Development Boards, SBCs & Microcontrollers

[Angular Chap]

Whoa, I haven't checked the specs on the 5 yet but I bet it's good! Is this the 8GB?

2.4GHz quad core, VideoCore VII GPU, and a whole load of other stuff that makes it sound more like I'm talking about a desktop PC!

It is the 8GB model, I always go for the highest RAM since if I'm not gaming I use the Pi for every other daily task and I like to play around with ramdisks.

 

[Slime_Punk]

2.4GHz quad core, VideoCore VII GPU, and a whole load of other stuff that makes it sound more like I'm talking about a desktop PC!

It is the 8GB model, I always go for the highest RAM since if I'm not gaming I use the Pi for every other daily task and I like to play around with ramdisks.

Wow, that's awesome! If you get any cool projects up and running with that, I'd love to see!

I just realized (the hard way!) that my little Pi 3 clone isn't quite good enough for desktop browsing and apps -- I tried to load up Pure Data and it just crashed a million times while installing. It seems like CLI and headless setups are probably going to be my jams going forward until I get something a little better (possibly a 4 clone? lol).

Might have to grab some audio / ADC hats and see if I can't route some audio through PD that way. This is a good opportunity to get real familiar with the command line, since the full desktop experience is a bust

 

[Angular Chap]

If you get any cool projects up and running with that, I'd love to see!

Already on it! Right now I'm using it to track and watch the live video feeds from the space station.

According to the creator, it runs significantly cooler and uses significantly less power than the Pi 4 under the same workload, so I'm looking forward to doing some tweaking and underclocking it for max efficiency.

I just realized (the hard way!) that my little Pi 3 clone isn't quite good enough for desktop browsing and apps -- I tried to load up Pure Data and it just crashed a million times while installing. It seems like CLI and headless setups are probably going to be my jams going forward until I get something a little better (possibly a 4 clone? lol).

Might have to grab some audio / ADC hats and see if I can't route some audio through PD that way. This is a good opportunity to get real familiar with the command line, since the full desktop experience is a bust

My first ever Pi project was just a general headless Linux server for testing stuff, I think I then used it as an e-mail server, then with an LCD to output CPU/temp/network use stats. Then I used it as a router/firewall. Then I used a battery pack, wifi card and kismet for portable wardriving. Then I used an SDR to record and then analyse signals. Then as a radio scanner with bluetooth audio output. This was all done via CLI and SSH back on the OG Pi that still had composite video output and full size SD card, or the model B so there is still an infinite amount of things you can do without a desktop!

The Banana Pi 4 and Orange Pi 4 look like good Raspberry Pi 4 clones, though I've never used them.

 

[Slime_Punk]

According to the creator, it runs significantly cooler and uses significantly less power than the Pi 4 under the same workload, so I'm looking forward to doing some tweaking and underclocking it for max efficiency.

Whoa. This is amazing! Does it autosave some of the feeds?

I got Raspbian to boot (apparently it was just a power cable issue, how quaint), but it turns out you basically need a heatsink with this one unless you're booting with a base / headless OS (and as luck would have it, I didn't get that heatsink because I figured I wouldn't need it!). Everything actually works really well, but it gets blisteringly hot when using Sonic Pi and I don't want to ruin anything .

So, back to the drawing board, and I will be using your ideas as a springboard! Did the radio scanner require a module / hat? I've seen some tutorials that swear that you can transmit FM with a regular Pi (no information on the Le Potato, though), but this sounds crazy to my newb brain. I don't necessarily want to start broadcasting anywhere (for obvious reasons), but I thought the projects sounded fun. Receiving, on the other hand...

My only real experience with SSH stuff goes back to Project Lunar and Project Eris ( / Bleemsync), so this should be an educational adventure. My mind is going crazy with the possibilities, but I need to get way familiar with just getting in and launching stuff via SSH before I get ahead of myself!

 

[Slime_Punk]

Whew, I got in! Being able to execute code and download things remotely? This is going to be a gateway drug for sure. I'm ashamed to admit this, but I didn't even know you could do this wirelessly .

Hump #2 to get over: CL-based text / code editors. So mandatory, yet I've been putting it off for a long time

 

[Angular Chap]

Whoa. This is amazing! Does it autosave some of the feeds?

Definitely possible! Right now it is just a very basic setup that detects when the station is in daylight (so there is actual stuff to see!) and loads the livestreams from the NASA Youtube channel and switches to archived footage Youtube channel streams when the station is out of range or in darkness. I had a more advanced setup years ago that automated downloading weather images from NOAA satellites, or alerted me when amateur radio satellites were in range of my location so I could get my radio ready to see if I could hear them.

Did the radio scanner require a module / hat?

I just used the cheapest USB SDR I could find on eBay. Literally just plug in and install some lightweight software on most Linux OSs. I was able to use it as a scanner just by using a one line command. You want the RTL2832U chipset.

I've seen some tutorials that swear that you can transmit FM with a regular Pi (no information on the Le Potato, though), but this sounds crazy to my newb brain.

Dead simple, all you need is an "antenna" (jumper wire!) connected to a GPIO pin, and the software of course. You might be able to get something working on the Le Potato if you're running Raspbian. I think I even tested it on a Pi Zero with no antenna at all and it worked.

GitHub - F5OEO/rpitx: RF transmitter for Raspberry Pi

GitHub - MundeepL/PiFM: GUI Based Raspberry Pi FM transmitter with RDS encoding!

GitHub - markondej/fm_transmitter: Raspberry Pi as FM transmitter

Receiving, on the other hand...

It looks like you are ready to jump down the software defined radio rabbit hole!

Whew, I got in! Being able to execute code and download things remotely? This is going to be a gateway drug for sure. I'm ashamed to admit this, but I didn't even know you could do this wirelessly .

Yep, copy-pasting commands into your terminal on a PC to a headless machine over SSH, so much more efficient!

Hump #2 to get over: CL-based text / code editors. So mandatory, yet I've been putting it off for a long time

I use vi and have a cheat sheet at the ready!

 

[Angular Chap]

Love this 3D printed case for the Pi 5! Nice cooler too! I'd probably get it in black, or maybe dark green like Thunderbird 2!