Back in 2011/2012 timeframe I got on the waiting list for the first Raspberry Pi(s). I was super excited but upon receiving it, I was caught up in too many things and forgot about it.

Fast forward 5 years I found it in a box yesterday and decided to pull it out and put it to use. I downloaded the latest NOOBs and Raspbian, flashed SD card, installed, and the OS loads properly. Everything seems incredibly slow. I expected that, but I didn't expect it to be this slow. The Chromium browser will not load a single page. As soon as I start the browser, the resource meter goes to 100% and stays there until either I kill the browser or the PI locks up and I cycle power.

I've tried:
$sudo apt-getupdate
$sudo apt-getupgrade
$sudo rpi-update
Several different power supplies
overclocking

I suspect my problem is ["it just so happens"] that on the very day (28SEP2016) I downloaded the OS for the PI, they had released a brand new GUI called PIXEL. All the comments on that blog post seem to be praising the screen shots. Very few actual reviews. One person asked about compatibility with the original RPI and this was the response:

I wouldn't describe Chromium as "struggling" so much as "catastrophically failing."
I tried using the older Epiphany browser and it will actually load a web page but it takes forever (minutes per page).



I think I want/need to install an older version of Raspbian/NOOBS, but on the website they do not have an older versions archive section that I can find. On the NOOBS github page they have previous versions but they're source, not binary.

What should I do?

 

My advice: take $40 (or whatever the selling price is today) out of your wallet, kiss it goodbye and shed a tear of fond farewell, then send it off thru the ether in exchange for a brand-new Raspberry Pi 3. You'll be VERY glad you did.

 

My advice: take $40 (or whatever the selling price is today) out of your wallet, kiss it goodbye and shed a tear of fond farewell, then send it off thru the ether in exchange for a brand-new Raspberry Pi 3. You'll be VERY glad you did.

I also considered that. Comparing specs it seems several times more capable than what I have. BUT... the application for this demands a tiny board. The actual board I want to use is the RPi ZERO (already on order), which seems to have all the same specs as my old school board. I have a feeling that if I can't make it work with my original RPi, it isn't going to work on my ZERO.

Is there a lighter OS that I should use? Or maybe another board product? My application is like a handheld rangefinder-type device. I want to use a camera module, overlay some simple graphics (lines) on the video feed, and output to a video screen. Should be fairly simple.

 

If this is something that could be accomplished easily with a simpler board, I'd love that. I would prefer to be able to turn on power and immediately get a video feed. I'm a bit turned off by the RPi's boot-up time.

 

I'm stumped as to what else you could use other than one of the RPi's, or any OS's other than Linux. Most of what I do is much smaller scale using a PIC or dsPIC, or sometimes an Arduino.

Agreed, the RPi's boot-up time is a real drawback.

 

You could try something like https://minibianpi.wordpress.com/features/ and a lightweight widow manager similar to IceWm. My original RPi is only used for compatibility testing for kernel level embedded software. It's too slow (lack of memory and cpu) for a user device.

 

I'm stumped as to what else you could use other than one of the RPi's, or any OS's other than Linux. Most of what I do is much smaller scale using a PIC or dsPIC, or sometimes an Arduino.

Agreed, the RPi's boot-up time is a real drawback.

this looks plausible, but I'm not sold on it
http://nootropicdesign.com/ve/

 

You could try something like https://minibianpi.wordpress.com/features/ and a lightweight widow manager similar to IceWm. My original RPi is only used for compatibility testing for kernel level embedded software. It's too slow (lack of memory and cpu) for a user device.

Thanks, downloading now. I'm going to be a lost little puppy in Linux land with no GUI to hold my hand


Haha, look what's in "similar threads" ... my 2012 post about waiting the Raspberry Pi.
http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/threads/raspberry-pi.68634/

 

this looks plausible, but I'm not sold on it
http://nootropicdesign.com/ve/

That's an interesting Arduino add-on, though I'd be concerned about whether the Arduino has enough horsepower for what you're aiming to do.

 

You could try something like https://minibianpi.wordpress.com/features/ and a lightweight widow manager similar to IceWm. My original RPi is only used for compatibility testing for kernel level embedded software. It's too slow (lack of memory and cpu) for a user device.

OK I've been playing with it and I'm predictably lost. This version of Linux (which is supposed to be the same as Raspbian if I understand) does not respond to the same command line commands as what I find in all the Raspberry Pi documentation. For example, sudo, nano, don't work. Where is a reference for the commands? Also I have no idea if this supports the camera interface. per the RPi documentation the camera interface is disabled by default and you have to enable it by typing "sudo raspi-config" which doesn't work. I installed Python but I don't know how to create/edit a file is nano doesn't work.

 

You could do this with PIC or Arduino. The only bad thing about this is that there's not really enough RAM to store pictures. If your goal is just passing the data from camera to the screen (possibly with some quick on-going changes) then you can do it. If you want to do something with pictures, then you need more RAM. PIC will give you the smallest footprint.

If Chromium browser is slow on your RPi, it doesn't really matter - you aren't going to use Chromium in your app, are you?

 

If Chromium browser is slow on your RPi, it doesn't really matter - you aren't going to use Chromium in your app, are you?

Good point. No, I won't need the browser once I'm done. But I do need the browser to get me there. I'm an unabashed plagiarist of code and without google, copy, and paste, this is never going anywhere.

 

When I need some special code or something on one of my Pis, I prepare everything on my workstation. Then I connect the Pi to my LAN, and then I export a folder, and mount is on my computer, then I can transfer all the files I want, and I do it while I'm at my desk. When it is time to test the code/script or whatever, I log into the Pi with ssh or putty.

 

ok I figured out "apt-get install raspi-config" and installed the utility to enable the camera. Tested the camera from python and it works! Feeling like a damn genius right now

 

You go girl!

 

You go girl!

LOL also figured out "apt-get install sudo" and "apt-get install nano" so now I can follow along with the tutorials. I think I have one piston firing now, shouldn't be long before the rest of them start.

 

LOL also figured out "apt-get install sudo" and "apt-get install nano" so now I can follow along with the tutorials. I think I have one piston firing now, shouldn't be long before the rest of them start.

That's great Strantor, under your hood there's a hidden Raspberry Pi V12 genius engine, just waiting to burst out!

Seriously, you should get the Raspberry Pi 3. It is a lot more fun, to play with the new guy in the street.

 

LOL also figured out "apt-get install sudo" and "apt-get install nano" so now I can follow along with the tutorials. I think I have one piston firing now, shouldn't be long before the rest of them start.

Wonderful! Just keep it lean to reduce the memory footprint of the background services. That OS version has no swap file so if you run out of memory the kernel OOM killer will start hunting down processes to kill.
https://linux-mm.org/OOM_Killer