Raspberry Pi2 on bikes

A productive week in the BRI lab with an unexpected outcome. The platform for our sonic bike system has, since 2008, been the Beagleboard-XM, upgrading last year to the Beaglebone for Houston bike opera, when the BBoard was no longer available. A straightforward move. The BBone option for current opera FSH in Brussels however has been tricky all along, due largely to the required USB audio interface which produced less than best quality/full stereo as well as occasional audio stutter. Alongside the software developments we’ve been making, its been a tricky one to pin down, but Thursday revealed this was def the weakness. Fortunately, help was at hand in the form of the new Raspberry Pi2, so Tom ported the system, Friday lunchtime we could try it and alleluja! Not only had all audio stuttering disappeared, but the quality and depth of field with which sound was now flying from the bike speakers was superb. Late in the day but what a solution, ie..the Pi is also much more capable of hosting our soft devs. Tomorrow we shift to Brussels for FSHcompletion and launch on 9th May.