alex

Alex Eames is the founder, owner and main contributor to RasPi.TV more information about him can be found in his Google+ profile.

Documentation and Commenting Your Code

Linux usage, python programming, raspberry pi 27 Responses »

Jan 052015

From observation of the computer industry going back to 1987, when I did a pre-university year at IBM Scientific Centre in Winchester, it seems that the very brightest and best programmers (software creatives) are often not very good at or not very keen on documenting their work. I think the reason for this is often misunderstood. Poor documentation is a source of great consternation in the world of Linux. In fact it’s a large part of the raison d’être for RasPi.TV. We, the users, often feel that the geniuses who write awesome software can’t be […more…]

Swag from PiWars CamJam

raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Hardware 4 Responses »

Dec 112014

I’m always a bit blown away by how nice people in the Raspberry Pi Community are. At PiWars last Saturday I was given no less than 5 presents. I quite often give away a few beta samples of potential products at CamJam, and this time was no exception. But I ended up receiving some stuff too, which was really nice. Three of the items were accessories that people had made for their HDMIPi. I’ll show you those three first… DIY corrugated cardboard HDMIPi stand + cheeky screwdriver from Andrew Scheller HDMIPuck Tim Richardson Button Covers […more…]

CamJam PiWars

Electronics, raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Hardware 6 Responses »

Dec 082014

On Saturday was the first PiWars competition at Cambridge Raspberry Jam (#CamJam). It was an excellent event. I was one of the judges, which proved to be quite difficult, but a lot of fun. The whole day went very well, there were several competition events… Sumo – Robots trying to push each other beyond the boundary Obstacle course – negotiate a range of different obstacles, some of which were positively evil Speed test (straight line) Line following – following a twisty, turny course Golf – try to direct the ball into the hole as efficiently […more…]

CamJam Edukit 2 Launches at PiWars

Electronics, Product Launch, python programming, raspberry pi 6 Responses »

Dec 062014

Today the CamJam Edukit 2 is being launched at the first Cambridge Raspberry Jam PiWars event. I’ll be judging the smallest robot and the best non-competing robot categories at PiWars, but today’s blog is about the kit. This is the second kit in the series, which adds some sensors (temperature, light and PIR) into the bundle. The full kit contents is shown and described below. What’s in the Kit? A 400 point bread board including dual power rails Immersable DS18B20 temperature sensor Light Dependent Resistor (LDR) Passive InfraRed (PIR) sensor Piezo buzzer 4 male-male blue […more…]

The FLIRC case for Raspberry Pi B+

Product Launch, raspberry pi, Review 10 Responses »

Nov 282014

FLIRC have made a new enclosure for the Raspberry Pi B+, which is going on sale today. The Pi Hut is importing these to the UK and is the sole distributor for UK and EU. Priced at £13 including VAT, it’s an attractive case made of cast aluminium (painted). It has an integral heat-sink, and comes with a thermal pad you can use to ensure good thermal transfer. It weighs 95g. This is what it looks like… It seems to be targeted at media centre Pi owners, which is not surprising given what FLIRC is. […more…]

Gert VGA 666 review and video

Electronics, raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Hardware, Review 12 Responses »

Nov 262014

Aaron Shaw from Pi-Supply sent me one of his early Gert VGA 666 adaptors for testing and comment, so I thought I’d share my findings. I followed the diagram in Gert’s manual. It’s a fairly simple build, just 20 resistors and two connectors. It took about 20 minutes, being careful to get all the resistors in the right places. The hardest part was the stacking header. The final product will ship with a slightly shorter stacking header. This should be a bit easier to solder. To get it working on the Pi, you need to […more…]

Raspberry Pi A+ Cases

raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Hardware, Review 3 Responses »

Nov 212014

In the 11 days since the Raspberry Pi A+ was launched, a few different case options have materialised. Here is a little video walkthrough of the options so far… Naked Pi – no case at all Altoids tin – yes the A+ actually fits in one (see the video) Cyntech/ModMyPi case – this is a B+ case, but the A+ fits in it too, albeit with plenty of room to spare A+ Pibow Royale Coupé – Pibow specially designed for the A+ 3d printed cases Mike Redrobe’s @RasPiTV @RPiSpy @climberhunt I just made a minimal […more…]

The Raspberry Pi Family

Electronics, Raspberry Pi Hardware, Review 20 Responses »

Nov 142014

Now we have the A+, I thought it’d be a good time to celebrate its ‘birth’ by having a rundown of the various mass-produced models of Raspberry Pi. I had a look through my collection and was somewhat surprised to see that I have 10 different variants of Raspberry Pi now. There is one I don’t have, but more about that later. Here’s the family photo. You can click it for a higher resolution version. Rev 1 Model B In row 1, column 1 we have the Rev 1 model B. Although I was up […more…]

Raspberry Pi A+ How Much Power Does It Need?

Electronics, raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Hardware 32 Responses »

Nov 122014

Raspberry Pi A+ How Much Power Does It Need?

Two Raspberry Pi A+ arrived from Farnell yesterday, so I spent the afternoon doing some power measurements. I also made a comparison video showing power measurements for an A+, a B+ and an old model A Pi. As before, when I did a similar thing for the B+, I used my trusty eMeter. But this time I used it inline with an ISO-TECH IPS 3303D bench power supply (at 5.2V) to corroborate the readings. Methodology I wanted to see how much current each Pi would consume under four circumstances…. Idling in command line – low […more…]

Raspberry Pi Model A+ Launched Today

Product Launch, raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Hardware, Review 16 Responses »

Nov 102014

Today, Raspberry Pi launches its new Raspberry Pi A+. Just like the model B was upgraded to B+, the model A now gets some love. So what’s it like? Essentially, it’s like a model B+ with the USB and networking end cut off. When I was at Raspberry Pi HQ a couple of weeks ago, I was allowed (under strict NDA and embargo) to shoot some photos and video. Here’s what it looks like… So What’s New & Different? The first three are the main changes – size, weight and cost. The rest are pretty […more…]

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