Setting up a Raspberry Pi network

While in the Dominican Republic, my boss has some church contacts who have been getting an internet cafe ready for the church and the community. Through some charity program, they obtained about 12 computers or so but only half of them worked and they are very outdated.

So, I had the idea of setting up a bunch of Raspberry Pi 3 Model B units for the cafe. If you're not sure what a Pi is, it is a computer that is smaller than a mass-market paperback book. It has 4 USB slots, ethernet port, HDMI port (for the monitor), Wi-Fi and Bluetooth! All for the low price of $35.00
http://www.raspberrypi.org
https://www.amazon.com/Raspberry-Pi-RASP-PI-3-Model-Motherboard

Earlier this year I bought a couple of them for my home and we love them and so I thought they'd be great for the internet cafe.

So, my boss bought 7 of them and all the components needed and my friend and I have been setting them up at my house.

Here is what the cafe looks like

New Creation wrote:While in the Dominican Republic, my boss has some church contacts who have been getting an internet cafe ready for the church and the community. Through some charity program, they obtained about 12 computers or so but only half of them worked and they are very outdated.

So, I had the idea of setting up a bunch of Raspberry Pi 3 Model B units for the cafe. If you're not sure what a Pi is, it is a computer that is smaller than a mass-market paperback book. It has 4 USB slots, ethernet port, HDMI port (for the monitor), Wi-Fi and Bluetooth! All for the low price of $35.00
http://www.raspberrypi.org
https://www.amazon.com/Raspberry-Pi-RASP-PI-3-Model-Motherboard

Earlier this year I bought a couple of them for my home and we love them and so I thought they'd be great for the internet cafe.

So, my boss bought 7 of them and all the components needed and my friend and I have been setting them up at my house.

That seems like a good idea. Besides the price, they should be easy to maintain and protect for user error. When someone messes up the OS just swap microSD with a clean image and go. Bravo!

Oh, your comment reminds me.

For the other computers on site that don't work, I've burned copies of Puppy Linux which is an OS that is so light, it will boot a computer from disc or flash drive. It will even boot and run a computer that has a missing hard drive!

For the RPis, we bought:
Power cords
microSD cards
USB to VGA converters for the monitors that are on site
USB to PS/D converters for the old style mouse and keyboards on site

I have learned so much about computing these last few months, it's like I've been breaking out of my shell.

Ah, that is so freaking awesome!

New Creation wrote:Oh, your comment reminds me.

For the other computers on site that don't work, I've burned copies of Puppy Linux which is an OS that is so light, it will boot a computer from disc or flash drive. It will even boot and run a computer that has a missing hard drive!

For the RPis, we bought:
Power cords
microSD cards
USB to VGA converters for the monitors that are on site
USB to PS/D converters for the old style mouse and keyboards on site

OK, now I feel old. I've been using Puppy off and on for a decade now yet in my mind it's something still new.

New Creation wrote:I have learned so much about computing these last few months, it's like I've been breaking out of my shell.

I'd say considering our tech convos of a couple of years ago. Right on!

New Creation wrote:Oh, your comment reminds me.

For the other computers on site that don't work, I've burned copies of Puppy Linux which is an OS that is so light, it will boot a computer from disc or flash drive. It will even boot and run a computer that has a missing hard drive!

For the RPis, we bought:
Power cords
microSD cards
USB to VGA converters for the monitors that are on site
USB to PS/D converters for the old style mouse and keyboards on site

BTW, it has onboard HDMI. You'd be better off buying HDMI/VGA converters instead of USB.

That's what I meant, sorry, HDMI to VGA. We have them in place and they work.

Here is my son. He built some open sided wooden cases for the RPis and he's assembling them.

New Creation wrote:That's what I meant, sorry, HDMI to VGA. We have them in place and they work.

Good. I would feel sorry to see you buy the wrong parts.

New Creation wrote:Here is my son. He built some open sided wooden cases for the RPis and he's assembling them.

That's cool!

I don't know how it would effect them, but there is a lot of humidity there. I wonder if having the sides exposed might allow for oxidization to build up quickly. You might think about sealing the enclosures with tape or cloth and putting one of the silica gel packs inside to absorb the moisture.

Good job, sounds like a fun project. I work in IT for a living but I have not yet had a chance to mess with a Raspberry Pi. All Linux OS' can run without hard drives though as long as its running off a LiveCD or LiveUSB.

I think conducting projects and experiments like this is always a fun challenge.

Been here since Thursday night, all going well so far. First image of revived cafe station!

New Creation wrote:Been here since Thursday night, all going well so far. First image of revived cafe station!

I'm glad to know you made it there well. I prayed for your travels.

Adam this might interest you 

https://kodi.tv/the-official-kodi-edition-raspberry-pi-case/

d@v!d wrote:

New Creation wrote:Been here since Thursday night, all going well so far. First image of revived cafe station!

I'm glad to know you made it there well. I prayed for your travels.

Thanks.

KaramKaram wrote:Adam this might interest you 

https://kodi.tv/the-official-kodi-edition-raspberry-pi-case/

Yes, I have seen these. But since I was not footing the bill, we wanted to make them as affordably as possible.

KaramKaram wrote:Adam this might interest you 

https://kodi.tv/the-official-kodi-edition-raspberry-pi-case/

Do you run kodi?

I've been using it for a fee years and am love it. I used to use it on a jailbroken apple tv 2 and when amazon made the fire tv, i moved to that. If i fidnt have the fire tv, this would likey be the way i'd go.

d@v!d wrote:

KaramKaram wrote:Adam this might interest you 

https://kodi.tv/the-official-kodi-edition-raspberry-pi-case/

Do you run kodi?

I've been using it for a fee years and am love it. I used to use it on a jailbroken apple tv 2 and when amazon made the fire tv, i moved to that. If i fidnt have the fire tv, this would likey be the way i'd go.

Been thinking about trying it. Since I own two RPis myself, I might turn one into a media center for the house.