Electronics Raspberry Pi...

Fish · 10:42 AM

Heard about this? Huge potential in this tiny little device. I can see this really changing the future of media consumption and availability to the masses. It's essentially a $35 mini computer that can also serve as a home theater system.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/

What’s a Raspberry Pi?

The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. It’s a capable little PC which can be used for many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays high-definition video. We want to see it being used by kids all over the world to learn programming.

How much will it cost?

The Model A will cost $25 and the Model B $35, plus local taxes.

How powerful is it?

The GPU provides Open GL ES 2.0, hardware-accelerated OpenVG, and 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode.

The GPU is capable of 1Gpixel/s, 1.5Gtexel/s or 24 GFLOPs of general purpose compute and features a bunch of texture filtering and DMA infrastructure.

That is, graphics capabilities are roughly equivalent to Xbox 1 level of performance. Overall real world performance is something like a 300MHz Pentium 2, only with much, much swankier graphics.

More info in their FAQ here: http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs

Fish · 03-19-2012, 10:39 AM

Here's a couple examples of it's current capabilities. Keep in mind that this is very very early in its development. This isn't even the tip of the iceberg....

And this has me really really excited.... 1080p XBMC from a $35 device. Holy shit y'all...

**DaFace** · 03-19-2012, 05:11 PM

Nice. Seems like stuff like this is only going to become more common as time goes on. I'm kind of excited about things like the Roku Streaming Stick, though that's purely media-oriented and is undoubtedly less customizable.

**AustinChief** · 03-19-2012, 05:48 PM

This reminds me of something I have been thinking a lot about lately. We are quickly approaching the useful limits of certain technologies.

For example, right now you can get an iPad 3 that has a display that is right at the PPI level which the human eye can see at. It should only be a few more years before we see monitors/video cards that have resolutions that extend 275+ PPI to sizes up to 30"

The same type of thing applies to processor speeds. The Raspberry Pi has a crap processor in it, but we are quickly approaching a time where the processor speeds for ultra-low end devices like this will be "fast enough" for most uses.

And lastly, storage... We have 128 GB SD CARDS right now.. that is just ridiculous. At some point in the VERY near future the storage capacity will be a non issue as well.

Yes I know that these types of statements have been said all along.. I remember thinking my 100Meg hard drive was a beast! The difference is that we are now reaching limits to the human experience... graphics that are at the extreme limit of our ability to appreciate them, same with sound quality...

Just something to think about... I could easily imagine a device this size that costs <$50 and could handle graphics and sound at the extent I could experience them and have terabytes of storage.

Fish · 03-19-2012, 05:55 PM

Yeah.. that Roku Streaming Stick looks pretty cool. It will be awesome when they do incorporate stuff like that into TVs. It will happen eventually. And when it does, it will really release the stranglehold that cable companies have on their customers. More and more people I know are going internet only. Having it as convenient as being embedded in your TV would sure make it easy..

listopencil · 03-19-2012, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaFace

Nice. Seems like stuff like this is only going to become more common as time goes on. I'm kind of excited about things like the Roku Streaming Stick, though that's purely media-oriented and is undoubtedly less customizable.

Sounds good. I grabbed a Roku and a Netflix digital streaming subscription. We have more than enough content with that and an antenna.

listopencil · 03-19-2012, 06:36 PM

This looks pretty cool. Maybe I'll grab one if they can meet what I assume will be a huge demand.

**QuikSsurfer** · 03-19-2012, 10:01 PM

Had my email on their update list for a while. Very excited about this.

XXXshogunXXX · 03-19-2012, 10:12 PM

For $35, that is a steal

**Buck** · 03-19-2012, 11:10 PM

What is XBMC?

**AustinChief** · 03-19-2012, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buck

What is XBMC?

your mom.

no, here ya go...

Quote:

Originally Posted by wikipedia

XBMC Media Center (formerly Xbox Media Center) is a free and open source cross-platform digital media hub and HTPC (Home theater PC) software with a 10-foot user interface designed to be a media player for the living-room TV using only a remote control as the input device. Its graphical user interface (GUI) allows the user to easily browse and view videos, photos, podcasts, and music from a harddrive, optical disc, local network, and the internet using only a few buttons.[2][3][4][5] The XBMC project is managed by the non-profit technology consortium XBMC Foundation.[6][7][8]

listopencil · 03-20-2012, 06:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AustinChief

This reminds me of something I have been thinking a lot about lately. We are quickly approaching the useful limits of certain technologies.

For example, right now you can get an iPad 3 that has a display that is right at the PPI level which the human eye can see at. It should only be a few more years before we see monitors/video cards that have resolutions that extend 275+ PPI to sizes up to 30"

The same type of thing applies to processor speeds. The Raspberry Pi has a crap processor in it, but we are quickly approaching a time where the processor speeds for ultra-low end devices like this will be "fast enough" for most uses.

And lastly, storage... We have 128 GB SD CARDS right now.. that is just ridiculous. At some point in the VERY near future the storage capacity will be a non issue as well.

Yes I know that these types of statements have been said all along.. I remember thinking my 100Meg hard drive was a beast! The difference is that we are now reaching limits to the human experience... graphics that are at the extreme limit of our ability to appreciate them, same with sound quality...

Just something to think about... I could easily imagine a device this size that costs <$50 and could handle graphics and sound at the extent I could experience them and have terabytes of storage.

And then something like a breakthrough in holographic 3D tech will happen, demanding more resources.

JD10367 · 03-20-2012, 07:04 AM

All this technology will eventually lead to the pinnacle: the ultimate sexbot.

Fish · 03-20-2012, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buck

What is XBMC?

You know... I've been meaning to record some video of my setup and start a thread about XBMC, as lots of people have never heard of it. Maybe I'll do that tonight when I have some time.. It'll knock your socks off..

Here's a pretty limited video that shows the tip of the iceberg. This doesn't even show any of the available plugins for XBMC, this is just the built in media functions:

**Buck** · 03-20-2012, 06:40 PM

Okay so its some kind of GUI for streaming files from your HDD to a TV/Monitor (among other things)...but that device in the OP, the Raspberry Pi, does it have a HDD?

I'm guessing you need some kind of external HDD with media on it for it to work?

03-19-2012, 10:32 AM
Fish Ain't no relax! Join Date: Sep 2005 Casino cash: $-1271081	Raspberry Pi... Heard about this? Huge potential in this tiny little device. I can see this really changing the future of media consumption and availability to the masses. It's essentially a $35 mini computer that can also serve as a home theater system. http://www.raspberrypi.org/ What’s a Raspberry Pi? The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. It’s a capable little PC which can be used for many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays high-definition video. We want to see it being used by kids all over the world to learn programming. How much will it cost? The Model A will cost $25 and the Model B $35, plus local taxes. How powerful is it? The GPU provides Open GL ES 2.0, hardware-accelerated OpenVG, and 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode. The GPU is capable of 1Gpixel/s, 1.5Gtexel/s or 24 GFLOPs of general purpose compute and features a bunch of texture filtering and DMA infrastructure. That is, graphics capabilities are roughly equivalent to Xbox 1 level of performance. Overall real world performance is something like a 300MHz Pentium 2, only with much, much swankier graphics. More info in their FAQ here: http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs Last edited by Fish; 03-19-2012 at 10:42 AM..
Posts: 48,815

03-19-2012, 10:39 AM	#2
Fish Ain't no relax! Join Date: Sep 2005 Casino cash: $-1271081	Here's a couple examples of it's current capabilities. Keep in mind that this is very very early in its development. This isn't even the tip of the iceberg.... And this has me really really excited.... 1080p XBMC from a $35 device. Holy shit y'all... __________________
Posts: 48,815

03-19-2012, 05:11 PM	#3
DaFace Kind of a mod Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Donkey Land Casino cash: $-1703101	Nice. Seems like stuff like this is only going to become more common as time goes on. I'm kind of excited about things like the Roku Streaming Stick, though that's purely media-oriented and is undoubtedly less customizable.
Posts: 53,135

03-19-2012, 05:48 PM	#4
AustinChief Administrator Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Austin Casino cash: $-564998	This reminds me of something I have been thinking a lot about lately. We are quickly approaching the useful limits of certain technologies. For example, right now you can get an iPad 3 that has a display that is right at the PPI level which the human eye can see at. It should only be a few more years before we see monitors/video cards that have resolutions that extend 275+ PPI to sizes up to 30" The same type of thing applies to processor speeds. The Raspberry Pi has a crap processor in it, but we are quickly approaching a time where the processor speeds for ultra-low end devices like this will be "fast enough" for most uses. And lastly, storage... We have 128 GB SD CARDS right now.. that is just ridiculous. At some point in the VERY near future the storage capacity will be a non issue as well. Yes I know that these types of statements have been said all along.. I remember thinking my 100Meg hard drive was a beast! The difference is that we are now reaching limits to the human experience... graphics that are at the extreme limit of our ability to appreciate them, same with sound quality... Just something to think about... I could easily imagine a device this size that costs <$50 and could handle graphics and sound at the extent I could experience them and have terabytes of storage.
Posts: 20,000

03-19-2012, 05:55 PM	#5
Fish Ain't no relax! Join Date: Sep 2005 Casino cash: $-1271081	Yeah.. that Roku Streaming Stick looks pretty cool. It will be awesome when they do incorporate stuff like that into TVs. It will happen eventually. And when it does, it will really release the stranglehold that cable companies have on their customers. More and more people I know are going internet only. Having it as convenient as being embedded in your TV would sure make it easy.. __________________
Posts: 48,815

03-19-2012, 06:36 PM	#7
listopencil Immanentize The Eschaton Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: In Partibus Infidelium Casino cash: $-884120	This looks pretty cool. Maybe I'll grab one if they can meet what I assume will be a huge demand. __________________ *While you live, shine. Have no grief at all. Life exists only for a short while and time demands its toll.*
Posts: 56,814

03-19-2012, 10:01 PM	#8
QuikSsurfer Got swag? Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Madison, MS Casino cash: $10008287	Had my email on their update list for a while. Very excited about this. __________________
Posts: 11,847

03-19-2012, 10:12 PM	#9
XXXshogunXXX Starter Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: San Diego Casino cash: $10004995	For $35, that is a steal __________________
Posts: 657

03-19-2012, 11:10 PM	#10
Buck Take a Chill Pill Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: South Carolina Casino cash: $6150295	What is XBMC?
Posts: 44,605

03-20-2012, 07:04 AM	#13
JD10367 Cheaterlover* Join Date: May 2009 Location: RI Casino cash: $10010716	All this technology will eventually lead to the pinnacle: the ultimate sexbot.
Posts: 12,916

03-20-2012, 06:40 PM	#15
Buck Take a Chill Pill Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: South Carolina Casino cash: $6150295	Okay so its some kind of GUI for streaming files from your HDD to a TV/Monitor (among other things)...but that device in the OP, the Raspberry Pi, does it have a HDD? I'm guessing you need some kind of external HDD with media on it for it to work?
Posts: 44,605