Sunday, February 2, 2014

My New Toy - The Raspberry Pi

This is just a quick check in post.  We  recently bought a Raspberry Pi kit. It showed up quickly thanks to Amazon Prime.   We plan on using it as a LAMP server for a little while to practice some web development.  At the same time, we will also be using it as a small workstation for learning Python.  Eventually we will use it as an XBMC device.  I  plan to post all of our adventures about it here on The Geek's Garage.

If you are not familiar with the Raspberry Pi,  it is basically a credit card sized computer that has an ARM processor.  So really it is like the brains of a tablet that has an HDMI port that you can hookup to your TV.   If you are new to it and want to get one, I suggest getting a kit like the one below:



This is the kit that I purchased. It will come with almost everything you need to get started. If you do not go the kit route, you will have to track down a compatible power supply and SD card. And possibly some kind of case. Even if you do go with the kit,  you will still need some kind of TV or Monitor to hook it up to.  It only has an HDMI and a RCA composite video connection, so keep that in mind.  It also does not have built in wireless though it does have a standard wired ethernet port.  You will need a usb keyboard and mouse. Also, this does run Linux, so if you have never used Linux be prepared for that.

If you want more information about the Raspberry Pi, check back with us in a bit, we will be updating with more posts about it.  In the meantime, check out some of the links below.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs

http://magnatecha.com/things-i-do-with-my-raspberry-pi/

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/desktops/25-fun-things-to-do-with-a-raspberry-pi-50009851/



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Thanks
--Rick
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+RickBolt
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