You Must Know about this tiny computer that connects with any screen! It's affordable for almost anyone, it's portable, it's.....
What is SteemPi ?
"SteemPi is a Tv-Box software that can be installed on a wide variety of single board computers such as the Raspberry Pi and Orange Pi, it presents Steemit, crypto currency, entertainment, and smarthome features on a connected TV and to your mobile devices."
History
Before we get too deeply into all of the bells and whistles, lets take a walk down memory lane!
@techtek - Creator
4 Months ago, @techtek signed onto steem for the first time:
@techtek started out by making tuturials for 3d models, Technology Hacks, and the like. He even makes a guide on How to fake your Steemit pay-outs. Which involves using "Inspect Element", and changing values that will only be visible on your pc!
Then, only a couple weeks after he joined Steem(it), @techtek had an idea that would shape the lives of many!!!
"The idea is to use a Raspberry Pi to connected to your profile and bringing live notifications inside your room with a notification light."
Within a few days he had a working prototype:
"In the past days i have researched and made a simple setup to turn a Raspberry Pi into a Steemit notification center, with notification light for new votes/comments/transfers/ The project is getting shape and coming along quite well, but i really need some help with connecting the LED (GPIO output) to new votes/comments/transfers"
In a little less than a month @techtek realeases SteemPi 1.0!!!
"Runs on a (Raspberry) Pi single board computer that connects to your TV (HDMI) and shows the SteemPi web interface with the press of a button on your TV remote, it shows useful Steem related information, apps, links, cointickers and it has some entertainment as well.
Beside the functions of the web interface, the SteemPi system can also notify you on Steemit profile updates, with LED light notifications."
We can see how the idea of using RasberryPi to notify you on a variety of activities was quickly turning into something so much more! Another evident truth, is that in these early days of Steem, developers, and people who can build projects based upon the Steem Blockchain can find themselves being rewarded quite quickly. The 1.0 Release got a whopping pay of $338.04! Anyone who has engineering and coding experience take note! If you don't have that knowledge, maybe now is the time to learn, and start making contributions through Utopian!
Or you can try to be a blogger like i do :) Still pays better than blogging anywhere else!
SteemPi Discord
A little more than 2 months after @techtek joined Steem, he is spearheading a very popular app\tool, and started a discord server to support it. Today, there are over 60 people in that server!
"You can use it to chat, ask questions, suggest features, get technical support on SteemPi and you can use it to share any post in the post-promotions channel." - SteemPi Discord
SteemPi V2
This is where I come into the picture. Somehow Techtek and I got to talking, and he wondered if I'd help him editing his big 2.0 release. Without native english speaker on the team, it could be hard to get everything "just right". Since I do that type of stuff with people all of the time, I said "no problem" :)
SteemIt now has it's own open source TV-Box!
"SteemIt now has SteemPi v2 that you can run on inexpensive hardware and can connect to your TV, or a spare monitor. SteemPi is a fully customizable, TV-Box which is designed with Steem in mind. Unlike the commercial products and there paid services, SteemPi is FREE! One part of the SteemPi ideology is that you can "cut the cable" and stop paying for expensive "premium" services."
This is when development and updates starts to get crazy, and it's hard to keep up, so bear with me!
Very quickly after this, SteemPort is introduced.
"I started working on this project because, I not only want to have and bring the Steem Apps to your Tv with Raspberry Pi, but I also want to bring Steem Apps to Steem users on their Android Smart TV or Android TV-Box." - @techtek
Also, Chinese, Spanish translations for the SteemPi blogs started coming out right around the same time.
SteemPi.com
"After working for the last 2 days on the new SteemPi website and landing page it was finally time to look into buying the domain name steempi.com. The goal was to buy the domain with Steem converted to Bitcoin."
Utopian.io meet SteemPi!!!!
"Would you be interested to contribute to the SteemPi project, to make the best possible Steem powered Tv-Box?
SteemPi is a TV connected device that give a open alternative to TV-boxes such as Apple TV, Nvidia Shield, Mi box, Amazon Fire TV, Razor Forge etc."
"With SteemPi it's already possible to add and play backups of your console games and movies, and to use steem related features and apps on your TV or a spare monitor."
Shortly after joining Utopian.io many translations started coming out, now for the software itself, and not just the documentation! Translations for Traditional Chinese, Indonesian, Maylay, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, Yoruba, Hausa, and Slovak.
SteemPi to SteemFest
"In between the preparations of the package for SteemFest i had some time to unpack and try and play a bit with the new laser engraver and used it to engrave the SteemPi logo onto varies things and materials and after a hour of trial and error already got some usable results."
As @techtek and I were working together for a little while before steemfest, we thought it would be a good idea to get a RasberryPi with a MicroSD card, preloaded with the SteemPi software sent to me. Even to have a few extras so I could give them to people who have a Pi already.
However,
Shipping internationally on a short notice was a bet we lost on, and I didn't get the RasberryPi, or the MicroSD Cards untill SteemFest was already over :(... It's ok, I'll have plenty of chance to show them off at other Steem Meetups, and the Pi is very convenient for PopUp demonstrations of Steem and SteemPi, wherever I go, and of course, I'll bring my SteemPi to SteemFest3, with a few copies of the latest software on MicroSD!
I'm now offering to give 2 of them away to any developers who want to contribute to the SteemPi Project on Utopian!
SteemPi Needs Your Help!
"After researching for multiple times, and looking into the different solutions, i tried multiple things to make SteemPi into a live bootable system but didn't succeeded yet, though im sure it is possible and will want to make this work and will try to find a way, I hope with the above information you maybe can help to make SteemPi Live become a reality and available on more systems and for more people and with just a USB stick and old computer.
There are multiple other ideas for SteemPi and how users and Steem can benefit from it, and your help with the project is always welcome."
Ways to contribute to SteemPi:
- Make Improvements to the SteemPi Code (Developers Wanted)
- Make SteemPi in a USB LiveBoot
- Contribute to the website:
- Commercial Product Texts (Sales Copy)
- research (competitors )
- Manage and Make Translations
And these contributions can be submitted through Utopian.io, Where you get Rewarded for participating in open source projects!
Join SteemPi Discord to get started!
The Beauty of the Pi
A RasberyPi MotherBoard is around $35usd on amazon. When you add a case, MicroSd Card, and a few accessories, this means you can have a working computer for under $100 that will hook up to whatever screen, mouse, and keyboard you have laying around, or are cheaply available!
This empowers people with economic challenges to have a portable computer, about the size of a pack of cigarettes, that you can take anywhere! It empowers travelers who want to have something lightweight and simple to bring to a meeting. At SteemFest it was used for art Demos and to show movies on a projector screen. The possibilities are endless!! Not to mention spending money on cable tv is a waste.
Cut the Cable!
Drop the Cable Bill
Get you a RasberryPi!
And Get You Some SteemPi!!
Join this incredible project, Today! You will be helping people around the world to revitalize old technology, to make due with the materials available! It's good for the environment, your pocketbook, and good for Humanity at large!
Developers, You can win a MicroSD Card already loaded with the SteemPi software for making your contribution!
How nicely this technology meshes with Steem, which also empowers people around the world, and puts the power of currency back in the hands of the people!
Sneak Peak of the latest Case Designs
Bonus Points for reading this far!
In case anyone is wondering, I was told in DM that the reason his name is TechTek, is because he loves:
Technology, and Tekno!!!!!!!!!
:)Hey, me too:) Here's a bit of that from Steemfest.
References
- SteemPi.com
- Techtek: Hello Steemit, i will be posting nerdy things, (Bootleg) Electronics, Toys, and Gadgets from Hong Kong and my free 3D printable models and tutorials
- SteemPi Smarthome Notifications. The product that brings Steemit notification into your room!
- SteemPi v1.0 is here!
- Join SteemPi Discord
- SteemPi V2 is Here!
- SteemPi the open source TV-box project that connects with Steem | Now on Utopian.io
- Making SteemPi available for everyone with a PC and USB stick (No Pi needed)
Brought to you by @NewsTeem
Join us on the SteemitBC Discord Server
Posted on Utopian.io - Rewarding Open Source Contributors