Monitors and RasPis

Hey all.

I've got some new office space setup for me and some co-workers and the plan is to mount 3~5 30"+ monitors up on the wall with charts for alerts. Now, I don't want to place a dedicated desktop machine to each so I was wondering if anyone has done this and what worked best for you?

Would mounting Pis behind the monitors and using the HDMI connection since all we really need is a web browser connection or should we consider using a desktop designed for 3+ monitor out puts. I figure the Pis would require less wires and power and simplify everything a little too.

I looked into ThinClients but unless from ebay used it's not as cost effective.

What are your view points and comments?

Pi's should be lower power consumption too....

Should be feasible.  I haven't used a desktop on a Pi though...  Maybe someone can speak to that performance (or lack thereof).  While you contemplate the graphing complexity and any potential slow/horribleness from a Pi.

Prototype it with 1 Pi... Small investment

drmike said:

Pi's should be lower power consumption too....

Should be feasible.  I haven't used a desktop on a Pi though...  Maybe someone can speak to that performance (or lack thereof).  While you contemplate the graphing complexity and any potential slow/horribleness from a Pi.

Prototype it with 1 Pi... Small investment

Click to expand...

You know. It actually is very sad I've not even had the time to make a small investment in 1 Pi just to play with it like everyone else

TruvisT said:

You know. It actually is very sad I've not even had the time to make a small investment in 1 Pi just to play with it like everyone else

Click to expand...

I hadn't until a few months back.   Mainly cause the supply of Pi's was so short and online purchase options were sketchy wait and see when it would arrive, eventually.

I partook via the Ebay route.

Other day MannDude mentioned to me that RadioShack in the United States is now carrying a Raspberry Pi kit - includes the common needed parts and an electronics break out board in one kit.  $99~  a bit pricey, but swell for folks like you who later today are bound to run to the 'Shack and buy one

Heh, I still hadn't gotten around to picking one up.  I don't do business with Radio Shack/Best Buy/etc though.. any recommendations for a trustworthy online retailer?

I recommend trolling Ebay.  That's where I picked a few up, all new.  Prices can be reasonable and you have the whole prior sale history/good/bad/rating ratios.

There are a lot of other boards out there now with more oomph!

Depending on your project and graphing, maybe require such:

Beagleboard Black

CubieBoard

Those are two somewhat available boards with additional cores and faster CPUs.  Some other nifty features the Pi lacks too.

If your solely doing web browsing I wouldn't go out and buy a desktop, but I'm not so sure the PI will be fast enough for you, how about you choose a happy medium and go with a small netbook or something.

BuyCPanel-Kevin said:

If your solely doing web browsing I wouldn't go out and buy a desktop, but I'm not so sure the PI will be fast enough for you, how about you choose a happy medium and go with a small netbook or something.

Click to expand...

Pretty sure by Browsing he meant attaching the Pi to the back of a monitor to have it sit on a status/monitor page.  Not actual surfing around/etc.

Aldryic C said:

Pretty sure by Browsing he meant attaching the Pi to the back of a monitor to have it sit on a status/monitor page.  Not actual surfing around/etc.

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Yep, that.

Resolutions will be no less then 1080p.

@drmike:

Thanks. I'll need to check those out.

TruvisT said:

Would mounting Pis behind the monitors and using the HDMI connection since all we really need is a web browser connection or should we consider using a desktop designed for 3+ monitor out puts. I figure the Pis would require less wires and power and simplify everything a little too.


What are your view points and comments?

Click to expand...

If you need something for your RaspberryPi look at Adafruit.

They have got a nice monitor mount.

I do need three wires:

• 1x USB for power
• 1x USB to USB hub
• 1x HDMI to monitor

Nothing else needed because I use a WIFI dongle.

All working out of the box thanks to Raspbian.

I installed one SD card with everything they needed and just made raw copies to other SD cards.

Good post @wlanboy.   Adafruit comes up all the time in my searches/travels.  Good site.

wlanboy said:

If you need something for your RaspberryPi look at Adafruit.

They have got a nice monitor mount.

I do need three wires:

• 1x USB for power
• 1x USB to USB hub
• 1x HDMI to monitor

Nothing else needed because I use a WIFI dongle.

All working out of the box thanks to Raspbian.

I installed one SD card with everything they needed and just made raw copies to other SD cards.

Click to expand...

Oh, nice!

This is why I wish I had a 3D printer!

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:202959/

Nice little case there.  3d printers still are bleeding edge.

I still am struggling to find a Raspberry Pi wifi dongle with removable antenna that isn't crap performance range and is supported under Raspbian... 

30" monitors?

TruvisT said:

This is why I wish I had a 3D printer!

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Second that.

I would have a long list of little things that I would like to "print".

Hopefully Santa is carring a 3D printer next year

Going to be some strange years ahead with the 3D printer rage.

I can see the odd Christmas gift giving now...

If you go the desktop way I would probably use something like this: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/usb-to-dvi-cable


Usb2dvi/hdmi and connect all monitors to o e desktop.


I'm sure there are cheaper ones around.


Perhaps the PI can handle multiple monitors with something like that? Or just get one PI/monitor.

mikho said:

Perhaps the PI can handle multiple monitors with something like that? Or just get one PI/monitor.

Click to expand...

The GPU (Broadcom VideoCore IV) is able to handle Full-HD (1080p30 H.264 high-profile) but the RAM has to be splitted:



And this will limit the amount of displays to one.

wlanboy said:

The GPU (Broadcom VideoCore IV) is able to handle Full-HD (1080p30 H.264 high-profile) but the RAM has to be splitted:




And this will limit the amount of displays to one.

Click to expand...

So if you want one unit to control all monitors the PI is out and a desktop it is? Is that a correct assumption?