I've started blogging about my experience in Road Test reviewing the Ultimate Raspberry Pi Bundle. As a part of this Road Test I'm creating a Fridge/Freezer Temperature Alarm system for our local food shelf, Channel 1. You can see where this Road Test started for me here
Progress on the Temperature Alarm Project
Well I've drawn the line in the sand...for myself I guess...as far as what I need to build for the Temperature Alarm for Channel 1.Food Shelf
One thing I haven't decided is what I will use for a temperature sensor?? I want one that can be remotely located in the freezer and fridge unit, ideally without the need for power to it, so I can keep the Pi and other components out of the extreme temp. I am thinking of going with a thermocouple solution, but I have an temperature sensor in my collection of parts I think, so I may experiment with that first.
I did find a good resource on element14 that describes the types of temp sensors available.Hints for selecting the correct temperature sensor for your application
Progress on the Ultimate Raspberry Pi Bundle Review
XBMC is a free and open source media player developed by the XBMC Foundation. It was originally created as a media center application called "Xbox Media Center" for the original Xbox game console.
The XBMC Solution is a great place for me to start, as I need an HDMI cable, and a wireless keyboard will be cool, plus the package includes a pre-onfigured SD card!
The XBMC Bundle Accessory Kit or XBMC Solution as seen on the cover is a great bundle of goodies for someone who wants to use their Raspberry Pi as a media server.
Included in the package:
- a 4GB SD card with raspbmc preloaded
- 3M Ethernet cable
- 1m HDMI cable
- QWERTY - QK-90015 Wireless keyboard and touchpad media controller
I found an unboxing video by element14 colecago here: Element14 Raspberry Pi XBMC Solution Unboxing - YouTube
The video was helpful in letting me know that the keyboard wifi dongle is located inside the keyboard battery compartment, that AAA batteries can be used for the keyboard.
After reading the instructions included with the XBMC I also learned the keyboard has a timeout feature and if it interferes with another device can be programmed for different wireless signals
Nothing could be easier to set up,
All I did was:
- made sure the keyboard had a good charge on it
- connected the HDMI to an open port on my TV.
- Inserted the wifi dongle in the Pi
- inserted the pre-formatted SD card in the Pi
- used my phone's micro USB power cord (5V) to power the Pi
And whammo! the Pi booted up and the keyboard was easy to use to navigate around
There were no videos, images or music available to test with the new configuration, but I was able to easily play some from a usb key.
Keyboard issue: One of the three indicator lights on the QWERTY keyboard is supposed to be a caps lock indicator, were this true this would be a handy feature so you can tell if you have accidentally pressed caps button. Doesn't seem to work however. To toggle caps lock on, you can press and hold the "Caps" button, and after a short wait capital letters will be typed, hold the Caps button again and now lowercase letters are typed again...the indicator LED doesn't seem to behave differently caps or no. Strange, but not something that will bother me.
Suggestions for the XBMC Solution Bundle
The XBMC was super easy to set up. I think the XBMC Solution should be part of an Ultimate Raspberry Pi Bundle
- Supply sample media? It was so easy to set up the XBMC, it was almost anti climatic. It would be cool if there were a sample mp3, jpg and video on the card so I could demo something right away
- Instructions on how to play video?
Suggestions re the Ultimate Raspberry Pi Bundle
I think part of my review is supposed to be comments on the "Ultimateness" of this Pi Bundle.
- Power Adapter/Cable - This first effort confirms that an "Ultimate" Pi Bundle should include a micro USB cable / power adapter. For me I happen to have a few around for Android phones so this was not a problem.
- HDMI - Ah, at first I thought I would need an HDMI cable, but no, the XBMC Solution came to my rescue. I may buy a DVI adapter so I can use the Pi on my computer monitor
- Case - Still feeling like there should be a case in the "Ultimate" Bundle
- How about a USB hub? I have a Wifi and a wireless keyboard in the Bundle, now my available ports will be taken
- To be fair, cable connections (including the fact that USB hub and a DVI or VGA adapter may be needed) are covered in the element14 intro to Pi videos: Get Started With Pi - Video 1: Unboxing and Setting up the Peripherals
Next Step, Review of the element14 Wi-Pi USB Wifi module for Raspberry Pihttp://www.newark.com/element14/wipi/module-wifi-usb-for-raspberry/dp/07W8938
My research tells me that the Wi-Pi installation on RaspBMC (the verison of Linux included with the XBMC) would require me to add an add-on and so since I plan to use another operating system anyway, I think I'll move on to that step next.