I just don't know what to do with my Pi :(

[madog]

I'm 99% new to Linux and have been having a hell of a time getting anything to work with my Pi. First it was an inconsistent WiFi while using OpenELEC, then it was setting up Raspbmc which otherwise worked well with my WiFi but had other issues, and then it was discovering that XBMC crashes or reboots the Pi completely after 10 minutes of WiFi media-streaming on either distro (got some vague info about running iperf which I am currently investigating what it is), and then it was a few failed attempts at getting the emulation station/retro-pie installed, and now I'm locked out of SSH because my host key has changed for seemingly no reason (and then I was extremely excited for a case that finally came in, but it's loose fitting and makes me feel like I'll break a port, obviously not the Pi's fault). The first few days I had Bootberry setup (Wheezy and OpenELEC) which ended up being a near complete bust with how many things I was unable to do (things that ended up working without BB).

I am honestly getting depressed that every time I get one thing working I have problems with something else, and so far haven't been able to get a fully working setup after a couple of weeks. My original goal was media streaming and ultimately building a robot army to destroy my enemies (I kid).

I guess I just need some push in the right direction of what I should do for my next format. Should I finally go for Wheezy so I have more potential with adding on things outside of simple XBMC? Is there anything other than XBMC that I could try to accomplish the same thing? Should I cry in the corner?

[jazzy]

Welcome to the world of playing in linux. Its always a learning oppurtunity.

Keep cracking at it. you'll get there.

I say for fouth with your dream of building a retro media streaming wifi killer robot.....and then name it after me

[jackokring]

I been with linux for over 10 years and don't know everything. It's often obscure until some codes a nice way to do something. As for doing things with a Pi, here's a thing I may never do myself, as I'm tied up in other code design.

1) Place a large number of moving pixels with slow velocities on a screen, and make them move with acceleration = - (velocity ^ 3) * n, where n = cos (hz * t).
2) Make one of them centered, and apply relativity to the others. The center one is the moving observer.
3) Apply the bulk statistic to working out a finite element equation set of the characteristics of a modeled space.

But maybe something else would be better. I found when learning coding, that simple graphical plotting was good for the dreaming.

[madog]

I been with linux for over 10 years and don't know everything. It's often obscure until some codes a nice way to do something. As for doing things with a Pi, here's a thing I may never do myself, as I'm tied up in other code design.

1) Place a large number of moving pixels with slow velocities on a screen, and make them move with acceleration = - (velocity ^ 3) * n, where n = cos (hz * t).
2) Make one of them centered, and apply relativity to the others. The center one is the moving observer.
3) Apply the bulk statistic to working out a finite element equation set of the characteristics of a modeled space.

But maybe something else would be better. I found when learning coding, that simple graphical plotting was good for the dreaming.

If I'm reading this right, and I'd like to think that I am, your suggestion is to cry in the corner. Got it!

[DBryant]

Linux it well developed and stable despite what you might read in these forums. I'd suggest that you step back and you take a look at the MagPi - http://www.themagpi.com/ - which covers a wide range of the possibilities for the Pi.

For me the Pi was a about physical computing i.e. getting it to do real stuff. Ok we all want that all-singing, all-dancing robot but take it small steps at a time, try lighting a few LEDs in a sequence. Try out a few of the scripting languages; some simple lines of bash will get you going for a LED or two and its there, pre-installed and waiting for you to play with. Then add a few more LEDs, or change the sequence, and maybe you'll find that bash is not such a good idea and you'd like to move to another language. Or you could re-work your bash to make it easier to extend to do new things.

Maybe install Python and have a go with that doing the same simple tasks, hopefully in a more productive fashion. Get a general feel for what you can do, in the time you can afford to invest but get a few small successes under your belt.

If that leaves you cold, then maybe a project such a slideshow of your photos on your TV. This is more of a software project, might be something you could accomplish and find satisfying with XMBC, or you you install of more general distro and try out some other ways of doing the same things. You could start with a few pictures on your SD card, so you're not fazed by the network, remote file systems and who knows what. You might then drag in some music, video but at least you can do these things in small steps, at your own pace, with a defined goal; each one a minor success but building to a body of knowledge.

And in a few months be wondering what all the fuss was about. Or put it in the cupboard, so as to take advantage of the blazing summer we're going to have (or not).

At least the system doesn't reset when you lean a little to heavily of the RAM pack of your souped-up ZX81; they were not the good old days.

[piglet]

Heavily? You just had to breathe near it and *bam* your last hours work of typing was gone...

[philhu]

I have used linux for a long time, but no longer have linux boxes at my beck and call.

The rPi lets me ssh and get my Bash needs met, for 12 watts of power.

I don't do much with mine except ssh in and bash away.

I do have a second one setup with raspbmc, which is extremely stable, running my entire video, stream, video, photo collection to my tv in hdmi perfectly.

[ski522]

You keys would have only changed if you installed or reinstalled an image. You should be able to delete the key on your client machine and reconnect.

As for what to do with the Pi, XBMC is probably not the best place to start. It's somewhat a CPU hog and has complexities all it's own that get added onto of Pi above and beyond Linxu. Maybe look a music player or internet radio player first, the apps are bit easy to install and understand and you can use good old Raspbian can be used for this.

Also google is your friend when trying to find out how to fix things, but don't google using a key word linux, instead replace linux with debian or ubuntu since Raspbian is based on the debian distro (which ubuntu is too). Learning any OS from the ground up isn't an overnight process, but can take many many months and years. The trick is to learn a little bit at a time, when you feel like you've hit a brick wall, just take a break for a while and come back later.

[HankScorpionKing]

You can fix your remote host key with the following:

Code: Select all

sudo ssh-keygen -f "/root/.ssh/known_hosts" -R 192.168.1.***

Where .*** is your RPi's address. That should get your SSH back up and running again.

Also, a really fun and easy project is to turn your RPi into a DNLA media server. Use transmission-daemon to download (legal) media and minidlna or mediatomb to act as a DLNA server. Then use any DLNA compliant device, such as a newer TV or game console, to connect to the Pi and you're off to the races. Minidlna is better than mediatomb because it's Xbox360-compatible and light on resources. The reason why this is easier than XBMC is because your Pi runs headless (i.e., with no monitor); you don't have to waste precious memory running the XBMC GUI because your TV or console does all the heavy lifting for you. It's all command line, and very easy.

Don't give up!

[quangvv1512]

Hi guys, I'm an absolutely beginner of wheezy raspbian. I just wonder: If I build a program on another OS (eg. Linux, Unix....) in my PC, then whether I'm able to copy over the executor to the wheezy raspbian OS in Raspberry, and it will be running? as we know, it's better to code a program in another PC than in Raspberry itself. Thanks in advance!

[ghans]

When you cross-compile , maybe.
Check the forum . Several guides for crosscompiling
toolchains around.

ghans

[quangvv1512]

When you cross-compile , maybe.
Check the forum . Several guides for crosscompiling
toolchains around.

ghans

thank you ghans

[DBryant]

Depends what your coding in of course. If its C, C++, Fortran etc then you will compiling and linking to a specific platform.

In the 'higher-level' languages such as Java then you can get into the write once, run many (platform) scenario. This list (of one) may be extended by adding the scripting languages Python, Perl and Tcl for example, all of which have multi-platform interpreters that allow them to execute code/script unchanged across OS' and hardware. BUT, this will only work for general programming, where general does cover a wide sptectrum, but it will fail once you start talking hardware specifics like the GPIO which has no counterpart on many platforms.

So you will be able to learn your basic language skills, ActiveState have a free community Python packages for Windows ( http://www.activestate.com/activepython) for example, on any platform. However the hardware details will require access to the Pi itself, or you start thinking in terms of writing some hardware emulator for another system (or systems).