Raspberry Pi

[RuSZ]

Have a look at this. What seems like the worlds smallest fully functioning PC, running Linux

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 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.

COST; £25...

I dont see a reason why it cant run with something differnt to basic Linux :slayer:

 

[colin79666]

Actually, it's even cheaper. $25

I've been waiting a while for this, really want to get into some home brew projects.

 

[RuSZ]

Actually, it's even cheaper. $25

I've been waiting a while for this, really want to get into some home brew projects.

I qouted the £25 from STUFF mag, which say that the one with Ethernet will cost around £25 or $35.

I'm going to order one the moment its released! want to try and get unbuntu on it

 

[ChrisUK]

On a ArmII 700mhz.....

You'd be far better off with something like puppy linux.

 

[RuSZ]

On a ArmII 700mhz.....

You'd be far better off with something like puppy linux.

Good point. I guess it is essentially just the innards of a modern smart phone .

Maybe its possible to running a version of Google's Android in some form. Most of the earlier 1.6 and 2.0 androids run on ArmII processors, I think the HTC Wildfire (old version not the S) runs of a 528mz ArmII.

I guess it's just a matter of RAM. Can't see it been too dissimilar to mobiles seen as it's powering quite a bit.

 

[RuSZ]

Just read it has 256mb RAM directly on the processor in PoP format, not as much as the Wildfires 384mb RAM and 526mb ROM but still respectable.

Plus its launching directly from the GPU and SD but the Kernel can be changed and ran to laugh via a bootlauncher like android. And it will accept touch screens

 

[ChrisUK]

Cool, Would make a very compact car pc? :chin:

 

[RuSZ]

Cool, Would make a very compact car pc? :chin:

Never thought of that... Hmm plus it runs on a 12v feed.:idea:

I was thinking of using it as a smart tv tuner or possibly a custom tablet pc.

But car pc would quite cool and space saving.

 

[JustAndy]

Never thought of that... Hmm plus it runs on a 12v feed.:idea:

I was thinking of using it as a smart tv tuner or possibly a custom tablet pc.

But car pc would quite cool and space saving.

Next project Russ?
lol i wish i knew what you were talking about earlier in the thread, i have no idea about computers really

 

[arc]

I got all excited when I saw the thread title, they should be onsale by now :bang:

Just read it has 256mb RAM directly on the processor in PoP format, not as much as the Wildfires 384mb RAM and 526mb ROM but still respectable.

The Wildfire has more RAM because it needs for SenseUI. Just like when you compare the early 'vanilla' Android phones to their HTC counterparts.

 

[ChrisUK]

I think theres a Car PC "UI" for Android... Would be cool if it could be optimised for that hardware. Coupled with a 64Gb SD Card would be awesome .

I'm not too bothered cause I got this:-

http://www.dynavin.com/products/product_dnv_e46.php

Should be quite easy to replicate something similar using a raspberry pi .

 

[jip0]

think i will be ordering when of these as soon as they are released.

Car pc is a very good idea :chin:

 

[RuSZ]

The Wildfire has more RAM because it needs for SenseUI. Just like when you compare the early 'vanilla' Android phones to their HTC counterparts.

I guess thats part of the reason. also most Smart Phones have the additional loads of running off small load batterys and 2G/3G modems.

But its not neseccerily down to SenseUI. All Sense is, is, an overlay of "Vanilla" Android, I can get onto the pure Android 2.3.4 on my HTC and My Dads Samsung Galaxy Portal currently running SenseUI and MetroUI over the 1.6 Android . The Galaxy Portal only has 180mb of RAM.

It will still be interesting to try and get a pure version of 2.0 running on the RaspberryPI, should work, ive seen it on tablets with only a 528mhz Processor and 256mb RAM

 

[ChrisUK]

Well I had quite an amazing version of Android running on a Hero which again is only a 533ish Mhz and 256mb ram.

 

[RuSZ]

Well I had quite an amazing version of Android running on a Hero which again is only a 533ish Mhz and 256mb ram.

If it was the stock UI then it'll have been SenseUI, so it can spec wise it should work on the RaspberryPI.

Im presuming that with you it wasnt the stock UI, Chris

I guess even if its used as a Car PC then it would be set up in the form of a tablet PC. so SenseUI on the Hero/Desire/Wildfire isnt the most suitable. but i guess it shouldnt be hard to find a suitable ADK. maybe even stock 2.0 would be good.

Would want WiFi if it was a in Car PC, and they say it could be set up to use a WiFi dongle in Linux, but i doubt Android would have the required drivers.

 

[arc]

I'm not saying it can't be done, just that the extra RAM was favoured on the early HTC handsets - which they did need for the UI.

If you look at the HTC Magic, there were two versions;

PVT32A with 288 MB RAM
PVT32B with 192 MB RAM

The HTC Hewo then came out with 288 MB RAM, and people tried to run that version on the Magic. The PVT32B couldn't hack it, but the PVT32A could.

Chris - what build did you have the Hewo? I think mines about to come out of useful service, so might have a faff about with it. (Already have Ice Cream Sandwich on my Nexus S - ehe)

 

[BlueDan]

Well I had quite an amazing version of Android running on a Hero which again is only a 533ish Mhz and 256mb ram.

A colleague at my old work runs a Froyo-based CM ROM on a G1 (aka 192MB HTC Magic) - some guys have even gotten ICS running on them, slowly.

Apparently Android has barely made use of HW acceleration up to now for the GUI, so it might run ok on a Raspberry Pi, despite the lack of GPU - unless there is something included on the CPU die.

arc, give CM 7.1.0 a go on your Hero - good practice if you've never rooted before
Some nice bits in there - like screenshots from the power button menu, hanging up with the power button, permissions management, holding back to kill an app, and brightness adjustment by sliding across the status bar.
I've stuck with a Sense-based ROM on my Desire for now, the dialler is much better, I make use of the bundled copy of Quickoffice and I couldn't find out how to turn off Google Instant in the browser address bar, which was mildly annoying.

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=HTC_Hero_(GSM)

 

[arc]

The Hewo already has CM 7 on it. It's had myriad ROMs whilst I had it, but it's now my girlfriend's as I got a Nexus S around this time last year. The Nexus S had CM7 until recently, but now runs ICS.

ICS makes very good use of HW Acceleration on the UI, although it has been present in some degree since Froyo iirc.

The Raspberry Pi uses a BCM2835, which has a VideoCore IV GPU.. so it's a bit unfair to say it doesn't have a GPU! The 'CPU die' is really the wrong term, it's a System On Chip - it's all in there.

 

[ChrisUK]

I really can't remember what rom I was using now it's been nearly 2years and I've had a Desire and a Desire HD since then All I know is I was using a custom kernel which overclocked the CPU to 728mhz.

Now on a Sensation XE.

I suppose those Raspberry Pi's are pretty much modern mobile phone hardware.

 

[arc]

Might've been one of the modaco ROMs, I had that and the 'lightspeed' kernel I think it was - clocked to a similar speed.