computerish question

[stuee147]

hi all
for a while now i have been seeing these things called "Raspberry Pi" and now iv started seeing things called "Arduino" i was wondering what are they i have seen they are some form of circuit and from what i can tell they seem to be like a little computer ? is this right and what are they for ???

 

[simon the viking]

They are a basic type of computer to help teach the art of programming, I believe @vernon is an expert on Rasperrys Pi's (as well as normal pies obviously)

 

[IDMark2]

They are both computers, albeit rather simple and aimed at hobbyist and students. The Rasberry Pi has a number of iterations and people seem to get a buzz out of making it do unheard of things for its £30 or so cost. The OS is a form of Linux. Running a media server on it as a set-top box seems to be a popular use and a whole movement has grown around add ons and programming sites, much like the in the beginnings of home computers with Sinclair and Acorn etc...

 

[stuee147]

so you can program them to do different basic operations ??
dose that mean you connect it to a pc running linux to program it ???

 

[simon the viking]

I think the pi has a video out to go to a T.V (like the good old Spectrum days)

 

[stuee147]

I think the pi has a video out to go to a T.V (like the good old Spectrum days)

you mean its like a mini tower just connect screen and keyboard and away you go ? that would be cool

 

[ushills]

Pi is essentially a small linux low-powered PC(I use mine as a web-server, VPN server), Arduino is a programmable electronics board (i.e. not a PC).

 

[IDMark2]

Pi has outputs for a monitor or TV, audio and a USB2 socket for keyboards and suchlike, I think there's a SD slot but there's no hard drive, fan etc. The main thing is it's simplicity and it's open source nature, people share what they have done and how they did it, great for schoolkids to learn how to program and people wanting to use their own ingenuity to do things rather than buying it already done.

 

[fossyant]

Got our Pi hooked up to a monitor via DVI. Good bits of fun, play games, programme stuff, make LED boards light up and the like. Lots of schools using them

 

[Tim Hall]

you mean its like a mini tower just connect screen and keyboard and away you go ? that would be cool

Very mini tower. It's roughly credit card sized. You need a power supply (phone charger with micro USB). You can make your own case (lego is a favourite), or buy one.

@IanDuke, yes there's an SD slot, cos that's where the OS lives. Want a different *nix flavour? Plug a different SD card in.

The Arduino can fit in an Altoids tin.

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

you mean its like a mini tower just connect screen and keyboard and away you go ? that would be cool

Its so much more than that.
I have a pi cluster running OpenStack.

I have a pi as a streaming media centre on my TV and another which uploads data from my CCTV to the cloud
Its a great utility for development no matter if that be for programing or development.

 

[JoeyB]

Raspberry Pi - Looks cool but inevitably ends up in the spares box lol

 

[Lanzecki]

The Ardinio is more basic then the raspberry.

They are designed for I/O stuff. Making lights flash, reacting to button presses est. They don't connect to a screen keyboard etc. The programming language is their own based, I think, on some iteration of C. It's programmed by connecting to a USB cable. Once programmed give it power and it'll run what it was told to run.

Here's what I had mine do:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTw6ScPdKJM


The board isn't in in view, but the connections from this breadboard go to the board. This was a proof of concept test to make a light for my bike. The idea was that using larger LED's in a case with the Ardinio board and a battery pack. This is OFC 'be seen' lights. Change the LED's the white, and it's good for the front.

There are different Ardinio cards that do different things.

 

[alicat]

I'm using mine to watch catch up TV on my CRT television. Now TV does much the same thing, however.

 

[Piemaster]

Arduino can be used for much more interesting things than making lights flash on and off....link