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Re: The RPi journey begins

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"Rick." <ricortes at yahoo dot com> wrote in message 
news:wIydndQN3_nhIYTNnZ2dnUVZ_h-dnZ2d@earthlink.com...
<snip> Updating and correcting my misconceptions as is my habit.
> Spent 40 minutes to download a tool to create the boot SD card. Frightens 
> me to think of how long it will take to actually down load the linux 
> distribution. I may just head into town with an Android tablet and snag 
> the distribution from a WiFi hotspot. Not to offend any linux users but 
> the RPi web site says an Android port is in the works. I kind of like the 
> Android OS and will probably jump ship as soon as it gets stable. I think 
> I will check out fleaBay and see if someone is selling SD cards preloaded 
> at a reasonable price.

Started d/l and got the time estimate of 9 hours. Aborted. It never goes as 
fast as it says. Probably would have taken me an hour even at a WiFi hotspot 
and I don't know that either of my tablets could stay up that long under the 
load. Heck, Android is linux mostly.

Found someone selling preloaded linux distribution on a 8 gig Transend SD 
for ~$11 shipped.  I made it mine.
>
> I've got a couple of composite monitors I use with my Atari and satelite 
> tv. I think I may use the RPi as an excuse to pick up a HDMI monitor. I am 
> giving up the ghost on all my CRT VGA monsters. I may keep a few LCD VGA 
> monitors but only the versitle ones with features like DVI, composite, et 
> cetera, inputs.

They are supposed to be considering VGA connectors. Composite sucks. It 
works but output is poorer then most Ataris.

Old USB keyboard I picked up years ago at Halted, USB mouse, cellphone power 
supply<lost/stolen my ~$300 cellphone last month, that hurt>, old Samsung 
TV/Monitor.

Thing boots quick! Snappy performace. Just about a complete lack of software 
available on the SD card. Browser, development package for Python, an editor 
or two, 8 or so lame games. I haven't hooked the ethernet port yet but I'll 
assume it works just as well. Tried looking up existing apps and games, not 
much available.

By snappy I mean about like a 300 mHz Pentium running W95. I am thinking 
good'nuff. One of the powers that be is porting SNES emulator, someone else 
ported Doom me thinks. Couple of people working on turning it into home 
theater or MP3/MP4 player. Really, a good MP3 would make me a happy camper 
as with the 8gig SD card it would pretty much hold everything I have. *BUT* 
the bad news: The stereo jack is right next to the HD busy LED and you get 
buzing and clicks as the OS accesses the SD card! OUCH! I have to check out 
the HDMI cable but haven't bought a monitor/TV with HDMI input yet.

> diode. I have to scan the schematics and specs to make sure the I/O is 5V

NOT 5V tolerant! Well, not a huge problem. Just means I have to add a couple 
of zeners to both output and input and current limiting resistors. The Atari 
data output is definately 5V and you can never tell when someone pulls up 
the input. Up way to late and need to sleep on this. 

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The RPi journey begins "Rick" <ricortes at yahoo dot com> - 2012-08-01 16:32 -0700
  Re: The RPi journey begins "Rick" <ricortes at yahoo dot com> - 2012-08-07 01:48 -0700

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