Raspberry Pi – The Ultimate TV System
Hello fellow TanCoSians Today i bring to you a new piece of gadget/ hardware any tech loving guy would love to see. I am learning Computer Systems Engineering and I will definitely going to be modifying this to help me understand a lot better about my field. This gadget is so cheap and customizable you have to get it so your wondering what it is right ? Well lets get started …
Mind you don’t have to be tech guru to use this 
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What’s a Raspberry Pi?
The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV ( LCD , LED, Plasma, OLED ) and a keyboard. It’s a capable little PC which can be used for many of the things your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays high-definition video. We want to see it being used by kids all over the world to learn programming. Can be considered a competitor of Ubuntu TV and Google TV and can be also used as an alternative for Ubuntu TV and Google TV.
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| Raspberry Pi Circuit Control |
How much will it cost?
The Model A will cost $25 and the Model B $35.
Can I join the mailing list?
You certainly can. Head to the home page, and you’ll see a form at the top right you can fill in. People who are signed up will get an email as soon as we have confirmed a release date.
What are the dimensions of the Raspberry Pi?
The Raspberry Pi measures 85.60mm x 53.98mm x 17mm, with a little overlap for the SD card and connectors which project over the edges. It weighs 45g.
Why doesn’t the Raspberry Pi include
Our main function is a charitable one – we’re trying to build the cheapest possible computer that provides a certain basic level of functionality, and this means we’ve had to make hard decisions about what hardware and interfaces to include.
How do I connect a mouse and keyboard?
Mice, keyboards, network adapters and external storage will all connect via a USB hub.
What display can I use?
There is composite and HDMI out on the board, so you can hook it up to a digital or analogue television or to a DVI monitor. There is no VGA support, but adaptors are available.
What about audio?
There’s a standard 3.5mm jack, or you can use HDMI. You can add any supported USB microphone via a hub.
Does the device support networking? Is there Wi-Fi?
The Model B version of the device includes 10/100 wired Ethernet. There is no Ethernet on the Model A version (which we expect to be taken up mostly by the education market), but Wi-Fi will be available via a standard USB dongle.
What are the power requirements?
The device is powered by 5v micro USB. You can read more about it here.
Is there a GPU binary?
Yes. The GPU binary also contains the first stage bootloader.
Raspberry Pi playing Quake 3
What SoC are you using?
The SoC is a Broadcom BCM2835. This contains an ARM1176JZFS, with floating point, running at 700Mhz, and a Videocore 4 GPU. The GPU is capable of BluRay quality playback, using H.264 at 40MBits/s. It has a fast 3D core accessed using the supplied OpenGL ES2.0 and OpenVG libraries.
Can I run power Raspberry Pi from batteries as well as from a wall socket?
Yes. The device should run well off 4xAA cells.
Will it run
In general, you need to look to see whether the program you want can be compiled for the ARMv6 architecture. In most cases the answer will be yes. Specific programs are discussed on our forum, so you might want to look there for an answer.
Will it run WINE (or Windows, or other x86 software)?
No.
What Linux distros will be supported at launch?
Debian, Fedora and ArchLinux will be supported from the start. We hope to see support from other distros later. We will be selling SD cards with the distros preloaded. (Sept 4 2011 – originally, this FAQ suggested that Ubuntu would be supported. Because of issues with newer releases of Ubuntu and the ARM processor we are using, Ubuntu can’t commit to support Raspberry Pi at the moment.)
Is there a case?
Not for the initial version, but there will be a (removable, in case you want to do some soldering) case available later. How to tv with this, just simply put it next to it .
Is PoE (power over ethernet) possible?
Not in the base device, but it’s been a very commonly requested feature, so we’re examining options for later releases.
What happens if I brick the device?
You can restore the device by reflashing the SD card.
How many can I buy in one go?
For the first batch we are limiting orders to one per person. This restriction will be relaxed as production gets in to full swing, and we can be sure of getting boards to all who want them. This should prevent (to some extent) Ebay scalping, and ensure as many different individuals as possible get their Raspberry Pi!
Will it run Android?
With a limit of 256MB of memory, it seems unlikely that the very latest Android (ICS) will work very well. However, older versions may work OK. That said, the Foundation has no intention of porting Android to the Raspberry Pi, so that will need to be done by the community.
Buy Raspberry Pi Now from here .
