Raspberry Pi Questions?

By LilSnoop40
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LilSnoop40

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hi, i was looking at getting a raspberry pi setup for xbmc use. can someone help with the parts i need to get this up and running please., this is what i have so far to order:

Raspberry Pi Board:

http://www.amazon.com/Raspberry-Pi-Model-Revision-512MB/dp/B009SQQF9C

Wifi Dongle:

http://www.amazon.com/Edimax-EW-7811Un-Wireless-Adapter-Wizard/dp/B005CLMJLU/

Case:

http://www.storenvy.com/products/404262-raspberry-pi-enclosure-kit

as far as power supply and other things what else do i need with links please, i am in the US.

Thanks!

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Grand Master

Detection

Posted
Posted

I use a Nokia Lumia Charger 5v, 1200mA for mine

For XBMC, I use XBian (http://xbian.org/)

If you have a WP7 you can use a free app as an XBMC Remote over wifi that woks great, I imagine Android will have something similar, Windows 8 has one too

HDMI cable if you are using HDMI, Composite cable if you are using normal SD TV

You`ll probably want extra USB ports, so grab a self powered USB Hub (Don't rely on the Pi to power the extra USB ports, use a powered hub)

Grand Master

+jamesyfx Subscriber²

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  • Subscriber²
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Any 5V Micro USB power supply will work. If you have a modern smartphone that isn't an iPhone chances are you'll already have one.

As for the SD card, you can buy a compatible one with XMBC already installed for you: http://thepihut.com/products/xbmc-preinstalled-sd-card

Grand Master

firey

Posted
Posted

For my RPI. I just use an old blackberry charger I had. Standard mini-usb plugin. No special power supply, or power source needed. 5v is what is required to run it.

I don't use XBMC on mine, I just have base Arch installed, and play videos with OMXPlayer and wrote a custom front-end gui that I can use over the web. I connect mine to my TV via HDMI but can use composite.

I have a wireless USB stick but I couldn't get it to connect with security, hoping newer updates will help. I just SSH in and do it all via command line.

Grand Master

Detection

Posted
Posted

firey, so if i have a wifi dongle i cant use the security that i am running my router which i think is WPA2 i think. i don't wanna buy a pre load SD card just want to know what is a good one and size i should go with.

Thanks

I use a 2GB class 4 for XBMC

If you want to play around with different OS's then grab an 8GB one too

Grand Master

Detection

Posted
Posted

I've just ordered a Pi.

Is it possible to use the USB plug part of Apple chargers? and then stick a Micro USB cable in it?

I'm looking for some cool things to do with mine, not interested in media centres as i already have one.

I don't have anything apple so can't test, but here is the official Pi forum you can ask in

http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/index.php

Grand Master

PNWDweller

Posted
Posted

I used a laptop USB port on my RPI and blew out the power light or I guess as it was later decided one of the resisters going to it. 2 days old. While you can use a USB port on a computer to power it, according to what I have been told by the Raspberri Pi group is that it is very highly recommended to use a Cell phone charger with at least a 1A output because anyhting lower will cause issues with the unit.

I am waiting for a new Raspberry Pi now since I sent the other one back, but hope to be in business soon with it again. When it comes to XMBC, you will find it is a tad slow on this unit (I had the same one), so don't expect it to be super fast. But it does work good for everything else with the XMBC software. :) Also, video playback on some channels like HGTV or Food Network don't work as they haven't been able to license the video decoders for those networks.

Grand Master

Detection

Posted
Posted

I used a laptop USB port on my RPI and blew out the power light or I guess as it was later decided one of the resisters going to it. 2 days old. While you can use a USB port on a computer to power it, according to what I have been told by the Raspberri Pi group is that it is very highly recommended to use a Cell phone charger with at least a 1A output because anyhting lower will cause issues with the unit.

I am waiting for a new Raspberry Pi now since I sent the other one back, but hope to be in business soon with it again. When it comes to XMBC, you will find it is a tad slow on this unit (I had the same one), so don't expect it to be super fast. But it does work good for everything else with the XMBC software. :) Also, video playback on some channels like HGTV or Food Network don't work as they haven't been able to license the video decoders for those networks.

They actually advise NOT to use USB ports to power the Pi

Grand Master

PNWDweller

Posted
Posted

I didn't really stick around in those parts of the XMBC other than trying our favorite channels. But from everything else I tried, it was good, buffered fine and streaming wasn't an issue. . The area where it is slow is the navigation of it, other than that it is fine but from what I understand, changing the skin in the GUI fixes that as well to something a little less intensive GPU wise.

My thought on it is basically, you can package the XBMC into the Pi, place it somewhere and use it and probably never notice the speed thing or at least will get used to it.

Grand Master

firey

Posted
Posted

firey, so if i have a wifi dongle i cant use the security that i am running my router which i think is WPA2 i think. i don't wanna buy a pre load SD card just want to know what is a good one and size i should go with.

Thanks

The wireless adapaters are dependant on a few things. So the one I have may have issues but countless others work no problem. Some work not at all. The RPI site has a list of supported dongles.

As for SD Card.. I bought a 16gb one from future shop for 15$ on sale. It's a highspeed (32mb/s) card and using the tools on the pi site installed the Arch distro to it. Put the card in the pi and booted to console, then I just SSH'd into it and installed what I had to.

Veteran

LilSnoop40

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Just ordered all the parts for my raspberry pi last week. they all came but the main board. should be here tomorrow i would say.

Raspberry Pi Board:

Amazon.com: Raspberry Pi Model B Revision 2.0 (512MB): Computers Accessories

Wifi Dongle:

Amazon.com: Edimax EW-7811Un 150 Mbps Wireless 11n Nano Size USB Adapter with EZmax Setup Wizard: Computers Accessories

Case:

Raspberry Pi Enclosure Kit from Built-to-Spec's Store Storenvy

SD Card:

Amazon.com: SanDisk Extreme 16 GB SDHC Class 10 UHS-1 Flash Memory Card 45MB/s SDSDX-016G-X46: Electronics

i was told that i can use my iphone square wall charger plus a usb to micro for the power of the raspberry pi. is this ok, because i read its not recommended but it works. what is a good one to get because i also was told i should get a 2A power supply, please help if this is correct would like to order today so i can get by friday if the main board will be here tomorrow to complete the build?

can't wait to get this up and running to see how it handle navi-x, icefilms and 1channel!

thanks

Mentor

Jonny Wright

Posted
Posted

Depending on what other media devices are gonna be surrounding your Pi you may be able to pinch the power supply from there. Mine is in my living room with my TiVo box and I power my Pi from the USB port on the back of that. Saves on another mains plug being used.

PS; I'm using XBMC on my Pi (earlier model with 256 RAM) and I love it :)

Veteran

LilSnoop40

Posted
  • Author
Posted

well i ordered this here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005CG2ATQ/ref=ox_ya_os_product

so your saying i could even power off my tv usb or directv box? the only thing i plan on plugging into it is the nano wifi dongle that's it, no hard drive or anything.

should that be ok?

thanks

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