The Raspberry pi 2

sucks2beme
sucks2beme Posts: 5,602
edited June 2015 in Going Digital
So I got a raspberry pi 2 for father's day.
It came complete with just about everything including
a 2.5 amp power adapter. No brownouts here!
I was trying to load Volumio, but I just couldn't get it to
load up and run, so I went to Runeaudio. After setting up
the wireless interface, I hooked up my usb drive full of FLAC music,
and external USB dac. I used a cheap tablet to control it. Worked ok,
but volume was low. After a tech support post, they gave
me a SSH series of commands that put it at full output.
It runs good. I can't tell any loss of quality. I went back
and forth from my pc with another DAC playing the same music.
The only difference I heard was the difference between the DACS
(I've compared them before). Not too shabby. Next up, I'm going to
order a DAC board for the Raspberry. This could clean up the rack a lot!
"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson

Comments

  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,895
    Cool -- keep us posted on developments... and post some photos if and when you can (or wish to).

    I am very intrigued by the current spate of small, cheap, programmable module type computers... although I've gotta admit, my major interest in them is to build a wireless remote "weather station" to replace the name-brand (and not particularly inexpensive) one we have that is "dying by degrees" (pun intended) at less than three years old :-P
  • sucks2beme
    sucks2beme Posts: 5,602
    http://www.amazon.com/CanaKit-Raspberry-Complete-Original-Preloaded/dp/B008XVAVAW/ref=sr_1_2?m=A30ZYR2W3VAJ0A&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1434919574&sr=1-2

    Here's the kit.
    I got my 1st couple of clicks today, had a browser open from my pc and a tablet
    at the same time, so i guess it isn't a good idea.
    I still haven't given up on using Volumio, which is the more compact OS.
    The look and feel of both seem to be the same. Rune supports local
    connection of monitor and keyboard for command line use.
    I think Volumio did load up, but it's hard to tell with no local connection.
    I may get another SD card and try it. Looking at my router should tell me
    what IP it grabbed. Then I can connect and set up.
    "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson
  • Sami
    Sami Posts: 4,634
    edited June 2015
    Wouldn't Volumio defeat the purpose of it being a computer? Or does Volumio still enable you to install other Linux software on the hardware to run with it?

    Edit: just did a quick search. Looks like Volumio is based on Debian (like most are) and will let you install other software on it. Not sure how well it works but a quick search for XMBC + Volumio returned some instructions on how to run both on Debian.
  • sucks2beme
    sucks2beme Posts: 5,602

    Screw Volumio, Runeaudio just works.
    Sami, I'm using it just for music. The intent is to get the PC out
    of the room. It's cheap enough if I need another, I'll buy another
    Hard drive music and internet feeds
    Running some streaming internet stations right now.
    "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson
  • mrbiron
    mrbiron Posts: 5,711
    I'd be interested on how difficult it is to program one of those units. I used to build computers when in college but that's all basic connections and never did any coding.

    Can you hook a wireless keyboard/mouse to it?
    How is the video output? Can the output handle full HD video?
    Does it have full internet capabilities?
    Can it be used like a regular computer (obviously with processing drawbacks).
    The SD card is holds the OS and you can hook external drives full of music/movies?

    Details please!

    For the $$, that kit you posted looks like a steal if all this is possible.
    Where’s the KABOOM?!?! There’s supposed to be an Earth shattering KABOOM!!!
  • sucks2beme
    sucks2beme Posts: 5,602
    It can become a lot of things. For video/audio I believe the most
    common design thing is to control it with a tablet or smartphone.
    You can output video and audio via HDMI. I have my usb DAC, usb harddrive,
    and a usb wireless card hooked up. With the Rune stuff loaded,
    I had to use the hard network port to set up wireless via webpage and
    then saved and rebooted, then it worked. The only other thing I had to
    to was SSH from my pc to the box to set the output level to the DAC
    (default is 40%). Some setups can talk to usb keyboard/mouse and HDMI video
    for setup/programming, but normal operation is headless for audio.
    It's kind of like a swiss army knife. You can set up stuff from the default
    flavor of Linux, or load something custom. The Runeaudio is both a OS and an app.
    So the correct answer to everything is yes, it's just a matter of how to get there.
    It will also work with NAS storage. A lot of people are using one for home automation.
    "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson
  • Sami
    Sami Posts: 4,634
    The biggest limitation will be the current output, otherwise it's a "full" computer that lets you do everything a regular computer would. Of course the RAM and CPU are limiting the real world usage but you can run a full desktop OS on one if you wish.

    Here are some downloads for the Pi: https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/
  • sucks2beme
    sucks2beme Posts: 5,602
    I tried Volumio, but runeaudio was much more turnkey.
    I have an external DAC via USB right now. I compared it
    to my pc for output via the dac, and heard no real difference.
    I've looked at the Hiberry DAC, but I'm not sure it's as good as
    they say. The 1st wave of reviews are normally pretty useless.
    Other than some delays in the control interface now and then,
    it works fine.
    "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson
  • RamZet
    RamZet Posts: 792

    What makes it more tirn key?
    Maybe i should give it a try.
    B&W CM9Classé Sigma
  • sucks2beme
    sucks2beme Posts: 5,602
    I had some issues- the runeaudio just worked, I had to play with some hardware-
    Volumio didn't like my usb hard drive enclosure.
    The new one I have seems to work better.
    I had some issues with getting my wireless adapter working as well.
    Also, Runeaudio has a lot more internet radio options.
    "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson
  • I've purchased several of the same Rasp Pi kit at amazon. Nice, complete kit. For running kodi I've used OpenElec linux distribution (DL ling at kodi.tv) and OSMC (DL link at osmc.tv). Sam Navarrow is the one behind osmc. I've used Sam Navarro's linux distributions in the past on Applet TV gen 1's and now R Pi's and his seem to work better and like it more than openelec. Wireless keyboard/ mouse work well on R Pi's and I've also used Flirc usb transcievers multiple times.
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  • Willow
    Willow Posts: 11,040
    I did run a Boxee for a bit, last night I got a MXQ Amlogic 805. Still must set it up but then I might get an external drive plop all my music on it and hook it up to the box. That's the plan anyway
  • sucks2beme
    sucks2beme Posts: 5,602
    I've tried finding info on loading a MXQ with basic Linux. It looks like a pretty
    good platform for running music server software, but it looks like there isn't
    much going on with hacking back to baseline Linux. The Raspberry Pi
    looks to be the only real game in town when it comes to micro PC for this.
    There are others, but hey have less horsepower and USB options.
    "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson
  • Now that the R Pi 3 with more HP has been released... there are claims for faster alternatives. No experience with this - only sharing this - http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/c2-offers-competitive-specs-to-raspberry-pi/
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  • sucks2beme
    sucks2beme Posts: 5,602
    My understanding is software hasn't caught up yet on the Pi 3.
    Volumio has ported their software to run on the C2 box.
    Either way, more performance can't hurt. The C2 should be
    a good platform for running a music server. Most likely the
    PI 3 will be as well. With some tweaking, my Pi 2 runs just fine.
    No real issues with playback. The control interface lags sometimes, but
    no audio artifacts at all.
    "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson