got my raspberry Pi and what next?

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.

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

did tim use enough acronyms and tech jargon to lose all of us beginners,,, makes me throw up   just kidding guys,, but please spell out some of the acronyms

My apologies, what you rceived above was a mix of network geek, hardware geek, and Internet speak.  Happens at work also (someone stuck a sign on the outside of my cube: "WARNING!  Occupant communicates primarily via acronym!")    Further apologies as the list is a bit self-referential.

Bitlbee - A program capabile of concurrently bridging multiple IRC and Jabber servers.

DNS - Domain Name Service

GUI - Graphical User Interface

Munin - A program which gathers various system metrics and presents those metrics via graphs.

RaZBerry - A ZWave enabled daughter board for the RPi.

RPi - Raspberry Pi

Squeezebox - Logitech used to sell what they called a SqueezeBox (think Internet radio).  It was the (hardware) client end that connected to a media server (called the Squeezebox Media Center) that you installed on your computer.  Had a built-in speaker, a volume knob, and a couple buttons.  Could connect to the network via wireless or wired connection.

SqueezeSlave - A headless (no GUI) software-only client for Squeezebox.   There was also a GUI-enabled version called SoftSqueeze.

WOL - Wake on LAN.  For certain computers, if configured properly, you can turn them on from the network by sending it a "magic packet". (Note: "magic packet" is the accepted term for the packet.)

Zigbee - A low power, low bandwidth wireless technology used primarily in sensor networks.

ZWave - A low power, low bandwidth wireless technology used primarily in home automation.

If I've missed any, yell.

- Tim

Acronym conflicts are part of the fun. I was showing an MD around our lab, and when we came to the high accuracy analytical section I mentioned that even the BP was taken into account in the calculations. He wanted to know what the blood pressure of the analyst had to do with the results. I was of course refering to the barometric pressure.

We all get acronymed to death, especially those in interdisciplinary fields. The best way to deal with it is as a child does. Ask, and learn from context.

Just received notice: card is on back order.  Vendor expects to have the next shipment around the 15th. 

Children may, eventually, learn things by asking a lot of questions and looking at context, but TEACHERS teach by anticipating the questions and providing clear answers in the order they typically show up. Clear, simple, ordered, pertinent teaching really works better than waiting for a novice to learn to swim. If there are predictable questions and predictable contexts, then why doesn't instructional material address them before the novice gets pissed off?

m sorenson wrote:

 

Children may, eventually, learn things by asking a lot of questions and looking at context, but TEACHERS teach by anticipating the questions and providing clear answers in the order they typically show up. Clear, simple, ordered, pertinent teaching really works better than waiting for a novice to learn to swim. If there are predictable questions and predictable contexts, then why doesn't instructional material address them before the novice gets pissed off?

And what does this have to do with the price of tea in China?

m sorenson wrote:

 

Children may, eventually, learn things by asking a lot of questions and looking at context, but TEACHERS teach by anticipating the questions and providing clear answers in the order they typically show up. Clear, simple, ordered, pertinent teaching really works better than waiting for a novice to learn to swim. If there are predictable questions and predictable contexts, then why doesn't instructional material address them before the novice gets pissed off?

I think generally it is too much to expect all free on-line material to cater for all users or even to actually be down to instructional level. Sometimes it is provided in the form of a general guideline. We all have to make certain assumptions of the reader(s) at times sometimes incorrectly but sometimes for expediency. We all try to break things down into simple terms where possible, and where we don't, users do ask for clarification and receive it.

Where instructional material is bad, it is also refreshing to see a beginner who has learnt the hard way then put in effort to create or correct instructional material to help his peers. And then the authors of the poor instructional material can learn from the apprentice so-to-speak.. i.e. we've all got something to learn.

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m sorenson wrote:

 

Children may, eventually, learn things by asking a lot of questions and looking at context, but TEACHERS teach by anticipating the questions and providing clear answers in the order they typically show up. Clear, simple, ordered, pertinent teaching really works better than waiting for a novice to learn to swim. If there are predictable questions and predictable contexts, then why doesn't instructional material address them before the novice gets pissed off?

I think generally it is too much to expect all free on-line material to cater for all users or even to actually be down to instructional level. Sometimes it is provided in the form of a general guideline. We all have to make certain assumptions of the reader(s) at times sometimes incorrectly but sometimes for expediency. We all try to break things down into simple terms where possible, and where we don't, users do ask for clarification and receive it.

Where instructional material is bad, it is also refreshing to see a beginner who has learnt the hard way then put in effort to create or correct instructional material to help his peers. And then the authors of the poor instructional material can learn from the apprentice so-to-speak.. i.e. we've all got something to learn.

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For you and I (and some others on this forum) the 'self learning' discipline is alive and well.

I work with a number of people for whom they arrived from school and were taught what they needed to know, and the self learning aspect was not encouraged.

Granted that they were dealing with hardware that had no room for 'experimentation', but sadly it shows later in their career.

We seem to have a generation that I have previously dubbed the "Instant brigade", because rather than go and search out the answer, they wait/need someone to provide it for them.

Self learning for this generation is not alive and well.

I think there are some very good educators, but sadly many are following a set script and don't fully understand the concepts in order to maximise the learning experience for the pupils.

This means that when a question arises, the answer might be vague/delayed or just given rather than helping the pupil/student understand and work it out for themselves.

Someone also pointed out that we reward failure equally as well as sucess, and if the pupil/student tries and fails, then there is little or no incetive to try harder, or try again.

This will result in a whole lot of mediocre engineering IMO.

Mark