Raspberry Pi: yeah we're pretty much all on desktops again

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Raspberry Pi: yeah we're pretty much all on desktops again

bobua: Mar 23, 2003; I'd trade it all for just a little more.

What's the next step up from one of these that is actually available?

I've seen prototyping 'system on a board' pc's and what not, but as far is complete, tiny pc's made to be incredibly low power but still run a real OS aren't just $100, everything I've seen has been closer to 200+ out the door.

Lot's of people hack linksys nas's and run linux, but as far as a REAL board you can buy for this purpose, this thing seems pretty unique, especially for the price point.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2012 21:33

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# ¿ May 5, 2024 17:21

bobua: Mar 23, 2003; I'd trade it all for just a little more.

Box just came in from element14 with 5 pi's, so they must be past the 'one per customer' phase. I imagine this means everyone's should be here very soon.

# ¿ Jun 23, 2012 04:45

bobua: Mar 23, 2003; I'd trade it all for just a little more.

I'll enjoy all 5 of my pi's. As for anyone who didn't get their order in in a timely fashion, well, let them eat cake.

:smug:

# ¿ Jun 23, 2012 16:55

bobua: Mar 23, 2003; I'd trade it all for just a little more.

The Automator posted:

Alright I've had this idea kicking around in my head for a while, and a Raspberry Pi seems perfect for it. I just want to run it by you guys to see if it's possible.

I work at a company that puts people through simulated situations, like getting money out of an ATM. Right now we have a picture of an ATM with a $10 taped to it. Obviously not even remotely realistic at all. In fact, I'd say it's definitely our weakest spot in regards to realism.

We've been thinking about how to do a fairly realistic ATM for a long time and reading up on Raspberry Pi stuff has given me an idea.

Okay, so I plan to make a simple GUI, like an ATM. First screen is a welcome, second is language, third is PIN, fourth is the student has to type in a dollar amount and hit enter. I plan on the screen being a small monitor, and the input being done with a USB keypad, like this..

So, what I want to be able to do is, the student walks up and swipes their card. The 'card reader' is just a plastic shell with a PIR motion sensor in it. Once it sees the card swiped, the video changes from Welcome to asking for language. Once language is selected, the student has to input a PIN we give them. PIN is entered, dollar amount is entered, 15 second wait, small door slides open and the student can take their money and be on their way. After about 30 seconds, the door shuts and the program flips back to the welcome screen.

So I've been looking, and it seems pretty trivial to have the Pi to control a small DC motor in order to open the door, and also trivial to have it pick up motion sensor input. However, I know next to nothing about this stuff, though I want to learn.

My main question is, is this possible? Does this make sense? Is there a better way to do this?

The plastic door and card motion thing seem like a waste unless you are really doing this more for fun. A lot of real ATM's don't have a sliding door like that. Rigging up a card reader seems like a waste because a real one is so cheap(you probably have to buy one to modify it anyway), and you can just tie an event to the input from it or something. Not that any of it is that difficult, just seems like extra work for no benefit.

# ¿ May 10, 2013 20:03

bobua: Mar 23, 2003; I'd trade it all for just a little more.

The Automator posted:

The machine has to have a user interface. It has to include a card swiping mechanism, and it has to give the student money. I couldn't think of a better way for it to give out money than to have a couple bills in a tray that has a door in front of it. I mean, if its easy to spit out cash into a tray, I'm all ears, but I think a small sliding door to reveal cash would be easier.

I can rig up something visually close enough to a card reader to work. I've looked at card readers online and they run about $50 at the lowest end compared to under $10 for a motion sensor.

Auh, good call. Didn't think about 'giving' the money somehow. Card readers can be had for cheap though http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/V3A-4K/Z2064-ND/503130 ($22)

# ¿ May 11, 2013 18:51

bobua: Mar 23, 2003; I'd trade it all for just a little more.

Well fine let's just do all the things that you want to do.

# ¿ May 12, 2013 02:52

bobua: Mar 23, 2003; I'd trade it all for just a little more.

My google foo is weak apparently, and this seemed like a good place to ask.

Is there an x86 quasi-equivalent to the raspberry pie? I don't so much care about price or performance that much, it's just that every time I start playing with something ARM drivers are unavailable for the toys:(

I guess I should elaborate on equivalent... single board, fanless, tiny. There seems to be a lot in the way of small pc's, but they still tend to be pc's, set up for a real hard drive, external ram, etc. Definitely not something you'd 'embed.'

# ¿ Jun 15, 2013 18:01

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# ¿ May 5, 2024 17:21

bobua: Mar 23, 2003; I'd trade it all for just a little more.

Yeah, I guess I'm just wanting more than what's available\possible right now. Those are good performance and small, but power hungry and/or needing more than a wall wart it seems.

I'm just being a baby and want a beagleboard without arm:(

# ¿ Jun 16, 2013 02:43

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