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Milestone: The Millionth UK-Made Raspberry Pi

Posted by timothy on from the now-that's-a-milestone dept.

judgecorp writes "The millionth Raspberry Pi microcomputer has been made in the Foundation's Welsh factory. Total sales so far are 1.75 million, including the initial stock made in China." (Do you have one? If so, what are you using it for?)

26 of 129 comments (clear)

  1. I have two... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    The first one is used as a media player with the openelec distribution (it's the best one, with a very active community), and the second one is used as a secondary computer, with the raspbian distribution and an amazon kindle used as a display :-)

    1. Re:I have two... by dmbasso · · Score: 2

      I'm curious as well.

      I use mine as a XMPP server. The following was before I had a blackout here (Sept. 16):
      dmbasso@raspberrypi ~ $ uptime
      11:46:25 up 180 days, 10:47, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.01, 0.05

      --
      `echo $[0x853204FA81]|tr 0-9 ionbsdeaml`@gmail.com
  2. I have two and, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    I have done nothing useful with them. They are collecting dust

    1. Re:I have two and, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The problem is you, not the raspberry!! :-)

    2. Re:I have two and, by Tarlus · · Score: 4, Informative

      Are you running the entire OS off of an SD card? That might be your problem, as SD cards are relatively slow and not designed for frequent read/writes. Databases will rot those things out pretty quickly. Since the SD is required to boot the Pi, I set mine up to load the kernel from the SD and the rest of the OS from a USB disk. It is significantly faster and more reliable, and thus far it has proven to be a pretty solid and reasonably fast personal Linux server. (Though I do run it without X.)

      Here's a guide that describes the process.
      http://www.dingleberrypi.com/2013/05/install-and-run-raspbian-from-a-usb-flash-drive/

      --
      /* No Comment */
  3. RasPi had so much potential by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Unfortunately, they made these little computers a bit *too* cheaply. In my experience, their poor power regulation makes them just flaky enough to be totally unsuitable for use as anything other than as a nerd toy.

    Which is really too bad - I wanted them to pull it off, and they do make a neat nerd toy, but in any kind of actual production use where random failures are a Bad Thing, and failure to boot is damn near guaranteed to happen occasionally, they are unsuitable.

    On the other hand, I hear that the beaglebones have solved this problem, though I've never laid hands on one myself.

    And on the gripping hand, Arduino has been, for me, open source and cheap done properly. Love that kit.

    1. Re:RasPi had so much potential by ledow · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Same here.

      My RPi from the very first batch has been gathering dust ever since I ran into a whole bunch of power and USB issues (the USB and SD port - or is it the Ethernet and SD, I forget? - both compete for bus resources and slagging any one of them can *silently* drop packets on the other). They tried to fix it but their debugging was non-existent for so long I stopped providing helpful data. About a year later, they put out a firmware fix that basically bodges things because the hardware design can't be changed.

      Couple with initial compatibility problems resulting in sending my SD card to Broadcom themselves at the request of some RPi folks and then NEVER hearing anything back, not a dicky-bird, and still having the problems on even the latest firmwares, and the whole thing ended up in the attic. You honestly can't use a device that has problems that intermittent / unpredictable under heavy load, especially when all the interesting stuff will keep it under heavy load for the majority of its runtime.

      Some day I'll knock it up to be a doorbell or some other non-critical electronic project but it's really just-another-IC to me at the moment, so it's gathering dust. Keeping it purely for future nostalgia value ("I remember I spent fucking months trying to get this to work!") and the fact that selling it isn't worth it because they cost so little.

      Depending on your definition, they delivered the device they promised. Trouble is, it's next-to-useless for anything non-trivial in the homebrew-gadget department and don't even get me started on their selling this to schools (I work in schools - I showed everyone, from teachers to decision-makers to techies, right at the peak of the popularity of the launch when it was featuring on the BBC. We unanimously agreed that it was a nice gadget that, if you have the knowledge to use it with the educational resources provided - which is next to none - then you don't need it and can do much more interesting things on an ordinary PC).

    2. Re:RasPi had so much potential by ledow · · Score: 2

      Oh, forgot to say.

      The biggest use of it I ever had was - I needed to display a PC on two large external monitors connected over HDMI via 50m CAT6 runs on an extender. The extender for one of the displays broke.

      Fortunately, I only needed to clone the image onto all the displays, so I put the RPi on the Cat6 behind the display, plugged it's HDMI out into the display, wired the cable to be Ethernet, had the RPi boot to a VNC viewer, and ran a VNC server on the machine that had the display.

      It was small enough, low powered enough, on-hand at the time, and didn't take long to bodge. That was about it's only saving grace, but to be honest I had at least three backup plans that I nearly put into action anyway, it was such a faff.

    3. Re:RasPi had so much potential by bobbied · · Score: 2

      their poor power regulation makes them just flaky enough to be totally unsuitable for use as anything other than as a nerd toy.

      Last I looked, the Pi depends on the power regulation of the power supply being used. I've had no problems with my Pi's but I also have 2 Amp capable 5V supplies and I use short USB cables to power the thing. I've not had any stability problems.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    4. Re:RasPi had so much potential by Joce640k · · Score: 2

      He obviously didn't bother to read the documentation and tries to run hard disks without a USB hub, etc.

      Rules about current consumption are only for losers.

      --
      No sig today...
    5. Re:RasPi had so much potential by CastrTroy · · Score: 2

      While I have found a good use for my Raspberry Pi (outgoing VPN Gateway), I have found there are some severe limitations. I would like the ability to have an actual SATA or IDE storage device. I'm not entirely sure, but I'm pretty sure it's the lack of DMA that causes all the problems. I could consistently crash my Pi running torrents and writing to the SD Card. Writing to the USB slot got rid of the crashes, but the disk I/O was still the limiting factor in how fast I could actually get the downloads, and my internet connection isn't really all that fast. I would also like a networking port, preferably Gigabit, but 100 mbit is fine, as long as it doesn't run off USB. USB is fine for mice and keyboards, but really sucks when you're trying to do heavy I/O, especially when you have such a weak processor.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    6. Re:RasPi had so much potential by spire3661 · · Score: 2

      Its meant for trivial things, thats kind of the point. If you want hardened gear you have to pony up for it.

      --
      Good-bye
  4. Dirt cheap thin clients. by Forbo · · Score: 2

    Congrats on the milestone!

    Our business uses them as Linux Terminal Server Project thin clients. We were able to cut our new hardware costs to 1/5th of what they were before.

  5. Good work guys. by Anrego · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People thought it would never get it off the ground. Then people thought it would never ship. Then that it would be plagued by problems and die. Then that it would never hold interest long enough to get to the point where you could get one without waiting 6 months.

    There are still lots of haters, talking about how there are better “alternatives” out there (alternatives usually being 3 or 4 times the cost, impossible to get, or apples to oranges).

    That said, I can order a perfectly functional unit, for the promised price, and have it here (in Canada) in about 4 days. I’ve got 5 of them now. I’d call that a huge success.

    You brought something awesome into the world, and I thank you :)

    1. Re:Good work guys. by Anrego · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Nothing wrong with people using other products that better suit ones needs, the hate part comes from people measuring the pi against alternatives that are either more expensive (at that scale, $10 is huge), doesn't do the same thing (no video output, runs android, etc..), or impossible to get hold of.

    2. Re:Good work guys. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      MK808B

      No Ethernet (but 11n which might be more useful for some), runs Android (although apparently one can put Ubuntu on it), and most importantly: no GPIO. I'd say it falls in the "apples to oranges" category.

    3. Re:Good work guys. by Anrego · · Score: 2

      I've got 2 of them driving displays. Basically just running X with appropriate xauthority setup and synergy.

      One of them I'm using as an isolated computer to do all my banking/financial stuff on. This replaces a an old P2 box I was using for this purpose.

      Another I'm just messing around with (playing with the GPIO pins mostly).

      And I've still got one still in the box.

  6. I have one! by nurhussein · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm using it to learn about ARM, and write baremetal code for it. Maybe it'll morph into a little OS. It's lots of fun. Anyone else doing this?

  7. So many uses by nickovs · · Score: 4, Informative

    I have four RPi boards. One monitors my UPSs, cleanly suspending my server when the power goes out and sending wake-on-LAN massages to it when the power comes back up so that the UPS only needs to drive my switch and AP, one has a camera board and does motion detection to spot people coming into my office, one is currently operating as a Bluetooth LE beacon for testing the new iOS iBeacon stuff and one is just for tinkering. Most of these have a few other services running on them too (two have I2C thermometers on them).

    I see a lot of negative comments about the Pi being underpowered. Perhaps if what you want to do is run FPS games or you are trying to run Big Data analytics then this is true but it's plenty powerful enough for a whole host of service tasks. It's not that many years ago that the Pi's level of power would have been considered a high-end desktop configuration. The purpose of the device is to give kids a low-cost entry into programming and it does just that. On top, at $25 for a Model A its fine to put in 'dangerous' places where something bad might happen to it (like outdoors, driving the sensors and servos for my Halloween decorations). No, I don't have my MongoDB server on a Raspberry Pi, but for many many projects they are just about perfect.

    --
    If intelligent life is too complex to evolve on its own, who designed God?
  8. Router by duppyconqueror · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm using it as a home router. It connects to my cable modem and two wireless access points. One access point is a guest network for all the randos who come visit and want to get on wifi, and the other one is for my family's use. I have dhcp handing out IPs, and iptables rules preventing communication between the networks and haxors from the cable modem side. So far, it has worked great, and if an access point ever dies (which seems to be an increasingly common occurrence), I just have to swap in a new one with minimal reconfiguration.

  9. RasPi Terminal Server by dir-wizard · · Score: 2

    This may sound a bit old school.. All my linux servers are headless and use a NULL-Modem (RS232) to access their console. My Raspberry PI (with raspbian) uses a 4 port USB-Serial adapter to connect to all my servers. I connect to the RasPi over the internet using SSH (No Passwords - Certs!) and then use conserver (www.conserver.com) to manage the machines.

  10. Two "A"s and a "B" by smurd · · Score: 3, Informative

    I use the A modles to run composite video loops in a bar, and the B as a ethernet->WiFi router (and video too).

  11. I have 2 by OldGoatDJ · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I use one of mine in my Linux class to show another flavor of Linux and to demonstrate networking. I have used the other one, with a webcam and speakers, to facilitate a scary halloween display.

  12. Game dev by Bram+Stolk · · Score: 2

    I used mine to port my game to the platform.
    The GPU is really fast and can do 1920x1080@30fps for moderately complex scenes.
    http://store.raspberrypi.com/projects/littlecrane

    --
    Bram Stolk http://stolk.org/tlctc/
  13. Weather Station, time sync by EricTheRed · · Score: 2

    First one has been running for well over a year now connected to the Weather Station, uploading to various locations including twitter. The Register even picked up on this one as part of a 20 things to do with a pi.

    The second is an NTP server using GPS as the time source.

    The third is a pure experimental/dev PI.

    I've got one more model B & two A's just waiting for a project.

    Been meaning to setup a PI Cam on one to complement the weather station so that I get a sky camera (cloud cover by day, long exposure at night for meteor's etc.

    --
    Java gaming nut - http://www.retep.org/ or for the rail http://uktra.in/
  14. Web power strip and door annoyer by verifine · · Score: 3, Interesting

    We had a web power strip at work (8 outlets, control via web interface) go stupid. Rather than toss it, I brought it home and used 8 GPIO pins on the Pi to control the relays. It has a new web interface with direct control, control by time of day and control by offset from sunrise/sunset. My fireplace mantle lights turn on at 40 and 39 minutes before sunset. One turns off at 11 PM and the other turns off 30 minutes after sunrise. Currently at 275 days runtime. Sweet!

    The boss bought one at work for a special project. Our janitors always block open the door to a room containing network switches and patch panels. Boss has tried for 12 years to get them to keep it closed. One Pi plus a pair of USB powered (analog input) speakers and mpg123, plus one GPIO pin connected to a magnetic reed switch on the door. Leave the door open for more than 60 seconds and one of two dozen prerecorded voices ask politely but loudly that you shut the door. Another message gets played every 15 seconds until the door is shut. Had some fun working on an algorithm that isn't quite random, so it prevents replay of a message until at least 1/3rd of the other messages have been played. Problem solved, the door is always shut now. 90 days uptime on that Pi.

    Love em!