Raspberry Pi, a low cost development board or suitable production use

I am currently looking at using the raspberry pi B+ in a business environment. The idea is to have 50 of these connected to LED screens repeating a series of messages for 10-17 hours per day. They will be on every day and store the messages in MP4 format on the SD card. They will be updated every two weeks buy inserting a USB stick with new information that gets automatically transferredacross. (ethernet cable if we advance).

The pi has had all unused items removed and is not overclocked.

There are a lot of people in the business that like this idea however i am getting some who say the Raspberry is a low cost development board that can't cope; and will cost more compared to a custom built device. ( i have had the pilot running for 11 months no issues)

This is a general discussion as to people views on using a development board in this way as i never have before, and if anyone has done something similar.

I think this will work and the raspberry can take the challenge.

gadget.iom over 10 years ago

Is this an advertising deployment?
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel
johnbeetem over 10 years ago

David Russell wrote:

There are a lot of people in the business that like this idea however i am getting some who say the Raspberry is a low cost development board that can't cope; and will cost more compared to a custom built device. ( i have had the pilot running for 11 months no issues)

If you don't need wired Ethernet, you could probably do it with a Model A+, which lists for US$20. It would be hard for a custom-built device to compete with that.
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel
Former Member over 10 years ago in reply to gadget.iom

No! stricly internal comunications and performance updates per area!
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel
Former Member over 10 years ago in reply to johnbeetem

I have tested the model A+ used 0.0009 (B+ at 0.001) KWH and works great however lack of ethernet could cause a problem in a few updates. However i brought one for each of my kids.
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel
gadget.iom over 10 years ago in reply to Former Member

Ahh. Have made a similar thing (only one off so far) for my workplace.
With the limited quantity required vs the ability to update/improve the design as needed, the RPi should be fine
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel
gadget.iom over 10 years ago

Another consideration to make could be the Compute Module. Though not yet available, the pricing may be lower than the standard boards, and with onboard Flash and built-in HDMI capabilities you could make a simple breakout PCB to interface with your displays.
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel
Problemchild over 10 years ago in reply to gadget.iom

The Compute module is more expensive and requires a custom board to be made to carry it so unless you have a very specific requirement it will be more of a PITA than a normal cheap B+. The general idea is sound though to minimize the extra connectors but you could just desolder those at a lower cost/hassle.
Cancel
Vote Up +1 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel
Problemchild over 10 years ago

you need to describe what you are doing with the MP4 videos.
I think you will need the buy me now codec from the RPF to play them using the accelerator unless I've missed out on something !
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel
Problemchild over 10 years ago

That aside the RPi should be more and capable for this . BTW we can do you some custom cases for the PI(s) to attaché to the monitor's VESA mount if you are interested..All sorts of fancy colours and stuff
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel
gadget.iom over 10 years ago in reply to Problemchild

If they are more expensive, then you are quite correct. I just couldn't find a price without the development kit attached.
Cancel
Vote Up 0 Vote Down

Sign in to reply

Cancel