$40 Raspberry PI computer and ham radio

[Moleculo]

Earlier this year I heard about the new Raspberry PI $40 PC that runs Linux and was instantly intrigued. For the uninitiated, the Raspberry PI is a little credit card sized computer board that contains an SD card slot (for storage), two USB ports, an HDMI port, GPIO, ethernet port, and sound card I/O port with 512KB of ram. It was originally developed as an inexpensive way to teach school kids about computers, but it has turned into a hit with the tech crowd!

I received my Raspberry PI this week and have been busy refreshing my Linux skills. There are a few obvious use cases for this little PC that other hams have already explored, including a dedicated APRS digipeater/igate and a DSTAR repeater controller/IRCDBB gateway. I've even read about one case where someone has used it as the panadapter interface for the Elecraft KX3!

I plan on trying it out as a DSTAR hotspot or repeater controller first, however I'm open to ideas that others might have. If you have an extra $40 to spend on something completely experimental, you can buy the Raspberry PI from various online companies including newark.com or on ebay: Raspberry Pi Model B Uncased 512MB Immediate SHIP | eBay

 

[kd0fx]

Is there a way to use these as a generic (non-D*) repeater controller?

 

[Moleculo]

Is there a way to use these as a generic (non-D*) repeater controller?

Assuming there is linux software available, you should be able to compile it on the PI. It might take a while, but it should be doable. The PI has USB ports and a GPIO that you should be use for the interface. It might take some engineering, but it certainly should be doable.

 

[kd0fx]

All I can find are simplex repeater software. Not quite what I am wanting :/