrat), but it'd still be very time consuming.
I agree with Keith on this : the Pi CAN do it, but it's not the right platform for it.
His suggestions for turning an old PC into a NAS are also excellent alternatives for buying some expensive premade NAS unit.

B) Power supply would be included with the NAS, so not an issue, for Pi power see E.

C) Pi could be used for the Media server/center bit, using it as the media player or as the main interface to the NAS, on top of the NAS just doing it's thing on the network as a share.

D1) Software takes a bit of learning, but for a mediacenter/server/player OpenElec and RaspBMC cannot be beat.
Both are VERY userfriendly and most things will work right out of the box, at the worst we'd have to teach you how to use the command line to update stuff or add files/dependencies, although both RaspBMC and OpenElec take care of the updating on their own, without much user interaction.
I'd suggesting looking at running NOOBS (don't  be put off by the name), which lets you install several OS'es on one SD card.
D2) Software cost is none, because GPL/Gnu/FosS/Linux.
D3) Custom code can be needed, but the Raspberry Pi forums are full of very friendly and helpfull folks who are often more than willing to help.

E) Pi's can be bought just about everywhere, even Amazon. Adafruit is an obvious choice for parts as well.
You'd typically want a Pi, a 4-8 GB SD card (class 10!!, and i suggest getting at least 8Gb's), a small enclosure (Adafruint, Cyntec, PiBow, Stackable, PiFace) and either a powered USB hub like the PiHub i showed in the 'random buys' thread that will also power the Pi, or just a small telephone charger (1-2A, 5v) and a self-powered USB hub.
The phone chargers are usually sold by the shops that carry the Pi's, but i want to stress that something like the PiHub is the best solution for clean power and connnectivity.
If you go the WiFi route you need to look into which USB dongles will work with your Pi OS of choice, but that isn't too hard to find out.
Other than that i have local sources, so i can't be of much help there.

Cost is what you make of it, a Pi with PiHub and a simple enclosure shouldn't be more than $60-$70 (many stores will sell complete kits for about tht, which will include the SD card, usually pre-imaged and ready to go), Wifi Dongle will be from $5 up to $20, depending on brand and type, NAS would be the most expensive part really.
Although a NAS isn't always necessary : a simple SAMBA share on your Windows PC could suffice, you download/attain by legal means the media you wish to play via the RPi, add to share, make sure Pi is on the same network, type info for the SAMBA share into the RPi's OS, and Bob's yer uncle.
For example, my dad's music collection was turned into MP3's, put on a SAMBA share on their living room PC, and the RPi in the kitchen can stream all that content.

A NAS would work the same;  setup NAS, connect to your LAN in whatever way you plan to, note down IP, point RPi to it, presto.

Assuming you have a modern TV with HDMI, the Pi hooks up to that, and any sort of luxury speaker sets you may have hooked to the TV will keep working as before.
If you want to control the Mediacenter with whatever remote(s) you may have lying around, you can invest in a Flirc dongle (around $20), and then you have luxury at your fingertips.

[Majik]

...the Raspberry Pi forums are full of very friendly and helpfull folks who are often more than willing to help.

I would say that, in general, that's the case with most FOSS/hacker type situations.

I will expand on this for the general audience:

A lot of people get scared off of open source because of a handful of reports that the open source communities are "unfriendly" to noobs. In may expience, if you are respectful, nothing can be father from the truth. In fact most Open Source projects give you a "customer service" which is many, many times better than commercial software.

Why?

Because they will generally try to help you, and won't bull**** you in the process. Ultimately they are volunteers who do this for their own reasons. They are not employees, or servants, or lackies. They are, at least, peers. In a lot of cases the people who run these projects are superior to you (certainly to me).

If you treat them with respect, they will help you. If you wade in like a **** they will tear you a new one. They don't give a crap about being nice because they aren't paid to. In fact, being nice to you is costing them money. Most people in these communities will be nice to you, but don't expect it as a right. Because it isn't.

Case in point, Linus Torvalds, the "father" of Linux!

(In case you have never heard of him, Linus is responsible for creating the core of a product that is many times more successful than anything that Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, or that Apple genius, Steve Wozniac ever produced. Combined!)

But, he can be a complete b******! If you mess up, he will call you out, in public!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_36yNWw_07g

Open source can be an unfriendly place, but only if you are a ****. In every case I have seen where people have complained about Open Source communities, it has been because the complainer has been a ****. They have acted as if they were a customer, with expectations of being fawned over, and their idiocy overlooked.

That sort of egotistical crap doesn't wash in the Open Source community. You can have an ego, but only after you have earned the right to have one.

Ultimately, open source is for people who want to get things done, and who care about security. It can be a rough ride if you act with any form of entitlement, but if you give the community respect they will reward you.

If you care more about having your flawed ego massaged, than actually achieving or leaning anything, or about getting something for nothing then Open Source is probably not for you.

I will add that Open Source communities have a lot in common with this community: treat the rest of the community with respect, contribute where you can, don't be a dick, and you will be rewarded many times over.


Cheers,

Keith

[TB-AV]

Ok, lemme ax you something... I'm still weighing costs vs practicality and do I need it type thing.

would it be possible to make a little "pocket computer" that could run a browser that I could use for no other purpose than banking.

IOW, I would keep it offline util needed then it would have my banking and bill paying stuff ready to go with a simple browser... I know I could probably go find a $50 laptop but the battery will be dead, it will he bulky and heavy, certainly can stick it in a coat pocket, etc...

So is it possible to do that?  My first guess is no because ebanking often requires specific browser like IE or it won't allow access. At any rate ... what say you?  Possible or keep dreaming?

My other 'area of interest' I suppose you could say would be something like this for measuring and timing control... remote monitoring... like rainwater collection, pumping, on off of water valves...

Again, I know some of this stuff can simply be bought like irrigation systems and even computer controlled but then I am tied to whatever they offer as opposed to DIY or getting community help to write a piece of code that solves a additional need I may come upon in use.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2wWTadsBDA


I seem to be finding more stuff but still can't seem to get all the ducks in a row as to the big picture and individual parts that might be needed ( soft and hard )

ETA: BTW... I'm not saying I want to do all the stuff he is doing... I would however like to see a walk through of say a water level sensor that turns a valve off. IOW, if I saw that I could go buy the parts the follow the directions and end up with that one little item just like he has.

As an analogy... I don't need to know how to wind a transformer but I would like to see a simple fuzz box explained so I could buy the parts and build mine.... type comparison.

IOW... I don;t know where the Justinguitar of arduino or RP is so I can go ask how do I learn how to sense water and turn a valve on and off... and what parts do I need and how hard is it to write the code or have it written.