The Raspberry Pi Thread

[lucasart]

I just tried to order one, but the sellers' websites are under heavy traffic...


EDIT: No, really it looks like mission impossible. I guess most of us will have to wait for the second batch....

Yeah, we'll have to wait for a while. Children have priority, as the whole purpose of the operation is to allow children cheap access to a computer with free software on it, that they can play with.
Let's be patient, we don't want to be the greedy adults stealing children's toys, do we

[lucasart]

Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi

I'm sad to see that no real time clock chip is included. Apparently, a networked Raspberry Pi will have to query a time server as part of the boot sequence soon after a network interface is established. The alternative is to either manually set the date and time or run like it's January 1st, 1970.

Ubuntu is not included in the default set of supported operating systems. This is not too surprising as Ubuntu has gained a lot of bloat over the past few years.

I have been disappointed in recent Ubuntu versions. Maybe it's Linux itself but it's moving too far away from it's roots in my opinion. A lean and mean operating system for experts is what it has been, but their vision seems to be tto become the OS that even idiots can use. We already have Windows that even Grandma can check her email and browse the web and socially network.

Am I alone in feeling like this?

Suggestions for a different distribution for me to try? I'm not looking to be a linux guru or make problems for myself, but I just want the OS to get out of the way and stop trying to be the killer application.

Have you tried Kubuntu? The KDE interface is usually less avant garde than its Ubuntu sibling.

For an operating system that is fast, lightweight, and "gets out of your way" (to quote Don), I would recommend lubuntu or anything LXDE based. KDE is all about "nice" and graphical stuff that takes a lot of resources and aren't of much practical use...

[JuLieN]

I just tried to order one, but the sellers' websites are under heavy traffic...


EDIT: No, really it looks like mission impossible. I guess most of us will have to wait for the second batch....

Yeah, we'll have to wait for a while. Children have priority, as the whole purpose of the operation is to allow children cheap access to a computer with free software on it, that they can play with.
Let's be patient, we don't want to be the greedy adults stealing children's toys, do we

But you don't understand: children DO need Raspberry Pred! I only have their interest in my mind!

[JuLieN]

Nearly four months later, I just received it!!! Yay!!! That will be a busy weekend! ^^



As you can see when comparing to the mouse, it is REALLY small. And the biggest part is the ethernet port

[mephisto]

Hi Julien
Good news for you and mine should be with me early next week and hopefully it will eventually become the 'brain' of my DIY USB chess board.
http://usbchessboard.yolasite.com/

[JuLieN]

Hi Julien
Good news for you and mine should be with me early next week and hopefully it will eventually become the 'brain' of my DIY USB chess board.
http://usbchessboard.yolasite.com/

WOW, beautiful project, Bryan! And yes the Rapberry Pi (RP) will be a big improvement compared with the external controller!

Still oversized though: u don't need GPU, Ethernet and video ports! But for €30 who cares?

[JuLieN]

There, I finally got this baby alive and kicking! ^^



A few notes though:

1) do not install the default Debian image that is in the downloads section of the websites: you'll run into the "Kernel Panic - not syncing" problem, like everybody.

So, instead, go directly for the latest beta (Wheezy): it works like a charm.

You'll need the Win32DiskImager (freeware) to put it on the SD card. Works like a charm under a virtualizer for Mac users as well.

2) be aware that this baby is SLOW. Really slow. It's perfectly usable, but if I had to make a comparison I'd say that you get the same user experience as if using a Pentium MMX Laptop at 120 MHz (At least for Web Browsing)

Still, I feel excited like the day I got my first computer. This is the perfect hobbyist device. It'll take you back 20-30 years ago!

Right now I'm trying to install FPC/Lazarus and port Prédateur.

[ZirconiumX]

The RasPi is useless unless you overclock it. But even then it's pretty bad.

It's the price you pay for attempting to do high perfomance tasks (you want a CISC architecture, i.e. x86) in an energy-efficency optimized RISC cpu.

Mind you, IBM have done pretty well with their RISC chip.

I apologise, I appear to have hyperlinking fever. (But all of the links are useful)

Matthew:out

[ZirconiumX]

Julien,

*Don't* do any compiling on the raspberry pi. It takes an hour just to compile Quake 3, and 42 minutes to compile completely the cutechess project.

So you'd better have plenty of time on your hands.

1) KP has never happened for me. I've used the Debian distro, Arch Linux, and now Raspbian. All quite stable, so long as you don't do e2fsck on it. (I truly am a stupid idiot)

Mac users don't need a virtualizer at all. Just use Terminal:

Code: Select all

$ df -h
<hard disk stuff>
$
<insert sd card reader with sd card in>
$ df -h
<hard disk stuff>
<new device, in my case disk1s1>
$ diskutil unmount <name of new device>
Device <name of new device> unmounted.
$ dd bs=1m if=path/to/image.img of=/dev/<raw disk name; remove the s1 bit and add r to the front; for me this is rdisk1>
<a long wait later>
<disk stuff>
$ diskutil eject <name of new device>
Disk <name of new device> ejected.
$
You can now use your sd card.

2) See above post.

Matthew:out

[JuLieN]

Julien,

*Don't* do any compiling on the raspberry pi. It takes an hour just to compile Quake 3, and 42 minutes to compile completely the cutechess project.

So you'd better have plenty of time on your hands.

1) KP has never happened for me. I've used the Debian distro, Arch Linux, and now Raspbian. All quite stable, so long as you don't do e2fsck on it. (I truly am a stupid idiot)

Mac users don't need a virtualizer at all. Just use Terminal:

Code: Select all

$ df -h
<hard disk stuff>
$
<insert sd card reader with sd card in>
$ df -h
<hard disk stuff>
<new device, in my case disk1s1>
$ diskutil unmount <name of new device>
Device <name of new device> unmounted.
$ dd bs=1m if=path/to/image.img of=/dev/<raw disk name; remove the s1 bit and add r to the front; for me this is rdisk1>
<a long wait later>
<disk stuff>
$ diskutil eject <name of new device>
Disk <name of new device> ejected.
$
You can now use your sd card.

2) See above post.

Matthew:out

Thanks for the SD tips for Mac users, very usefull!

Compiling Pred on the RP was very easy: I just had to use my configs for OSX and 32 bits instead of 64, and it compiled. It went quite fast actually (a few seconds). But the FPC compiler is very fast and Pred is only 5000 lines long.

Now, about the performances... errr... how shall I put this? Snail Pred?
Despite I activated all the compiler's optimizations I get 380Kn in perft (12.8 seconds to run a perft 5! ), and about 30Kn in game...