Raspberry Pi

[Bunchofcrooks]

So I got a Raspberry Pi for Christmas, and it is really quite a neat thing. For those who don't know it is a $35 CPU about the size of your hand. It's about as powerful as a late 90s early 2000s PC.

So I have two main projects in mind for Pi, but I know nothing about linux and very little programming (mostly just the Arduino language which is kinda like C). These are my plans, please inform me of any holes in my plans before I blow money on this stuff.....

1. I am an elementary school teacher, and my classroom has four student computers in it. The thing is just three don't do me much good. I need to be able to put kids in groups of maybe 3 or 4. So I have been thinking about making Pi powered machines to supplement my current comps. I have 28 kids, so I need about three more comps. I plan on using monitors or TVs from goodwill ($10-15), keyboards and mice from the same ($4 total), and cheap wifi dongles from ebay ($10). This should bring my cost less than $60 per computer. The comps need to be able to get on the internet, write a word document, and view .pdf docs. That's about it.

2. There is a local gaming store in my town that has maybe two dozen or so consoles they let members use, mostly 360s but a few PS3s, a single XBONE, PS4, WIIu etc... I was thinking of trying to make a retro gaming console (MAME I think), for use by members. I am not sure how involved this is at all.... any advice?


Anyone have experience with Pi?


Crooks

[iamthesgt]

I have very little experience with Pi, but I have some Linux and programming experience.

Basically Pi is a full Linux computer so you can certainly browse the web, view PDFs, run retro games. But it won't be very powerful. I don't know what distribution it is based on, though, so finding an emulator may or may not be difficult.

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[Bunchofcrooks]

I have very little experience with Pi, but I have some Linux and programming experience.

Basically Pi is a full Linux computer so you can certainly browse the web, view PDFs, run retro games. But it won't be very powerful. I don't know what distribution it is based on, though, so finding an emulator may or may not be difficult.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX on Verizon Wireless

Yeah, I have been playing with it and it is a touch slow when running full software, but seems to run well enough for libreoffice. Some guys got it running Quake 3 quite well on Youtube, so it can probably hang in there with emulation. Is there an idiots guide to linux you would recommend? I don't even know how to change directories and whatnot in the terminal.

[iamthesgt]

Yeah, I have been playing with it and it is a touch slow when running full software, but seems to run well enough for libreoffice. Some guys got it running Quake 3 quite well on Youtube, so it can probably hang in there with emulation. Is there an idiots guide to linux you would recommend? I don't even know how to change directories and whatnot in the terminal.

I will say superuser.com has a lot of excellent resources. (It's a Q&A site, but they moderate, so read the rules. They have a lot of questions already asked, so search first).

man <command> is helpful in finding usage for commands (options, etc). But you have to know what command you're interested in.

Just googling things is super easy. (cd <directory> is how you change directories, BTW). I'd print out a list of basic 'nix commands once you find one you like-there's a number out there.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX on Verizon Wireless

[ssandersjr]

here is an old thread. http://forums.usmilitarygamers.com/showthread.php?10464-Rasberry-Pi&highlight=rasberry


I currently have 3. 1 that runs a webserver, one with RasbianXBMC, and the last one is a WIP Incredible PBX 3.11.8 for the Raspberry Pi, a turnkey PBX featuring Asterisk® 11 and FreePBX® 2.11. This take Google Voice to a new level. Here is a link for the HOWTO http://nerdvittles.com/?p=8178

[ssandersjr]

Oh Yeah, The next one will be a Retro gaming console.

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-turn-your-raspberry-pi-into-a-retro-game-console-498561192

[Bunchofcrooks]

So I installed everything, got LibreOffice up and running, and got most web sites running. Youtube won't run however, which isn't a deal breaker, but the kids do use teachertube and youtube from time to time. There appears to be a work around out there....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrZAeSaKaqo but it looks a bit above my head, but I may give it a try once I understand what the hell I am doing. It seems like midori would have included this already in the browser! I think I am there for a classroom computer already though! They can read articles, type papers, use the calculator, run an excel clone and save their data to a flash drive. All for around $60.

[Timmy_2_Tones]

So I installed everything, got LibreOffice up and running, and got most web sites running. Youtube won't run however, which isn't a deal breaker, but the kids do use teachertube and youtube from time to time. There appears to be a work around out there....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrZAeSaKaqo but it looks a bit above my head, but I may give it a try once I understand what the hell I am doing. It seems like midori would have included this already in the browser! I think I am there for a classroom computer already though! They can read articles, type papers, use the calculator, run an excel clone and save their data to a flash drive. All for around $60.

Is good stuff brother. I have been considering grabbing one of these and building something. Probably a robot with a nuclear death ray.... Who knows.


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