Raspberry Pi(e) - an inedible but intriguing little robot

vincentnijman in STEMGeeks • 3 years ago

My laptop hasn’t wanted to charge for two days now. All my crypto stuff is on there and - as you might know - I ~~was~~ am working on finishing my first book. This has become a little more complicated but that’s okay.

Doing all this on my phone ~~sucks~~ is a bit of a hassle. Luckily I backed up most of my crypto keys/ passwords and so on months ago, when the laptop charging issues started.

So, today, I managed to log into Hive / Peakd on my phone ( where I’m typing this now.

I also managed to get Reedsy ( my book editor ) to work on my phone, a day or two ago.

I just don’t like small screens too much ( my eyes, that is ) and my 4 year old iPhone has a battery that runs out twice a day ( even though I replaced it in November 2019 ).

Anyhow, I like challenges and I believe that everything happens for a reason. It also helps to be more creative and more mindful than the average person. Situations like these usually lead to improvements, stuff I wouldn’t have thought of other wise.

Today I was reminded of the Raspberry Pi again, an awesome mini computer built into a keyboard.

Although I reached out to a friend, who repairs computers, to try and fix my laptop next week, part of me sees this as an opportunity to get myself a new gadget.

The Raspberry Pi can do a lot of great things but it’s also very useful to learn programming ( something I tinkered with for quite a while, in the mid to late 90s, before Uni ). It was too complicated for
Me back then and life took over. Years later, my younger brother - Jan Willem Nijman - became a ( successful ) game maker

I feel tempted to order a Raspberry Pi but it would be nice if my laptop can be fixed anyway.

I could make this a very long post but I’m on my phone and it’s lunch time so I won’t.

I will use this weekend to do some more research on the Raspberry Pi. So far I really like what I see. The thing is also very affordable.

I’m curious though to hear if any of you has heard of / has experience with the Raspberry Pi and, if so, how do you like it, what do you use it for?

Have a great day and remainder of the weekend,

Vincent

_{I felt a picture of this deserted mansion, in the village near the house where I’m staying these days, was more interesting than a photo of a computer}

#technology #raspberrypi #computerprogramming #programming #life

3 years ago in STEMGeeks by vincentnijman

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minus-pi 3 years ago

I love the raspberry pi, I have a few of them and learnt a lot with them. I have a home server running on one, and did some ADS-B plane tracking with another.
Do you consider the raspberry as a replacement for you laptop? If you haven't worked with the devices before I think I wouldn't recommend that. Not because it's not possible (it is), but it might need a bit of time to set it up and get familiar with it.

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vincentnijman 3 years ago

Awesome!

Do you consider the raspberry as a replacement for you laptop?

Yes. I like myself a good challenge and am a quick learner, especially if things interest me. Aside from that, I have plenty of time.

Have you considered sharing your Rasperry Pi experience on your blog? I would love to read that kind of content.

Cheers!

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minus-pi 3 years ago

sounds great! What are your plans for the operating system, Linux/Raspbian or alike, or Windows IoT? I only worked with Linux on mine so far..

Have you considered sharing your Rasperry Pi experience on your blog?

I haven't, but that's a good idea - will think about it, thanks! :)

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vincentnijman 3 years ago

Haven’t really looked into the OS yet but I must say that after a”almost 30 years of usage, I have grown pretty tired of Windows. Can’t wait to start using something new ;<)

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iobates 3 years ago

I have a few pi's running, one I use to run several programs 24/7, and then another I run as a media center hooked up to the living room television.

I would recommend you to get a pi, very nifty little computer (or you can look at any one of several alternative SBC's)

Wikipedia has a list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Single-board_computers
though the pi is a decent pick.

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vincentnijman 3 years ago (edited)

Awesome. A bunch of them! You sound like a way more technical person than me. Are you into crypto trading to and if so,do you use your raspberry pi(‘s) for that too?

I also like that media center idea. I don't have a TV but I have a movie projector and studied film.

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iobates 3 years ago

I do not really trade, so I do not use a pi for such.
The media center is fairly simple, just get libreelec flash on a sd card for the pi, and put some media on the device (or external usb harddisk)

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wwwiebe 3 years ago

I've got a few raspberry pi's kicking around. The newest one - the Pi 4 - is actually a really good machine! I'm currently building a robot car with a Pi3 with my son. I think using a Pi 3 for a 'desktop' would be possible, but maybe a little clunky.

I agree that using a phone for day to day activities is tough. The newer Samsung phones have the "Samsung Dex" interface which, when plugged into an HDMI monitor, can be used as a full-fledged desktop. It's neat and can be used in a pinch if it's available to you.

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vincentnijman 3 years ago

Thanks for your reply. To be honest, I prefer not to go for a phone ( although that Samsung sounds intriguing ). I want to move more toward open source, more decentralized Internet usage.

I was indeed considering the Raspberry 4 but am also wondering whether a click-on touch screen is preferable over an external monitor. I don't own a TV or any kind of external monitor at the moment.

And building a robot car with your son sounds like fun!

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mytechtrail 3 years ago

I currently own 13 Raspberry Pi computers, I started with the first model 1 in 2012. I use a couple to monitor and log various temperature sensors inside and outside my house. I have created a Raspberry Pi Community where I post about a robot I am building with a Raspberry Pi. I have been sidetracked lately trying to run digital mode communication with one of my rpi's connected to my Ham Radio. I have created a Ham Radio Community for my Ham Radio projects.

I use the default Raspberry Pi OS (debian based linux) in all of my rpi's. I have been a Linux user for 20 years.

The Raspberry Pi 400 is a Model 4 with 4GB Ram all built into a keyboard. If you get the kit all you need to add would be a HDMI monitor or TV for a display.

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vincentnijman 3 years ago (edited)

13! Impressive. I‘m stil waiting for the person who replies, telling me they have 3.14 of them ;<)

Sensing the feedback on my post so far, I get the idea that many Raspberry Pi owners have these machines to use as little robots with a specific function, cool!

I am indeed considering the 400 with an added monitor. I never used anything but Windows before ( unless you count MS-DOS and some dabbling in Visual Basic and Turbo Pascal, ages ago ), but I‘m ready for the next stop.

Gave you and your communities a follow and will keep a ( Commander ) keen eye on them.

Enjoy your day!

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ryivhnn 3 years ago

One of those might work out for you, they sound fun to play with at any rate :)

We had one for a little while but it just wasn't grunty enough to do what we wanted (it was basically a thing for the tv that acted like cable but wasn't cable and accessed some interesting free channels, however it was so unusably slow that nobody used it much and it then ended up in a plastic bag when we were cleaning up and it's probably stored in a box somewhere now). They're probably much better these days.

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vincentnijman 3 years ago

Cool to hear this ( aside from it ending up in a bag to be drowned secretly ). That definitely sounds like an old model. The newest R. Pi‘s sound pretty amazing :<)

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holisticmom 3 years ago

Anyhow, I like challenges and I believe that everything happens for a reason. It also helps to be more creative and more mindful

I love your mindset, dear Vincent. It is so true that the way we respond to difficult situations can make all the difference to the way things turn out.

I feel tempted to order a Raspberry Pi but it would be nice if my laptop can be fixed anyway.

I like the look of the Raspberry Pi and the name of it is really cool too. Go on, treat yourself.

Love the picture, that deserted mansion sure looks spooky.

Hugs 🤗💚✨

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vincentnijman 3 years ago

Thank you! I feel it is indeed time tp go treat myself. Just what I needed to hear :<)

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yangyanje 3 years ago

Buddy!! This is so funny. My laptop randomly turns off because i have to change the battary. It only works with the charger. I'm stil in the orocess of hoping i can afford a hard drive to back up my data soon. So true that challenges make us more ingenuitive. Dude!! I love that profile picture! Big smiles ! Btw. I have these images in my head of strange buildings i saw on my bicycle trip. I wish i had taken pictures if them. They looked like huts from ancient france.

Posted using Dapplr

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creativemary 3 years ago

I hope that you will fix the pc and be back on your normal routine. It's great that you backed up everything.

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phusionphil 3 years ago

Push it to the limit!

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