Ras Pi: Installing an OS

Installing the Raspbian image to your SD card from Linux. 

[windows/OSX users click here] - I can write these instructions up, but I feel like most of you who are playing with a Pi must already be using linux machines. However my blog stats show that almost all of you readers are win/mac guys so I continue to try to include Windows instructions... I strongly suggest checking out my guide to installing linux for beginners! You wont regret it!

Download the Raspbian image here and save to your home directory.

Open your terminal and get ready for a few simple commands:

RasPi Server [2of2] - Installing mySQL

After a little searching I used the instructions found on this blog  to install the mySQL server to my Raspberry Pi.

Right now it looks like his blog is down so I can't finish this writeup!

The process is pretty easy though. Since mySQL is already listed in normal debian repositories, you can just run a few generic commands and fix any dependencies as you go!

SSH into your pi [windows users use putty]

ssh root@ip.address.here

apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client

mysqladmin -u root -h localhost password 'your root password here'

mysqladmin -u root -h 'your hostname here' password 'your root password here'

mysql -u root -p

This should ask you for the password you just set up and the mySQL terminal interface will appear.

You now have mySQL running on your Pi!!!

Further Configureation

I don't think I have the mySQL skills yet to write up an effective guide for configuring a new database from scratch on the command line. However, you should be able to do it pretty easily. You are already 99% of the way there. The only remaining steps to synchronize your XBMC installations are creation of a new database, uploading a config.xml to each XBMC box, and populating the database by scanning in a new library. Check out the XBMC wiki on the subject.

RasPi Server [1of2]- Installing Raspbian to your Raspberry Pi

After toying around with Raspbmc, the XBMC distribution for RasPi, I decided that I would try turning my Pi into a mySQL server for syncing jailbroken apple tv 2's running XBMC throughout my house.

Why? Because my server currently runs freeNAS 7.2 which uses sqlite rather than mySQL. I have not been able to get a solid mySQL server running in freeNAS 7.2, and I want one. Rather than installing to one of my windows/linux terminals, I wanted to utilize a low power always on device... thus the Raspberry Pi mySQL server.

Printable case for the Raspberry Pi

I finally got around to making a case for my Raspberry Pi board and I think that it is a good enough design to recommend to others who don't have access to a 3d printer or a laser cutter.

Using Raspberry Pi with XBMC

Since I finally found the time to try out my new Raspberry Pi, I gave the specialized Raspbmc image a try.

My original goal was to use my new Ras Pi as a replacement for the somewhat less than stable Apple TV 2 running XBMC in my living room.

In it's current iteration I found Raspbmc to be a bit too laggy and a buggy for immediate implementation. The menu system is a tad laggy compared to the ATV2 xbmc port and the ARM processor cannot process DTS sound without lagging the video and audio every few seconds. The Pi seems capable of decoding full 1080p H.264 video in mkv, but too many of my files are in dts for audio.

This is a known issue and is being worked on by the developer.

If you do not have a large dts library and would like to try installing the image to your own Pi then lets get started below!