Raspberry π

Also what is a good source of project ideas, useful ideas for pi?

MagPi magazine. 101 back issues as PDFs to browse. https://magpi.raspberrypi.org/

Something fairly self contained that might be fun to hack with are the Google AIY kits https://shop.pimoroni.com/?q=aiy (other sellers are available)

netboot the Raspberry Pi

I.e. boot each from elsewhere rather than from sd card? I'll go read up on that ta.

Storage is cheap so I'm not fussed about images being generated every couple of weeks.

Are yours breaking that frequently? Are you doing complex stuff with them? I'd hope a zero running radio via vlc player daily wouldn't corrupt every few weeks?

Thanks again.

On 1 so you mean copy specific files that relate to what I've put in place once the OS is installed? E.g. on motioneyeos I've created a script that then allows me to monitor the processor temperature via the camera image preview. (Bad example really as this is v.simple to recreate if needed).

There's lots of little details but I guess all would be small jobs to recreate if 1 card corrupts - it'd be bad luck for multiple to fail at same time I guess?

On 2 - this is where I read and sort of understand the principle, but the detail is like a different language. The calculator drop down options mean nothing to me. More reading for me to do I guess.

Desired data redundancy = no. of copies incase they start failing?

On 1 so you mean copy specific files that relate to what I've put in place once the OS is installed?

Yup. You might be running an old version of motioneyeos right now but that probably isn't important to you. If the Pi explodes and you replace it you might as well instlal the latest, greatest and get things working with that. For that you need your script etc.

I have a Pi that amongst other things is my UniFi controller. I can reinstall the controller software so I just keep a copy of the settings backup file produced by it. It is also a TV headend tuner for which I backup nothing because I could just reinstall it.

On storage would you be sad if you lost data when a drive fails? If it is full of CD rips you could rip again perhaps not. If it has photos you can't recreate then probably.

RAID 0 will give you one big disk and all the drive space you buy but no redundancy. 2x 4TB drives = 8TB of storage.

With a pair of drives and RAID 1 you can have a drive fail and still keep all your data it is written to both drives. 2x 4TB drives = 4TB of storage.

RAID 5 does cunning things with parity data to allow you to use more data. 3x 4TB drives = 8TB of storage.

Of course you should still have offsite backups for really important stuff for when your home is eaten by an enormous, destructive, prehistoric sea monster awakened and empowered by nuclear radiation.

No, but I don't want a hugely out of date backup if it does get corrupted so I have it set to create a backup every two weeks.

I occasionally manually delete a load of old backups but at 16GB each it's not a huge issue.

Ok makes sense, thanks.

photos

This mainly. I have them on various memory cards & a portable drive backup, and Google photos, although big gaps pre smartphone despite other phone cameras priorto that...

Partner has been asking for shared house drive to save stuff from all devices on & it's a good time to sort this with backup too perhaps.

offsite backups

Google for now, possibly not the best option.

P.s. thanks for explaining the Raid stuff. Useful. I doubt we'd need more than 2TB to get started tbh.

In tinkering news, I've made a crude bodycam.

This was just a test set-up worn on me whilst walking but will allow me to gorilla tape the set-up to a branch to film wildlife motion triggered or timelapse stuff away from home in the local woods or when on holiday (remember those?!)

Motioneyeos needs a local connection to work so until now was just via home WiFi. I renamed my phone hotspot ssid & psssword to the same, as meos only boots via one set of wifi details afaik. Probably a security fail?

1 Attachment

for 2, you can also just use https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-openmediavault/ (see: https://www.openmediavault.org/ for the main software)

I run OpenMediaVault on an old PC and it works great. It can do raid like people have talked about, but I actually use UnionFS + SnapRAID to kinda do the same thing (but allow me to use drives separately if something fails)

for those using pihole if your update "breaks" and complains iproute2 is missing

check /etc/apt/sources.list and make sure it's right... mine was zero'd somehow, and iproute2 is now in backports for Debian Buster.

If you want the real tech info, I filed my findings (and suggestions) here:

https://github.com/pi-hole/pi-hole/pull/3537
... guess my username ... :P

Moving into the microcontroller space now;

https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-silicon-pico-now-on-sale/

It’s also worth noting that it’s their own silicon too.

Would anyone on here be able to do me a favour for a few quid / beers?

I need an SD card flashed for a pi based audio system (a miniboss player) but I have no working PC so am a bit stuck - and don't know an easy workaround to do it from a phone.

Any help would be much appreciated

I'd be happy to. Not sure where you are though and how you want to get the card to and fro. I'm in EN5. Can do post although that is allegedly slow in places at the moment.

Ah that would be great, ta!

Happy to trust first class and take the risk it's slow - I'm in no hurry to get it working. Will PM a link to the image I need flashing if that's ok?

Thanks

Sure

Nice copywriting:

*Raspberry Si

It seems like every fruit company is making its own silicon these days, and we’re no exception. RP2040 builds on the lessons we’ve learned from using other microcontrollers in our products, from the Sense HAT to Raspberry Pi 400. It’s the result of many years of hard work by our in-house chip team.*

Wonder if the Pi 5 will have their own chip?

Really impressed by the new Pi MC. Can't wait to get my hands on some.

Hopefully they'l provide LORA support in the future. Wifi and Bluetooth options already on the way.

My big hope is for a really good deep sleep mode. If they have managed that on their chipset, it will be possible to use it for battery powered devices that last for years inbetween recharges.

If you have an Android phone there are a variety of apps that allow you to write images. This one for instance https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.depau.etchdroid&hl=en&gl=US

Pico looks great, fresher than Arduino and a little less clunky (though less features) than a Teensy.
@Stonehedge I saw 6mW for the sleep mode reported on YouTube

I saw 6mW for the sleep mode reported on YouTube

Interesting. Thanks for that. I assume you mean mA rather than mW.

Its competitive but a long way away from the best in class that manage about 5 uA

https://youtu.be/dUCgYXF01Do

At 5:30, <2mA and 6mW

Cheers. I see what they have done there.

MC manufacturers usually don't publish a power figure because most boards are built to operate at 3v3 and 5v . The new Pi MC only accepts 3v3. Must mean it has a step down from USB somewhere.

EDIT: Now I'm confused as deep in the tech specs it says it can handle up to 5.5v where it only labels 3v3 on the pinout :D

0.8mA @ 5V in dormant mode from the datasheet, 1.3mA @ 5V in sleep mode