To start off, I have been interested in the "art" of Arduino and Raspberry Pi for awhile now and I have always been intersted in electronics for as long as I can remember. The only thing that stops me from my hobby is money. I am disabled and unable to obtain means of income either from working or other means but I get by doing odd jobs here and there and anything I use in what projects I do manage to do, I recycle from old electronics that are no longer of use or broken. Anyways, tomarrow is my birthday (sept. 20) and I have convinced my girlfriend to get me a Raspberry Pi, which I have been looking forward to for a very long time now. I have many projects in mind, however I have a few questions concerning some of my ideas that I am not sure how to go about doing or simply just do not know enough about. So with all that said, lets get to it.
Question one - Is it possible to use cell phone LCD's as a LCD screen for the Raspberry Pi. The reason why I ask is I have several old phones laying around I could use. My old LG Env Touch has a nice sized screen I would like to use for one of my projects. The only problem is, it uses ribbon cables. Another reason I ask this is because TFT LCD screens are a little pricey, at least for really low budget hobbiest such as myself. I know they you can get TFT LCD's such as one for a car's rerverse camera pretty cheap on Ebay and $25 doesn't seem bad for what it is, but I just cannot afford one at this time.
Question two - In relation for question one, I have an old laptop laying around, would it be possible to use its LCD screen with the Raspberry Pi? Also, what about the using battery to power it? If so, how would I go about this, LCD's are not my specialty.
Actually it would be kind of cool to cut the motherboard of the old laptop and just use the Pi with the scame screen and keyboard/ touch pad. Would that be possible?
Question three - Can Arduinos be used with Raspberry Pi? I am pretty sure the answer to this one is in fact yes, but I would like to make sure. I currently do not have any projects in mind that would require use of an Arduino, but Arduinos are something I am deffinatly interested in, and I would like to use them along side the Raspberry Pi later on in other projects.
Question four - Is it possible to make a simple usb controller that would work with the Raspberry Pi? One simple like the old NES controllers? I have a project in mind for a portable game system/ mobile computer from an old Gameboy case. I would like to use usb to attach it to the Raspberry Pi. I don't want to put the Raspberry Pi within the same case simply because I have plans for other projects as well, and I want the Raspberry Pi within its own encloser. IF a usb connection isn't possible, what would be the best way to go about this project?
Question five - What would be the best OS to use with the Pi? As I have learned, there are numerious ones out there now, and with so many to choose from, I have no idea where to start.
I had more question, but as I was typing all the above, I forgot them. If I remember them I will post them, however any help on the above would be highly appreciated!
