Come to the Milton Keynes Raspberry Jam 24 Feb 2013

 raspberry pi  No Responses »
Feb 172013
 
Come to the Milton Keynes Raspberry Jam 24 Feb 2013

There’s still some free tickets left for the Milton Keynes Raspberry Jam this coming Sunday 24 Feb 2013. Click here to reserve a ticket http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5421371468 What’s so special about the MK Jam? The Milton Keynes Jam is rather special because it is held at the National Museum of Computing, which is on the same site as Bletchley Park. They’ve got the oldest working digital computer in the world – the WITCH. Also there is Colossus – the famous code-breaking computer from World War 2. If you like computers, it’s an awesome place. (And if you […more…]

RasPi.TV makes it onto BBC Click

 Raspberry Pi Hardware  4 Responses »
Feb 162013
 

BBC Technology program Click just used a segment from the video I posted a couple of weeks ago on the model A release. It’s right in the middle of this 6 minute video. About 8 seconds starting around 4:28. It’s a real shame I was out yesterday afternoon when Liz was trying to get in touch – I could have given them a much nicer 1080i HD version. :( Watch the whole 6 minutes though, it’s a good one about hackers, makers and Pi users.

Using a Wii controller with your Raspberry Pi, Gertboard, Bluetooth and Python

 Electronics, Gertboard, Input and Output, interfacing, python programming, Raspberry Pi Hardware  37 Responses »
Feb 122013
 
Using a Wii controller with your Raspberry Pi, Gertboard, Bluetooth and Python

Matt Hawkins from Raspberry Pi Spy has done the leg-work enabling Pi users to use a Wii controller – along with a Bluetooth USB dongle to send inputs to the Raspberry Pi. It uses a Python library called “CWiid” (I imagine this is pronounced “seaweed”). This is awesome because the Wii controller has 11 different digital inputs. When you consider combinations of inputs, that gives you a lot of extra possible “input commands” to play with. Theoretically*, with 11 buttons, there are 55 different 2-button combinations (11C2). That should be enough for most uses. If […more…]

Raspberry Pi Model A first impressions and photos

 raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Hardware, Review  14 Responses »
Feb 052013
 
Raspberry Pi Model A first impressions and photos

I was keeping an eye on the RS and Farnell sites on Monday morning because I’d heard a ‘reliable whisper’ that the model A was launching this week. I didn’t know what day, but I figured it might be Monday. No sign of anything early morning, but then I forgot and didn’t see Liz’s announcement on the Pi blog until a couple of hours after they went live. By that time, RS was showing back order, but Farnell had stock levels of ~1800, so I snagged one. I got a “shipped” email about 3 hours […more…]

HDMI to VGA converter part 2 – VGA projector

 Electronics, raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Hardware, Review  8 Responses »
Feb 032013
 
HDMI to VGA converter part 2 - VGA projector

This is part 2 of my review of the HDMI/VGA 1080 Ultimate HD Video Converter. It covers comparison of VGA and HDMI in the GUI; use of an old 1024 x 768 VGA monitor with the Pi; using a VGA projector to show a video; trying out an MHL adaptor with a phone and VGA monitor. If you haven’t seen part one yet, you can find that here. To complete the review, I set myself the following tasks… see if I can get it to go full-screen in GUI by tweaking settings do some side […more…]

RasPi RepRap 3d printing on the Raspberry Pi

 Electronics, interfacing, Raspberry Pi Hardware  9 Responses »
Feb 012013
 

Alex Gibson, co-host of the Oxford Jam impressed us all with his RepRap 3d printer controlled by a Raspberry Pi. I hadn’t seen one of these up close and personal before. I’d really like one now, but I have a feeling it requires a large investment in time to build, calibrate and use. Check out the 4 minute video. Most impressive indeed! :) Background Alex told us he’d joined the Thames Valley build group, which is a bunch of people who get together to help each other make RepRaps. The reel of poly-lactic acid (PLA) […more…]

fantastic sounding raspberry pi solenoid sequencer

 Electronics, Input and Output, interfacing, python programming, Raspberry Pi Hardware  4 Responses »
Jan 302013
 
fantastic sounding raspberry pi solenoid sequencer

I went along to the Oxford Raspberry Jam last night at RS HQ. There were several impressive demos. But this one was definitely the best sounding of the lot. Peter Andrew has put together a solenoid sequencer (a bit like a drum machine) which is driven by a python script on a raspberry pi. He’s also written an android app to program the beat with his Nexus 7 tablet. Solenoids are pulsed to make them strike a tin can, a jar lid, a small glass jar and a saucepan lid. The saucepan lid sounds wonderful. […more…]

How to make a RasPi into a NoSPi

 Electronics, Input and Output, interfacing, Raspberry Pi Hardware  8 Responses »
Jan 282013
 
How to make a RasPi into a NoSPi

I’ve been doing some prototyping of a new Pi related hardware project I’m working on. I’m not ready to let on what it is yet, but it involves a potentiometer. The pot in question is one of those that you need a small screwdriver to turn. So here’s what happened. I left the screwdriver standing in the pot like this… …and it fell, shorting something out. Not sure exactly what, but it may have bounced on a pin carrying 12V for a motor. What I do know for sure is that an ic chip that […more…]

V2 Gertboard photos and initial impressions

 Gertboard, Input and Output, interfacing, python programming  12 Responses »
Jan 242013
 
V2 Gertboard photos and initial impressions

My V2 Gertboard showed up today. I promised some photos yesterday, so here they are, along with some first impressions… Main visible differences from V1 are: CE and FCC marks Different fuse holder Different motor controller chip – surface mount All ICs are soldered directly to the board apart from the ATMega, which is socketed leds are surface mount there are pull-up resistors on the buffers the buttons are surface mount the DAC chip is teeny weeny and surface mount the regulator is surface mount The jumpers with grippy extension are very practical But the […more…]

V2 Gertboard Officially Adopts my Python Test Suite

 Gertboard, Input and Output, interfacing, python programming  24 Responses »
Jan 232013
 

I’ve been sitting on this for a while, but I’m now delighted to announce that the manual for the new Rev 2, fully assembled Gertboard, which officially went on sale yesterday, includes full documentation of my Python Gertboard Test Suite. I wrote the Python-specific sections and Myra’s done a great job of weaving them into the fully updated manual. You can download the new manual here You can download the Python Gertboard software here. The Python software was fully tested by Myra before Christmas on the only Rev 2 Gertboard in existence at the time. […more…]

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