Raspberry Pi - Who's gonna have a dabble?

[Dave^]

Nyphur said:

I've got my pi running OpenElec (found it ran smoother than raspbmc), and have another sat doing sweet FA.
Any suggestions of cool/interesting projects other than a media centre?

Start learning Python...?

Loads of info and completed scripts to copy/modify/break/fix - http://python-forum.org/index.php

[Morningside]

Well I am running openelec playing a video from a networked windows PC and it keeps pausing at random intervals. It will then run at superquick speed to try and catch up.

Any ideas?

[Dave^]

When it pauses, is it just the video, while the sound carries on as normal?

Have you tried playing the same video from a USB?

What's your setup, direct connection to the TV or via an av receiver etc?

[Morningside]

Dave^ said:

When it pauses, is it just the video, while the sound carries on as normal?

Have you tried playing the same video from a USB?

What's your setup, direct connection to the TV or via an av receiver etc?

The whole thing freezes.

I have not tried from USB or SD card I will try that next.

Its a direct connection to the TV.

[Dave^]

Sounds/looks like a buffering issue...but that would play catchup, which suggests (to a numpty like me anyway) a syncing issue.

Are you connected via WiFi?

All videos or just particular one(s)?

What filetype?

Possible to rerip? I've found makemkv pretty good, and can be set up to work on the command line via a simple shortcut.

[MarkRSi]

Are there any alternatives to Raspbmc that will allow the RaspPi to be just switched off at the wall without shutting down?

[randlemarcus]

MarkRSi said:

Are there any alternatives to Raspbmc that will allow the RaspPi to be just switched off at the wall without shutting down?

Please don't. It's a proper computer, not a console, so simply killing it will cause confusion, as it isn't in the design.

[papercup]

MarkRSi said:

Are there any alternatives to Raspbmc that will allow the RaspPi to be just switched off at the wall without shutting down?

Oh. I've been doing this as well.

[papercup]

On a side note, the RaspBMC December update claims to have fixed for good the problem of overclocked RPIs chewing up their SD card. I've been running on a USB stick install after having this problem. So I've reinstalled this morning on SD and used the built-in overclocking in RaspBMC ('super' setting) to test it.

[MarkRSi]

randlemarcus said:

MarkRSi said:

Are there any alternatives to Raspbmc that will allow the RaspPi to be just switched off at the wall without shutting down?

Please don't. It's a proper computer, not a console, so simply killing it will cause confusion, as it isn't in the design.

Sure. In fact I've had to reflash the SD card on a few occasions as RaspBMC would stop booting until I did otherwise. I'm pretty since it's since I'm cutting the power rather than doing it properly.

I was wondering if one of these XBMC based releases has some sort of write filter included (e.g. EWF or FBWF for Windows based embedded computers) that would allow power to be cut safely without risk of corruption.

Edited by MarkRSi on Friday 27th December 22:35

[MarkRSi]

papercup said:

On a side note, the RaspBMC December update claims to have fixed for good the problem of overclocked RPIs chewing up their SD card. I've been running on a USB stick install after having this problem. So I've reinstalled this morning on SD and used the built-in overclocking in RaspBMC ('super' setting) to test it.

When you mean "chewing up" the SD card do you mean just corrupting the card (fixed by a quick reflash/image) or destroying the SD card for good?

That said I'm not sure I've overclocked my RaspPi.

[tank slapper]

It just corrupts the file system, which can be fixed by reflashing. It's a nuisance though as it takes a while to get the library and add-ons sorted again. I've been running mine on the 'super' overclock setting since the last update and have had no problems with it so far. It's a worthwhile boost as well, being noticeably more responsive than normal speed.

[Morningside]

Dave^ said:

Sounds/looks like a buffering issue...but that would play catchup, which suggests (to a numpty like me anyway) a syncing issue.

Are you connected via WiFi?

All videos or just particular one(s)?

What filetype?

Possible to rerip? I've found makemkv pretty good, and can be set up to work on the command line via a simple shortcut.

No, it's a wired connection.

All videos but some will run for five/ten minutes before freezing. Seems totally random.

All file types (AVI/MKV).

I could try a re-rip.

[Bullett]

Weird. Sounds like a transcode buffering to me but it can't be.
Are you running any over clock?

[Dave^]

Can you try different TV, HDMI lead, network cable, power lead, etc... Individually, to try eliminate them...

[NiceCupOfTea]

Saw my brother's collection of Pis over Christmas doing all manner of cool things - he has a home automation thing going on with his lights using the lightwaveRF thing.

So, about to take the plunge myself. Initial experiments will be the ubiquitous xbmc install, playing from my old buffalo linkstation nas over WiFi. So, purchase will be model B, PSU, 2x class 10 8GB SD cards, case, and an HDMI cable. Going to try raspBMC first and use Yatse to control it, or see if the CDC works on my 2013 model Panasonic plasma. Probably buy some sort of USB remote micro keyboard/pad as well. I have an old USB hub that will work hopefully.

Future plans - similar xbmc setup for the car using 12v USB adaptor and a 64gb USB stick. Not sure about how to control it, probably something like yatse again on my phone... Although no could just use an old android phone with a media player and a bit microsd card...

Also fancy learning python and getting an I/O board - did a lot of BBC basic and ARM code back in the day.

Anybody got any recommendations for SD cards? Was going to get a couple of sandisk 8gb ultra class 10s...

Edited by NiceCupOfTea on Tuesday 31st December 09:03

[randlemarcus]

NiceCupOfTea said:

Saw my brother's collection of Pis over Christmas doing all manner of cool things - he has a home automation thing going on with his lights using the lightwaveRF thing.

So, about to take the plunge myself. Initial experiments will be the ubiquitous xbmc install, playing from my old buffalo linkstation nas over WiFi. So, purchase will be model B, PSU, 2x class 10 8GB SD cards, case, and an HDMI cable. Going to try raspBMC first and use Yatse to control it, or see if the CDC works on my 2013 model Panasonic plasma. Probably buy some sort of USB remote micro keyboard/pad as well. I have an old USB hub that will work hopefully.

Future plans - similar xbmc setup for the car using 12v USB adaptor and a 64gb USB stick. Not sure about how to control it, probably something like yatse again on my phone... Although no could just use an old android phone with a media player and a bit microsd card...
Also fancy learning python and getting an I/O board - did a lot of BBC basic and ARM code back in the day.

Anybody got any recommendations for SD cards? Was going to get a couple of sandisk 8gb ultra class 10s...

Edited by NiceCupOfTea on Tuesday 31st December 09:03

Those Sandisks work quite nicely.

Re Keyboards, bought one of these for my son's foray into Pi. Will be purchasing one for myself, as they are a)ergonomically very good, and b) have a fricking laser.

[NiceCupOfTea]

I know I'm rather late to the party with this but I thought I'd post anyway!

Everything turned up yesterday (apart from the PSU but my old phone one is working fine) and it all went together very nicely!

- RPi (UK Model B, 512MB)
- Clear case (SB Components)
- Edimax WiFi dongle
- Logitech K400 wireless keyboard/trackpad
- 2x Sandisk Ultra 8GB Class 10
- cheapo HDMI cable
- Nokia phone charger

Case a perfect fit for the RPi, why pay more (£6 delivered). WiFi dongle just worked, no setting up, same for the keyboard. Memory cards work without a problem. A bit of noise on the picture, maybe the HDMI cable?

Anyway, installed NOOBS to the card and went with a RISCOS / Raspbian / OpenElec combo.

First impressions:

RISCOS, blast from the past, managed to get "Hello World" working in assembler, not bad as it's over 20 years since I last coded anything!

Raspbian, rather unfriendly I thought - dumped into a config screen which doesn't give you much of a clue how to boot into Xwindows. Struggled to get it to reboot/shutdown as I wasn't on a root account and it is so long since I have used any flavour of Unix that I had forgotten about "sudo". Anyway, X seemed OK if sluggish.

OpenElec, managed to get it accessing my NAS and Yatse controlling it from my tablet. Seemed to struggle a bit once it was playing anything - is that normal?

Need to spend a bit of time getting used to it. I intend to install RaspBMC on the other card and try that out.

Quite keen on a car MP3 player using one - plan is to use a USB stick/RaspBMC and connect to the aux in of stereo. Power will be via one of those little mobile phone charger battery packs, charging via a 12v adaptor - hopefully this will buffer it so it can shutdown once the car is switched off (although how it will know is another matter...). Only problem is control of it - could use Yatse or similar on my phone but my brother has a little LCD screen/jog wheel/buttons on a board that he uses with his RPi - wonder if there is any way of getting it to work with RaspBMC...

[Dave^]

NiceCupOfTea said:

...my brother has a little LCD screen/jog wheel/buttons on a board that he uses with his RPi...

That'll be a PiFaceCaD?

[NiceCupOfTea]

That looks like the one. Any idea how it is used? Would be perfect if it worked with xbmc...