Google Coder on the Raspberry Pi – How to install

 raspberry pi, software installation  10 Responses »
Sep 142013
 
Google Coder on the Raspberry Pi - How to install

I was very keen to try out Google Coder for the Raspberry Pi as soon as I heard about it. I had some problems with it initially because the instructions on the Google Coder download site are/were fairly scant. It talks of an installer, which it later transpires is only for the Mac. The instructions have since improved a bit, but initially were hopelessly confusing. I hope the instructions will have improved even more by the time you read this, but below I’ll show you how I got it up and running. These are instructions […more…]

PiHub powering four Raspberry Pis at once

 raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Hardware  1 Response »
Sep 102013
 
PiHub powering four Raspberry Pis at once

This is a gratuitously silly video post. Yesterday, Stewart “PenguinTutor” Watkiss posted a comment on the Raspberry Pi Foundation blog… “I wonder if you can run 2 or 3 Raspberry Pis from it if you don’t need it for connecting extra USB accessories to. Based on the power of the power supply it should be, in which case could provide a good way to power multiple Raspberry Pis in a classroom (although I don’t suppose that is officially supported).” …which was far too irresistable a challenge and had to be tried out immediately. I didn’t […more…]

PiHub from Cyntech and Pimoroni – a new powered USB Hub for the Raspberry Pi

 raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Hardware, Review  9 Responses »
Sep 092013
 
PiHub from Cyntech and Pimoroni - a new powered USB Hub for the Raspberry Pi

PiHub, a new powered USB hub, designed specifically for the Raspberry Pi, has been released today. I first saw an early prototype of this when I visited Cyntech back in May 2013. It was on a table of goodies and it jumped out at me immediately. It’s absolutely beautiful to look at. Modelled in the shape and colours of the Raspberry Pi logo, it has four downstream USB ports, a barrel connector for power and an USB B upstream port that connects to a USB port on the Pi. Here’s what the final production version […more…]

Using PiGlow with GPIO button control on the Raspberry Pi

 Electronics, Input and Output, python programming, raspberry pi, Review  4 Responses »
Sep 062013
 
Using PiGlow with GPIO button control on the Raspberry Pi

Pimoroni released the PiGlow in August while I was away in Poland. It’s a small, purple board (that fits inside a PiBow) with 18 LEDs in 6 colour groups, arranged in a 3 armed spiral formation. It has an 8 bit, 18-way PWM controller that can be used to control the brightness of the LEDs (0 = OFF, 255 = Fully ON). (More on PWM here) Although I was abroad when it came out, there was plenty of banter about it on twitter. In a few short weeks, various people have written Python classes to […more…]

8 x 8 LED array driven by max7219 on the Raspberry Pi via python

 Input and Output, interfacing, python programming, raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Hardware  124 Responses »
Aug 202013
 
8 x 8 LED array driven by max7219 on the Raspberry Pi via python

For a long time I’ve wanted to have a go with one of these 8×8 led arrays. I always thought they look like lots of fun. Searching around, I happened across Richard Hull’s Github repo, which provides a set of Python drivers and installation instructions for this 8×8 led array… …which can be had, if you’re willing to wait a week or two, for a little over £2 ($3) delivered from Banggood Assembly It comes in kit form and takes about 10 minutes to solder up, if you’re not new to soldering. There are no […more…]

Video Review of surface mount (SMT) cutters set

 Electronics, Review  2 Responses »
Aug 122013
 
Video Review of surface mount (SMT) cutters set

Paolo at RS Components sent me over this set of SMT cutters and pliers to play with and review. I’m not going to write much here, as it’s a video review, but the cutters are sharp and cut very nicely. If you work on stripboard or circuit boards, having a good set of cutters will make life easier for you. See them in action in the video. I should add that the close-up shots in this video were done with my RasPiCamcorder 2. Link to product page here.

RasPiCamcorder software released on Github

 Electronics, Input and Output, python programming, raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Camera, Raspberry Pi Hardware  24 Responses »
Aug 092013
 
RasPiCamcorder software released on Github

A few people have been asking me about the RasPiCamcorder software. My original plan was to partner with a well known supplier and offer a “build your own RasPiCamcorder” kit, along with software and instructions, as a product. The software was always going to be open sourced though. But the market said NO! Many people have argued with the market and lost. I don’t intend to. There simply weren’t many takers for it. Cool though it is to be able to Dropbox your photos and videos, having neither sound nor screen seems to be enough […more…]

How to stream vlc from a Raspberry Pi with GPIO control but without being root

 Electronics, Input and Output, interfacing, Linux usage, python programming, raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Camera  19 Responses »
Aug 072013
 
How to stream vlc from a Raspberry Pi with GPIO control but without being root

Having managed to get VLC streaming from Pi Camera to Nexus 7 Android tablet working, it was only a matter of time before I wanted to stream from the RasPiCamcorder. But when I tried it, I came across an annoying problem. RPi.GPIO needs to run as root (that’s why we always use sudo for our GPIO stuff) But VLC refuses to run as root. This means you can’t run them both from the same program. There’s all sorts of clever solutions people proposed (and I wasted a lot of time unsuccessfully trying them all out) […more…]

How to use DropBox with Raspberry Pi

 Linux usage, python programming, raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Camera  171 Responses »
Aug 052013
 
How to use DropBox with Raspberry Pi

I wanted to be able to upload photos from my RasPiCamcorder straight to DropBox. So I did a little research and came across an absolute gem of a program called Dropbox-Uploader, by Andrea Fabrizi. A truly brilliant piece of work that gives you access to your DropBox account right from the command line. You do have to jump through a couple of hoops to get it set up (security mostly), but once you’ve done that, it’s a breeze. 1. DropBox account First of all you need a DropBox account. Hop on over to DropBox and […more…]

Review – Pi GPIO Reference card from Low Voltage Labs

 Review  No Responses »
Aug 032013
 
Review - Pi GPIO Reference card from Low Voltage Labs

Jamie over at The Pi Hut sent me one of these little GPIO reference cards to evaluate. Beautiful in its simplicity. I love the idea. It gives you a close at hand reference for the P1 GPIO header on the Pi, showing which pin is which GPIO port (and which aren’t). It’s perfect for use with an uncased Pi, but stumbles a bit when used with cases – mind you, that’s an occupational hazard of cases. In any case, GPIO work is generally hindered. (Pun intended.) The above shot is my Toxic Pibow in “GPIO […more…]

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