Hackers are buzzing with ideas from Pi-powered arcade machines and drones to the home automation and low-cost tablets. 10 coolest uses for the Raspberry Pi article tells that TechRepublic has delved into the Raspbery Pi’s developer forums, and here’s our round-up of the best ideas so far, ranging from the eminently achievable to the massively ambitious. You can use your Raspberry Pi for example as media streamer, arcade machine, tablet computer, robot controller and home automation controller. Rasberry Pi homepage offers also some more interesting projects like Retro games and a retro joystick.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia Researcher Puts Firefox OS On Raspberry Pi
http://developers.slashdot.org/story/12/08/16/1237214/nokia-researcher-puts-firefox-os-on-raspberry-pi
Mozilla’s mobile phone operating system only exists in an early beta form, but Oleg Romashin, a researcher at Nokia, has already got it working on the Raspberry Pi and posted video to prove it.
Firefox OS work in progress is available for download.
Video: Nokia Researcher Runs Firefox OS On Raspberry Pi
Firefox OS appears on Raspberry Pi thanks to a Nokia researcher
http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/nokia-firefox-os-raspberry-pi-89438
Tomi Engdahl says:
Developers Show Off Raspberry Pi Ice Cream Sandwich Port
http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/raspberry-pi-ice-cream-sandwich-88091
The creators of the Raspberry Pi are working on porting version 4.0 of Google’s Android mobile operating system onto the mini-computer.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation has posted a number of screenshots and video on its official blog showing Ice Cream Sandwich running on the computer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Just today, the Raspberry Pi Foundation posted a clip of a seven-year-old showing off a game he had managed to create on the tiny machine. “Dad Spencer says proudly that Philip had very little help with this. We’re really impressed and very proud too; well done, Philip, and thanks, Dad,” the Foundation said.
Philip, age 7, his game and his review of the Raspberry Pi
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/1785
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi now comes in Firefox OS flavour
Nokia engineer adapts Pi recipe with HTML-5-infused handset goodness
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/17/firefox_os_on_pi/
The little computer that can, the Raspberry Pi, has successfully run the imminent Firefox OS, thanks to the efforts of a Nokia employee named Oleg Romashin.
Firefox OS, also and/or formerly known as Boot to Gecko (B2G), is the Mozilla foundation’s attempt at providing an HTML-5 powered OS that will free punters from the tyranny of apps tied to mobile operating systems. The foundation sees the project as not entirely dissimilar to Google’s Chrome OS efforts, but doesn’t feel it is in competition with the text ad giant as it intends Firefox OS as a phone-only play rather than a Microsoft-on-the-lap irritant.
The OS is a long way from reaching production
But that didn’t stop Romashin from hacking together a version of the OS that can run on the Pi.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Makey Awards 2012 Nominee 07, Raspberry Pi, Most Hackable Gadget
http://blog.makezine.com/2012/08/22/makey-awards-2012-nominee-07-raspberry-pi-most-hackable-gadget/
Born in the University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory, Raspberry Pi has taken the tech world by storm. Since its release earlier this year, this $35 credit card-sized Linux computer has been in short supply, leaving makers waiting for weeks (sometimes even months) for their orders to be fulfilled. Besides the price, what is it about the Raspberry Pi that tests the patience of a board-hungry group of hackers?
As the founder of Linux, Linus Torvalds, said in an interview with BBC News, Raspberry Pi makes it possible to “afford failure.”
Not only that, but makers, tinkerers, and hackers have also latched onto the platform because of its price and capabilities. And with the enormous Linux community available for support, the pains of working with a new platform have been minimal.
Make Magzine Embedded Systems recent blog posts contain many Rasberry Pi projects at
http://blog.makezine.com/category/computers-mobile/embedded-systems/
Tomi says:
Five Things You Can Do With the New Raspberry Pi
http://gizmodo.com/5889245/five-things-you-can-do-with-the-new-raspberry-pi
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sparkfun punts bonkers banana-piano kit at hardware hackers
Probes turn grub and other stuff into USB keyboard
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/07/makey_makey/
Sparkfun – a supplier of components, widgets, doohickeys and other frivolities – is now making its own hardware in the form of the MaKey MaKey, which turns just about anything into a keyboard.
The MaKey MaKey costs $40
While the MaKey MaKey has been demonstrated creating banana pianos and playdoh gamepads we had in mind something a little more practical, so with the aid of a little conductive paint and some copper wire we were able to create a touchable desktop for control of the Pi’s media player, painted onto the desk itself.
But the beauty is to be able to create a working interface out of anything, without so much as picking up a soldering iron, which makes hardware hacking about as difficult/easy as playing with Lego.
The MaKey MaKey exists, just like the Pi, because intelligence is getting really cheap.
The MaKey MaKey is a little pricy for a keyboard replacement, one could cut up a real keyboard for a lot less money, but that would take time and energy and probably end up in a cupboard somewhere with the other unrealised dreams. Bare boards do encourage experimentation, and the MaKey MaKey is quick to reward and combines well with a Raspberry Pi even if it costs a bit more.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This $35 DIY Computer Is Going to Sail Across the Atlantic
http://www.wired.com/design/2012/06/computer-to-cross-atlantic/
Raspberry Pi is an ultra-cheap bare-bones Linux computer. Greg Holloway is an aficionado of 4x4s and RC cars. Together they’re going to make an unmanned solar-powered motorboat that will traverse the Atlantic.
The project is called FishPi
Step one is a proof-of-concept vessel. The goal is to use it as a lightweight prototype to figure out how best to incorporate the Pi into the design. So far he’s installed a computer-driven propeller to a model boat’s hull and jury-rigged a Tupperware container to keep everything dry
Tomi Engdahl says:
New guide: Bake your own Raspberry Pi Lego-crust cluster
‘And here’s one we made earlier!’
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/12/raspberry_pi_supercomputer/
Scientists at the University of Southampton have built a “supercomputer” from Raspberry Pis lashed together to form a colourful data-cruncher.
Professor Simon Cox and his team racked up 64 credit card-sized Pis using Lego building blocks to create the parallel computer. They named their beast Iridis-Pi
The Debian GNU/Linux cluster runs off a single 13-amp mains plug, and uses the Message Passing Interface (MPI) protocol to manage the communications between each of the 64 nodes. Professor Cox wrote the control code in Python
Prof Cox estimated the whole caboodle cost under £2,500
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi meets Lego in supercomputer-like cluster: Photos
http://www.zdnet.com/raspberry-pi-meets-lego-in-supercomputer-like-cluster-photos-7000004209/#photo
Summary: Six-year-old James Cox has helped his dad and other engineers at the University of Southampton to build a £2,500 supercomputer-style cluster out of 64 Linux-based Raspberry Pi PCs and Lego.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/supertietokone+rakennettiin+legoista/a840014?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-19092012&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thursday grab bag
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/2045
And here’s a bit of video: aaa801 has got open webOS, HP’s mobile/tablet operating system, running on the Raspberry Pi. He says:
“This video shows the first public build of open webOS running on the Raspberry Pi. There is no GUI at this point in time for ARM builds, there should be one within a month or so. When the GUI is up and running I will release a ROM to the community.” Thanks aaa801 – we’re looking forward to it!
WebOS 1.0 Running on RaspberryPI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Lkvf0455iBc
Tomi Engdahl says:
@Raspberry_Pi meet up at @NYCResistor #AmericanPi – @adafruit @element14
http://www.adafruit.com/blog/2012/09/20/raspberry_pi-meet-up-at-nycresistor-americanpi-adafruit-element14/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi Foundation becomes a TIGA member
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2208021/raspberry-pi-foundation-to-become-a-tiga-member
As the Raspberry Pi Foundation is busy filling orders and overclocking its diminutive computer, there has been growing interest in using the device to build a games console. One developer already turned a Raspberry Pi into a Super Nintendo and now the Raspberry Pi Foundation has been given an honorary TIGA membership.
Tomi Engdahl says:
SNESDev-RPi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TvH1ohcCus&feature=player_embedded
I developed an adapter for the GPIO pins of the Raspberry Pi to connect SNES controllers to the Pi. It is based on an adapter board that I recently worked on and makes use of the “uinput” kernel module. This video gives a short demo of it. For more information visit http://petrockblog.wordpress.com
Tomi Engdahl says:
BrewPi: Raspberry Pi and Arduino Powered Fermentation Chamber
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/10/02/008241/brewpi-raspberry-pi-and-arduino-powered-fermentation-chamber
“BrewPi is an open source fermentation controller that runs on an Arduino (for now) and a Raspberry Pi. It can control your beer temperature with 0.1 degree precision, log temperature data in nice graphs and is fully configurable from a web interface.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Java One: Oracle demos Java SE embedded running on Raspberry Pi
Shows how games controller and robotic arm can be hooked up to Linux based ARM board
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2214531/java-one-oracle-demos-java-se-embedded-running-on-raspberry-pi
ENTERPRISE VENDOR Oracle demonstrated Java SE for embedded devices running on the Raspberry Pi bare bones computer at the Java One show on Wednesday, with the aim of encouraging developers to try it out for themselves to create reference libraries for the target school children audience.
He said the idea behind the machine is for kids to use a basic language like Scratch, for example, to learn programming, and build up skills via Greenfoot, before gaining enough experience to move onto Java IDEs Bluej or Netbeans.
“What I’m talking about is mostly a hobbyist thing, but if we can get these libraries published, the more advanced student can also use these to control a gamepad with the Raspberry Pi,” Ritter said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Malicious Raspberry Pi power strip looks a bit scary
http://hackaday.com/2012/10/04/malicious-raspberry-pi-power-strip-looks-a-bit-scary/
What you see here is a Raspberry Pi shoehorned into a power strip. The idea is to leverage the power and low-cost of this board into a stealthy network observation device. It packs a similar punch as the Power Pwn but should cost at least $1100 less!
The fact that when you plug your Ethernet into this ‘surge protector’ it starts sniffing your traffic doesn’t really scare us. It’s the mains wiring that traverses the RPi itself that’s a bit unnerving.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Open Source Raspberry Pi WebIDE Alpha Released
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/12/10/05/2115228/open-source-raspberry-pi-webide-alpha-released
Its goal is to be ‘The easiest way to develop code on your Raspberry Pi.’ To get up and running head on over to learn.adafruit.com/webide and follow the installation and setup instructions. It uses Bitbucket
Tomi Engdahl says:
Web IDE for the Raspi
http://hackaday.com/2012/10/06/web-ide-for-the-raspi/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Oracle looks to embed Java on Raspberry Pi [Video]
Java developers get update on warranty and manufacturing of bare board Linux machine
The Inquirer (http://s.tt/1pHMT)
Tomi Engdahl says:
Oracle working on Java Virtual Machine for Raspberry Pi [Video]
Challenge hinges around hardware floating point for ARM v7
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2217253/oracle-working-on-java-virtual-machine-for-raspberry-pi?WT.rss_f=Home
ENTERPRISE VENDOR Oracle’s technology evangelist Simon Ritter explains the steps the firm is taking to get a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) released to run on the Raspberry Pi, based on creating a version that uses the hardware floating point capabilities of the bare board computer.
On Monday, Raspberry Pi announced that its model B computer is now shipping with 512MB of RAM, rather than 256MB, with no increase to the £29.95 price tag.
Raspberry Pi Foundation founder Eben Upton said the move is targeted particularly at supporting embedded Java applications on the Raspberry Pi, which are too heavyweight for 256MB of memory.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android debug bridge released for the Raspi
http://hackaday.com/2012/10/18/android-debug-bridge-released-for-the-raspi/
Over on the XDA developers forums, something really cool is happening. Android hacker extraordinaire [AdamOutler] has managed to port the Android Debug Bridge to the Raspberry Pi.
The Android Debug bridge allows hardware tinkerers full access to their Android device. This feature has been used to build everything from telepresence robots to connecting a MIDI keyboard to a phone. With this port of the Android Debug Bridge, anyone can take advantage of the existing hacks and hardware written around the ADB to build something completely new.
Tomi Engdahl says:
SNES emulator has it’s slot sealed shut
http://hackaday.com/2012/10/19/snes-emulator-has-its-slot-sealed-shut/
If you look closely you’ll notice there’s nowhere to put the game cartridge on this Super Nintendo system. That’s because this is a Rasberry Pi based SNES emulator that plays ROMs, not cartridges. Since the RPi board is used the only limit to what you can play is the board’s RAM and which ROMs you have on the SD card.
Tomi Engdahl says:
RPi Video with Pygame
http://hackaday.com/2012/10/20/rpi-video-with-pygame/
Adafruit has a new tutorial on creating video with an RPi and pygame. The goal is to create custom user interfaces on low cost hardware, powered by the easy to use pygame library. The tutorial walks through getting your RPi set up to run pygame, creating a basic pygame script that controls the framebuffer, and drawing an oscilloscope display on the screen.
http://learn.adafruit.com/pi-video-output-using-pygame/overview
This tutorial uses Adafruit’s WebIDE as a development environment. This is an excellent solution for working on video display, since you can develop the code on a networked computer and view the shell while running your graphical application. This is very useful for debugging, since you can just print information to your WebIDE console.
http://hackaday.com/2012/10/06/web-ide-for-the-raspi/
Tomi Engdahl says:
PCA9517 i2c translator a perfect companion for Raspberry Pi hardware add-ons
http://hackaday.com/2012/10/26/pca9517-i2c-translator-a-perfect-companion-for-raspberry-pi-hardware-add-ons/
works as an Internet connected temperature sensor which sends [Zaion] an email with a graph of the change over time. This in itself is interesting, but one part in particular caught our eye. He’s using an i2c temperature sensor , and we think the PCA9517 Level-Translating I2C Bus Repeater that makes it possible is a perfect match for the RPi.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Turning the Raspberry Pi into a cocktail MAME coffee table
http://hackaday.com/2012/11/04/turning-the-raspberry-pi-into-a-cocktail-mame-coffee-table/
Ah, the cocktail arcade cabinet. With the right design, its able to blend right in to any living room decor, much more than any traditional stand-up cabinet, at least.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi gets RISC OS, can now play Elite
http://hackaday.com/2012/11/08/raspberry-pi-gets-risc-os-can-now-play-elite/
The processor in the Raspberry Pi – an ARM11 built by Broadcom – actually has a long and storied history. Much as how the Intel i7 in a top-of-the-line desktop can still run code written for the original IBM PC, the ARM chip in the Raspberry Pi is also based on decades-old technology.
The first ARM-based computer was the Acorn Archimedes, a mid-80s computer with 512kB of RAM and no hard drive. The Archimedes ran RISC OS
RISC OS is now available for the Raspberry Pi, finally bridging the gap between educational computers from 1987 and 2012.
Of course, a very much updated version of 25-year-old operating system running on a Raspberry Pi doesn’t mean much without a ‘killer app,’ does it?
[Pete Taylor] downloaded the Raspi RISC OS image and got Elite running using an Archimedes emulator
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chromium for the Masses
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/chromium-masses
thanks to the developer Hexxeh, it’s possible to run the Chromium OS on a wide variety of hardware combinations.
The exciting news, however, has nothing to do with laptops at all. Like most Linux-based pseudo-embedded projects, Hexxeh’s Chromium build is getting ported to the Raspberry Pi. Once complete, a Chromium-enabled Raspberry Pi desktop machine will be a very affordable, power-sipping alternative to Google’s ChromeBox units. Projects like this really beg the question: is there anything the Raspberry Pi can’t do?
512MB Pi + Adafruit Budget Pack = win
http://hexxeh.net/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mike Cook builds a Gertboard in three minutes
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/2371
Mike Cook, a regular Raspberry Pi contributor and electronics Superman, videoed himself building a Gertboard.
Tomi says:
Mesh networking with multiple Raspberry Pi boards
http://hackaday.com/2012/11/14/mesh-networking-with-multiple-raspberry-pi-boards/
Since he’s got several Raspberry Pi boards on hand [Eric Erfanian] decided to see what he could pull off using the robust networking tools present in every Linux installation. His four-part series takes you from loading an image on the SD cards to building a mesh network from RPi boards and WiFi dongles.
He says that getting the mesh network up and running is easiest if none of the boards are using an Ethernet connection. He used the Babel package to handle the adhoc routing since no device is really in charge of the network. Each of the boards has a unique IP manually assigned to it before joining.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi reaches critical mass as XBMC hardware
http://hackaday.com/2012/11/19/raspberry-pi-reaches-critical-mass-as-xbmc-hardware/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi hacking competition set for December
CPC sponsors 24-hour hack-in
http://news.techworld.com/applications/3412293/raspberry-pi-hacking-competition-set-for-december/
Electronics distributor CPC is inviting entries for the first ever Raspberry Pi ‘hackathon’, a competition to see which individual or team can come up with the most interesting “hacked” innovation based on the famous ARM computer.
Called the Raspberry Pi “hack day”, the competition will pit 100 entrants against one another in a number of categories using only the board, Internet access, soldering irons and as much coding as they think appropriate.
Participants will have 24-hours to complete projects, at the end of which judges will category winners will be awarded
“Raspberry Pi is revolutionising the tech market and we wanted to host the UK’s first dedicated hack-day to celebrate the most talked about gadget of 2012,” said CPC marketing head, David Deventer.
The 24-hour Raspberry Pi Hack will be held at Munro House in Leeds on 1 and 2 December. Spectators are welcome.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi camera board coming early next year
Camera board – first demo of the final hardware!
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/2555
The camera has a 5 megapixel sensor, and can record 1080p H.264 video at 30 frames per second. This board will plug into the currently unused CSI pins on the Pi, using I²C for control. We’re also working on a display board, which will come to market after the camera board.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tiny MAME cabinet built from Raspberry Pi
http://hackaday.com/2012/11/26/tiny-mame-cabinet-built-from-raspberry-pi/
The build uses a Raspi for all the Linux-ey and MAME goodness, but [Sprite_tm] didn’t want to fiddle around with the HDMI or analog video output. Instead, he chose to use an SPI-controlled TFT display that is only 2.4 inches across
To make his cabinet portable, [Sprite] opted for using old cell phone batteries with a cleverly designed charging circuit.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Connecting an LCD to a non-video-capable Linux device – Intro
http://spritesmods.com/?art=spitft
A colleague of mine recently asked me if I knew of a small LCD (3-inch-ish) plus touchscreen he could connect to his Raspberry Pi
Unfortunately, with the Pi, you have only a couple of options: connect a LCD over composite, which won’t do the image quality much good; connect it over HDMI, which isn’t compatible with many cheap and small LCDs. You can als try to connect it over the DSI interface, but that doesn’t have many compatible LCDs or converter boards at this moment. The interface also doesn’t seem to be functional in the current RPi software yet.
This made me think: You can get nice 3.2″ LCDs with integrated touchscreens for about EUR20 on eBay nowadays. They have an integrated controller, so you don’t need to have video hardware in the system you connect it to. Why not hook something like that up to a Linux-based embedded board?
Tomi Engdahl says:
P-P-P-Pick up our PENGUIN-POWERED Pi PIPER of Python
Download El Reg’s Raspberry Pi jukebox
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/26/pi_programming/
How-to Turning the Raspberry Pi into a music player is old hat, but turning it into a personalised DJ is slightly more difficult if a lot more interesting.
The Raspberry Pi, an ARM-powered £20 computer sold as the educationalists’ dream, is finding its place as a media player in many tech-aware homes, but installing media player XBMC and plugging in a TV is hardly the spirit in which the Pi was conceived, especially when one can get one’s hands good and dirty with the minimum of effort.
One might ask why bother developing a music player when there are so many free solutions available; ones that offer remote control through a web browser and will find album covers too. But none of those solutions has a single-click “play the rest of this album then go back to random” button, the ability to mark some music as less liked nor rotate through one’s collection rather than being entirely random, not to mention the critical lack of a “play wife-friendly tracks” button which excludes everything labelled as 1970s Rock.
The “wife-approved music” button has been replaced with “child-friendly” these days, and cuts out tracks marked as having too much swearing while the wife has to put up with the sounds of Tull.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Summer Coding Contest results
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/2544
Aaron’s entry was a great example of what you can do using Python on a Raspberry Pi. His PySnap program allows you to easily set-up automatic time-lapse photography using a USB webcam. The CLI-based program allows the user to set the periodicity at which photos are taken and was well thought out and designed.
Louis’s SerPint program allows you to remotely control the GPIO pins on a Raspberry Pi over a network socket or serial port.
Connor Foxley impressed us with his text-based world simulator which was written in C#
SmartSim is a digital logic circuit design and simulation package for the Raspberry Pi
Pancake is a lightweight HTTP server written in PHP
BerryBox is a tool that allows you to sync files/folders across computers using a Raspberry Pi as a server.
RasPod is a simple music server for your Raspberry Pi. It allows you to control the playing of music on your Raspberry Pi with a web browser.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android VOIP phone and Raspberry Pi mate for an intriguing PBX setup
http://hackaday.com/2012/11/26/android-voip-phone-and-raspberry-pi-mate-for-an-intriguing-pbx-setup/
[Ward Mundy] has found something great by combining a GXP-2200 phone with Raspberry Pi to create a private branch exchange.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Injecting power into a WiFi dongle for the Raspberry Pi
http://hackaday.com/2012/11/27/injecting-power-into-a-wifi-dongle-for-the-raspberry-pi/
So the Raspberry Pi sometimes doesn’t have the juice needed to run power-hungry USB dongles. The most common issue is with WiFi adapters. The solution has long been to use a powered USB hub, but [Mike Worth] didn’t want to take up that much extra space. The solution he worked out injects power directly into the dongle itself.
Tomi says:
Plan 9 on the Raspberry Pi
http://hackaday.com/2012/12/01/plan-9-on-the-raspberry-pi/
Yet another operating system has been ported to the Raspberry Pi. No, it’s not Haiku, sadly, but it is something just as weird and interesting. This time it’s Plan 9 from Bell Labs, an 80′s era OS from the same company that brought you C and Unix.
As a research operating system, Plan 9 has a bunch of really weird, but useful features. For one, everything about a computer running Plan 9 is distributed; the memory can be running on one machine, the processor on another, and the display can run on yet another machine. This modularity gives Plan 9 the honorable title of, ‘more Unix than Unix’.
Tomi says:
Raspberry Pi Quadcopter
http://hackaday.com/2012/12/01/raspberry-pi-quadcopter/
It was bound to happen sooner or later, but that doesn’t diminish the awesomeness of [Matthew]‘s Raspberry Pi-powered quadcopter.
[Matthew]‘s quadcopter is similar to all the other flying drones we’ve seen before with one important difference – all the processing, from reading the gyroscopes to computing exactly how much power to give each motor – is handled by a Raspberry Pi.
With a bit of clever programming, [Matthew] managed to make sure all the necessary tasks were taken care of in time. It’s still not a real-time operating system, but for this project at least, it’s good enough.
Tomi says:
Guitar foot controller uses DSP for audio effects
http://hackaday.com/2012/11/30/guitar-foot-controller-uses-dsp-for-audio-effects/
The foot controls include a pedal and eight buttons, all monitored by an Arduino. Pure Data, a visual programming language, interprets the input coming from the Arduino over USB and alters the incoming audio using digital signal processing. [Pierre] manages the audio connection using the JACK Audio Connection Kit software package.
In the video after the break he’s using a laptop for most of the work, but he has also managed to pull this off with a Raspberry Pi. There’s no audio input on the RPi board, but he’s been using a USB sound card anyway.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Somebody gets a Raspberry Pi tattoo
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2229336/somebody-gets-a-raspberry-pi-tattoo
A RASPBERRY PI FAN has gone out and got a tattoo of the company’s logo.
The man in question, Paul Rainer von Hasberg from the US, got a tattoo of the Raspberry Pi logo on his ankle, and he apparently is the first person in the world to get one.
He’s clearly a massive fan of the credit-card sized PC as this isn’t a tattoo that can be easily hidden
Co-founder of Raspberry Pi Liz Upton is pretty chuffed about the whole thing. She said in a blog post, “Paul, who designed our logo, is bounding around with joy at the news; he has never seen a piece of his artwork in tattoo form before, and Rainer’s new ankle decoration means Paul now has something in common with Lucian Freud.”
it seems that Rainer is a fan of getting technology related tattoos in general. He already has Linux and Android tattoos emblazoned on his skin
Tomi Engdahl says:
Garage door opener using Siri and Raspberry Pi
http://hackaday.com/2012/12/11/garage-door-opener-using-siri-and-raspberry-pi/
[DarkTherapy] wrote in to tell us about his garage door opener that works with Siri and a Raspberry Pi.
On the control side of that mechanical relay is a Raspberry Pi board. This seems like overkill but remember the low cost of the RPi and the ability to communicate over a network thanks to the WiFi dongle it uses. We think it’s less outrageous than strapping an Android phone to the opener. To make the RPi work with Siri he chose the SiriProxy package
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi Hacking, Commando Style
http://hackaday.com/2012/12/12/raspberry-pi-hacking-commando-style/
This hack begins by installing Linux on an SD card per this setup page, then using a Virtual Network Computing [VNC] setup to work with your Raspberry Pi. There are a few steps in between being able to do this, like setting up network sharing, and sleuthing out the IP address of the new processor, but everything is explained in detail for Mac and Linux. Windows users will have to do a bit of “sleuthing” of their own, but if you have some more information on this process, we’d love to hear about it in the comments!
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi used to automate a dimmable light bulb
http://hackaday.com/2012/12/14/raspberry-pi-used-to-automate-a-dimmable-light-bulb/
[Stephen] took the safe route when getting his Raspberry Pi to dim an AC light bulb. He didn’t roll his own outlet box with a mains-rated relay inside, going with a mechanical connection instead of electrical. By attaching a servo motor to the dimmer knob the RPi can adjust the light level without risk of electric shock.
He is using the ServoBlaster package to drive the servo motor with the Raspberry Pi GPIO pins.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Using arcade monitors with the Raspberry Pi
http://hackaday.com/2012/12/17/using-arcade-monitors-with-the-raspberry-pi/
Along with the growing popularity of the Raspberry Pi, we’ve also seen a related uptick in MAME arcade cabinet builds. Putting this $35 computer in an arcade cabinet makes a lot of sense, but connecting it to one of the monitors found in old arcade cabinets is a bit of a pain. Luckily, [Celso] figured out how to connect a Raspi to one of these 15kHz RGB monitors, making for a much more accurate emulation of old arcade classics.
The solution comes from two converters: one to convert the HDMI output to VGA, and another video downscaler that takes the 31kHz VGA signal and translates it into a 15kHz RGB signal.
Connecting a Raspberry Pi to an old 15Khz Arcade Monitor
http://arrifana.org/blog/2012/12/connection-a-raspberry-pi-to-an-old-15khz-arcade-monitor/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Introducing the Pi Store
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/2768
we’re launching the Pi Store to make it easier for developers of all ages to share their games, applications, tools and tutorials with the rest of the community.
The Pi Store will, we hope, become a one-stop shop for all your Raspberry Pi needs; it’s also an easier way into the Raspberry Pi experience for total beginners, who will find everything they need to get going in one place, for free.
The store runs as an X application under Raspbian, and allows users to download content, and to upload their own content for moderation and release.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Electronica: Raspberry Pi gets another I/O board
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4401579/Electronica-Raspberry-Pi-board
U.K. component distributor Premier Farnell has announced it has an exclusive deal with OpenLX SP Ltd. to distribute the PiFace Digital I/O board and will be able to supply both it and a 5-megapixel camera board in the first quarter of 2013. Both items are designed to complement the low-cost, credit-card sized Raspberry Pi computer.
On its Element14-branded booth at Electronica Premier Farnell was showing demonstrations of both peripherals working with the “double-memory” 512-Mbyte version of the Raspberry Pi. It was also demonstrating the first I/O board, the GertBoard, developed by Gert van Loo.
Van Loo said that addition of third-party I/O boards was an essential next step in making Raspberry Pi relevant to developers. “It gets them off the screen and able to do things in the real world,” he said.
Unlike the GertBoard, which is powered by an AVR 8-bit microcontroller, the Pi Face runs of the host 700-MHz ARM based Broadcom BCM2835 processor on the Raspberry Pi. It is somewhat more limited than the GertBoard but stacks neatly on top of Raspberry Pi. It accepts four momemtary push-switch signals and has four on-board LEDs. There are two 10-A relays and 8 general purpose open-collector outputs. The board allows the Raspberry Pi to control and sense physical devices such as lights, motors and sensors.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Custom MOTD for the Raspberry Pi
http://hackaday.com/2012/12/20/custom-motd-for-the-raspberry-pi/
With so many uses for a Raspberry Pi in a headless configuration – especially with the impending release of the Raspi Model A – we’re surprised it has taken so long for someone to send in a way to create a custom message of the day that is displayed whenever you SSH into everyone’s favorite Linux board.
A MOTD is used by servers to display messages to new users, or simply system information for server admins. It’s a simple text file stored in /etc/motd, but with some proper beardly Unix wizardry it’s possible to display uptime, free memory, and even the weather wherever the Raspi is located.