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Raspberry Pi

Black Hole

Black Hole

May contain traces of nut
For reference, the Raspberry Pi is a cheap (circa £20) circuit board comprising everything you need to get a Linux bare-bones PC up and running - you add a USB power supply (5V @ 1.2A required), USB keyboard and mouse, and run an HDMI output to a TV for the video out. The OS needs to be downloaded and installed on an SD card.

The intention was to give present-day children something of the experience many of us olden-day children had with the Nascom, ZX80/81, Spectrum, BBC Micro, etc - in other words get to understand computers and programming from the ground up instead of just using them as a domestic appliance.

There has already been discussion on the forum about using one as a media streamer [Raspberry Pi DLNA Client], but as more general chat about the RPi is off-topic I've started this thread in the 'Arms.

There are lots of resources on the Web of course, and there are large review articles in the August PCPlus and EPE.
 
I've been using mine to stream HD content from my Hummy using XBMC and I'm actually extremely impressed with it - shame about the lack of hardware MPEG2 decoding through. I'm really looking forward to finding out what else I will be using this for.
 
Well, my RPi I/O expansion board kit (aka Gert Board) has arrived. Ever think you've bitten off more than you should have? Some of those bags contain tiny surface mount components!

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1350495709.032529.jpg
 
Don't you have soldering experience? I can help.

I need to know what kind of component packages you have - a close-up of the board (both sides if there are components on bot sides), with some idea of scale. What kind of tools do you have available?
 
If the kit contains surface mount components, there's something else apart from a (very small) soldering iron, that you'll need. A pair of tweezers ! ! !
 
And at least a magnifying glass or even a microscope and some proper illumination.
 
I've done my fair share of soldering in the past and have a range of irons from 5W up - I really should have invested in a variable one at some point. Most of my soldering recently has been repairing badly made kids' toys though!

According to the folks over at Raspberry Pi, soldering is easy anyway!

Here's a picture of the Gertboard - http://www.raspberrypi.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/image002.png

And the assembly manual's at: http://www.element14.com/community/...256003/Gertboard_Assembly_Manual_Rev1.1_F.pdf

Fun, fun fun : ) Especially as I'm planning to heavily involve my 8-year-old.
 
That doesn't look too bad - now the tiny .025" pitch SM has gone (I take it you have the later version?).

If you can, stick with old-school tin-lead multicore rather than that awful lead-free stuff. Got some fine?
 
Black Hole said:
That doesn't look too bad - now the tiny .025" pitch SM has gone (I take it you have the later version?).

If you can, stick with old-school tin-lead multicore rather than that awful lead-free stuff. Got some fine?
Click to expand...
Oh yes, I have a nice big 2Kg reel of the stuff from years ago, 0.7mm diameter.
 
Not too many surface Mount 'C's and 'R's, I though it might be surface mount I.C.s as well, they can be difficult to hand solder. I do like the massive soldering iron shown on the bottom of page 6, I guess they are saying if we can do it with this you should be O.K.
 
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