On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 10:30 PM, Dan Egli <ddavide...@gmail.com> wrote: > *Hey, has anyone used that Raspberry Pi single-board-computer? I'm looking > into getting something like that setup as a tinker project but had a couple > of questions. If someone knows the answers to these, please let me know. > Thanks!* > > * * > > *1) What kind of power supply device do I need to get the Pi running, and > where can I get one?*
Any Micro-USB power source will work, though some might be better than others. Examples: iPhone charger plus Micro USB cable Micro USB cable plugged into your computer Android phone charger etc. > *2) I know the Pi has USB ports on it. Does that mean I could take a > standard USB Wi-Fi adapter like I'd grab from Staples off the shelf and > make it work on the Pi?* Yes, many of them will work. I use one from Monoprice and it works great. http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=105&cp_id=10501&cs_id=1050108&p_id=8072&seq=1&format=2 > *3) Has anyone heard how well PC centric programs like Wine would work on > it? Not for major things or games, but smaller things like maybe Quicken or > maybe some Windows based file sharing program like Shareaza or something? * I don't think Wine runs on ARM > *4) What is a safe surface to place the Pi on so as to avoid excess static? > I know the device doesn't have a case of it's own so is it safe to, for > example, leave the pi in it's box while it's running? This is in case my > Niece & Nephew come to visit. Especially my Nephew loves to look at > anything that is electronic and then frequently leaves it on the floor. > Since most of my home is carpet that could lead to a catastrophic static > buildup. I figured if it's in it's box (or some other generic container) > then he (and she for that matter, although not as much) are less likely to > grab it, and if they DO grab it it would theoretically survive being > dragged across the carpet a few feet.* Buy a case for it. There are *tons* of options. Adafruit carries a ton of them. http://adafruit.com/category/105 Element 14 carries some nice ones too. http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/productListing.jsp?SKUS=92T3300,92T3299,44W3465&ICID=Pi_SeeMoreCases > *5) What's the biggest SD Card you've ever heard of running on the Pi? The > mentions I saw of it spoke of 4GB and 8GB cards. I would hope it supports > at least 64GB cards. Do cards go above 128GB? It seems to me I've heard of > 256GB cards but I could be mistaken.* I currently use a 32GB card, and it works great. Buying a faster card helps too. The Raspberry Pi supports up to Class 10, IIRC. > *6) Since it's a distribution of Debian (even if modified) that runs on it, > I'm assuming standard tools like Firefox and such can be found without the > need to try and compile them on the Pi (compiling the latest Firefox on a > 700MHz cpu would take a lot of time I'd rather skip). Has anyone heard > differently?* The official distribution, Raspbian, contains plenty of packages. But it's not the only distro you can to use. You can use Arch or even Fedora /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
