Raspberry Pi

I just got my Rasbperry Pi. By ‘just’ I mean I started working with the Pi this morning, even if I got it last Thursday. It was supposed to be my Christmas gift, and I was not going to spoil it.

The chosen operating system was Raspbian, because even if the primary intended purpose for my Pi is as media center, I want to have some flexibility in what I can do with the board (MAME, anyone?).

There is a few advice for using RBP:

1. Be patient. The hardware is not specially powerful. Running ‘aptitude’ takes ages, and fixing dependencies would give you time to go for some coffee.
2. Use a keyboard and a mouse. It’s not strictly necessary, but some configuration is faster if you can use the GUI. Also, Raspbian comes with a full desktop, that would be nice to explore.
3. Don’t think about going directly to code. There are almost no documentation about cross-compiling. Most tutorials assume you are going to compile your software in the Pi itself. Crazy. Ffmpeg has some info, but you better avoid building your own tools and go for git-hub. Debian cross-development tutorial might be also hady.

So far, I have been able to make XBMC work, but the results are mixed. It was impossible to make it work with the Wii controller, Full-HD youtube doesn’t work, and Vimeo plugin fails randomly.

I was also able to compile Quake 3, but it seems to be linked against the wrong libraries. As soon as I can create a working cross-development environment, including a replacement for “apt-get build-dep”, I promise I’ll go to Raspbian’s wiki and write a tutorial.