Raspberry Pi-ness

Bridgehouse

bingefeller said:

You gonna run MAME on it Bridgehouse?  

I'm going to do retropie first - seems like a very slick interface and has pretty much all domestic consoles and 80s/90s home computers covered, including DOSBOX

After that, I might look at a separate MAME install and build a cabinet around one... 

thermionic

Now this is something I should be into. A little bit hardware, silicon chips, dabbling in programming,  all sorts of connecting electronic stuff together, trips to Maplins to buy bits...

But what can I do with one? Not interested in computer games, don't really have the need for a media server type thing. What then?

bingefeller

Bridgehouse said:

bingefeller said:

You gonna run MAME on it Bridgehouse?  

I'm going to do retropie first - seems like a very slick interface and has pretty much all domestic consoles and 80s/90s home computers covered, including DOSBOX

After that, I might look at a separate MAME install and build a cabinet around one... 

A cab would be very cool!  

Bridgehouse

thermionic said:

Now this is something I should be into. A little bit hardware, silicon chips, dabbling in programming,  all sorts of connecting electronic stuff together, trips to Maplins to buy bits...

But what can I do with one? Not interested in computer games, don't really have the need for a media server type thing. What then?

Camera module for house wide wireless CCTV?

Sensor pack for weather station?

Robot kit for wireless robot?

Automated house control (lights etc.) ?

Music project? (I've seen some really cool programmable drum pads etc..)

NAS drive?

Camcorder?

AI Assistant using the google wasimagig thing?

Sporky

PolarityMan said:

Sporky said:

Some of our competitors at work are starting to use Raspberry Pis in installations.

We're doing rather well out of replacing such installations with ones built out of commercial-off-the-shelf components instead, which are invariably more expensive, but also enormously more reliable, more serviceable and more usable.

They seem to be good educational tools, and lots of nice home uses, but I am not convinced they're appropriate for "important" applications.

Is it software quality that is usually the issue? Obviously your at the mercy of what you can cobble to gether from OSS but Im surprised if the hardware has singificant issues

Largely software, but the hardware is less resistant to temperature and humidity shifts, and because the boards are cheap they're seen as consumables - forgetting that the cost to swap a board is into the hundreds of pounds once you've paid someone to load the software, configure it, put it into the enclosure and test the system properly.

End result is that a £900 off-the-shelf box can be much cheaper than a Raspberry Pi in a commercial installation.

strtdv

A friend of mine built a coffee table with a TV screen set into it, a pull-out old school arcade style control panel, and a Pi running a SNES and a Sega Mega Drive on it.

It's excellent.

He also has one set up to control a hard drive with his movie library on it so it can stream to any device over the wifi.

digitalscream

I've got one sitting right next to me - it was great as a media centre for a long time, but somewhat hamstrung by not being able to properly support the main streaming services. Now that we've got a Samsung Smart TV, it's totally redundant and is thus sitting there doing nothing.

I can't run it as a NAS rig because it only supports USB 2.0 and 10/100 Ethernet, and it's no good as a database server for development because of the slow storage and limited CPU grunt.

It's a bit frustrating really, because it's a great idea in principle...they just haven't kept up with the times.

Bridgehouse

digitalscream said:

I've got one sitting right next to me - it was great as a media centre for a long time, but somewhat hamstrung by not being able to properly support the main streaming services. Now that we've got a Samsung Smart TV, it's totally redundant and is thus sitting there doing nothing.

I can't run it as a NAS rig because it only supports USB 2.0 and 10/100 Ethernet, and it's no good as a database server for development because of the slow storage and limited CPU grunt.

It's a bit frustrating really, because it's a great idea in principle...they just haven't kept up with the times.

Have you tried a Pi 3 Model b?

digitalscream

Bridgehouse said:

digitalscream said:

I've got one sitting right next to me - it was great as a media centre for a long time, but somewhat hamstrung by not being able to properly support the main streaming services. Now that we've got a Samsung Smart TV, it's totally redundant and is thus sitting there doing nothing.

I can't run it as a NAS rig because it only supports USB 2.0 and 10/100 Ethernet, and it's no good as a database server for development because of the slow storage and limited CPU grunt.

It's a bit frustrating really, because it's a great idea in principle...they just haven't kept up with the times.

Have you tried a Pi 3 Model b?

Nope - the only real difference for me is the extra RAM (which doesn't fix any of my problems) and the quad-core CPU. It still has the limited storage and network bandwidth, and all the I/O is still going through a single shared bus. To be useful to me, it really needs USB 3.0 and GigE on separate buses.

Bridgehouse

digitalscream said:

Bridgehouse said:

digitalscream said:

I've got one sitting right next to me - it was great as a media centre for a long time, but somewhat hamstrung by not being able to properly support the main streaming services. Now that we've got a Samsung Smart TV, it's totally redundant and is thus sitting there doing nothing.

I can't run it as a NAS rig because it only supports USB 2.0 and 10/100 Ethernet, and it's no good as a database server for development because of the slow storage and limited CPU grunt.

It's a bit frustrating really, because it's a great idea in principle...they just haven't kept up with the times.

Have you tried a Pi 3 Model b?

Nope - the only real difference for me is the extra RAM (which doesn't fix any of my problems) and the quad-core CPU. It still has the limited storage and network bandwidth, and all the I/O is still going through a single shared bus. To be useful to me, it really needs USB 3.0 and GigE on separate buses.

Methinks you aren't going to get that right now for £30



However, I can imagine that being a possibility with the next iteration or the one after that. 

digitalscream

Bridgehouse said:

digitalscream said:

Bridgehouse said:

digitalscream said:

I've got one sitting right next to me - it was great as a media centre for a long time, but somewhat hamstrung by not being able to properly support the main streaming services. Now that we've got a Samsung Smart TV, it's totally redundant and is thus sitting there doing nothing.

I can't run it as a NAS rig because it only supports USB 2.0 and 10/100 Ethernet, and it's no good as a database server for development because of the slow storage and limited CPU grunt.

It's a bit frustrating really, because it's a great idea in principle...they just haven't kept up with the times.

Have you tried a Pi 3 Model b?

Nope - the only real difference for me is the extra RAM (which doesn't fix any of my problems) and the quad-core CPU. It still has the limited storage and network bandwidth, and all the I/O is still going through a single shared bus. To be useful to me, it really needs USB 3.0 and GigE on separate buses.

Methinks you aren't going to get that right now for £30



However, I can imagine that being a possibility with the next iteration or the one after that. 

True - however, the OrangePi Plus 2 has all of those things, for about £50-60. It just doesn't have the community support of the Raspberry Pi.

FX_Munkee

I built a retropie setup using one. No way was I going to get a cabinet past Mrs Munkee, so I built a 2 player set of arcade controls which house the Pi and connect to the TV via HDMI. It mainly plays MAME and SNES stuff. I love it as do the kids.
I did post some pictures before but they're on Photo*uckit so they probably don't link anymore.
I'd reccomend having a think about doing it the way I did as for me the "arcade" bit about these old games is the feel of the controls, not so much the screen.

joneve

I got all the basic components to build a retropie last Christmas, and managed to do it following online how-to's and I'm an absolute dullard when it comes to computer programming and electronics. I'd like a better case and controller setup, but it's great. I need to get back to downloading the games for Master System..but I have a shed load of NES/SNES and Megadrive games, it's awesome...when I can find time to play on it. 

Bridgehouse

Pi 3 model B now bought. 

This weekend will be mostly geeking about I reckon.

bingefeller

Bridgehouse said:

Pi 3 model B now bought. 

This weekend will be mostly geeking about I reckon.

You gonna stick MAME on it with loads of shmups?

Bridgehouse

bingefeller said:

Bridgehouse said:

Pi 3 model B now bought. 

This weekend will be mostly geeking about I reckon.

You gonna stick MAME on it with loads of shmups?

Yep. Retropie, with Mame, dosbox and quake.

Bridgehouse

Bridgehouse said:

bingefeller said:

Bridgehouse said:

Pi 3 model B now bought. 

This weekend will be mostly geeking about I reckon.

You gonna stick MAME on it with loads of shmups?

Yep. Retropie, with Mame, dosbox and quake.

Might even play Leisure Suit Larry

bingefeller

Bridgehouse said:

Bridgehouse said:

bingefeller said:

Bridgehouse said:

Pi 3 model B now bought. 

This weekend will be mostly geeking about I reckon.

You gonna stick MAME on it with loads of shmups?

Yep. Retropie, with Mame, dosbox and quake.

Might even play Leisure Suit Larry

Love that game!

FX_Munkee

get a couple of snes clone usb controllers off ebay. They're a useful start with retropie.
When you get to wanting to build your own arcade controllers I'll get back to you

Bridgehouse

Stage 1 setup complete. Got it up and running on an old VGA monitor in the office upstairs. 

Have setup Retropie and sorted an Xbox wireless controller. Got Samba shares and SSH running so I can now take it downstairs and plug into the TV, using my MacBook to copy over roms and make any command line changes.

So far so good. Now it's time to get some games on...