[PG03]

Originally Posted by johannskaria

I too faced similar problems, and there is well sorted solution to it.
Ravpower Filehub plus. Works well to transfer files from my Iphone 16gb, Gopro and DSLR memory cards with a powerbank 1A 6000mah in-built. Yet to test it with my Andriod and Hackintosh platforms. Hated to
carry the laptops around on roadtrips.

Thanks! Will give this a look!

[100BHP]

Thanks vishy76.. this is a very useful information for teens - I am going to intrduce my son to it today. I am sure he will eat my head off to learn more. Can you suggest some good links to self learn by him.
Best wishes !

[vishy76]

Originally Posted by 100BHP

Thanks vishy76.. this is a very useful information for teens - I am going to intrduce my son to it today. I am sure he will eat my head off to learn more. Can you suggest some good links to self learn by him.
Best wishes !

Thanks for the appreciation! I would suggest you have a look at the official Raspberry Pi page itself. Have a look:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/

[VaibhaoT]

Amazing review!

I am a follower of Raspberry Foundation. I own a 'Model B'.
I am not as proficient as you. In the past, I used it as a torrent hub. I had configured torrent daemon on pi & I had a mobile application to control the downloads. It reduces the security risk.

These days most of the things are available on hotstar & Amzon prime. So I hardly download anything.

[R2D2]

I am debating buying a Raspberry Pi to set up as a torrentbox. Far more energy efficient than keeping my home PC on for several hours download/uploading my stuff.

[MunnabhaiMBBS]

Vishy, How can the external HDD be accessed through KODI? Am okay to power it up via external source.

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by R2D2

I am debating buying a Raspberry Pi to set up as a torrentbox. Far more energy efficient than keeping my home PC on for several hours download/uploading my stuff.

Do it, very easy to setup and useful. You can connect it to your router and power supply and forget it. Using some remote apps, you can even remotely access it to add new downloads. One thing that might be needed is a powered adapter in case you are using a higher capacity hard disk. I used to have a Pi that was a home theatre cum torrentbox cum printer hub. Refer here for some pointers - https://www.howtogeek.com/142044/how...ittorrent-box/

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Do it, very easy to setup and useful. You can connect it to your router and power supply and forget it. Using some remote apps, you can even remotely access it to add new downloads. One thing that might be needed is a powered adapter in case you are using a higher capacity hard disk. I used to have a Pi that was a home theatre cum torrentbox cum printer hub. Refer here for some pointers

Thanks for the link. I've been looking at other options too including using a remote seedbox. The Pi could be switched to other duties including if possible a media streamer though I don't believe this tiny computer can transcode. Right now I have Plex running on my Netgear NAS box which also doubles up as a media server.

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by R2D2

I've been looking at other options too including using a remote seedbox.... I have Plex running on my Netgear NAS box which also doubles up as a media server.

does your NAS have a bittorrent? Mine (Synology) does and am able to access the torrent manager via my phone. So adding and managing torrents is a snap. It goes into sleep mode when not in use and I also have a smart socket that can cut power to my USB hdd dock connected to my NAS. The NAS itself can be shutdown via my phone.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by diyguy

does your NAS have a bittorrent? Mine (Synology) does and am able to access the torrent manager via my phone. So adding and managing torrents is a snap. It goes into sleep mode when not in use and I also have a smart socket that can cut power to my USB hdd dock connected to my NAS. The NAS itself can be shutdown via my phone.

TBH due to presence of several TB of data (personal, music, movies etc) that goes back over 2 decades, I am wary of exposing my NAS box by running bittorrent on it and do not run it 24x7.

And while I may be able to install BT on my NAS this is a 6 bay model (Netgear 516) and does consume quite a bit of power compared with a purpose built lightweight 'torrent appliance' for e.g. a Pi or even my Asus AC3200 router (currently used as an AP, the main router is a pFsense firewall and IDS/IPS appliance) which can serve as a torrentbox.

Frankly I prefer compartmentalising my network so that if a component gets hacked the damage is hopefully confined to only that 'box'.

It is these set of concerns that make me consider getting a seedbox OR a lightweight torrentbox.

[vishy76]

Originally Posted by MunnabhaiMBBS

Vishy, How can the external HDD be accessed through KODI? Am okay to power it up via external source.

Kodi will automatically mount it for you if I am not wrong. I tried to mount a pen drive yesterday on Kodi, and it was automatically recognised. Should be the same for you too.

[petrolhead_neel]

Originally Posted by vishy76

Kodi will automatically mount it for you if I am not wrong. I tried to mount a pen drive yesterday on Kodi, and it was automatically recognised. Should be the same for you too.

If the power provide is sufficient, Kodi works flawlessly in mounting these devices. I personally use a My Passport 1TB with my Pi on LibreElec(based on Kodi as well) with a 25W charger, the quick charger that comes with the newer Moto phones.

Neel

[vishy76]

Some good news and some bad news.

Starting with the bad news first. The SD card slot on my raspberry pi recently gave way. Not exactly the slot but the spring which holds it in place. The mechanism seems to be damaged and the SD card won't lock into postion. Had to sandwich the Pi between a wall and my cabinet in order to hold the SD in place.

The good news

Recently tested out the latest version of Kodi or OSMC on my pi. The latest one is Kodi Krypton if I am not wrong or version 17.1.

Everything went smoothly. But I wasn't really satisfied with it, so decided to download an android app for it as a remote control.

Details for how it works can be found here:
https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/nomad...ell-phone/amp/

OSMC has transformed my dumb Sony Bravia into a Very smart tv :


Here's a screenshot of the android remote in action:


Also displays the video or song being played. You can scoll through the slider to change the track timings and also adjust volume. Nifty! :


All in all, I think it was job very well done. I have a Sony Bravia Smart TV but the android TV interface is very slow and the remote provided by Sony is a real pain to use.

OSMC makes a compelling case for itself here. Instead of going for a new Smart TV and spending big bucks, it's better to use OSMC and the raspberry Pi for a premium of around Rs. 3K to 4k.

[livetodrive]

Great job vishy76. Want to see more IoT projects from you. If you have a blog, please share.

Few questions:

Have you though of commercializing your IoT product?
Did you search for hardware design and schematics of the board?
If someone wants to customize or replicate the board and uses it for commercial purpose, will there be any legal deal with Raspberry ?
Or with the controller, memory and IOs, the design of the board should be pretty simple to develop ? Want to know your opinion.

[vishy76]

Originally Posted by livetodrive

Great job vishy76. Want to see more IoT projects from you. If you have a blog, please share.

Few questions:

1. Have you though of commercializing your IoT product?
2. Did you search for hardware design and schematics of the board?
3. If someone wants to customize or replicate the board and uses it for commercial purpose, will there be any legal deal with Raspberry ?
4. Or with the controller, memory and IOs, the design of the board should be pretty simple to develop ? Want to know your opinion.

Hi. Thanks for that. I am currently occupied with other things so can't really concentrate on the pi but will surely give it a thought.

1. Didn't get you here. The IOT project runs through an android app available for download on the play store. You do need to configure it though which could be difficult.

2. The official website of the organisation does have the schematics maybe because its a non-profit organization and everything goes to charity. heres the link for the schematics:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/document...tics/README.md

3. I won't recommend selling the board because the Raspberry pi foundation is doing a good deed. I don't know about the legal part but maybe you can shoot them a mail for the same.

4. The design of the pi is very complex. Many chinese manufacturers have tried to replicate it but failed miserably when it comes to quality. You need special mechanisation to manufacture something like this IMO. the Arduino for instance is much simpler, one of the reasons why we see many clones on the internet. Not so with the Pi unfortunately!

BTW, found something on the legal page of the foundation.

Reverse Engineering and Decompilation. Customer may not modify, disassemble, reverse engineer, analyze, or decompile any part of the Products in any circumstances
Other product sold may be subject to the intellectual and industrial property rights including patents, knowhow, trademarks, copyright, design rights utility rights, database rights and or other rights of third parties. No right or licence is granted to the Customer, except the right to use the Supplies or re-sell the Goods in the Customer’s ordinary course of business

Hope I answered the questions to your satisfaction. Do ping me in case you have any further queries.

Regards,
vishy