Eben Upton, founder and trustee of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, about the state of the ‘Pi, six months in, as a sprint through some of the most interesting uses people have put the Raspberry Pi to so far. The topics were wildly diverse, from beer brewing to fish to space to education, the list itself speaking to the success of the platform.
Thanks to Eben for giving a special shout-out to Adafruit‘s role in bringing attention to Raspberry Pi in the US, and for our weekly #piday events right here on our site.
I’m only missing a few short hours of Maker Faire New York and still felt compelled to watch the live stream hosted by MAKE editors, wandering throughout the faire interviewing makers. If you’re not attending or simply can’t be there the whole time, this roving rig really makes you feel like you’re there.
Adafruit is @makerfaire – no ASK AN ENGINEER tonight, we’ve tried to do ASK AN ENGINEER in the past remotely from a Maker Faire and it’s just too logistically challenging, and by the end of a giant Maker Faire day we’re usually completely exhausted. So! We’re going to see many of you at the faire, we’ll have many folks from Adafruit roaming, taking photos and meeting makers. See you there – ASK AN ENGINEER and show-and-tell will resume next week!
Colorforms Brush with Genius. Made a Drawdio but still want more? This fully-assembled kit contains Drawdio innards as part of a big plastic brush so it acts like a half-theramin/half-paintbrush. When painting, the conductivity of the watercolors changes the sound pitch that comes out of the little speaker in the brush.
Can be used on most surfaces with just water—no paints required!
All of my requirements sheets are geared toward high school environments. If you require either easier or harder requirements feel free to make a request! My objective on the requirements sheet is to have the students familiar enough with the component that they can use it effectively in their designs and troubleshoot problems when they arise. Please feel free to modify the sheet to fit your needs.
This sheet in particular focuses on developing a preliminary understanding of the system. I am considering completing an advanced requirements sheet to address some of the lower level fun.
NEW PRODUCT – Pi Holder milled aluminum case for Raspberry Pi without logo. This gorgeous and indestructible Raspberry Pi™ Case is as awesome as it is functional. Made in the U.S.A. by Barch Designs from Solid 6061-T6 Aircraft Grade Billet Aluminum which protects your Raspberry Pi from damage and also keeps your Pi running extra-cool by acting as a thermal heat sink (Please note: heat sinking is not required to use the Pi, but some people like having their Pi run cold)
The Pi Holder case is milled by Barch Designs on a CNC machine to exact tolerances. This allows just enough room for the Raspberry Pi to slide down into the case. Any bigger and the Pi would be loose and any smaller it would bind up.
Earlier this week, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared this week “Maker Week” in the City. It certainly feels that way to me: I’ve met so many amazing and creative people this week, from world-class engineers to Broadway dancers, and MakerFaire hasn’t even started yet! Apparently, the idea of Maker Week resonates personally with His Honor as well. The first paragraph of the “Maker Week” Proclamation reads as follows:
Whereas: I was a ham radio operator when I was a kid. After I studied engineering, got fired from the only job I ever had, and acted on a crazy idea to start my own company, I found myself soldering capacitors in a garage and still working on our prototype model in the back seat of a cab on the way to our first demonstration. Planning, building, tinkering, ripping up the plans, starting from scratch and rebuilding—such a process can be frustrating, of course, but it can also be incredibly fulfilling and rewarding.
As an NYC engineering and manufacturing firm, Adafruit is in very talented company. It’s great to see Mayor (Maker?) Mike celebrate makers this way!
At tonight’s traditional paella maker dinner at NYSCI in Queens, I spotted Jeri Ellsworth sporting some beautiful LED eyelashes (and necklace, and dress). Diana Eng was making magic with SMT LEDs on many people– I spotted MAKE editor Gareth Branwyn’s bald head covered in blue dots, and even Matt Richardson had an LED mustache. Ah, the fun that is Maker Faire… hope to see you there! I’ll be with the Dueling Mechanical Bulls by The Madagascar Institute (near the Diet Coke & Mentos stage).
The ArduinoPi is a prove of concept to show people it is possible to use a web browser to trigger events in a Arduino. For more information visit my blog: http://www.fritz-hut.com/arduinopi-with-api/
So after your brain hurts a bit and you’re tired of learning computer science on the Raspberry Pi, you might want to relax with a bit of nostalgia and exercise your thumbs with some retro gaming. Want to revisit your childhood memories of Pong? Ping away. Maybe your kids have been hounding you for a video game console but you don’t have the $300 to spring for a PS3. The Pi can help you with this and help teach your kids something, to boot. After some slight software configurations and a hardware purchase or two, you can relive the days of the almighty Atari 2600. Catch us after the break and we’ll show you how to get your Pi to play all your totally legal cartridge backups.
Getting your Raspberry Pi to play Pong is actually quite simple. Through a quick set of commands and a few configuration steps, you’ll be vaulted back in time and playing Atari on your tube. With that said, let’s get to blastin’ Asteroids!
NEW PRODUCT – Pi Holder milled aluminum case for Raspberry Pi with logo. This gorgeous and indestructable Raspberry Pi™ Case is as awesome as it is functional. Made in the U.S.A. by Barch Designs from Solid 6061-T6 Aircraft Grade Billet Aluminum which protects your Raspberry Pi from damage and also keeps your Pi running extra-cool by acting as a thermal heat sink (Please note: heat sinking is not required to use the Pi, but some people like having their Pi run cold)
The Pi Holder case is milled by Barch Designs on a CNC machine to exact tolerances. This allows just enough room for the Raspberry Pi to slide down into the case. Any bigger and the Pi would be loose and any smaller it would bind up.
NEW PRODUCT – Art Controller Relay Board Kit. The Art Controller is a multitalented, stand-alone relay module with microcontroller based timing and logic. Easier to adjust and more versatile than most other low-cost time-delay relay modules, the Art Controller can switch AC or DC loads and is reprogrammable to handle the most specialized applications.
The Art Controller gets its name from its inspiration. It was originally suggested by San Francisco Bay Area kinetic artists Christopher T. Palmer and Nemo Gould as a stand-alone device for triggering activating electronic art pieces that need to run for a little while after a button is pressed or a coin is inserted into a slot. And while it can do that (very well), it can be used in countless other jobs where you need to switch on (or off) an electronic load with a relay and timer.
Hardware features:
Recommended load rating: 24 V DC/40 VAC, 5 A (10 A, normally-open, only).
Screw terminals for relay contacts.
DIP switches to set timing.
Power indicator and relay state indicator LEDs.
On-board 5 V regulator; runs from 7-15 V DC, or can be run from 5 V directly.
Screw terminals for trigger and input power. Location for optional DC power barrel jack.
Pre-programmed AVR Microcontroller (Atmel ATtiny2313A), with 6-pin programming header
Standard timing features:
Time delay can be set from 1 second to 31 hours.
Time delay is set by DIP switches; no need to guess and check timing with an adjustment dial.
Can be triggered by any low-going signal, or external button, switch, or coin acceptor.
Versatile operating modes:
Can be run as a one-shot or repeating (automatic cycling) timer.
Can be configured to cancel the trigger if a second trigger input is received.
Can be set to automatically trigger at power-on.
And, that’s just with the standard firmware. You can customize every bit of the Art Controller’s behavior to your heart’s content by reprogramming the microcontroller.
The Sharp GP2Y0A02YK0F can be powered from the 5V supply on the Raspberry Pi. The Analog output is less than 3V and so can easily work with the logic level circuit. If you buy one of these look for thecable that goes with it to save you some bother.
This project builds on two previous projects in this blog. For the Analog to Digital SPI electronics and Python code first go here: Raspberry Pi hardware SPI analog inputs using the MCP3008. For the TextStar LCD first read this: Raspberry Pi with TextStar Serial LCD Display.
In the first video below the sensor is held in a clamp at the very top left of the picture. You can just about make out the display showing the distance to my hand. At the other end of the table there’s a chair so when I lift my hand up it shows the distance to that instead – about 118 cm. The second video is a close-up of the screen while I move my hand forward and backwards in front of the sensor. Again the jumps to 118 cm are when I raise a lower my hand.
Printable catalog (PDF)
FEED
