Bitscope Micro. USB Scope that works on Raspberry Pi.

 Electronics, raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Hardware, Review  8 Responses »
May 192014
 
Bitscope Micro. USB Scope that works on Raspberry Pi.

When I first saw the Bitscope Micro on the Raspberry Pi Foundation blog, it ‘ticked all my boxes’. A couple of weeks later, when Pimoroni tweeted about having the first batch in stock, I ordered one immediately. In my circumstances, it would have been rude not to. Why? The reasons are too numerous to list them all, but here are the first few that spring to mind… I need a small, portable, USB scope since I spend about 20% of my time abroad and take my work with me. It’s also a logic analyser – […more…]

Banana Pi Review – First Impressions

 Electronics, raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Hardware, Review  119 Responses »
Apr 282014
 
Banana Pi Review - First Impressions

While I was away in Poland for Easter I had an email from someone called Jet (jetxu@lemaker.org – he asked me to share that) about a board called Banana Pi. I’d heard of it already. I also knew that other people in the Raspberry Pi community had been approached (we talk to each other ;p). They wanted me to join their forums and submit a request for a sample. I didn’t want to play that game so I said I was happy to have a look at it if they sent me one, but otherwise […more…]

How does the RasPiO Breakout Pro protect your GPIO ports?

 Electronics, raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Hardware  2 Responses »
Apr 112014
 
How does the RasPiO Breakout Pro protect your GPIO ports?

You may remember I launched three RasPiO® boards a couple of weeks ago. One of them, the RasPiO® Breakout Pro, offers protection for the GPIO ports on the Raspberry Pi. I thought it might be interesting to explain how the port protection works, so I’ve made a little video about it… Current Limiting Resistor One of the ways you can potentially damage (or kill) your GPIO ports is to try and draw too much current from them. You’re not supposed to draw more than 16mA from any one port (and 60mA from ALL the GPIO […more…]

The Plinth

 raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Hardware, Review  No Responses »
Mar 282014
 
The Plinth

On Sunday night, Matt Hawkins tweeted to me about a KickStarter campaign he thought complemented our HDMIPi screen really well. So I went to take a look. I thought it was a really clever design, so I got in touch with its creator, John Bull, to see if we might be able to get a branded one as an additional product to go with HDMIPi. He mentioned that his campaign could do with a shot in the arm. I thought the best way I could help would be to get my hands on one and […more…]

Adventures in Raspberry Pi – Real World Review

 raspberry pi, Review  10 Responses »
Mar 242014
 
Adventures in Raspberry Pi - Real World Review

General Observations Adventures in Raspberry Pi is a 144 page book written to encourage teenagers into real computing by an experienced teacher, Carrie Anne Philbin. This book makes wonderful use of lots of graphics and screenshots. It’s very nicely laid out with plenty of colour and white space. The pages are all visually interesting and the text clearly explains things in a friendly manner. But it’s more than that. By being easy to follow and fun to read, the learning will sneak up on you. By breaking everything up into logical bites and taking them […more…]

Launching the RasPiO product range – first three boards

 Electronics, Input and Output, raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Hardware  21 Responses »
Mar 212014
 
Launching the RasPiO product range - first three boards

The day has finally arrived for me to launch my first three products in the RasPiO® range. What’s RasPiO®? I hear you ask? It’s a family of add-on boards for the Raspberry Pi®. It’s pronounced “Razz-Pie-Oh” (emphasis on Pi) and is derived from the fact that the boards will mostly be I/O (input-output) boards for the Raspberry Pi. We’re starting small and simple, and will grow in size and complexity with time. I spent most of last summer designing PCBs. It takes a frustratingly long time to bring things to market. But that’s another story, […more…]

A Quick Look At My New Soldering – Rework Station

 Electronics, raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Hardware, Review  6 Responses »
Mar 142014
 
A Quick Look At My New Soldering - Rework Station

I’ve been hankering after a hot air rework gun and a soldering station for some time. The main problem is that most rework stations are hundreds of pounds. I don’t really need an ‘industrial strength’ one, so when the most recent CPC Tradesman offers came through the door, two items by TENMA caught my eye. One was a simple soldering station for about £30 (+VAT), the other had both soldering iron and hot air gun for £99 (+ VAT). In the end, I opted for the combined model (SDO174105). I ordered it on Saturday and […more…]

Raspberry Pi Official 7 inch DSI prototype – preview

 raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Hardware  51 Responses »
Mar 032014
 
Raspberry Pi Official 7 inch DSI prototype - preview

At the Raspberry Jamboree, on Friday 28th Feb 2014, I spotted a nice little seven inch screen, that looked a lot like the screen from a 2012 model Nexus 7 (but a bit grainier as the Nexus 7 has a higher pixel count). Then I spotted the PCB with the Raspberry Pi Foundation logo on it, and realised it must be the official DSI screen prototype. Sure enough, it was connected to the DSI port. I turned round and saw Andrew Laing, Global Manager for Raspberry Pi at Farnell. He told me he’d been displaying […more…]

Jamboree Raspberry Pi Second Birthday

 raspberry pi, Raspberry Pi Camera, Review  3 Responses »
Mar 012014
 
Jamboree Raspberry Pi Second Birthday

I spent Thursday and Friday of this week at the Manchester Raspberry Jamboree. It was a very large event combined with the Education Innovation conference. I went there with the intention of meeting and talking to people. I so often get involved in giving talks or workshops and ‘show and tells’, that I often miss the chance to meet and talk to as many people as I would like to. (Forget to enjoy it?) I Still Took Too Much Stuff Although I did take “far too much stuff” as usual (I thought people would like […more…]

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