Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: What have you done with Raspberry Pi 'computers'?

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Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 01-29-2016, 04:05 AM:

Purchased a Raspberry Pi box to play around with at the theatre.

The primary reason was to see if it was a viable option for our auditorium signs, which are basically web pages served off a computer in the booth. The devices seem to work perfectly for this application, and at about 1/5 the cost of a Popcorn Hour box, or a netbook.

Another application I want to test is if they would be a viable replacement for our DOS based POS terminals. Typically when we have to replace these terminals, it costs a few hundred dollars. So I want to see if I can load DOS onto one of these boxes, and have it output to peripherals on USB. Normally the peripherals are plugged into 9 pin RS-232 serial ports. But I want to play around to see if they will work with serial to USB adapters, or if we might be able to use USB peripherals - such as pole displays and touchscreens.

Just curious to know if anyone else has played around with these boxes and come up with useful applications.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 01-29-2016, 05:59 AM:

These will not run DOS--they use ARM CPUs, not x86.

Digital signage seems like a good application for this box.

Also, I know that some people use them as music playback devices, usually with external USB sound cards. It might be worth looking into that if you need something to play back non-sync music or music-on-hold. They are certainly cheaper than a CD player or pretty much any solid-state audio playback device.

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 01-29-2016, 08:01 AM:

I built my own GPIO-Ethernetbox with one, sort of a JNIOR.

And yes, they are nice signage players as well. Add a cheap USB-WLAN stick, and all you need is a mains socket/USB power supply.

- Carsten

Posted by Marcus Johnson (Member # 8704) on 01-29-2016, 01:25 PM:

Actually you can run DOS on a Raspberry Pi, not sure how fast you need it to be but apparently this program runs at the speed of a 20mhz 486 and supports USB to serial adapters:

http://rpix86.patrickaalto.com/

Posted by Matthew Heuer (Member # 9199) on 01-29-2016, 04:00 PM:

As for raspberry pi I just started playing with it myself. Right now the only thing I have set up is a webserver that serves a webpage with the temperature of the shop. It will also email me if the temperature drops below 50 degrees. As for theatre projects I have done a couple with arduino which could also easily be done with the pi, in fact the pi would be overkill. Arduino exit door alert system, and arduino which alerts when 3d movies are 2 minutes from credits so someone can get the glasses (dolby 3D).

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 01-29-2016, 06:18 PM:

quote: Marcus Johnson
Actually you can run DOS on a Raspberry Pi

Interesting. That is kind of awesome.

Posted by Scott Jentsch (Member # 1681) on 02-03-2016, 02:30 PM:

I bought one some time ago to use as a Squeezebox (music player) client, but sadly, I've not yet taken it out of the box...

A friend has used one to create a Wake-on-LAN signal to reboot a laptop after a power outage. From what I understand, it's pretty straightforward to program.

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 02-03-2016, 05:56 PM:

"A Washington, D.C.-based reddit user going by the name AlekseyP was so
frustrated with his download speeds that he set up a Twitter bot that tweets
at Comcast every time his Internet service drops below a certain threshold.
How does he do it? With a Raspberry Pi — a small, low-power computer
beloved by hobbyists — that continuously monitors his home bandwidth."
Story Link

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-03-2016, 08:56 PM:

Does screaming at Comcast actually produce any results though?