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Mojang Releases Minecraft: Pi Edition For the Raspberry Pi

hypnosec writes "Mojang has officially released Minecraft: Pi Edition for the credit card sized Raspberry Pi. Back in November, Minecraft was ported to the Raspberry Pi, and it was revealed that Mojang would release a free version of the game. The game is completely free and is now available for download. Even though the game will carry only a limited set of features, the cost and complexity of building and hosting a Minecraft LAN-party has definitely dropped." From the looks of it, you should be able to run it on any ARM system that can run Debian Wheezy. More generally, the idea of a tiny box you can just turn on and have a server for a bzflag, Quake, etc. tournament is appealing.

93 comments

  1. Processing power and scalability by loufoque · · Score: 4, Funny

    How powerful is this device? Can it host a large enough server for less wattage than a normal PC?

    1. Re:Processing power and scalability by Osgeld · · Score: 5, Informative

      best case, its equivalent to a cheap tablet, minus wifi and screen

      700Mhz ARM, 256 or 512 megs of ram

      so, it depends what your server is doing, if it sits there with its thumb up its ass most of the time, it might do the job

    2. Re:Processing power and scalability by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      if it sits there with its thumb up its ass most of the time, it might do the job

      Which describes most home servers. But it's just not as fun if you're not spinning the power meter and heating the house.

    3. Re:Processing power and scalability by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      I use my Pi to watch porn from the DMZ. Every morning I wash the sheets and re-flash the SD card.

    4. Re:Processing power and scalability by Cryacin · · Score: 4, Funny

      My home server rack IS my house heating! I brute force SSL codes to keep warm in winter, you insensitive clod!

      --
      Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
    5. Re:Processing power and scalability by arashi+no+garou · · Score: 4, Informative

      I've used mine as a simple file server and I think it uses around 5-6 watts at 100% CPU with both USB ports populated. It is picky about storage, but most USB flash drives and most good quality genuine SDHC cards work well in my experience. Get a good quality power supply (it uses a Micro USB port) and use a powered USB hub for any high-current peripherals, and you shouldn't have any power issues.

      Right now mine serves as a poor man's HTPC, a front end to my Plex server via Raspbmc, until I can replace it with a Roku. Then the Pi will become a private cloud server via OwnCloud.

      Of course, they are capable of much more than what I've done. There is a GPIO header, camera and LCD headers, and a couple of groups have even built budget supercomputers out of dozens of units. It can run Debian (Raspbian), Arch Linux, Plan 9, RiscOS, BSD, Gentoo Linux, and there is steady progress on an Android port. You can also do bare metal programming on it, of course.

    6. Re:Processing power and scalability by isorox · · Score: 2

      I use my Pi to watch porn from the DMZ. Every morning I wash the sheets and re-flash the SD card.

      Korean soldier porn with land mines?

      There's porn of everything nowadays...

    7. Re:Processing power and scalability by hattig · · Score: 1

      There's a reason the base raspberry pi is $15. It's not a powerhouse.

      It's impressive that Minecraft has been made to run on it. I presume it is based off the C Android version rather than the Java desktop version, and the graphics have been tuned down, as well as game features.

      Even with the overclocking feature, you still only have a 900-1000MHz ARM11, which isn't very powerful by today's standards (although twice as powerful as my first Android phone, the HTC Hero).

      The RPi Minecraft does have the interesting scriptable interface though, which is very interesting for programmatically generated worlds.

      I wonder if Broadcom now have a more powerful SoC that could be used in a next generation RPi. I guess they don't want to ever move the price upwards, so the potential component prices have to drop to be suitable for inclusion.

    8. Re:Processing power and scalability by hattig · · Score: 1

      $15! I meant $25, stupid cheap-ass work keyboard, and even stupider finger!

    9. Re:Processing power and scalability by kiddygrinder · · Score: 4, Informative

      pretty much, it's cheap as shit to run and mine is basically a torrent box, ssh/media server and i've got one on both of my main tvs as xbmc clients. probably worthwhile to note it has a graphics chip that can decode 1080p video and it can be pretty trivially overclocked to 900mhz without upping the voltage.

      --
      This is a joke. I am joking. Joke joke joke.
    10. Re:Processing power and scalability by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      How powerful is this device? Can it host a large enough server for less wattage than a normal PC?

      If what you want to serve can be delivered to the device efficiently from an SD card or USB2 peripheral connected to flaky USB, yes. Otherwise, no; buy a cubieboard or PogoPlug Rev.2 (which has USB3.)

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    11. Re:Processing power and scalability by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Too bad, though. At $15 it would cost what it cost me to have my Model A shipped to me. They'd probably still charge $15 for shipping though. The only thing worth owning with an ARM in it that I know of for that price is a pogoplug (dockstar actually) which is even more limited and which has even less GPIO. Still, it might be a good answer to some questions. Then again, another five bucks gets you an actual pogoplug.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    12. Re:Processing power and scalability by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Minecraft uses OpenGL- it didn't need to tune down the graphics since it's got a much more powerful GPU than CPU in it, perversely. You can do Quake III:Arena on it, for example. If it fit on Android, it didn't need much stripping down.

    13. Re:Processing power and scalability by hattig · · Score: 1

      Very true, the GPU (Videocore IV) is disproportionately powerful. Then again the ARM core is more of an afterthought, as the GPU is capable of running as a CPU itself.

    14. Re:Processing power and scalability by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you hold down the spacebar to keep the cracking program running?

    15. Re:Processing power and scalability by chihowa · · Score: 1

      How powerful is this device? Can it host a large enough server for less wattage than a normal PC?

      If what you want to serve can be delivered to the device efficiently from an SD card or USB2 peripheral connected to flaky USB, yes. Otherwise, no; buy a cubieboard or PogoPlug Rev.2 (which has USB3.)

      Yeah, the flaky USB subsystem was a real letdown. Every use case I had involved at least one USB port and (even with the polyfuses bypassed) you can't depend on it staying functional. The ethernet controller hangs off of USB, also, and it shows. If you need USB and ethernet, the Pi is right out.

      If you need any sort of unattended reliability, skip the Raspberry Pi and keep searching.

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
    16. Re:Processing power and scalability by WilyCoder · · Score: 1

      It certainly won't run quake3 at 60fps (which is pretty much needed for multiplayer).

      I even hacked the ioquake source to have it run at 320x240, and it still ran around15-20fps.

      ioquake3 on the pi is CPU limited, not GPU limited. Probably has to do with the md3 animation system.

    17. Re: Processing power and scalability by mspohr · · Score: 1

      It's actually $35.
      The problem is not your keyboard.

      --
      I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
    18. Re:Processing power and scalability by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ur doin it wrong. Launch from the command line, not within X. 64fps at 1080x1920.

    19. Re:Processing power and scalability by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      I wonder if Broadcom now have a more powerful SoC that could be used in a next generation RPi.

      I'm sure they do and assuming the Pi continues to be a success i'm sure that we will eventually see a second generation of Pi *. However it makes no sense for the foundation to do that right now. It would fragment the community and take the foundations resources away from other things like making the education push and getting the camera board finalised and released.

      * Which would pretty much be a redesign from scratch afaict.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    20. Re:Processing power and scalability by jandrese · · Score: 1

      I have to admit that I was really interesting in the Pi for some network stuff until I read that it used USB Ethernet. I have yet to find a USB Ethernet controller that is reliable when subjected to constant or high speed loads. Plus, I've had so many bad experiances with USB Ethernet simply crapping out when put into a bridge or configured to promiscuous mode. I'm not even sure it's the hardware's fault, I think a good USB Ethernet driver is just harder to write than a regular Ethernet driver and hardware companies don't budget enough time to getting it right. Plus the hardware is low volume and obscure enough and changes so frequently that the open source drivers are just as bad.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
    21. Re: Processing power and scalability by hattig · · Score: 1

      There's a $25 model as well as a $35 model, or did you miss this?

    22. Re: Processing power and scalability by mspohr · · Score: 1

      They announced a $25 model about a year ago but you can't actually buy it yet. It may be available "real soon now".

      --
      I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
    23. Re:Processing power and scalability by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      If you need any sort of unattended reliability, skip the Raspberry Pi and keep searching.

      That pretty much sums it up. The R-Pi is an adequate and inexpensive super-low-power nettop, and a pretty darned good platform for XBMC, especially the 512MB version which I don't have. A ~$5 USB hub and a $1.63 bluetooth dongle remedy or mitigate much of what is wrong with the device out of the box. If you want a server for shoveling bytes, I do not think there is a better buy than one of the platforms I mentioned above. Cubieboard (when in stock) has SATA, which is neato, and costs fifty bucks. Pogoplugs all have GigE, and cases, and $20 for USB2 or $40 for USB3 makes them all a pretty fantastic deal IMO. (The new one is kind of light in the CPU department...)

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    24. Re:Processing power and scalability by WilyCoder · · Score: 1

      That's the attitude I encountered on the rpi forums when I posted my results. Run from the command line instead of inside X?.....bwahahaha! Its like you are reminding me to breathe....anything else captain obvious?

      No, the FPS is a serious problem.

    25. Re: Processing power and scalability by lga · · Score: 1

      The Model A Raspberry Pi has been available for the last week.

    26. Re: Processing power and scalability by mspohr · · Score: 1

      I know it's coming soon but I still can't order one. The link you gave for the announcement on RaspberryPi.org for Newark/Element14 only says it's "available" but if you try to order one, there is no order page.

      --
      I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
    27. Re:Processing power and scalability by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My home server rack IS my house heating! I brute force SSL codes to keep warm in winter, you insensitive cloud!

      FTFY

    28. Re:Processing power and scalability by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Somewhat off-topic, but I went the opposite route.

      I had/have a Roku, and it works great (for what it is). If you just want to play Netflix (which the Pi can't) or Hulu Plus, or a handful of other specialty channels, then it works great for that. We will have the Roku until Netflix lets us have a native Linux connection or my wife decides that she's doesn't use Netflix as much anymore.

      My biggest gripe with the Roku was that it wouldn't play any of my ripped media. If I wanted to store my library on an external USB drive instead of on tons of DVDs (which was done long before we got the Roku), I would have had to run each file through ffmpeg to get a specific format for the Roku to even touch it. And that was after getting a small Python media server up and running on the Roku.

      The Pi, on the other hand, plays my external/NAS files right out of the box. If a friend brings over a USB stick with something to watch, I just plug it into the Pi and it works (so far - I'm sure that there will be formats that it doesn't support).

      But, as you said - they are capable of so much more. One of the great things about the Pi is that you can just SSH into it from another computer and use it as a headless server even while it's running XBMC.

      In any event, have fun!

    29. Re: Processing power and scalability by hattig · · Score: 1

      That's because you're in the US, and as the post says, there's a short delay there whilst they process the required paperwork (import related?).
      I see the ordering page for the Model A, so it's available.

    30. Re:Processing power and scalability by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it works for everyone else, but not you, how arrogant do you have to be to assume the problem lies anywhere but with you?

    31. Re:Processing power and scalability by Sigg3.net · · Score: 1

      I've been looking for a how-to on this. Got any URL?

    32. Re:Processing power and scalability by kiddygrinder · · Score: 1

      i kind of rolled my own and i can't really find any tutorials that i'd be happy to recommend, however there are a few here. the xbmc clients are pretty simple you just grab raspbmc (or whatever) and dump the iso on an sd card with their installer.

      for the server i used the basic raspbian distro and grabbed an external 1 tb drive with a powered usb hub to power it and the pi.

      i used transmission-daemon as the torrent client as the web interface is really quite good but you do need to edit a config file to get the torrents to save to the external drive (you'll probably need to give the transmission user permission to it, i just chmod 777 the folder cause i struggle with permissions in linux)

      the only other thing i like is to add a cron job of transmission-remote -t all -s at 1am and transmission-remote -t all -S at 7am so it's only stealing all my bandwidth during the night (i'm pretty sure those options are right).

      i just use sftp rather than samba or something to share the files with the client machines as it's a part of ssh server so it's already set up and it's a fair bit lighter than samba which kind of counts on low power hardware (also i hate windows sharing, never works well for me), however you might have to give the user permissions to your media folder on the external drive.

      if you can manage all of that you're good to go

      if you made it that far you might want to look into some kind of auto torrent program like couch potato which grabs the latest movies or rssdler which can grab torrents from an rss feed but these are a bit of a bitch to set up.

      I realise i haven't really given enough information for a complete newbie to get this thing running but hopefully i've given you a start, i'm pretty active on the raspberry pi google plus group and the raspberry pi forums are pretty active if you have questions.

      --
      This is a joke. I am joking. Joke joke joke.
    33. Re:Processing power and scalability by Sigg3.net · · Score: 1

      Thanks! I'm gonna copy this down:)

    34. Re:Processing power and scalability by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you want an out of the box solution, check out: http://www.raspbmc.com/about/
      Raspbmc is essentially an xbmc flavoured Linux distro - just burn it to an SD card and boot your pi with it and it will make a nifty xbmc box (also overclocks by default). Definitely worth having a poke at.

  2. Got my RPi model B just in time! by kriston · · Score: 1

    Looks like I got my RPi model B just in time!

    More memory, more better.

    --

    Kriston

  3. Performance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I struggle to host 3 people on a mini-ITX Intel Atom system, I can't imagine how poorly this would run a MC server.

    1. Re:Performance by hattig · · Score: 1, Informative

      This is presumably forked from the C Android version, which is more optimised for lower power devices, at the cost of having fewer features.

  4. Pi Edition? by Skevin · · Score: 4, Funny

    I thought this meant your Minecraft session occurred in a boat trapped with a tiger.

    --
    "Twice half-assed makes an ass whole." --Solomon K. Chang
    1. Re:Pi Edition? by grouchomarxist · · Score: 4, Funny
    2. Re:Pi Edition? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Somehow I never have mod points when i really need them. But yeah, +1 Funny if I did.

    3. Re:Pi Edition? by CuteSteveJobs · · Score: 1

      In this thread: Mojang stalked by angry CGI tiger.

  5. It runs like crap by Cito · · Score: 0, Troll

    there is no hardware acceleration, tested with Rapbian both softfloat/hardfloat versions, Arch, and Debian at 1600x900 it never got over 10 - 15 frames per second.

    it wont run as server, I ran the server and after about 3 to 5 mins of "working" it finally started but connections would time out when running on the lan and if 2 people connected it slowed to a crawl.

    without broadcom releasing any video acceleration the thing is worthless for gaming unless it's 2d.

    there is no acceleration in X, and the only thing that gets acceleration is omxplayer playing h264 or the 2 other codecs but for the 2 other codecs you must pay a license fee to get a serial to unlock the feature in the firmware.

    it's a great product but yea, they got a lot of work to do to make minecraft playable other than for the sake of saying "I got it to run on raspberry pi"

    tested on raspberry pi model B 512mb 2nd revision board the newest version of the board fully updated os's on a class 10 sdcard, tested 3 different class 10 sd cards, no difference.

    1. Re:It runs like crap by Dan+East · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I just fired it up on my Pi-B running Wheezy and my experience was the exact opposite. Running full screen it was very smooth, had to be 30 fps or higher. CPU usage was around 85-90%.

      --
      Better known as 318230.
    2. Re:It runs like crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I found that it ran just fine for me. Running off of a good quality 4 gig class 4 card. I was using the composite output and frame rate was high enough that it was pretty smooth. I would guess 25-30fps. Idle cpu use was just under 50%, moving around increased it to about 90%, but rarely maxed it out. Connected over the lan from my galaxy nexus running pocket edition. Everything was running pretty smooth on both. Didn't take note of cpu usage at the time, was just kind of running around in game like a dork, excited that it was running so well. I did notice heavy cpu usage when interfacing through the api and doing multiple setblock operations.

    3. Re:It runs like crap by SilenceBE · · Score: 0

      The lack of x acceleration or progress don't surprise me on this board. People that are smart enough to write something meaningfull, can pierce the whole "open source" bubble.

      At first I was a big fan of thx project, open source drivers, the education pov, ... But after open source shim drivers, the hostilty against other platforms , the constant barrage of slashvertisments , the negative attitude when somebody dares to be critical,... That is not the case anymore.

    4. Re:It runs like crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Obviously, you're doing something wrong.

    5. Re:It runs like crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      without broadcom releasing any video acceleration the thing is worthless for gaming unless it's 2d.

      Unlikely to happen. This device was developed to be an educational device, not a cheap HTPC/gaming rig.
      I think it is safe to assume that the developers and broadcom is going to ignore the crowd that wants to use the Pi for things it was never supposed to do in the first place.

    6. Re:It runs like crap by CAIMLAS · · Score: 2

      Yeah, it's kind of a joke.

      I'm also appalled at how bad the Minecraft server is. It's one resource hungry beast, easily eating through multiple GB for just one or two people playing on a fairly 'vanilla' map without too large a world.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    7. Re:It runs like crap by spongman · · Score: 2

      troll much?

      pi@raspberrypi ~/mcpi $ ldd minecraft-pi | grep GL
                      libGLESv2.so => /opt/vc/lib/libGLESv2.so (0x400fa000)
                      libEGL.so => /opt/vc/lib/libEGL.so (0x40082000)

    8. Re:It runs like crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Im running it right now and its smooth but a bit buggy. I have 2 model B hooked up, one 256 the other 512. Fresh installs from 02-09-2013 Wheezy. installed on Sony and Patriot Class 4 Micro SD. They are running great and doing multiplayer.

    9. Re:It runs like crap by hattig · · Score: 1

      Cool. Show us your multiplayer server that's better then? Let's just guess that the server is doing a massive amount of caching, because it can.

      Also, this isn't based upon the desktop code, but the pocket edition code.

    10. Re:It runs like crap by hattig · · Score: 1

      I thought that the RPi came with hardware acceleration for the graphics. Maybe it needs installing, or maybe you have an aversion to binary blobs?

      Maybe you should try a lower resolution first before whining. 1600x900 on a 700MHz ARM11, Sheesh, even with GPU acceleration a $5 SoC like the RPi uses would struggle. What is it like at 1280x720? Or in a window? Is there a pixel doubled mode? If the performance improves at lower resolutions, then it's not vertex processing bound, but rendering bound.

    11. Re:It runs like crap by kiddygrinder · · Score: 1

      dunno about minecraft but the thing can run quake 3 pretty well so saying it's only useful for 2d gaming is pretty silly. also the other 2 codecs are mpg2 (dvd encoding) and wmv so they're not really that exciting, i've only got a couple of movies encoded in mpg2 and i can't even remember that last time i saw one in wmv.

      --
      This is a joke. I am joking. Joke joke joke.
    12. Re:It runs like crap by Narishma · · Score: 2

      For what it's worth, it runs fine and smoothly on my Pi at 1920x1080. The op is obviously doing something wrong. You don't even need to install any binary blobs, everything that runs on the CPU is open source. The binary blob is the firmware that gets loaded to the GPU before Linux even starts.

      --
      Mada mada dane.
    13. Re:It runs like crap by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      without broadcom releasing any video acceleration the thing is worthless for gaming unless it's 2d.

      Minecraft doesn't use video. Maybe you meant 3D acceleration, but you'd still be wrong. Broadcom has even released the specs needed to write driver stubs, which isn't much but it's more than most mobile GPUs provide.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    14. Re:It runs like crap by hattig · · Score: 1

      Thanks for that, clearly the OP either has a badly configured Pi, some Pis are cranky, or he is just trolling.

      YouTube should be filling up with RPi Minecraft videos right about now that disprove everything he's written anyway.

    15. Re:It runs like crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Class 4 card might be the reason. I'm wondering if most of the reason people bitch about the pi is because they try running it off some substandard class 2 that they pulled from their 5 year old digital camera. Stick a class 10 or a UHS in it and the experience will probably improve.

    16. Re:It runs like crap by Cito · · Score: 1

      check the forums there is even a sticky

      there are no 3d acceleration on the pi at all...

      there is 1 guy trying to write drivers sorta reverse engineering in one post that is 5 pages long but it keeps crashing when scrolling a browser

      but Liz stickied a post that there are no 3d accelerated drivers for X or for anything at the moment.

      the only thing that has acceleration is video playback of h264 videos or 2 others if you purchase their licenses and receive a serial/hash to put into the firmware's config.txt on boot which unlocks vc1 and the other video playback

      but that's all for now.

      it's on the forum and posted by Liz herself there are no accelerated 3d drivers for the pi

      and only 1 guy working on reverse engineering it which if successful there's already gossip that broadcom would send him a dmca takedown notice for it

    17. Re:It runs like crap by spongman · · Score: 1

      too large a world

      you're trolling way off target here. the pocket edition has fixed-sized worlds.

    18. Re:It runs like crap by rochrist · · Score: 1

      Same for me. Very fast and fluid. Frankly, I was surprised at how well it ran.

    19. Re:It runs like crap by spongman · · Score: 1

      there are no 3d acceleration on the pi at all..

      if you're going to troll, at least pick something that's not trivial to refute with a simple google search for your statement above which handily returns a small roundup of graphics as the first result.

      here's some more (just to illustrate how poor your trolling attempt was):

      http://www.raspberrypi.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Architecture-and-Source.png
      http://jonmacey.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/getting-started-with-egl-on-raspberry.html
      http://nccastaff.bournemouth.ac.uk/jmacey/GraphicsLib/piNGL/index.html

    20. Re:It runs like crap by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More likely because he is using composite out, I don't know how the RPi handle the composite out, but the max resolution you can push over it is somewhere in the region of 720x576 interlaced, which is somewhat less than a decent monitor or a hdtv.

    21. Re:It runs like crap by Cito · · Score: 1

      Liz has already stated there is no 3d acceleration for X or any graphic desktop

      the only acceleration that WORKS right this moment is video playback of the 3 video codecs the chip allows. x264 being primary.

      there are projects in the work to being 3d acceleration desktop enviroment to the PI

      BUT NONE EXIST AT THE MOMENT... all those links you posted are in the works, none are finished, none have the support of Broadcom and the RasPI foundation has already stated they WILL NOT release or open source their graphics drivers for 3d acceleration.

      there are many projects like you posted that are trying to reverse engineer and bring 3d acceleration to the PI

      but sorry all those you posted are only projects, none are finished and none work at this time, there are a few alpha tests but the closest X windows 3d accelerated test was done buy a guy on the forum for LXDE and it's so much in alpha that it works for a little while until you try to click the scroll button on a web browser and it crashes locking up the pi requiring reboot.

      stop spreading nonsense. there are projects, but NO current 3d accelerated desktops for the PI and Broadcom has already stated they will not open source or release the code to make it happen, thus the projects to reverse engineer it were born

    22. Re:It runs like crap by Narishma · · Score: 1

      3d acceleration works just fine on the Pi through OpenGL ES. What isn't there is an accelerated X driver. You can still run 3d applications in X and if they use OpenGL ES, they'll be accelerated but X itself is running in software mode.

      --
      Mada mada dane.
    23. Re:It runs like crap by spongman · · Score: 1

      Liz has already stated there is no 3d acceleration for X or any graphic desktop

      this is correct, but it's not what you claimed above:

      there are no 3d acceleration on the pi at all...

      this is false. and this is what i quoted above and previously pointed out as being false.

      there is 3d acceleration on the pi. there are EGL and GLES drivers. they do work, they're not 'in the works', they are provided by Broadcom. it is possible to write 3d-accelerated software on the pi.

      the RasPI foundation has already stated they WILL NOT release or open source their graphics drivers for 3d acceleration

      sure. but the fact that those drivers aren't open-source, doesn't mean that they don't exist, nor does it mean that 'there are no 3d acceleration on the pi'.

      there are projects in the work to being 3d acceleration desktop enviroment to the PI

      sure, but trying to retroactively qualify your troll with 'desktop environment' doesn't change the fact that you stated 'no 3d at all' before. we're not talking about desktop environments (whatever that means), we're talking about 3d acceleration in general. again, the lack of an accelerated X11 driver does NOT mean that there's no 3d acceleration on the pi at all...

  6. Just 1600x900? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After all of that, did you try some lower resolutions before declaring it unplayable, perhaps 1366x768?

    I'd like to hear the frame rates at other resolutions if possible.

  7. My kid is learning by Sonoma+Sam · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Wow, first he learned Linux and I got him a hosted server for MC. Next he was setting up other servers remotely. THen I found him customizing his world via VI editor from his phone. My kid learned so much computer stuff because of MC. I am really excited about this because this is something else he will learn that I may not. I learned what griefing is and how he adapted various methods to protect his world. For me, it was a C64 and cassette tape drive, for him it is the Universe and MineCraft is his hook. This is really cool because it did not have to be done but it was. Talk about doing great community service.

    1. Re:My kid is learning by Sigg3.net · · Score: 1

      Seriously, I was halfway through your post before I caught up.

      On /. MC means Minecraft and not Midnight Commander now, apparently.

  8. What the hell kind of credit card do you have? by Gordonjcp · · Score: 0

    The Raspberry Pi isn't even remotely close to credit card-sized, especially not when it's cased up. It's closer to the size of a packet of playing cards.

    1. Re:What the hell kind of credit card do you have? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm confused. The length and width dimensions of the pcb are exactly credit card dimensions. Are you complaining because it is thicker than a credit card? Or because the sockets extend out a bit? Either way, I would say that "credit card sized" is apt.

    2. Re:What the hell kind of credit card do you have? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, that's why he is complaining. o_O

      When it comes to anything claiming to be credit card sized, they're always talking about the footprint of the device.

    3. Re:What the hell kind of credit card do you have? by Kadagan+AU · · Score: 1

      I agree completely! When I put my Pi in my wallet, it makes sitting very uncomfortable! I really had to force the wallet to even close! I believe this truly is false advertising.

      --
      This space for rent, inquire within.
    4. Re:What the hell kind of credit card do you have? by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      The length and width dimensions of the pcb are exactly credit card dimensions.

      No they aren't (despite the raspberry pi foundation's faq saying for a while they were), the PCB is roughly the same length as a credit card but a couple of mm wider.

      Add the connector overhangs and overall the Pi is slightly longer than a credit card, slightly wider than a credit card and MANY MANY times thicker than a credit card.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    5. Re:What the hell kind of credit card do you have? by spongman · · Score: 1

      The hydrogen atom isn't even remotely close to Angstrom-sized, especially not when it's cased up. It's closer to the size of a packet of playing cards.

  9. Complex? by jeremyp · · Score: 1

    the cost and complexity of building and hosting a Minecraft LAN-party has definitely dropped.

    Really?

    My nephew (aged 11) invites his friends round with their laptops (or, more realistically, their dads' laptops). They all connect to the wireless network and then my nephew runs up the Minecraft server on his parents' main PC. Cost: 0, complexity: very low. Alternatively, he enables port forwarding on the firewall and they don't even need to come over. Cost: 0, complexity: quite low.

    I can't see how a reduced featured version of the game on an underpowered (for gaming) platform is going to improve his Minecraft experience in any way.

    --
    All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
    1. Re:Complex? by kiddygrinder · · Score: 2

      it's really just a this is geeky cool thing, full minecraft is a massive resource hog and would be pretty much impossible to run on anything this small.

      --
      This is a joke. I am joking. Joke joke joke.
    2. Re:Complex? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the cost and complexity of building and hosting a Minecraft LAN-party has definitely dropped.

      Really?

      My nephew (aged 11) invites his friends round with their laptops (or, more realistically, their dads' laptops). They all connect to the wireless network and then my nephew runs up the Minecraft server on his parents' main PC. Cost: 0, complexity: very low. Alternatively, he enables port forwarding on the firewall and they don't even need to come over. Cost: 0, complexity: quite low.

      I can't see how a reduced featured version of the game on an underpowered (for gaming) platform is going to improve his Minecraft experience in any way.

      Really? "Cost 0" laptops? Well not all kids have parents that obtain their laptops through robbery, you know? Some do pay cash for them.

  10. Minecraft & Rasberry Pi Both Hits by tuppe666 · · Score: 1

    Minecraft is a boring game, and Pi is a overhyped Arduino. Slashdot only posted this article because they get paid to promote stupid shit.

    Me...in a word, as a regular reader. Ignoring the fact its nice to not read another article with the constant pissing contests between various mega-corporations supporters *cough*. I own both, Minecraft and the Rasberry Pi, because they are popular, and deservedly so. One a hot [cross platform] inventive indie game, and the other a *THE* hot micro ARM motherboard. Its interesting news.

    The Rasberry Pi receives just the right amount of hype, Its backed by a whole host of interesting parties from Google; to Cambridge University to David Braben [yes the elite guy] with the great goal of educating the yoof beyond that of Microsoft Office in computer science...and it is working. It even runs RiscOS :) Debian [hell there are three versions from running XBMC].

    I'm sure that the raspberry Pi is not the best hardware; best price; cheapest or even the first..but it is the most supported and popular, not just capturing...but creating a market for small ARM motherboards for education, and achieving this goal driven by purely Altruistic reasoning.

    1. Re:Minecraft & Rasberry Pi Both Hits by kiddygrinder · · Score: 1

      dude, just change your settings so you don't see the ac trolls

      --
      This is a joke. I am joking. Joke joke joke.
  11. I'm no programmer, but... by Legion303 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Isn't MC written in Java? And isn't Java supposed to be platform-independent?

    Followup question: Shouldn't it then run on any platform that has a JRE installed?

    1. Re:I'm no programmer, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      3 billion devices!!!! (The Oracle Java installer proclaimed, as it tried to install the Ask.com toolbar in the background.)

    2. Re:I'm no programmer, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sort of. Keep in mind that resources are a bit more tight- if the JRE version doesn't fit nicely within the 256Mb RAM footprint on the R-Pi, it would need to be ported or more likely the Android version adapted further to run on it.

    3. Re:I'm no programmer, but... by Narishma · · Score: 1

      The PC version of Minecraft is written in Java. The other versions (XBLA, Android and now Pi) are written in C++.

      --
      Mada mada dane.
  12. Isn't it about the API ? by Kingston · · Score: 1
    I thought the point of this release was to support the teaching of python to children on the Raspberry Pi. My son and his friends are big minecraft fans and he is quite excited about the possibilities of the new programming interface. I don't know if it will be possible but he wants to have wars with his friends, where they program each other into traps. I have only had a few minutes to look at it but it looks like fun, you can do stuff like

    for myblks in range(10): world.setBlock(1,1,0+myblks,3)

    to make a bridge in front of you.

    The Raspberry Pi was only ever supposed to be a fun toy for kids to have in their bedrooms, to learn something about computers or electronics. I don't think it was ever pitched as a fire breathing replacement for you i7 gaming rig. That said it is very capable as an XBMC machine ( Raspbmc ) and plays old games like openarena and Quake 3 very nicely.

  13. Unfortunately by tuppe666 · · Score: 1

    Ignoring the odd random racist, homophobic etc etc or it being used to promote a mega-corporations agenda by spamming a forum, the most enlightened comments come from anonymous cowards.

    "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth. Oscar Wilde"

    1. Re:Unfortunately by kiddygrinder · · Score: 1

      and i'm sure if you trawl through the sewers you'll find the occasional diamond ring. also you still see AC posts if someone upvotes them.

      --
      This is a joke. I am joking. Joke joke joke.
  14. Really? "Credit card sized"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stop comparing the Raspberry Pi to a bloody credit card. I bought the hype and tried to put me Pi in me wallet with me credit cards and things and the bloody thing broke. Only the physical board itself resembles a credit card you damn yankees!

    1. Re:Really? "Credit card sized"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I slid my Pi into an ATM and out popped US$ 35.00