got my raspberry Pi and what next?

Get it on the net and get the latest updates.

Bradley A. Crittenden

There's a Beginner's Guide at the RasPi Wiki: http://elinux.org/RPi_Beginners.  I haven't used it myself or heard reviews, but from a quick scan it looks promising.

I've also heard that The Magpie magazine is a good starting point: http://www.themagpi.com/.

google Geek Gurl Diaries.  she will help you

I just received my second one today just to use as a media player. I just finished setting it up with Raspbmc, I have been using XBMC through an Apple TV 2. I figured this was a inexpesive way to have another player downstairs. It runs very well on the PI and so far am quite happy with it. Takes a bit setting up, but that is half the fun.

hi ihave just received my pi aqnd had troubles downloading and putting it on the sdcard reader it was a micro sd 

but i seemed to have got around that by downloading it  to my smart phone

First step is to connect a KB/Mouse/Monitor/Network and go through the configuration advice at raspberrypi.org.

Once you complete that visit http://learn.adafruit.com and browse to the raspberry pi tutorials for projects that will teach you about the capabilities of the Raspberry Pi.

I am new to Raspberry Pi's too, though not new to computers, having gotten my first job writing Fortran in 1965. There is just something about the Raspberry that is absolutely enchanting. I love to play with it. It brings me back to when my first program ever worked. Though they were not my primary occupation, I love computers for what they are. Just the idea of all those electrons doing my bidding is a true thrill. There is also the more practical side. Solving problems would take person centuries of work to compute. Complex games that would not be possible. Everything inbetween and more.

What you will want to do with your Raspberry depends on who you are. If you play with yours, it will change how you think, and who you are.

As others have said, you need to connect it to the web. Use apt-get to upgrade it, and install whole packages that will be useful. You will probably want to learn a little C++ and Bash. You will also want to try out some of the sensing and control possiblities. Making an LED blink on and off may not sound exciting, but it is the first time you do it. From there it is not a question of what to do, but what to do first. Right now my Raspberry is transfering about 350 ripped CDs from a Linux box disk. Somehow the CPU lost its magic smoke, and I have no other Linux boxes. So I would have had to convert a Windows box to Linux, do the transfer from the disks, then reconvert the WIndows box. Saves my many hours of unpleasant work. Then I will set up a Pi to gather in, and play, the streamed music from playlists at my main music system. Next is to set up a thermostat on the third level where we sleep, and let an Arudino or Pi decide when to turn on the pellet stove and the fan on the woodstove in the winter. Another system will decide when the winds are high enough to start the motor that rolls in the awning outside.

I do most of that (and more) with an aging X-10 system controlled by a laptop that lost its screen years ago. But the Pi looks like even more fun.

If you want it, it is an infinite number of paths that can stimulate and teach you for your entire life and longer. Every project completed spawns ideas for dozens mroe.

My best wishes.

I have a similar set up, except it uses the Squeezebox media center instead of XBMC.  I have SqueezeSlave installed on the RPi and control it from the web interface on the Squeezebox media server.  It makes a nice $40 replacement for the $300 radio that wore out years ago.

My first RPi is still gonig strong.  It's running an internal DNS server for the house, a WOL gateway, Munin, and Bitlbee.  I think that, by using the WOL feature to wake up the house server only when it's needed, the dollar savings for electricity will more than offset the initial cost of the RPi.

My next project is to add a ZWave interface to the RPi (search Google for RaZBerry) and seeing how well it works with the various modules offered at the local Lowes Hardware.  I'll have to add a Zigbee interface to play with Lowes' sensors.

- Tim

Tim,

I would be interested in hearing about adding the ZWave interface to the RPi should you decide to do this. TIA.

Michael,

I've ordered the RazBerry interface.  Should be in some time this week (hopefully before the 4-day weekend).  Will keep you posted.

- Tim