CompuBlab

If it's computer related, we'll blab about it!

Category: Raspberry Pi

The Dolt with the Raspberry Pi (and the Beagle Bone Black)

As you saw in my last post, I didn’t really plan carefully for the arrival of my Raspberry Pi and Beagle Bone Black boards. Sadly, the saga continues…

So what MORE could go wrong you ask? Plenty, as it turns out. And in this case, my enemies were:

  • Rapidly moving technology
  • Failure on my part to read the specs carefully (a.k.a. being a dolt)!

So after my (mis)adventures with the power supply, I finally got a few moments to begin to load up my Raspberry Pi with the base software to boot a Linux distribution. I downloaded the NOOBS software (as it is called…a set of software that you load on an SD card so that you can easily load up one of several popular Linux distributions with the touch of a key) but ran into problems when I tried to transfer it to my brand new class 10, 32-gig micro SD card.

You see, I kept getting “crc check errors,” meaning that I wasn’t getting a clean copy to the card. After several attempts, I began to suspect that maybe I had received a bad memory card. Since I had purchased two cards (one for each board), I tried writing to the second card…only to get the exact same error messages again. At this point I began to suspect that the problem was NOT the card. Not just because TWO cards were failing, but because I had purchased these two cards several weeks apart. I doubted that they were from the same lot (I COULD believe that two cards from the same lot were bad), so it was probably not the card.

Now my suspicion turned to my micro SD card reader.

Was it the speed of these SD cards (class 10)? Was it the size of these SD cards (32 gig)? I had never used micro SD cards of this size or speed before with our current USB card reader, so I began to suspect that the card reader might not be up to the task. Whether it was the card speed or the size didn’t really matter. It looked like I was dealing with obsolescence…and no true geek TOLERATES obsolescence!

A quick check at Amazon showed a micro SD card reader that several reviewers indicated they had used with class 10, 32 gig micro SD cards, and since the price was a ridiculously low $7 delivered to my door thanks to Amazon Prime (click here for the Transcend card reader that I purchased), I only had to wait the three days for it to arrive.

Once the reader arrived it was two days before I had time to unpack and test the reader. In less than two minutes I had the micro SD card loaded up…problem solved!

I figured from this point onward it was smooth sailing. All I had to do was plug the memory card into the board, connect the board to my monitor using the HDMI cable that I had purchased with the board, and I should be ready to “rock and roll.”

WRONG!!!

As I unwound my brand new cable, I began scouring my monitor for the HDMI port. Simply put: there wasn’t one.

THEN I remembered how, many years earlier, when I had purchased my first flat screen monitor (which is the one I’m still using), that I made the decision to save myself a whole bunch of money and buy the monitor that only had the DVI interface, and not the HDMI interface as well. It was a good move at the time as I did not own, and did not expect to own any time in the near future, a device with an HDMI output. Now it had come back to bite me. Obsolescence had reared its ugly head a second time!

Once again it was Amazon to the rescue!

After a quick search I found that there is indeed an HDMI to DVI cable to be had for the low, low price of $7.99 delivered to my door with Amazon Prime (click here to see the HDMI-to-DVI cable that I purchased). Another three days…and my cable finally arrived.

I have not, as of yet, had time to test my board with the cable or with the new loaded memory card. Maybe within a week I’ll a get a few minutes to do so.

But if you haven’t been paying attention all this time, I’ll lay it out for you: If you don’t want to be a dolt, read the specs and check your equipment! Fortunately the solutions are cheap…but they will cost you time…and geeks HATE to waste time!

Until next time…

Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone Black…and Roku to the Rescue!

Recently I acquired both a Raspberry Pi and a BeagleBone Black computer boards. My purpose for obtaining these boards is of course, to further my geek status, but also to explore the possibility of using one or both of these boards for some projects I’ve been toying with.

At the top of my project list is a task to create a computer system that is small enough to be easily portable and that can be run from a battery (or at least some portable power supply) to allow me to add it to my portable amateur radio station, which runs off of a deep-cycle battery and a solar panel. More specifically, I desire to be able to run digital modes like PSK31 on my portable radio station, and for that I need a computer.

Both the Raspberry Pi and the BeagleBone Black appear to be capable of the job…if I can locate or create the proper software. However, I discovered I had a misconception about these boards and thought that perhaps a reader might be under the same misconception.

Specifically, when I purchased the two boards, I also purchased a single power supply, thinking that both boards would utilize the same power input scheme. Why did I think this? I have no idea! Well, it turns out that this is NOT the case.

The Raspberry Pi uses a USB-type cable to supply power to the board. This is handy because most cell phone chargers will work with the Raspberry Pi board. However, the BeagleBone Black board uses a rounded plug similar to the plugs you see on home network routers. In fact, some network router power cords work just fine with the BeagleBone black. Unfortunately, none of the extra cords I had on hand from old routers worked. They either had the wrong type of cord/connection or else did not provide 5 volts (many provide 12 volts).

Now enter the Roku…

It turns out that a few years ago we purchased Roku box…one of the first generation devices. We stopped using it in favor of our Wii because the software on the Roku was atrocious. However, the power cord for the Roku works PERFECTLY with the BeagleBone Black. It has the correct connector and produces the proper 5 volt output.

Speaking of power, I need to see if you can power the BeagleBone Black board solely by its USB port. I’m guessing that you can, but keep in mind that the BeagleBone Black board only has ONE USB port, whereas the Raspberry Pi board has TWO. However, if you want to power the BeagleBone Black board from its specifically designated power port, you will need a 5 volt power cable with the rounded plug at the end.

No matter what I end up doing with these boards, I do expect that when I have my plans fully realized, the boards will be running separate from a computer…or at least part of the time be needing to run separate from a computer. Therefore, it is wise to understand how you can supply power to these boards.

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