Phil’s Adventures with his Raspberry Pi: Part One

Many months ago I pre-ordered my Raspberry Pi – a small, one-PCB computer capable of doing some amazing things for a very low price tag. And then, after many e-mails regarding many delays including unexpected demand and the need to slap a CE label on it to make sure it was safe, my Pi turned up in a rather unassuming white box.

The purpose of these articles will be chart my progress of working with the Raspberry Pi, in an attempt to replace a hulking old computer connected to my parent’s hi-fi that, though fit for playing music, takes ages to load up, with a smaller, more stream-lined version using the Pi as the basis.

Along the way I’ll be talking about problems, solutions and compromises. Having never built a PC or worked with Linux I expect it to be a challenge so we’ll see how it goes!

Now the first challenge would be to buy the cables and kit necessary to get it working. Out of the box you literally just get the circuit board and nothing else to get it to work so, when it arrived a week ago I began ordering everything I needed.

Firstly, power. As I’d recently purchased a new mobile phone in the shape of a HTC One S I tried its power cable and found it fitted so ordered a new one from Amazon in the shape of “Micro USB Mains Charger For HTC ONE X, HTC ONE S, HTC ONE V, HTC Sensation XL” costing me £3.94. Plugging this in found the red light symbolising power came on onboard the circuit board so a success there.

Next was sound, which was straight forward, as that was just a standard headphone jack out to dual phono, coming in at a bargain 75 pence.

Then there would be the SD card onto which the files are loaded and the device boots off from. It has to be at least 4GB, class 4, preferably a brand name. I’ve ordered one and it’s yet to turn up so I’m going to pop into town in a couple of days to get another one to make sure I have time to test it. Until I can get this card the Pi shall remain unused.

Onto visuals and this is where it gets murky. The Pi has two outputs: HDMI and yellow composite out, both of which are fine if you are plugging into a television. Sadly, however, in my case I’m going to be plugging into a monitor via VGA which is not supported, and I’m paraphrasing here from the official website, because VGA is an old technology.

Now to me 100% of the computers I use connect the main PC to the monitor by VGA though chatting to my friends they keep mentioning DVI, but in my experience it’s VGA all the way. It seems from mooching around on the internet that this is a grey area of information and a hot bed by buying cables that doesn’t work. The upshot is that I have to connect it to a monitor so need some way of converting so for £6.07 have bought a “1.5M HDMI HDTV Male to VGA Male 3RCA Converter Cable” and I wait nervously to buy the SD card to see if this has been a worthwhile purchase or a useful piece of tech.

The Pi is not a problem if you are connecting to a flat screen television as they tend to have HD inputs and composite in, but not if like me you are using a traditional VGA monitor.

Total cost spent so far:
Raspberry Pi £29.46
Power Cable £03.94
3.5 Jack > dual phone £00.75
VGA Converter £06.07 TOTAL £40.22

Next up on my list is to get the SD card so in the next part I’ll be taking you through the process of installing the software and getting it working, and seeing if I can get the visuals to my monitor, plus dipping my foot into the world of getting a case. Then after that it’s attaching the keyboard and mouse and hard drive via USB and exploring the world of installing software like a browser, music player, Spotify and audio editing software.

It’s going to be an interesting time I think!

An Update On My HTC One S

It's been a while since I updated on my phone following articles - Part One and Part Two - and it's been a relatively smooth ride with it.

I'm enjoying the much easier to use abilities of Facebook and Twitter via the apps and the app store is itself proving to be very good on Android phones. There's nothing particular that I've wanted to download that's not been available and it makes things like IMDB, RunPee (a great app for film goers) and FourSquare a doddle to use.

I've been exploring the features of the camera much more and though the front facing VGA camera is so low quality it's almost pointless the main camera creates great quality photos though does struggle with fast moving images. One thing it is lacking is some way of taking photos of yourself with friends and it's difficult to point the exterior camera at you and then press the correct part of the touch screen to take the photos, so a physical side button would have been beneficial.

The one part of the phone I am finding a struggle with at times is the mobile signal. A 3G or H connection isn't always possible and sometimes Facebook can be rather sluggish. I also find that it sometimes takes two times to call people or a good ten second delay between starting a call and it ringing, but I don't know whether this is to do with the phone or T-Mobiles signal. The amount of bars displayed doesn't seem to connect up with the speed of the connection and the Wi-Fi sometimes seems to stop things downloading at all unless cancelled, but this is rare.

There are a few other minor quibbles. With the beautiful weather we've had recently I find the screen doesn't cope so well in bright sunlight and the side of the case gets scuffed a little.

Overall though I'm very pleased with the phone. Phone calls are clear and crisp and now I've activated my voice mails, for some reason this wasn't set-up by default, everything is working fine. The layout of text messages as conversations is very helpful but I'm still struggling with the keyboard, but a stylus bought for me by friend Liam helps. The buttons are just too small for my fingers and though the predictive text options is excellent in guessing what you're writing, even when you go considerably wrong it's still not that intuitive.

One thing I'm trying to tackle now is showing the calendar options - which syncs perfectly with Facebook - as part of the main screen but it's just a matter of uncovering the options.

If someone asked me the straight question of, if given the option, would I buy this phone again, I would say yes. There are a few minor niggles with signal and the difficult to use keyboard, but it's a phone that integrates easily and intuitively with contacts, social networks and other areas. The app store is easy to use and comprehensive. The camera is above average for a mobile device. The music player sounds great and is flexible. The screen is a great size and the device itself light weight. So, yes, it's well worth a purchase.

Men In Black 3 [Review]

Ten years after the previous film, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back in the third entry in the comic book inspired comedy films about an agency who monitor earth for aliens and protect the world from them.

This film sees Boris the Animal, played with much menace by Jemaine Clement, escaping from a moon base and plotted revenge of Agent K (Jones) who imprisoned him forty years earlier. Stealing a time travel device he kills him in the past, wiping K from history and leaving Agent J (Smith) to travel back and try to save his partner. Men In Black 3 is an enjoyable film to watch. Like the previous movies it’s not laugh out loud funny but it’s certainly a fun film with Smith having the majority of the good lines – the scene with police and a car back in 1969 being one highlight – but Emma Thompson as new character Agent O gets some good lines in her small appearance on camera. Jones plays his character well but in the early scenes he’s difficult to understand and doesn’t seem to have the energy he once had in the films. Will Smith is as energetic as ever and carries the film well.

Visually, the jump in CGI since the last entry is clear in the new film. Alongside some amazing camera work – the crane shots employed both in general early scenes and the climactic battle around a rocket are incredible to behold – the scenes where Smith does his time jumps are a perfect meld of real footage and generated imagery. Rick Baker’s alien make-up and costumes are as inspired as ever and effects such as those of Boris the Animal and his opening and closing skin never seem fake.

The film also takes time to acknowledge changes since the last film. Though I usually dislike scenes like this – quick throwaway lines to explain away deaths of characters because the actor has passed away or moved on that slow the film down – they are done well here with a small ode to Agent Z, played by Rip Torn who has suffered recent personal problems and several references to Frank the Pug throughout the film which, alongside cameos by the Worms, serve as fan-pleasing nods back to previous entries. Thankfully, these nods aside, it’s not a film that rests on the warm memories of the first to get its laughs.

Fleshing out the movie, Josh Brolin was perfectly cast as Jones’ younger self, both physically and in acting style, and Michael Stuhlbarg as Griffin, a future-predicting alien introduced half way through the film, quickly steals a lot of the screen time.

There is a lot to enjoy in this film and is well worth seeing, from the well created set pieces from the opening moon prison escape with its mixture of fighting and weird snogging with Nicole “Pussycat” Scherzinger, to the battle around Apollo 11 with its acrobatics and palm-sweating heights. It certainly seems to be the most well-crafted and ambitious of the three films and the ending, which is considerably down-beat in places and played with pathos, manages to be touching and clever without seeming too cheesy, plus the retro-fitting of a plot twist doesn’t seem out of place.

Throw in some great comedy pieces like the Chinese restaurant fight with a variety of aliens – the blob fish is a particular one to look out for – and you get a film that may not be overloaded with comedy but is a welcome return for Smith and Jones and, rather than damaging what has come before, adds to the mythology and universe and makes this a worthwhile addition to the first two films. It has enough creativity, interesting costume design, jokes and, most importantly, plot to carry the 100 minutes of film and is, I’m wary to say, possibly the best of the three films.

Don’t believe other reviews that suggest Jones is a mere cameo in the film; he gets plenty of screen time and Brolin plays his younger self so well it feels like the character himself never truly leaves the screen. Men In Black 3 is a well-written and performed film, though it’s not as funny as it could be.

The only shame is that the main theme song isn’t sung by Smith himself but the Pitbull track, playing over the end credits, is a grower.

(7/10)

Tim Vine is Going Out as He Leaves Sitcom

In the same week that the fifth series of hit BBC sitcom ‘Not Going Out’ came to an end, gaining an impressive 4.69m viewers for its final episode in such a competitive environment, and Den of Geek running an article on how it is one of the best shows on television - http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/not-going-out/21369/not-going-out-an-appreciation - a rumour circulating before series four has now been confirmed as true.

Tim Vine quits 'Not Going Out' after six years? - http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a382313/tim-vine-quits-not-going-out-after-six-years.html

Sitcom in chaos as Vine quits - http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/4323718/Chaos-for-BBC1-comedy-Not-Going-Out-as-Tim-Vine-quits.html

Yes, Tim Vine has announced he has quit ‘Not Going Out’ as the BBC announces two more series have been commissioned.

Though ‘sitcom in chaos’ may be an overstatement – ‘Not Going Out’ has survived the departure of Megan Dobbs and Miranda Hart – both replaced with Sally Bretton and Katy Wix respectively – but neither was as key a character as Tim, played by Vine. In Dobbs case she was only in for one series and before it really hit the big time and Hart only a supporting character and has been replaced, and bettered, by Katy Wix. Tim, the mild-mannered innocent foil to Lee (Tim Mack), is much more central to the premise, even more so than the will-they won’t-they relationship between Lee and Lucy. He is the perfect complement to Lee’s more rowdy humour, much more innocent in style and though Vine has no writing credit to the series, his style of puns and one liners is clear in the series and his presence is undoubted in the sitcom.

The BBC have promised new characters in the sitcom when it returns next year for a sixth series but I feel they will have a difficult job replacing Vine. It’s not an impossible task. Lee Mack is a strong writer and it can be argued that the series now is even better than it was at the start, but it has evolved. However, Mack and Vine have a great working relationship and work well off each other and if Vine goes then that dynamic will be missing. Furthermore, how will Katy Wix as Daisy, Tim’s ditsy girlfriend, be kept in the series? Also, the humour of Tim being wary of Lee’s advances on his sisters, will be absent.

Vine has said “He’s got lots of other work coming in and is keen to try other things” and I don’t blame him for wanting to be known for other things opposed to his stand up and his sitcom but it upsets me – perhaps not the right word when discussing a television sitcom – that when the series has survived cancellation and now gone on to do not only another two series in the can but another two series on top of that and it’s stronger than it’s ever been in popularity and ratings that it’s losing a key element.

I love ‘Not Going Out’. It’s not only one of my favourite programmes and a fantastic, consistent sitcom, it’s one of the few shows on television that I wouldn’t want to miss. I have every faith that Lee Mack well make another cracking series of the show but I can’t help feeling that Tim Vine, who is such a talented comedian both in stand up and in the show, is making a mistake in leaving the sitcom. I’m all for trying new things and not being stereotyped but he’ll be sadly missed and I think it’ll be a major stumble point for the series.

I only hope that he’ll come back for the start of series six to at least make a proper exit and what he goes onto do justifies his exit. He’s a great performer but equally Mack, I believe, will continue to make a fantastic sitcom.

Oh, and if the BBC are after someone younger who can replace Tim but see fulfil the cheesy puns and the sort of innocent-looking humour, then they can always e-mail me. My rates are reasonable.

The Hunger Games review

It’s taken me a while to get round to seeing it but I’m glad I did manage to see ‘The Hunger Games’, film adaptation of Suzanne Collins first book of her trilogy.

'The Hunger Games’ tells the story of the country of Panem which, since a revolt, have run an annual televised competition where one young boy and girl from each of the twelve districts, are offered up to fight to the death with only one victor coming out alive at the end, all as a threat to the population about revolting.

We follow the story through Katniss Everdeen who volunteers to replace her sister as the ‘tribute’ for District 12 and her time taking part in the games.

Plot wise the film is enjoyable to follow and its length 140 minute running time doesn’t drag. The plot itself is pretty predictable at times as Katniss takes part in the game, with many of the outcomes expected but, even though the inclusion of a young love subplot makes a nod towards it, it has much more depth than the Twilight films. There are many emotional scenes through the film and these are managed well next to action scenes and the universe is well set-up through the film, with the pacing spot on, never seeming like they’re glossing over anything.

Jennifer Lawrence as the lead actress carries the film very well and plays the character with great conviction but Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson and Amandla Stenberg are all worth mentions for the portrayals of their characters.

An enjoyable film with some small amounts of effective CGI and a highly detailed focus on costume and design which certainly makes the film stand out. The plot isn’t particularly revolutionary but there is much to enjoy but is quite a depressing film to watch with its theme so don’t expect to leave the film feeling smiling.

(7/10)

Primeval Series Five To Make Terrestrial Debut

The odds may be against it but, in my opinion, fantastic sci-fi drama Primeval is to return to ITV this June as its fifth series, already shown on digital channel Watch and released on DVD and blu-ray, makes its terrestrial debut.

Though the series has already got its short-term future secured in its Canada-based spin off 'New World', the success of this fifth series - which is due to start on June 16th - will dictate its future in the UK.

Cash-strapped ITV will not be willing, or at least able, to take a punt on another series unless this series hits high on the ratings. But it's not exactly got a lot in its favour. The big fans will already have seen the series either on Watch or on disc and ITV's questionable decision to schedule it in early summer and, no doubt, with little publicity won't help.

It'll be a shame if the viewing figures are not great as series five is perhaps just behind series three in the rank of best series' with some great plotlines and fantastic CGI.

I just hope it gets a new series commissioned by the UK's biggest commercial channel so we can see what the answer is behind the final cliffhanger of the series that regular terrestrial viewers will see when this six-strong series reaches its conclusions this summer.

You can read what I'd like to see from Primeval this year at http://www.denofgeek.com/television/1189671/the_10_things_wed_like_to_see_from_primeval_in_2012.html or, if you don't mind spoilers, read my reviews of all series five episodes at http://cybaria.net/tag/primeval/

What Have They Done To The Gadget Show?

The Gadget Show, Channel 5’s technology answer to BBC’s Top Gear, has been a show I’ve watched since practically it started thanks to being introduced to it by my granddad who, despite falling outside the demographic of the whizz-bang-geek television show, was an avid fan.

Over the years the show has gone through lots of changes, adding and subtracting presenters like that game on Nintendo’s Brain Training where people walk on and off the screen, but Jason, Suzi and Jon have always been the firm trio presenting the show.

In the past couple of years my granddad stopped watching it, complaining that it had become too frenetic and crazy and less about the technology and, though I continued to watch it and enjoy it, couldn’t help agreeing that it had perhaps jumped the shark a little and needed to reign itself in with fewer repetitive tested-to-destructions and crazy running-around challenges and go back to straight forward testing, but keeping the element of fun. It had started to retrace its steps a lot and doing the same thing series after series. So the message would be to give it a bit of a kick up the iArse. Sort of, keep the competitions but not spend ten minutes of having someone running around a house naming them, that sort of thing.

Sadly, after a gap of a few months, the team behind the show have really dropped the ball. Yes, I agree that the show needed some refreshing but what they’ve done is ridiculous. Gone are Suzi, Jon and Ortis, leaving just Jason and Pollyanna behind. Basically the show has lost the eccentric, but knowledgeable Jon, the enthusiastic Ortis and the sexy but informative Suzi, leaving Jason who, though he knows his stuff, is like a whippet on speed at the best of times and Pollyanna who is a little bit meh. It’s a bit like getting rid of Jeremy Clarkson and James May, giving Richmond Hammond speed and partnering him with Tulisa from N-Dubz.

Now this may sound like bitterness toward change but really, what have they done? The show is shallower than ever and filmed in a weird blurry soft focus. One shot I saw of the beach looked like the cameraman had been filming from the next country it was so distant. The show seems to now be like Katie Price: looks good on the surface but you wouldn’t trust it to recommend a DSLR with good optical zoom.

I have to confess that it’s the first episode of the show I’ve had to give up on. There’s refreshing the formula then there’s ripping it apart, gluing it together and dipping it into the shallow pool of bleurgh. It’s now even more superficial and the ‘world tour’ theme, which I hope is a one-off, losing everything that made the studio-based show successful.

Sorry The Gadget Show, you’ve lost a long-time fan. 1 ‘G’.