Thinking of a small unit to link to my spare 22" HD Television. Would a Raspberry pi be any good? Can it run Linux? What about casings?
It would be mainly used for surfing and spreadsheets.
Thanks
Yes a Pi can run Linux
Yes the newer 512MB model should be up to web browsing with a “real” web browser such as Chromium/Firefox (instead of Midori) … the older 256BM Pi wasn’t
Yes the Pi will run LO
BUT …
Don’t expect it to be as cheap as you’re expecting … by the time you’ve added the cost of -
SDcard - for the OS
Power adapter - because you’ll need one
USB keyboard
USB wireless adapter
USB mouse
Powered USB hub - because it only has 2 USB ports and see above for USB devices 
and possibly a USB HDD for useful storage
You’re going to have paid out quite a bit more than you expected.
This sounds a good price. http://www.maplin.co.uk/raspberrypi
I also have lots of usb dard drives and sd cards, keyboards etc.
Whats the alternative as a small unit?
Still not convinced a Pi is the best solution for this … underpowered, and more expensive that you think.
I’m wondering if any of the Android set top boxes would be a better fit ? … they’ll let you browse the web, and there’s bound to be some spreadsheet app out there somewhere.
or even better, pay more and get something like an Acer Revo (or similar), which is full x86 PC
–
I don’t think I have given the full brief here. :-[
I am setting up 3 work stations for an ecommerce business at home. Money is very thin on the ground. I have two led hd televisions I could use as monitors. My space is VERY limited. So I thought I could use my new Zoostorm laptop as the main computer and then televisions as web monitors. There are three different websites.
Thanks Sezo. Good link