Tag Archives: Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi Server

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Since I had a spare Raspberry Pi 2 lying around, I figured I could use it as a webserver. The idea is to host a simple webpage and implement a functionality to wake and shutdown devices in the LAN from the Internet (Raspberry acts as an intermediary). Besides, the Raspberry shall also monitor the state of some devices in the network (e.g. my Synology NAS).

Due to the lack of computational power and fast memory, the Raspberry is certainly not suitable for services that require highspeed I/O capabilities such as large databases, but for personal use it will do just fine!

What makes the Raspberry Pi particularly interesting to be used as a server – apart from its affordable price tag – is the low power dissipation of just 2W. So even if you keep it always on, it won’t be heavy on your pocket. Besides, it is fanless and thus inaudible during operation.

Here is what you are going to need for the following tutorial:

  • a Raspberry Pi (obviously), I recommend the version 2 or 3
  • a micro USB power supply with at least 700mA
  • a micro SD card with at least 2GB
  • an Ethernet cable

You can get all of this for less than 50 bucks. Besides, you will need a monitor with HDMI and a keyboard for the initial setup.

Now let’s get started!

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The ultimate media player for 60€

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I’ve been using a Raspberry Pi 2 and a Blu-Ray player to play movies and music in my home cinema. Recently, I found that those devices can’t play everything. Specifically, they fail to play files that are encoded with HEVC (H.265) or videos in 4k resolution (UHD 2160p). So I decided to look for a new media player, one that could handle all kinds of files… and doesn’t cost more than 100 bucks.
This article consists of the following subsections:

  • hardware selection
  • software selection
  • installation
  • configuration

Ok, let’s get started!

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How To: HiFi Network audio receiver for 50€

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Let’s assume you have a nice set of speakers, but your amplifier doesn’t have any network features. In this article I’d like to show you how you can add network features such as Upnp/DLNA playback to an arbitrary amplifier, an analog input is the only requirement.
This will allow you to select music from your digital collection directly from your smartphone to play it back on your speakers in hifi quality.
The best thing about it: It will cost you only 50€!

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