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Things to do with a Raspberry Pi 2?

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    Things to do with a Raspberry Pi 2?

    Now that the Raspberry Pi 2 has been released, the little computer might actually be worth tinkering with! It now has a 4 core 800mhz CPU, and 1gb of RAM.


    I've been kicking around the idea of picking one up on eBay, as they're only about $42 shipped (here). I have $100 burning a hole in my pocket at the moment. My mom gave it to me for my birthday nearly 2 months ago, and I'm trying not to spend it on something stupid, like bills. I want a toy, dammit!

    I figure I could hook it up to my TV and configure it to run RetroPie, which is basically a bootable frontend with video game console emulators covering pretty much everything up through the original Playstation (PS1 emulation alone is worth the price!)


    Still, I know these little suckers can be used for more than just emulation. I have absolutely no experience with any Linux OS, and my programming education pretty much stopped with BASIC... so I'm not sure if I'd really be able to make good use of the device.

    I looked around on the internet and saw some creative uses... but nothing that made me say "I want to do that!!!" Has anyone seen anything cool, or had any ideas (or experiences) themselves?

    I'd love to hear any ideas... doesn't matter what for. Internet, gaming, household use, or automotive use. Give me some inspiration!







    #2
    I would use it as a front end for media files if you already have it hooked up to your TV.
    Gary A.K.A. Carter
    [sig killed by photobucket]

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      #3
      I thought about doing that, though I already have an HDMI cable running under my floor from my PC to my TV, and a bluetooth keyboard/touchpad to control the PC while using the TV as a third monitor.
      Although... an always-on separate media server could have some benefits...

      I've been reading about using the Pi as a private cloud server. Sounds like it might be rather cumbersome, though.






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        #4
        Yes! My coworker and I are going to use one for a digital synthesizer. You could use one in the car for music, radio, video etc. As a central control for smart house stuff. RFID scanning tool...heh

        YouTube Clicky!!

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          #5
          Bringing this back!

          I never did use my birthday money for the Pi. Paid bills instead (fun stuff :/ )
          Anyway, I finally got one for Christmas from my fiancee. She got a starter pack that came with a case, 2gb microSD card, HDMI cable, wifi dongle, heatsinks, and power supply. The power supply is the only thing that is 100% necessary to anyone buying a Raspberry Pi (you don't have to buy them in kit form... but you need to get a proper power supply unit, or you risk doing damage to the device.)

          I added an ASUS bluetooth dongle, as well as a proprietary wireless dongle for my Logitech K400r keyboard (which I highly recommend.) Picked up a genuine PS3 controller as well. I also used a 32gb PNY microSD card that I had laying around, because 2gb is kinda tiny.
          That's it.

          I got RetroPie on there simply enough. WIFI and Bluetooth worked without any frustrating tweaking (way easier than I've ever had such things work on my PC!)
          I connected to the device via SSH using Cyberduck, and loaded a metric asston of games.

          I definitely recommend this for anyone that's into retro gaming!
          Yesterday, I played SNES, NES, N64, and Playstation. The more taxing systems, such as N64 and Playstation, do struggle a little bit... but they're still fully playable. I've already put quite a bit of time into Gran Turismo 2 (my favorite GT game.)



          My next projects will include building a new case with a cooling fan, and designing a remove on/off switch (at the moment, the only way to turn it off properly is to unplug it.)






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