Raspberry Pi - $35 wonder
I came across this gadget over a year ago. You will find the descriptions of this wonderful gadget all over the web. There are tons of youtube channels like https://www.youtube.com/user/RaspberryPiBeginners that will show you possibilities of this device.
Total Cost :- $60 approx.
- Raspberry Pi - $35
- Power Source - $5 - eBay (Android Phone Charger will do)
- SD Card (2Gb) - $5 - eBay (Any camera one will do)
- HDMI or RGA cable - $10 on Amazon
- USB Keyboard & Mouse - $5 - eBay (use one lying around from your computer)
It is not a replacement for your laptop or home PC. What is all this hype about Raspberry Pi? The device was mainly built for kids to learn programming in parts of the world where they could not afford a expensive computer. Powerful applications are possible using this small little wonder gadget. I built a few things listed below,
- GPIO Ports - Raspberry Pi provides you access to control external devices connected to it. This means you can control a light bulb, garage door, video camera, quad coptor, r/c car and so many more. I played around building a remote garage door opener.
- Media Center - Stream HD quality movies online directly into your TV. Yes! Chromecast can do the same. Stream videos from your iPad, iPhone or iPod directly into your TV without wires. Yes, chromecast can do that too. You can watch almost anything that plays on your comptuer on the Pi. Use either of the following
- OpenElec Media Player (http://openelec.tv/) - My Choice
- RaspBMC Media Player (http://www.raspbmc.com/)\
- Linux Desktop - There are several images out there that you can install on your Pi. Rasbian Wheezy is a simple light weight desktop and official choice of Raspberry Pi foundation. I used this one. Using linux you can build limitless things. Some I built are,
- Scratch - Visual programming for Kids. Built by MIT
- Web Server - To serve webpages
- Live web camera stream - Stream live video
- Time Lapse (stop motion) videos
- Home Automation
- Node JS server - Harness the power of Node JS. Create simple webservices.
Over next few weeks and months, I will put my pet projects on Raspberry Pi here. Feel free to comment or ask questions if I may help.
