Puppi Raspberry Pi Hardware

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Dave_G
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#286 Post by Dave_G »

That "Google" box looks promising, however can one install another ARM
based distro on there and are there drivers available for that distro?

There seems to be at least 2 versions of that box, namely the one featured above
then another one with VGA output as well as an RF connector which I assume
is for wifi.

I'm a bit skeptical in buying these "no name" brands as I've burnt my fingers
before when I bought an ARM based board which also had USB, VGA, Ethernet,
and came with a cut-down version of Qt.
It even had a small 5 or 6" touch screen all for $100
Well the OS (what ever it was) was pathetic with hardly anything of use installed,
could not sudo as didn't know the password and contacting the manufactures
was like talking to a brick wall.
I forget the name but will look it up.

I gave the thing away and as far as I know it's sitting in someones shed
or the rubbish heap by now.

I don't think the Pi is perfect but at least there is heaps of support.

Rant of the day over, normal service will now resume. :-)

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Lobster
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#287 Post by Lobster »

there is heaps of support
The Rpi is being developed as a platform - not as a finished project to finance Google advertising.

As well as box building, consoles, home, satellite and remote controllers and all manner of educational and engineering projects, we have something closer to the penguin way with the raspberry pi.

The weakest point of the Pi is the software. It will develop at a rapid rate. There will be many unique programs and apps. Will there be a Raspberry model 'C' in the future. Based on present development . . . it could well emerge . . . 8)

Believe it or not I am learning more in two weeks with the Pi, than the previous two years of Linux use.

Raspberry Pi + Puppy = Smarter Penguins
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Dave_G
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#288 Post by Dave_G »

Lobster

+1

I've learnt my lesson with the other ARM board.
I'm sticking with the Pi.

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antiloquax
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#289 Post by antiloquax »

Lobster wrote: Believe it or not I am learning more in two weeks with the Pi, than the previous two years of Linux use.

Raspberry Pi + Puppy = Smarter Penguins
Me too. I am learning a lot more about how Linux and Puppy works as a result of the RPi phenomena! :D

SNIP
Just had the email confirming my RPi will be delivered w/b 28/5!
My System:Arch-Arm on RPi!
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kooliepup
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#290 Post by kooliepup »

Just had the email confirming my RPi will be delivered w/b 28/5!
I just got that too.

It's like waiting for Christmas when I was a kid.

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#291 Post by Lobster »

I got a bit overwhelmed yesterday :oops:

I have compiled maybe 5 programs on Linux.
I found it difficult. The simpler the program. The easier.

Yesterday I tried compiling Xdialog, which is needed by mtpaint snapshot used in Slacko which antiloquax mentioned.
GTK+ is needed and I could not find the ARM deb - it may not be available.
I did install a lib file but got into all kinds of difficulties. :roll:

So glad you smarter guys are coming to the Pi party . . .

Meanwhile . . . the good news is xcowsay is available as an ARM deb
Once the sound driver is more developed
- we are talking lobsters and cows and . . . and . . .
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 491#429491

:wink:
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#292 Post by Lobster »

For a balanced diet
Bacon (Basic to C convertor) is easily available
and runnable on the Pi
http://raspberrypy.tumblr.com/post/2196 ... anced-diet
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Dave_G
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#293 Post by Dave_G »

Lobster

That is good news that BaCon will run on the Pi.
Which version did you try? (I assume the bash one has the most chance of working).

Did you also try writing a GUI app which makes use of hug.bac ?
For example this one:
http://www.basic-converter.org/clock.bac.html
screen shot here:
http://www.basic-converter.org/clock.jpg

EDIT:

OK went to the link you provided and it has answered my first question.

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Flash
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#294 Post by Flash »

Here are two articles about the Raspberry Pi board, one with pictures of the board.
http://www.techrepublic.com/photos/rasp ... hotopaging
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/europe ... ag=nl.e010

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#295 Post by Lobster »

Did you also try writing a GUI app which makes use of hug.bac ?
For example this one:
http://www.basic-converter.org/clock.bac.html
The clock displays and then disappears
I seem to remember this is a known problem - and requires a bit of 'stay on screen' code?
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Dave_G
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#296 Post by Dave_G »

Lobster wrote:
The clock displays and then disappears
I seem to remember this is a known problem - and requires a bit of 'stay on screen' code?
Pity about that.
I wonder if it has something to do with the WM you are using or if it's a
incompatibility issue with the DISPLAY command in hug.bac?
Have you tried adding the command SYNC either before, after or in place of DISPLAY? (This is just a guess).

Perhaps someone like Vovchick or Technosaurus that know BaCon well will be able to help.
Maybe even Peter van Eerten the creator of BaCon can give some advice.
He does pop into the forum from time to time.

Peter also has a forum for BaCon here:
http://basic-converter.proboards.com/

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sickgut
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#297 Post by sickgut »

Lobster wrote:
Did you also try writing a GUI app which makes use of hug.bac ?
For example this one:
http://www.basic-converter.org/clock.bac.html
The clock displays and then disappears
I seem to remember this is a known problem - and requires a bit of 'stay on screen' code?
I think i saw on the specs somewhere the rasp pi doesnt have a hardware clock in the bios..... unlike all the intel platform boards and laptops/ netbook or ARM tablets.

No conventional bios either, it like uses the GPU to boot etc (thats how i understand it, feel free to flame.)

There is no bios battery on the rasp pi board (most intel type boards have a bios battery, in desktop motherboard models this is the size of a 10 cent piece, laptop boards usually have something smaller).

No bios battery means the rasp couldnt keep the time up to date in the hardware clock, even if it had one, once the board is powered down, switched off/ unplugged (switching off and unplugging are the same on the rasp, no power switch)

Maybe this is why the clock display disappears, there is no timer and its probably erroring out.

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Dave_G
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#298 Post by Dave_G »

A very good point sickgut.
I had forgotten that the Pi has no RTC but it surely must show something
even if it's the wrong time and date.
(maybe it uses NTP time servers? like many routers do).

Even though it does not have a RTC, surely it must still have a timer else
things like sleep in scripts and int usleep(useconds_t usec); in C would not work.

Lobster, what do you get if you run this script?

# ===========================
#!/bin/sh
TheTime=`date "+%s"`
echo "Hello........"
sleep 4
echo "4 seconds have elapsed.\n"
echo $TheTime
# ===========================

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Lobster
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#299 Post by Lobster »

Have you tried adding the command SYNC either before, after or in place of DISPLAY? (This is just a guess).
It's a good guess.
Putting SYNC after DISPLAY
like so

Code: Select all

DISPLAY
SYNC
allowed the 3 programs I tried
to run and stay on screen
clock, twitter and stars

:)

Even though there is no internal clock in the Raspberry Pi
It is picking up the local time (probably using wget and a time server via an internet connection).
So time and Bacon working on the Debian Squeeze . . .

Compiling Bacon is slow . . . but it works . . .
The programs themselves are loading in about a second.
Which is great.
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Dave_G
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#300 Post by Dave_G »

Hi Lobster

Great news about the GUI apps and the time/date.
The only disadvantage of course is if one is not connected to the net,
I assume the date and time would be wrong.

Did the twitter one work properly?
I don't mean the actual app, I mean logging in to Twitter?
I tried it several months ago (on my Puppy machine) and could not get it
to "sign in" into Twitter.
I emailed Peter and he said that he was aware of it as Twitter had changed the log-in requirements after that app was written.
Perhaps he has updated it since then.

As regards the compiling of the apps, yes it is slow even on my PC but once
compiled, the apps load very quickly like you say.
The main delay in the compile process is the actual bacon script.
By using the "compiled" version of BaCon, it would go much faster but
I doubt it would work as it's probably for the x86, unless an ARM port
is available.

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puppy_apprentice
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#301 Post by puppy_apprentice »

i wonder if u can add to Debian boot script (before u start X) command:

Code: Select all

rdate -s ntp_server_address

eg. for Warsaw, Berlin and Paris

rdate -s ntp.task.gda.pl
maybe time will be setup automaticaly every boot (only if u r connected to internet)

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#302 Post by Lobster »

rdate is actually more likely to be what is being used :)
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puppy_apprentice
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#303 Post by puppy_apprentice »

ok, nice, so if u connect your RPi to the net u don't have to set up your local time?

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Lobster
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#304 Post by Lobster »

that's right
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Dave_G
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#305 Post by Dave_G »

Since I don't have my Pi, I can't check if it reports the local time as GMT,
or as the corrected time in the time zone that it's being used in.
(although I can't see how it would determine that).

I have no doubt that it must use rdate at boot time which would imply a script
somewhere telling rdate exactly which time/date server to use.

Perhaps the Pi's are all shipped with rdate updating as UK time?

EDIT:

Rethinking this whole rdate thing.
Perhaps when the Pi contacts the date server,
the server checks the I.P. of the Pi which tells it in which country/region
it's in and servers out the time and date for that country/region ?

So many questions and no Pi :-(

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