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>Putting these tools front and centre is designed to inspire tinkering. I just got my first pi a few days ago -- I have had so much fun with it already. I'm wo

>Putting these tools front and centre is designed to inspire tinkering. I just got my first pi a few days ago -- I have had so much fun with it already. I'm working on a list of a variety of things I can do with it, as it has really sparked my creativity. I'll probably end up ordering several more for various tinkering. The possibilities are endless as to what these cheap but powerful devices will allow the creative minds to come up with; very exciting!

mhurron 14y ago
I'm getting one for a monitoring dashboard. It's unfortunate that it doesn't have a VGA or DVI port (for me preferably VGA) and only has video output over HDMI. It would seem that if you were creating a cheap computer to be used to tinker and learn it would support video output that would be used to connect it to inexpensive computer monitors. Thankfully adapters aren't that expensive.
- jlgreco 14y ago
  Most (all?) TVs being sold today support HDMI, so I think the thought is that children don't have to buy a monitor too and can just plug these into their parents TV.
  - mhurron 14y ago
    Maybe it's just me but it seems to me that it would be more likely that someone would get their hands on an inexpensive used monitor to tinker with instead of using the family TV. An inexpensive monitor would also allow you to set up basically anywhere in the house. I know when I was growing up I would not have been able to tinker using the TV for very long before someone else in the family would want to use the TV.
    - jff 14y ago
      There may be an old TV in the garage which can take input from the on-board composite video output. Otherwise, it'll be $10 at Goodwill.
      - mark-r 14y ago
        I don't think Goodwill even takes them anymore, they just end up paying to send them to the dump in the end. Their value has actually gone negative.
        unimpressive 14y ago
        Garage sales. Those will have old TV's for the rest of the decade at least.
    - MacsHeadroom 14y ago
      People still watched TV when you were growing up.
  - blhack 14y ago
    +1 -- one of the biggest hurdles I had when I got my pi was actually connecting to the thing. I don't have a TV, and neither do any of my friends. Eventually I just brought it in to work and plugged it into one of the TVs we use for information display for our customers. -- Since then, though, I've started work on this: http://raspihacker.com http://raspihacker.com The aim of this is to address some of the problems that I encountered with my raspi.
    - n3rdy 14y ago
      The popular pi distros usually support SSH by default. Another solution would be software that finds the pi on your network. You could just use an ip scanner, but a specialized one could filter out any other devices that happen to be running an ssh server or listening on an ssh port.
      - blhack 14y ago
        The second thing you just listed is exactly what my remix does.
  - ChuckMcM 14y ago
    This is true. I've been buying $87 21" 1080p monitors with HDMI. That's pretty cost effective for a dashboard.
    - mark-r 14y ago
      Would love to know where you're finding those - the cheapest at Newegg is $120.
      - ChuckMcM 14y ago
        They are noname imports. They are also 12mS TFT, LED backlight HDMI only. The OSC has 'contrast', 'brightness', and 'game', 'movie', 'computer' color settings. They look like these : http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/333299683/color_television_21_inch_color_tv.html http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/333299683/color_television...
  - sliverstorm 14y ago
    HDMI connector is also a darn sight smaller, which is good for limited board space, and probably cheaper than a D-SUB connector as well. (Remember, they were pretty tightly squeezed on budget)
- georgemcbay 14y ago
  HDMI and DVI-D are essentially the same minus audio, so assuming your monitor supports DVI-D and not just DVI-A, you can buy an HDMI->DVI cable from monoprice for less than 5 bucks. Converting to VGA is pricier because of the D->A conversion required.
  - sliverstorm 14y ago
    You may even have a spare adapter buried in your closet like I did. More and more graphics cards are coming with HDMI -> DVI-D adapters, you see.
- gbog 14y ago
  I know a guy in the industry, the Pi has been the object of very lengthy discussions about its connectors already, I don't think they forgot the VGA port.
hyperbovine 14y ago
I have encountered huge bugs with USB in the Pi for things as diverse as wifi streaming, network HDD sharing, bluetooth, webcam snapshots, and microphone access. I keep reading these rave reviews about the Pi and wondering: is it just me or is this thing practically worthless for anything outside of AV playback (for which it admittedly works well, at least for hardware-accelerated codecs)? What are you doing with your Pi that makes you so happy?
- dalke 14y ago
  The article commented about USB bugs but goes on to say that most have been fixed.

mhurron 14y ago

I'm getting one for a monitoring dashboard. It's unfortunate that it doesn't have a VGA or DVI port (for me preferably VGA) and only has video output over HDMI. It would seem that if you were creating a cheap computer to be used to tinker and learn it would support video output that would be used to connect it to inexpensive computer monitors. Thankfully adapters aren't that expensive.

jlgreco 14y ago
Most (all?) TVs being sold today support HDMI, so I think the thought is that children don't have to buy a monitor too and can just plug these into their parents TV.
- mhurron 14y ago
  Maybe it's just me but it seems to me that it would be more likely that someone would get their hands on an inexpensive used monitor to tinker with instead of using the family TV. An inexpensive monitor would also allow you to set up basically anywhere in the house. I know when I was growing up I would not have been able to tinker using the TV for very long before someone else in the family would want to use the TV.
  - jff 14y ago
    There may be an old TV in the garage which can take input from the on-board composite video output. Otherwise, it'll be $10 at Goodwill.
    - mark-r 14y ago
      I don't think Goodwill even takes them anymore, they just end up paying to send them to the dump in the end. Their value has actually gone negative.
      - unimpressive 14y ago
        Garage sales. Those will have old TV's for the rest of the decade at least.
  - MacsHeadroom 14y ago
    People still watched TV when you were growing up.
- blhack 14y ago
  +1 -- one of the biggest hurdles I had when I got my pi was actually connecting to the thing. I don't have a TV, and neither do any of my friends. Eventually I just brought it in to work and plugged it into one of the TVs we use for information display for our customers. -- Since then, though, I've started work on this: http://raspihacker.com http://raspihacker.com The aim of this is to address some of the problems that I encountered with my raspi.
  - n3rdy 14y ago
    The popular pi distros usually support SSH by default. Another solution would be software that finds the pi on your network. You could just use an ip scanner, but a specialized one could filter out any other devices that happen to be running an ssh server or listening on an ssh port.
    - blhack 14y ago
      The second thing you just listed is exactly what my remix does.
- ChuckMcM 14y ago
  This is true. I've been buying $87 21" 1080p monitors with HDMI. That's pretty cost effective for a dashboard.
  - mark-r 14y ago
    Would love to know where you're finding those - the cheapest at Newegg is $120.
    - ChuckMcM 14y ago
      They are noname imports. They are also 12mS TFT, LED backlight HDMI only. The OSC has 'contrast', 'brightness', and 'game', 'movie', 'computer' color settings. They look like these : http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/333299683/color_television_21_inch_color_tv.html http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/333299683/color_television...
- sliverstorm 14y ago
  HDMI connector is also a darn sight smaller, which is good for limited board space, and probably cheaper than a D-SUB connector as well. (Remember, they were pretty tightly squeezed on budget)
georgemcbay 14y ago
HDMI and DVI-D are essentially the same minus audio, so assuming your monitor supports DVI-D and not just DVI-A, you can buy an HDMI->DVI cable from monoprice for less than 5 bucks. Converting to VGA is pricier because of the D->A conversion required.
- sliverstorm 14y ago
  You may even have a spare adapter buried in your closet like I did. More and more graphics cards are coming with HDMI -> DVI-D adapters, you see.
gbog 14y ago
I know a guy in the industry, the Pi has been the object of very lengthy discussions about its connectors already, I don't think they forgot the VGA port.

hyperbovine 14y ago

I have encountered huge bugs with USB in the Pi for things as diverse as wifi streaming, network HDD sharing, bluetooth, webcam snapshots, and microphone access. I keep reading these rave reviews about the Pi and wondering: is it just me or is this thing practically worthless for anything outside of AV playback (for which it admittedly works well, at least for hardware-accelerated codecs)? What are you doing with your Pi that makes you so happy?

dalke 14y ago
The article commented about USB bugs but goes on to say that most have been fixed.