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Author Topic: What have you done with Raspberry Pi 'computers'? Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 01-29-2016 04:05 AM                        Purchased a Raspberry Pi box to play around with at the theatre. The primary reason was to see if it was a viable option for our auditorium signs, which are basically web pages served off a computer in the booth. The devices seem to work perfectly for this application, and at about 1/5 the cost of a Popcorn Hour box, or a netbook. Another application I want to test is if they would be a viable replacement for our DOS based POS terminals. Typically when we have to replace these terminals, it costs a few hundred dollars. So I want to see if I can load DOS onto one of these boxes, and have it output to peripherals on USB. Normally the peripherals are plugged into 9 pin RS-232 serial ports. But I want to play around to see if they will work with serial to USB adapters, or if we might be able to use USB peripherals - such as pole displays and touchscreens. Just curious to know if anyone else has played around with these boxes and come up with useful applications.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-29-2016 05:59 AM                        These will not run DOS--they use ARM CPUs, not x86. Digital signage seems like a good application for this box. Also, I know that some people use them as music playback devices, usually with external USB sound cards. It might be worth looking into that if you need something to play back non-sync music or music-on-hold. They are certainly cheaper than a CD player or pretty much any solid-state audio playback device.  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 01-29-2016 08:01 AM                     I built my own GPIO-Ethernetbox with one, sort of a JNIOR. And yes, they are nice signage players as well. Add a cheap USB-WLAN stick, and all you need is a mains socket/USB power supply. - Carsten  |  IP: Logged Marcus Johnson Film Handler Posts: 9 From: Austin TX USA Registered: Jan 2015 posted 01-29-2016 01:25 PM                     Actually you can run DOS on a Raspberry Pi, not sure how fast you need it to be but apparently this program runs at the speed of a 20mhz 486 and supports USB to serial adapters: http://rpix86.patrickaalto.com/  |  IP: Logged Matthew Heuer Film Handler Posts: 20 From: Germantown, NY USA Registered: Dec 2015 posted 01-29-2016 04:00 PM                     As for raspberry pi I just started playing with it myself. Right now the only thing I have set up is a webserver that serves a webpage with the temperature of the shop. It will also email me if the temperature drops below 50 degrees. As for theatre projects I have done a couple with arduino which could also easily be done with the pi, in fact the pi would be overkill. Arduino exit door alert system, and arduino which alerts when 3d movies are 2 minutes from credits so someone can get the glasses (dolby 3D).  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-29-2016 06:18 PM                        quote: Marcus Johnson Actually you can run DOS on a Raspberry Pi Interesting. That is kind of awesome.  |  IP: Logged Scott Jentsch Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1061 From: New Berlin, WI, USA Registered: Apr 2003 posted 02-03-2016 02:30 PM                        I bought one some time ago to use as a Squeezebox (music player) client, but sadly, I've not yet taken it out of the box... A friend has used one to create a Wake-on-LAN signal to reboot a laptop after a power outage. From what I understand, it's pretty straightforward to program.  |  IP: Logged Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 02-03-2016 05:56 PM                     "A Washington, D.C.-based reddit user going by the name AlekseyP was so frustrated with his download speeds that he set up a Twitter bot that tweets at Comcast every time his Internet service drops below a certain threshold. How does he do it? With a Raspberry Pi — a small, low-power computer beloved by hobbyists — that continuously monitors his home bandwidth." Story Link  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 02-03-2016 08:56 PM                     Does screaming at Comcast actually produce any results though?  |  IP: Logged

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