Is now the right time for a raspberry pi model B?

[liuzengqiang]

I've seen some comments on some websites regarding the stability of the model B with 512MB memory. I wonder if someone has some experience with it and whether you consider it safe to purchase. I don't want to end up paying for a platform in development but want to has at least some stability and reliability. Thanks.

[MichaelMeissner]

Given the R-pi has been out for a year or so, I imagine so.  Frankly I haven't powered mine on for a long time, so  I can't say how stable they are.  You might want to read the R-pi forum to see what types of questions come up: http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/

[Papa G]

I've seen some comments on some websites regarding the stability of the model B with 512MB memory. I wonder if someone has some experience with it and whether you consider it safe to purchase. I don't want to end up paying for a platform in development but want to has at least some stability and reliability. Thanks.

I have three of the 512MB and one original 256MB model B's. They are all on my network via usb wifi modules like http://www.adafruit.com/products/814, and I log in headless via ssh. I am running the latest Debian distribution, Raspbian "Wheezy" from here http://downloads.raspberrypi.org/images/raspbian/2013-02-09-wheezy-raspbian/2013-02-09-wheezy-raspbian.zip

My reason for adopting the platform was to get past the frustration associated with using the Arduino platform to do anything network related that was more ambitious than the simple examples that ship with Arduino. The Raspberry Pi is fundamentally different from Arduino in that it runs a mature operating system, Linux, with all the software support that implies. I build simple shields with an Atmega 328 chip + peripherals to take care of the real time data acquisition and transfer the data serially to the Pi to take care of computation and display.

[liuzengqiang]

Thanks guys. Out of impulsive shopping I pushed the button. Now it seems a decent choice. Thanks for the Debian link Papa G. I will need to learn linux somewhere so maybe I learn it with raspberry pi

[Papa G]

Thanks guys. Out of impulsive shopping I pushed the button. Now it seems a decent choice. Thanks for the Debian link Papa G. I will need to learn linux somewhere so maybe I learn it with raspberry pi

You're welcome! Surely you haven't escaped Unix in your university environment. It's quite similar. You'll pick it up quickly.

You'll find working with Apache, a real web server, far more satisfying than with Arduino.

[liuzengqiang]

I am a kind of "hammering a refrigerator yourself" kind of guy. I don't mind doing all the ground work as long as it suits me On the other hand, I can certainly use established web servers. I am going to have to learn or relearn perl, am I? I hate its syntax, sux.

[Papa G]

I am a kind of "hammering a refrigerator yourself" kind of guy. I don't mind doing all the ground work as long as it suits me On the other hand, I can certainly use established web servers. I am going to have to learn or relearn perl, am I? I hate its syntax, sux.

All the gcc tools are available for the Pi. You don't have to use Perl. I use and like Python in addition to C/C++.

[liuzengqiang]

I remember first second year grad school I took a networking course and did an FTP server on Unix with C/C++ compiling code with gcc. So I would be able to call branch() again?!   After that the course turned out to be not that much fun when the professor bent backwards to help those weaklings (senior undergrads that apparently don't know jack about programming) to pass the course by throwing away project 2 and turning final exam into all bs no programming. Only course outside my main area I didn't get an A from. And the only real thing I remembered was the programming part.

[liuzengqiang]

Given the R-pi has been out for a year or so, I imagine so.  Frankly I haven't powered mine on for a long time, so  I can't say how stable they are.  You might want to read the R-pi forum to see what types of questions come up: http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/

Thanks. Registered. Now I'm known as liudr on raspberry pi forum

[Papa G]

Given the R-pi has been out for a year or so, I imagine so.  Frankly I haven't powered mine on for a long time, so  I can't say how stable they are.  You might want to read the R-pi forum to see what types of questions come up: http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/

Thanks. Registered. Now I'm known as liudr on raspberry pi forum

Good. I'm Papa G there as well.

[Papa G]

There's an interesting article about using ATTiny 44/84 with the Raspberry Pi in this month's MagPi, http://www.themagpi.com/en/issue/13 as well as a review of "Raspberry Pi for Dummies"(Grumpy_Mike collaboration).

[liuzengqiang]

Thanks Papa G. I couldn't find if there is C programming and how to set up make file etc. on that book.

[MichaelMeissner]

Thanks Papa G. I couldn't find if there is C programming and how to set up make file etc. on that book.

While a lot of people in R-pi land seem to gravitate towards python (which I have never embraced because of syntactic issues).  Other interpreters like perl/tcl/tk/etc. are there if you want them.  I believe Java is available also.  You can use C/C++/Fortran to write programs as well.  If your program is time critical, you should be writing in a compiled lanugages and not an interpreted language anyway.  Any book on Linux should have the details if needed, it doesn't have to be R-pi only.

Note, if your only experience with c/c++ is through the Arduino IDE, under Linux, you don't have the Arduino IDE doing things behind your back, like adding declarations for all of your functions.  You will need to have proper declarations before the first use.

[Papa G]

Thanks Papa G. I couldn't find if there is C programming and how to set up make file etc. on that book.

Maybe the co-author can comment on that. I haven't bought it because I'm past its intended audience. May pick it up just to support Grumpy_Mike though.

You're better off with a text covering gcc C/C++ for that though, in my opinion. If you have done any Atmel programming from the command line, you already know a lot of what you need.

[Papa G]

  If your program is time critical, you should be writing in a compiled lanugages and not an interpreted language anyway.  Any book on Linux should have the details if needed, it doesn't have to be R-pi only.

As always, time critical is relative. Interpreted Python can run faster on an RPi than compiled on an Arduino. For example, the Rpi has floating point hardware and uses it.

I think the biggest advantage of the RPi over Arduino is any application that uses a network or the Internet. I am a huge fan of both platforms when they are used together to exploit their strengths.