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Ask HN: What do you do with your Raspberry Pi?

10 points by tixocloud ↗ HN
Hey all,

I recently got a Raspberry Pi as a gift. For those of you that have one, I'm curious what you've done with it. I'm contemplating a media server but I'm open to more interesting ideas.

14 comments

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dreamdu5t
A file server with open wifi placed somewhere in an urban downtown setting. See what people share.
orangethirty
I'm about to set them up for the company I'm working for as cheap remote servers. Each of them will have an API for me to connect to from the main server. Cool use case, and fun. Total Rpi used will be about 20-ish.
copiga
in the process of making a better-than-stock security system for the land rover defender.
Fzzr
A friend and I share one that's hosted at his house, we use it as a mumble server, and plan possibly to host other shared services.
Dnguyen
My mom had a stroke recently and is paralyzed on the right side. I'm using the Raspberry Pi to make her an exercise machine to keep her from muscle atrophy.
yossilac
Sounds interesting! Would love some more details.
Dnguyen
I got an old Craftman garage motor. It has the torque I'm looking for. I got a LifeGear rowing machine on Craigslist for $50. I like this one because the seat and track is used for the leg exercise, moving the leg back and forth. The extra arm and pullies I use for the arm exercise, using her good arm to move the other arm. That way, both arms are getting exercise. The base is built out of 3 in. PVC pipes. Since she's only 115 pounds, it's more than enough to hold her weight. And PVC are super easy to work with. Using a Raspberry Pi and a Gertboard to control the motor, I can set how far back and forth to move the leg assembly. My next step is to hook the Raspberry Pi to an iPod and let my mom control the speed and duration of the exercise.
tixocloud
Wow. I really feel for you. It's really amazing that you're doing that!
deadfall
I setup OpenELEC on one Pi. It connects to a network server with my media files on it. Portable entertainment system for any TV I hook it to. I have another that I am trying to figure out what to do with.
christiangenco
Set it up to boot into a web page on startup and refresh every ten minute.

In theory, I'll have useful information on the webpage. Right now I have a picture of a cat.

damian2000
We use it as sort of a 'programmable, smart serial port'. Because RS-232 serial ports are rare these days on laptops and even desktops, its easier to use the RPi as a bridge between PC applications and electronics/hardware devices which use RS-232. The PC application connects to the RPi using a direct TCP/IP cable. Its a bit more complicated than that, but that's the general idea.
canatan01
Besides maker projects I see that the R-Pi is many times used as a media center with XBMC.
tixocloud
Yeah, that was my initial idea but the current naked state of the Pi has me hunting for nice cases.