Need help Raspberry pi as present.

bernardamaac.

Hi thanks for reading my post! Im looking to set up a raspberry pi as a present for the ma and da just solely for xbmc and was wondering how i could set it up for the cheapest possible with a wireless remote and wifi. Also i was wondering does it not support hdmi to hdmi because most sites sell hdmi - vga? AND THANKS AGAIN!

bittihuduga

It works hdmi to hdmi. Works with your tv remote if it is Cec compatible. Or it works with media remotes. No in built wifi. Has Ethernet port. But can work with few wifi dongles.
You need pi, hdmi cable, wifi dongle, media remote, sd card, power adapter

PrzemoF

OP, buy a good powered USB hub as well. USB ports on RPi are, in my opinion, the weakest point I.e. hot connecting external keyboard can reboot RPi.

bernardamaac.

Thanks for the reply could ye kindly send me some links to supported wifi dongle ,media remote and power adapter ? and il pick up a usb dongle during the week thanks alot!

GreenWolfe

They have a list of supported hardware at their wiki - http://elinux.org/RPi_VerifiedPeripherals

moneymad

All my issues were the power supply newit sold with the pi.
I had a 1000ma power supply and it was useless. I now have Samsung galaxy 700ma and it works grand.

bazpaul1

How did you get on? did you buy it yet?

I have a model B pi running Xbian 1.0a2 and it runs quite well. I'm thinking of giving it to my Dad for christmas. A few things I've noticed;

Pros:
Cheap - got whole setup for €50
can handle xbmc fine
great 1080p streaming (it handled a 3.5hour 4gb 1080p movie last night like a Boss)

Cons:
If something breaks or doesnt work it can be a nightmare to fix yourself if you dont know much linux (like me)
Sluggish - you cant really use any of the beautiful skins (Aeon MQ4), they are too much for the little pi
Not a lot of supported devices - There is a list of working peripherals but outside of that list its hit and miss!



one thing I would recommend is cleaning up the menu system - xbmc can be 'TOO MUCH' for older people and possibly do a little training with your parents so they know how to add more content and remove old content!

Also make sure you have a good power supply - 90% of problems from people new to the pi are put down to power issues

PrzemoF

bazpaul1, try overclocking - it helped me a lot with xbmc.

bazpaul1

PrzemoF wrote: »

bazpaul1, try overclocking - it helped me a lot with xbmc.

hmmm yeh - I did run it on turbo (1ghz) for a day but wasnt sure if it made a difference.

What build are you using, xbian? what overclocking settings do you use and what skin are you rocking?

bernardamaac.

bazpaul1 wrote: »

How did you get on? did you buy it yet?

I have a model B pi running Xbian 1.0a2 and it runs quite well. I'm thinking of giving it to my Dad for christmas. A few things I've noticed;

Pros:
Cheap - got whole setup for €50
can handle xbmc fine
great 1080p streaming (it handled a 3.5hour 4gb 1080p movie last night like a Boss)

Cons:
If something breaks or doesnt work it can be a nightmare to fix yourself if you dont know much linux (like me)
Sluggish - you cant really use any of the beautiful skins (Aeon MQ4), they are too much for the little pi
Not a lot of supported devices - There is a list of working peripherals but outside of that list its hit and miss!



one thing I would recommend is cleaning up the menu system - xbmc can be 'TOO MUCH' for older people and possibly do a little training with your parents so they know how to add more content and remove old content!

Also make sure you have a good power supply - 90% of problems from people new to the pi are put down to power issues

No not yet im thinking end of the week maybe friday il make the order.What set up you using eg remote,wifi and power supply. il show them how to use it but all they'l use it for is movies and tv shows so il be able to clean it up myself and update it.

michael999999

Im using the charger off my Blackberry to power mine!

Must install XBMC over Christmas, is it easy to flash the card with it?

bazpaul1

michael999999 wrote: »

Im using the charger off my Blackberry to power mine!

Must install XBMC over Christmas, is it easy to flash the card with it?

Yes Michael its very easy, i would recommend Xbian, the guy gives you the whole package which you just image to your card. Just google how to image it. You then simply boot up into XBMC - lovely!!!

@Bernardmac

I live in london, so i bought my pi from amazon uk and I got my power supply from RS Components - as i said before, getting a proper power supply is very important!

After trawling forums i decided on the Edimax EW-7811UN Wireless USB
as it works quite well. I had to install wheezy in the background to load the drivers for this - but I believe the Xbian guys now support this out of the box. (you can ask me how I did it if you need later)

I use my ipod touch as a remote and it works really well. If your parents have smartphones this may be an option. I'm gonna do this for my parents I think. Otherwise, there is a list of supported components out there - I heard the generic windows 7 media center remote is one of the best!!!

Have a look at the raspberry forums especially this thread where the guy shows you have to have a browser hidden behind xbmc!!

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The only problem with creating this solution for your parents as a present, is that when you have it all setup and running like a champ - you dont want to give it away!!