Raspberry Pi 2

bp2008

bp2008

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Mar 10, 2014
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I noticed today there is a new Raspberry Pi for sale since the start of February. They call it Raspberry Pi 2 Model B and it is just like the slightly older Model B+ except with 1 GB of RAM and a 900MHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU. They say it benchmarks about 6 times faster than the original, though this is mostly for multi-threaded workloads. Single-threaded stuff is still going to be noticeably faster but not 6x. Sounds like a huge improvement over previous models.

The geek in me wants one, but realistically it would be nothing but a toy. My current Raspberry Pi just sits headless for the sole purpose of turning a USB numpad into a remote control for my bedroom light.

Everything else I can think of doing with a Raspberry Pi I can already do better with other things. :rolleyes:
 
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I own several RPi's and have a specific use for each of them. My primary use an HTPC running OpenELEC (XBMC) because of the low power consumption for 24 x 7 up time.

I'm also using another one (running Raspbian) to turn lights on/off around the house while I'm not home. The 3rd one is a surveillance camera that I'm experimenting with.

Great for people who want to learn but a nightmare for someone who wants an out of the box solution. I'll probably get the RPi 2 because I'm a sucker for these things but they do have a lot of potential depending on the use. I would replace my current Model B with the RPi 2 for a better XBMC experience.

From a security system solution standpoint, I recommend getting on the bandwagon to see what it's capable of.
 
Purchased 2 of them when first released.. Still sitting in the boxes... :redface-new:
 
Here are some of the things I've considered for a raspberry pi, and the reasons why I haven't followed through with them:

NAS
My WD MyCloud accomplishes the same goal, but it is smaller, cheaper, and easier to set up.

Security camera
Costs just as much as a better one from aliexpress, ebay, or even Amazon these days.

Media player
Done better by my main PC, Fire TV, etc.

Connect a PIR sensor to trigger Blue Iris
Too much trouble to make it weatherproof. Maybe some day...

Learn basic electronics skills
Might be fun, but I'm lazy.

Oh, and I really dislike command lines, where most linux work is done it seems.
 
I'm kind of surprised nobody has built a pre-configured SD card image to turn the pi into an IP camera.
 
I got one on Friday from MicroCenter. Great for learning. I've already set it up with an Apache web server, played around with HTML and CSS a little. Figured out how to mount Window shared folders and use SSH to avoid having to hook it up to it's own monitor and peripherals. Learned a little bit of the Linux command line. I have a B and B+, but haven't done much other than install XMBC, Raspbian, and a create a little Scratch game with my kid. Everything I've done in last 3 days is all new to me.

Low power and with the increased performance, I'm thinking about using a few of them for dedicated purposes. Want to play with Python GPIO a little. Figure out how to get it to possible communicate with Arduino over network. I saw there was an iVMS-4200 for Linux, wondering if I could get the iVMS server installed. The 2 does feel a lot snappier than the first gen.

How is everyone running 120V wiring for lights? Are you tapping into your house branch circuits? Running dedicated circuits? Are you just placing them next to lamps? Are your relays and microcontrollers next to each other? I'm hesitant to trust these cheap little relay boards to my 120V.
 
I figured that it might be better to configure the pi as a z wave master with an addon module and then control all the outlets and/or sockets via zwave. This is what I had been thinking about trying with mine. mi casa verde seems to have so many nitpicking issues I have decided against going that route for simple notification of garage door status and remote light control.
 
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