Category: Raspberry Pi

Link: Easily Update Your Raspbian SD Cards for the Pi 2 with These Commands

The Raspberry Pi 2 is a serious upgrade over older versions, and that means you’ll need to update a lot of your software to use it. You could make a whole new SD card, but if you have old projects that you don’t want to lose, The Pi Hut shows off the upgrade process in Raspbian.

Full article here:
Easily Update Your Raspbian SD Cards for the Pi 2 with These Commands (Lifehacker)

Link: Prepare Your Pi To Send Mail Through Gmail

Suppose you have set up your Raspberry Pi to do some stand alone work. It would be nice if it could email you occasionally, for instance if there’s something wrong. Or it may send you status updates on the work it’s doing. For this you could use the SMTP server of your ISP. However, if your Pi isn’t stationary and roams around on multiple networks, this is not an ideal situation. If you connect your Pi to a different network, operated by a different ISP, chances are that you can’t send any messages.
A better solution would be to use a Gmail account for that. In this description I presume you already have a Gmail account. If not, you can get one for free at www.gmail.com. You may also decide to create a new one for your Raspberry Pi. The same account can even be shared among multiple Raspberry Pies. Rumour has it though that Gmail will only allow 100 mails sent per account per day. So if you share your account among too many machines you may start hitting the ceiling soon.

Full article here:
Prepare Your Pi To Send Mail Through Gmail (SB-Projects On Line)

Link: ODROID-C1 is a $35 quad-core, single-board Android/Linux PC

When the Raspberry Pi team launched a tiny, low power computer priced at just $35, it was pretty remarkable. But that was 2 years ago, and while the Raspberry Pi has seen a few updates in that time, it’s still powered by the same single-core 700 MHz Broadcomm BCM2835 ARM11 processor.

Over the past few years a number of other single-board computers with more powerful hardware have appeared, but they usually also have higher price tags.

Hardkernel’s ODROID-C1 doesn’t though… it’s a quad-core mini computer that sells for just $35.

odroid-c1_01

Full article and demonstration videos here:
ODROID-C1 is a $35 quad-core, single-board Android/Linux PC (Liliputing)
Related:
$35 quad-core hacker SBC offers Raspberry Pi-like size and I/O (LinuxGizmos.com)
Ordroid-C1 vs Raspberry Pi B+: Hardware, Benchmark, Storage and Ethernet Performance Comparison tables from Ordroid

Link: How to Set up Samba Server for Windows, Linux and OS X File Sharing on Raspberry Pi

Samba is re-implementation of the SMB/CIFS networking protocol, samba provides cross-platform file and print services sharing for various Microsoft Windows, OS X and Linux file sharing.

Full article here:
How to Set up Samba Server for Windows, Linux and OS X File Sharing on Raspberry Pi (Tech Rapid)

Link: Tutorial: Raspbmc PVR TinyUSB2 DVB-T & TVHeadend All-in-one

Note: We hesitate to post this link because DVB-T is NOT used in the United States or Canada (we use ATSC).  It IS used in many other parts of the world.  But the reason we are linking to is is because some of this information might be adaptable to use of an ATSC (digital television via an antenna) or a DVB-S or DVB-S2 (free-to-air C-band or Ku-band satellite) tuner, all of which can be used in North America.  However we do not guarantee that, and we can’t tell you what parts of the instructions would need to be modified to make it work with one of those types of tuners.

Thought I would post my first attempt to build an all-in one XBMC LiveTV and PVR running Raspbmc and TVHeadend. Credit is given to Quonith for his awesome tutorial upon which this is based: http://forum.stmlabs.com/showthread.php?tid=2648.

This particular tutorial is using the Digital Now TinyUSB2 DVB-T with TVHeadend as the TV server. I am looking to do away with my power hungry Windows 7 Media Centre PC and this is more od a proof of concept more than anything. At this point in time, I still prefer Windows MCE as it ‘just works’ and is very intuitive for the user (most important of all). None the less, this was good fun.

You can view a video of my setup here: http://youtu.be/aU99C-0W4fI

Full article here:
Tutorial: Raspbmc PVR TinyUSB2 DVB-T & TVHeadend All-in-one (Raspberry Pi)

Link: Raspberry Pi B+ with Asterisk and chan_dongle on Arch Linux

It is possible to build a small unexpensive box for making and receiving GSM calls and SMS. … When travelling outside the country, it is interesting to be reachable and be able to perform outgoing calls through VoIP without paying roaming fees. A Raspberry Pi can be transformed into a cheap VoIP box that routes VoIP/GSM calls in both sides (outgoing and incoming calls) as well as SMS.

Full article here:
Raspberry Pi B+ with Asterisk and chan_dongle on Arch Linux (AdeledA)

Link: How to Use a Raspberry Pi as a Local Web Server

The Raspberry Pi might look like a small, almost inconsequential computer, but don’t let looks deceive you. It is a fully functional Linux machine capable of performing a large variety of functions including acting as a local web server.

The most common setup for a Linux-based web server is a “LAMP” server, where LAMP stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP. The default operating system for the Pi is Linux, specifically Raspbian and it can also run Apache, as the web server; MySQL, as a database; and PHP, for server-side scripting.

Full article here:
How to Use a Raspberry Pi as a Local Web Server (Make Tech Easier)

Link: Going Beyond the Default Raspberry Pi Configuration

The default configuration for Raspbian on the Raspberry Pi is completely functional and allows you to jump straight in and start using your Pi from the command line or from the desktop. However, it is often desirable to move beyond the defaults.

Full article here:
Going Beyond the Default Raspberry Pi Configuration (Make Tech Easier)

Link: BASIC programming with Gambas for the beginner programmer

Scratch is a great tool for teaching programming to young children, but what happens when kids outgrow Scratch? Among Raspberry Pi aficionados, the typical answer is to advance to using Python, which is an excellent choice. However, in honor of the 50th birthday of BASIC, I would like to suggest another programming environment: Gambas.

We would just add that BASIC is an underrated and under-appreciated programming language, that often can be easily understood and utilized by people who just don’t seem to “get” regular programming languages. Also, if you just need a small program to do some specific task, in many cases it is much faster and easier to code it in BASIC than in any other language. One of the strengths of BASIC is that the keywords are more mnemonic, therefore it is a better choice for people who have poor memories, and who therefore spend more time looking up the syntax of statements in other languages than doing actual programming.

Some “purists” object to BASIC for various reasons (usually spouting some nonsense about how it encourages bad coding habits, or some similarly nebulous objection) but we think the real truth of the matter is that they have done everything they can to try to bury a language that is so easy to use that almost anyone can program in it. If you are a “professional” programmer, or a teacher of computer programming, you don’t want to make it too easy for the hoi polloi to write programs, because if they can, your services might not be needed anymore!

So if you don’t already have a preferred programming language, and you’re not seeking employment as a professional programmer (or just want to get your feet wet in programming), and you’re running Linux or BSD, give Gambas a try – you might like it!

Full article here:
BASIC programming with Gambas for the beginner programmer (opensource.com)
Raspberry Pi users, also see this thread:
GAMBAS(basic) (Raspberry Pi)