Raspberry Pi..any opportunities

[museumsteve]

I know people have started getting their Raspberry Pi units (mine's enroute) so I guess I'm curious to see if there's anywhere that it may fit into the x-sim setup.

[sirnoname]

What do you like to control with that big CPU?
Arduino and basic Stamps are controller CPU's.

[museumsteve]

lol..never mind.

[wptm]

I also have a Raspberry Pi which waits for some nice project.
It has the GPIO (General Purpose Input/Output) pins to do interfacing with the real world. A nice documentation on it:
http://elinux.org/RPi_Low-level_peripherals#GPIO_Driving_Example_.28Python.29

But there's here an important fact:
http://pypi.python.org/pypi/RPi.GPIO

Note that this module is unsuitable for real-time or timing critical applications. This is because you can not predict when Python will be busy garbage collecting. It also runs under the Linux kernel which is not suitable for real time applications - it is multitasking O/S and another process may be given priority over the CPU, causing jitter in your program. If you are after true real-time performance and predictability, buy yourself an Arduino http://www.arduino.cc !

So, we cannot rely on it.

[DaveStephenson]

With the out of the box kernel probably not. You would need to build your own kernel I think. There are kernel modules to make our run some of the low level systems in real time. They are packaged mostly for audio recording distributions.

How far that would get you I'm not sure without trying it out. I haven't had chance to play around with my pi yet. Would probably be Christmas before I have chance. I guess my first port of call just became seeing what's possible in terms of building a realtime kernel.

If the only interface to the IO pins is in python then that issue would still remain.

[thaparser]

The converter running on rPI maybe? That is, if it can handle the processing required by the converter for math and such. otherwise it has 1 COM port and could support additional via USB, eventually.
It could be configured via a simple web server from a mobile device, for example.
possible?

cheers!

[sirnoname]

30€ Raspbery vs. 30€ Android device make no sense for me.
This device is technical and out of the price absolutely uninteresting for any development.
Most can not calculate and do not see the time and equipment you need for this device compared to android with its arduino support.

[thaparser]

I was actually thinking of it as a remote X-Sim converter, not as motor controller, given it has the computation power for the math algos and sending the commands to the motor shields via USB/UARTs.

otherwise, how would you use Android and Arduino? (I may have missed something)

[sirnoname]

No, such portations are not available.
Do you like to program such a device with a mini converter?

[thaparser]

I was thinking if it would be possible to have the rPI 'under' the sim next to the motor controllers, connected to the network (wired or wifi) as remote X-Sim converter.
I'm no stranger to Linux embedded and I would like to try porting what would be needed if there are no hard dependencies to Windows OS.
it is a pity, since the X-Sim software is quite modular we could have the converter ported to small PCs to do the work remotely since JRKs and Arduinos are supported in Linux as well so commanding those from the rPI wouldn't be a problem.
I've already tried using the X-Sim converter over WiFi and the response was quite good (didn't feel a difference).
anyway, I think it might be worth a try.. eventually.

cheers!