[Wizmo]

Greetings all,

I will have acquired a Raspberry Pi 2 "starter kit" by later today. With very little experience programming or running LINUX other than booting up various utility CD's, I would like some basic guidance as to how to set it up optimally. I want to try to use it to watch videos (VLC Player?) and eventually as a development platform for a home automation system. :thumb:

I know it can be a steep learning curve for someone who is not LINUX savvy and definitely not a programmer in any way. Useful suggestions invited and appreciated. I have downloaded several general guide & "project" books and even the WIN10 image (link to MS) from the home site for the Raspberry Pi. :wink:

I will have the standard starter kit with the board, case, WiFi adapter, 2.5A power supply, HDMI cable and the normal heat sinks. I have several new class 10 64GB micro-SD cards on hand. I'm also getting the wireless keyboard accessory. I'm assuming a standard USB (or wireless) mouse will work.

OK, over to the more initiated for any guidance, wisdom & suggestions. :whistling:

 

[hal8000]

If you download windows 10 image, then you need to post in the windows section.
This link has an overview of windows 10 on the Pi:

Windows 10 on the Raspberry Pi: What you need to know - TechRepublic

The apps available are then subject to Microsofts team.

You will also find that it uses NTFS or fat32 for the card need regular fragmentation, and you will need an antivirus program.

If you choose to install one of the linux or freeBSD images then post in this section.
Rasbian is the official Rasberry Pi iamge (based on Debian) more images available below:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/

However the best links are below, MagPi is one of the official Raspberry Pi magazines,
and whats even better is they make back issues available to download free in PDF form link below/:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/issues/

The Official Raspberry Pi forums link is below. The forums are linux orientated but have sections on for programming language in C, Python, Java etc.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/

The Windows 10 IoT link is also below:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=105

You certainly have a lot of choice, so I'd download a few Magpie PDF's and bookmark the
links,
The Pi Community is very active and you may get an answer in a few minutes
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/

Hope that helps.

 

[Wizmo]

Thanks for an informative and thorough reply! I haven't had time to assemble and populate the board yet, but will have that chance over the coming weekend.

I have gotten all of the MagPi's and the tutorial books offered, and it seems my steepest learning curve is to return to the days of MS-DOS only in the LINUX flavour of the command line! :facepalm:

I was hoping that the GUI aspect would insulate me somewhat, but after reading a few articles it seems that will NOT be the case. Oh well, back to the drawing board! :grin:

 

[hal8000]

Some of the linux graphical desktops, XFCE, LXDE, KDE, Gnome3 and others are very similar to windows; in respect that they have menus, desktop icons, and taskbars.

LXDE is a little stripped down but you can launch applications from the menu (just like windows).

If you only want home control, then you can even use it headless (no monitor and no GUI) just control it via SSH. Webiopi is a project designed hust for home control, the Pi runs a webpage with icons and buttons that control the Pi's GPIO outputs. The control language is python, with html, CSS, jquery and a small amount of javascript.
Project and link to forum below:

WebIOPi - The Raspberry Pi Internet of Things Framework

 

[Wizmo]

Thanx, I'm actually posting using it right now! Who would have guessed that Firefox was called "IceWeasel" in Wheezy though!! It took me hours of trial & error plus a Youtube video to figure that one out! Learning curve indeed!

Unfortunately VLC Player isn't optimized for the hardware acceleratiom in Wheezy, so only audio playback works properly using it (so far). Something called "Ubeify" seems to do the job however.

I will play with it some more before I launch into the home automatiom aspects. Sure is hard typing on this tiny wireless keyboard.....

Thanx much for the assist. :grin:

 

[hal8000]

Hardware acceleration works when you buy the additional video codecs.

MPEG-2 license key - Raspberry Pi Store

These allow you to watch MPEG2 and VC1 and HD video, without them you only get sound.
I have two Pi's one runs Kodi (formally XBMC) and without the codecs only certain video files
could be played. My other Pi is experimental and headless, and only communicate via SSH,
so as theres no monitor, I have only bought the codecs for one Pi.
Its about £2.40 for a license as explained on the websites,

How to Add MPEG-2 and VC-1 Video Codec Support to Your Raspberry Pi

I have not tried video using VLC as I have kodi running but think it will probably give you the video acceleration. It works via Kodi and the media centres for the Pi so might be worth a gamble, its not much, about the price of a coffee.

 

[Wizmo]

I am thinking of "upgrading" to Raspberry Pi 3 Model B. After all the cost is minimal and I am having quite a bit of fun using it. My Godson (9 Y/O) is going crazy trying to figure out where the computer is!! I have the board hidden in my regular laptop case with a small fan to keep it cooled!! :grin:

With a wireless keyboard and mouse it is quite an illusion for him to ponder!! :devil:

Has anyone had any experience with the new iteration? Any tricks or tips to make it more useful??

 

[hal8000]

The Raspberry Pi3 is essentially the same as Pi2 except for following:
CPU is clocked at 900MHz (450MHz Pi2)
Pi3 has built in wifi
Pi has bluetooth

The downside is it runs quite hot 100C on the Pi forum have been reported.
If you plan on using a metal case this will block out wifi.
Although the CPU cores run at 900MHz the SDRAM still runs at 450MHz

Apart from that the proce is cheap and great value for money