Tutorial: Blinking an LED with BeagleBone Black @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to control an external LED using a BeagleBone Black (BBB) from Python. Because the BBB runs Linux, there are many ways in which it can be programmed. In this tutorial we show how to control an output pin and hence LED using Python.

Learn (and blink) more!

After it’s built, using it is easy-as-pie. First, plug the Ethernet cable into any Internet provider in your home, work, hotel or conference/event. Next, power up the Pi with the micro USB cable to your laptop or to the wall adapter. The Pi will boot up and create a new secure wireless access point called Onion Pi. Connecting to that access point will automatically route any web browsing from your computer through the anonymizing Tor network.

This pack comes with everything you need, $108 of parts for $95 and we’ll donate a portion of each sale to the Tor foundation!

Each order comes with:

• Raspberry Pi Model B – has an Ethernet port, two USB ports and 512 MB of RAM
• Adafruit Pi Case – Keeps your Pi cozy and safe
• WiFi adapter with antenna – Plenty of range, this will be how you connect to the Pi proxy
• 10 foot Ethernet cable – connect this from your Pi to a router with Internet service
• MicroUSB cable – 3 feet long, great for powering your Pi
• 5V 1A power adapter – specially designed for the Pi
• USB console cable – good for debugging and setting up your Pi when running it without a monitor/keyboard
• 4 GB SD Card with Wheezy – a 4GB card with Raspbian 7 already installed.

The Onion Pi logo shown above for display only, it’s not a sticker or included!

You’ll still need to set up the access point and Tor software according to our tutorial. This project is best used by people with a little bit of command-line, linux or Raspberry Pi experience. If you’ve set up a Raspberry Pi and configured it before, this project will be a fun experience. We have tons of tutorials for exploring Raspberry Pi in the Adafruit Learning System

Please note! This is a new project and there may be updates and improvements over time!

In stock and anonymizing!

Tutorial: Setting up a Raspberry Pi as a WiFi access point @ The Adafruit Learning System.

Would you like to use your Pi as a WiFi router? Or maybe have it as a special filtering access point? Setting up a Pi as an access point (AP) is a bit more advanced than using it as a client, but its still only a half hour of typing to configure. If you want to, this tutorial will make it so the Pi broadcasts a WiFi service and then routes internet traffic to an Ethernet cable. Since its all Linux you can go in and update or configure it however you like.

Learn more!

The SensoGlove caught our eye– not because it promises to improve your golf swing, but because of the interesting sensors inside. So we did what comes naturally– took the device apart to figure out how it works! Check out the teardown on the Adafruit Learning System (complete with datasheets for the parts inside!). Watch the video on YouTube (please subscribe!) and Vimeo.

Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!

Updated Tutorial: Minty Boost @ Adafruit Learning System.

This project details a small & simple, but very powerful USB charger for your mp3 player, camera, cell phone, and just about any other gadget you can plug into a USB port to charge! (See below for compatibility tests.)

The charger circuitry and 2 AA batteries fit into an Altoids gum tin, and will run your iPod for hours! 2.5x more than you’d get from a 9V USB charger! (See Process for math/calculations) You can use rechargable batteries too.

Learn more!

Update tutorial: USBtinyISP @ Adafruit Learning System.

This is documentation for a simple open-source USB AVR programmer and SPI interface. It is low cost, easy to make, works great with avrdude, is AVRStudio-compatible and tested under Windows, Linux and MacOS X. Perfect for students and beginners, or as a backup programmer.

The project is based off of the USBtiny code & design. The main improvements are: adjusting the code to allow it to act as a SpokePOV interface, adding lowlevel bitbang commands, and addition of a “USB good” LED. Other changes are new VID/PID (to make it official), removing some of the commands, and moving around the pins a bit.

Learn more! and pick up a kit!

Sous-vide controller powered by Arduino – The SousViduino! @ The Adafruit Learning System. Turn an Arduino + inexpensive rice cooker into a precision instrument for molecular gastronomy!

“…far from being some passing high-tech fad, sous vide is a lasting contribution to fine cooking, a technique that makes it possible to cook foods more consistently and delicately than ever before.” (from “Under Pressure” by Thomas Keller)

Want to make delicious, perfectly-cooked food using a robot? Who doesn’t!? This project will show you how to build your own “Sous viduino”, an automated cooking pot that makes perfect eggs, succulent steaks and tender fish without the whole “slaving over a stove.” All this is possible due to a recent advancement in cooking technology – instead of using a pan or pot, a “sous vide” (pronounced suu veed) machine heats the food in sort of a cross between a jacuuzi and a crock pot.

Sous vide is rapidly becoming an important cooking technique in many of the very best restaurants in the world. Sous vide combines principles of molecular gastronomy with industrial temperature controls to precisely manage the chemical reactions of cooking.

We love good food as much as we love science and technology, so of course we had to build our own sous vide controller. This project turns an inexpensive rice cooker into a precision cooking instrument capable of maintaining cooking temperatures within +/-0.1 C.

By precisely controlling the temperature, you can ensure that foods are cooked exactly to the desired level of doneness and no-more. This makes sous vide the preferred cooking method for everything from the ‘perfect’ soft-boiled egg to the steak that is medium-rare from edge-to-edge.

Learn more!

Blinken-braces! Add color-changing LEDs to a pair of suspenders and hold your pants up in style. 30 NeoPixels are sewn to these suspenders, powered by a FLORA main board running a dazzling Pac Man-inspired animation. The battery pack goes in your pocket! Read the full tutorial to make your own pixel suspenders. Watch the video on YouTube (please subscribe!) and Vimeo. 

Project made with wearables assistant Risa Rose! Thanks to Shelly Lynch-Sparks and Johngineer for modeling.

Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!

The BeagleBone Black is being pitched as an American (Raspberry) Pi. It has a similar feature set, including video output. However, where as the Pi is intended as a general purpose Linux machine, the BBB (as we shall call it here) is much better equipped for connecting to external electronics, with many more GPIO pins, analog inputs and fast booting into Ångström Linux.

This lesson closely follows the ‘Getting Started’ documentation on the BeagleBone web site. http://beagleboard.org/Getting%20Started

Learn more!

Add a little TRON to your style with an easy-to-make light-up hair bow trimmed with EL wire. Make your own in large or small with our tutorial on the Adafruit Learning System and don’t miss the video on YouTube (please subscribe!) and Vimeo.

Portraits by Johngineer, project assistance by Risa Rose!

Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!

Ever wish your clothes could change color to match each other? Make a chameleon scarf to match every outfit using the Flora color sensor and 12 color-changing LED pixels diffused by a ruffly knit scarf. Check out the video on YouTube (please subscribe!) and Vimeo, and make your own with the full tutorial on the Adafruit Learning System.

Flora Color Sensor – TCS34725 – Your electronics can now see in dazzling color with this lovely color light sensor. We found the best color sensor on the market, the TCS34725, which has RGB and Clear light sensing elements. An IR blocking filter, integrated on-chip and localized to the color sensing photodiodes, minimizes the IR spectral component of the incoming light and allows color measurements to be made accurately. The filter means you’ll get much truer color than most sensors, since humans don’t see IR. The sensor also has an incredible 3,800,000:1 dynamic range with adjustable integration time and gain so it is suited for use behind darkened glass or fabric.

Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!

Tutorial: Adafruit Color Sensors @ The Adafruit Learning System.

Your electronics can now see in dazzling color with this lovely color light sensor. We found the best color sensor on the market, the TCS34725, which has RGB and Clear light sensing elements. An IR blocking filter, integrated on-chip and localized to the color sensing photodiodes, minimizes the IR spectral component of the incoming light and allows color measurements to be made accurately. The filter means you’ll get much truer color than most sensors, since humans don’t see IR. The sensor also has an incredible 3,800,000:1 dynamic range with adjustable integration time and gain so it is suited for use behind darkened glass.

We add supporting circuitry as well, such as a 3.3V regulator so you can power the breakout with 3-5VDC safely and level shifting for the I2C pins so they can be used with 3.3V or 5V logic. Finally, we specified a nice neutral 4150°K temperature LED with a MOSFET driver onboard to illuminate what you’re trying to sense. The LED can be easily turned on or off by any logic level output.

For more flexibility, we’ve made two different versions of this board: A breadboard-friendly breakout, and a wearable version designed to work with the Flora wearable platform.

Stay tuned, on Wearable Wednesday we’re going to have an amazing project you can build these color sensors and FLORA!

Make your logo light up with this simple Converse sneaker mod. All you need is EL panel and an inverter tucked into the tongue of your shoe to get the stars in your Chuck Taylors glowing. Two styles! Watch the video on YouTube (please subscribe!) or Vimeo, and catch the complete tutorial on the Adafruit Learning System.

Tutorial: Character LCD System Monitor @ Adafruit Learning System

This guide walks through the process of assembling and configuring our LCD displays with USB/serial backpack and stand as a realtime system monitor. These displays are great for monitoring the health and status of “headless” systems such as servers, small Raspberry Pi installations, or as an auxiliary information display on your regular computer. You can get one of our cute acrylic stands in the Adafruit shop.

Learn more!

This is a very simple FLORA project with no soldering– a single NeoPixel lights up on an embroidered angler fish on a pair of shorts. The main board is stitched on the front of the design, in the belly of the fish. A snap is used on the fin as a digital switch, triggering a color change in the pixel in the angler’s lure. Follow the circuit diagram to stitch up this circuit, and tuck the battery in the pocket.

Watch the video on YouTube (please subscribe!) or Vimeo, and catch the complete angler fish embroidery guide on the Adafruit Learning System.

Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!

Tutorial: 1.8″ TFT Display Breakout and Shield @ The Adafruit Learning System.

This tutorial is for our 1.8″ diagonal TFT display. It comes packaged as a breakout or as an Arduino shield. Both styles have a microSD interface for storing files and images. These are both great ways to add a small, colorful and bright display to any project. Since the display uses 4-wire SPI to communicate and has its own pixel-addressable frame buffer, it requires little memory and only a few pins. This makes it ideal for use with small microcontrollers.

The shield version plugs directly into an Arduino with no wiring required. The breakout version can be used with every kind of microcontroller.

Learn more.

Tutorial: Affordable HAL 9000 Replica @ The Adafruit Learning System. Why yes, Dave. As a matter of fact I CAN do that.

The Pareto Principle — also known as the 80/20 Rule — is the idea (originally from economics, but now applied in many ways) that 80% of results stem from 20% of the effort.

Devoted film fans will spend countless hours and hundreds of dollars (occasionally even thousands) to create flawless replica props for their personal collections. The iconic eye of HAL 9000 from 2001: a Space Odyssey is one such object of desire…popular enough that detailed (and pricey) licensed reproductions exist. This is cool stuff! But if we relax our criteria just a bit, you or I can turn out a pretty decent, recognizable facsimile in a weekend for just a small fraction of the cost. The 80/20 rule in action!

We’re not selling a prop or even a kit here…that would raise a big licensing stink, so please don’t ask. What follows are some ideas on creating one yourself. Much like our not-a-Back-to-the-Future-clock project, the concept came about when customers noted that a component already in our shop resembled an unrelated film item — in this case, our Massive Red Arcade Button and HAL’s distinctive lens.

Learn more.

Low Level Magstripe Reading @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In order to get raw parsed data out of a magstripe reader, we first experiemented with a MAGTEK Centurion Keyboard Encoder (PN-21073062). We found that although we could get all 3 tracks of data, it was not possible to have it parsed out. We then purchased a raw magstripe decoder head with track 1 reading, the Omron V3A-6 (Datasheet here). By writing some parity checking code, we were able to read the raw data off of the magstripe, and parse it into output that would be ‘typed out’ as an emulated keyboard using a USB-enabled Teensy. An Arduino can also be used, and the data would be output as Serial which may also be useful.

Learn more.

Updated tutorial: TV-B-Gone Kit @ The Adafruit Learning System.

Tired of all those LCD TVs everywhere?
Want a break from advertisements while you’re trying to eat?
Want to zap screens from across the street?

The new Universal TV-B-Gone kit is what you need! This ultra-high-power version of the popular TV-B-Gone is fun to make and even more fun to use.

Built in co-operation with Mitch Altman (the inventor of the TV-B-Gone) this kit is a great way to build something truly useful!

Learn more!

Make a Raspberry Pi WiFi Radio @ The Adafruit Learning System.

Raspberry Pi, the little wonder-puter that’s taken the world by storm, is so affordable that we can create nifty single-purpose “appliances” around them without shame. Here’s our take on one of the more popular such applications: internet streaming media, the Pandora music service specifically.

With the addition of a small LCD, a few buttons and a USB wireless network adapter, the Raspberry Pi becomes an affordable self-contained music streamer that can be moved to any room of the house…wherever you need your tunes at the moment. Just connect power and speakers or headphones.

Learn more!

Bedazzler @ The Adafruit Learning System.

Our first open source Homeland Security non-lethal weapon project – The “THE BEDAZZLER: A Do-it-yourself Handheld LED-Incapacitator”.

After attending a conference where the $1 million “sea-sick flashlight” (named “THE DAZZLER”) was demonstrated by the US Dept. of Homeland Security, we decided to create our own version. For under $250, you can build your own dazzler and we’ve released the source code, schematics and PCB files to make it easy. A great Arduino project for people who really like blinking LEDs. We also added in a mode selection so you can put it into some pretty color-swirl modes, great for raves and parties!

This is another (old) tutorial we’ve moved over to the new learning system, enjoy!

Tutorial: Game Grrl @ The Adafruit Learning System.

Working on my thesis…when I really just wanted to play some Arkanoid. Unfortunately, my original NES was busted a long time ago (blinky), and furthermore I didnt even have a TV. Lucky for me I had a couple things kicking around my workbench that did the trick. This is a design for a very simple, very inexpensive portable Nintendo gaming system with built in games. Theres no provision for cartridges, but its comfy to play.

By Ladyada, back in the day’ – an oldie but a goodie

Tutorial: Large Pi-based Thermometer and Clock @ The Adafruit Learning System.

This project combines a whole heap of modules to enable a Raspberry Pi to power a large 1.2 inch 4 digit 7 segment display. A small switch switches the display between showing the temperature and the current time. The project uses a real-time clock (RTC) to ensure that the Pi always has the correct time, even if it is not connected to the Internet.

Learn more!

Selecting an Arduino!.

There are many different Arduino and Arduino Compatible microcontroller boards. Which one is right for your needs? This guide will help you to select a board that best fits your project requirements and/or level of expertise. Whether you are just learning the ropes or have specific project requirements in mind, the Adafruit Arduino Selection Guide can help you to make the right choice.

Learn more.

How to – Use the Raspberry Pi as a Media Center @ The Adafruit Learning System.

The low cost and full HD video playing capabilities of the Raspberry Pi make it ideal for building your own media center. This will allow you to play music and videos through your Raspberry Pi onto a TV.

Learn more!

Using an IR Remote with a Raspberry Pi Media Center @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to use an Infrared remote with a Raspberry Pi configured as a media center. The IR receiver is attached to the GPIO connector on the Raspberry Pi.

Learn more.

TMP006 Infrared Sensor Breakout @ The Adafruit Learning System.

Unlike most temperature sensors, the TMP006 does not require contact with the object it is measuring. It uses a very sensitive thermopile to measure the infrared energy being emitted from the surface of the object.

This sensor works best with objects that are good emitters of infrared radiation. The ideal emitter is a completely non-reflective surface or “black body”. Black anodized aluminum or cast iron are pretty good emitters. Polished metal surfaces are very poor emitters, but can usually be turned into a good emitter with a bit of flat-black paint.

The TMP006 works with 3v to 5v, so it can be used with most microcontrollers without the need for a level shifter. It connects via the i2c bus and is addressable so you can have up to 8 TMP006 sensors on the same bus.

Learn more.

How to Find Hidden COM Ports @ The Adafruit Learning System.

This mini tutorial will show you how you can find and uninstall all those extra COM ports you may have registered from years of microcontroller-hacking.

You may have noticed that every time a new FTDI-based board is plugged in, you get a new COM port. You might also get new COM port assignment with adapters, etc. Eventually you can get into pretty high COM port numbers and that can be really annoying! For example, on my 6-month old Windows 7 install I’m already up to COM38!

Learn more!

Arduino Lesson 17. Email Sending Movement Detector @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson you will learn how to use a PIR movement detector with an Arduino and to have the Arduino communicate with a Python program running on your computer to send an email whenever movement is detected by the sensor.

Learn more!

More lessons:
Arduino Lesson 16. Stepper Motors.
Arduino Lesson 15. Motor Reversing.
Arduino Lesson 14. Servo Motors.
Arduino Lesson 13. DC Motors.
Arduino Lessons 11 & 12. LCD Displays (Part 1 & 2).
Arduino Lesson 10. Making Sounds.
Arduino Lesson 9. Sensing Light.
Arduino Lesson 8. Analog Inputs.
Arduino Lesson 7. Make an RGB LED Fader.
Arduino Lesson 6. Digital Inputs.
Arduino Lesson 5. The Serial Monitor.
Arduino Lesson 4. Eight LEDs and a Shift Register.
Arduino Lesson 3. RGB LEDs.
Arduino Lesson 2. LEDs.
Arduino Lesson 1. Blink.
Arduino Lesson 0. Getting Started with Arduino.
All About Arduino Libraries.

Tutorial: Multi-Cell LiPo Charging @ The Adafruit Learning System. How to charge your multi-cell LiPo packs!

Lithium Polymer Batteries pack a lot of power in a small package. But they can be tricky to charge safely. The Adafruit LiPo Chargers all provide a charging cycle designed to safely charge 3.7v Lithium Polymer cells. But what if your project needs more than 3.7v?

Simply pumping more voltage into a multi-cell pack is risky. If the cells become unbalanced, some will end up with more of a charge than others. When put into service, the cells with the higher charge will end up working harder than the other cells. This will have an adverse effect on the capacity of the pack. Over time, it can result in damage and/or failure of one or more cells. And LiPo failures have been known to be quite spectacular.

Learn more!

Updated tutorial! Laser Cut PCB Stencils @ The Adafruit Learning System.

How to Make PCB Solder Paste Stencils!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 13. Power Control @ The Adafruit Learning System. Control 110V devices from your Raspberry Pi.

The Raspberry Pi can make a great home automation controller. But to be really useful, it needs to be able to turn electrical appliances and lights on and off. That means it needs to be able to control 110V safely. In this lesson, you will combine the PIR sensor from [Lesson 12] with the Powerswitch Tail 2 module from Adafruit, to automatically switch something on when movement is detected.

Learn more.

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 12. Sensing Movement @ The Adafruit Learning System. Sense movement and doors opening with your Raspberry Pi.

In this lesson, you will learn how to use the digital inputs on the GPIO connector with a door sensor and a PIR motion detector. In this lesson, we will concentrate on sensing movement and activation of the door switch. In Lesson 13 we will build on this security sensing to have the Pi use a digital output to control the power to an electrical appliance when movement is detected.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 11. DS18B20 Temperature Sensing @ The Adafruit Learning System.

The Occidentalis Linux distribution for Raspberry Pi (and Raspbian as of Dec 2012) includes support for the DS18B20 1-wire temperature sensor. These sensors come in a small three pin package like a transistor and are accurate digital devices.

In this lesson, you will learn how to use a DS18B20 with the Raspberry Pi to take temperature readings.

Since the Raspberry Pi has no ADC (Analog to Digital Converter), it cannot directly use an analog temperature sensor like the TMP36, making the DS18B20 a good choice for temperature sensing.

Learn more!

OAdafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 10. Stepper Motors @ The Adafruit Learning System. Control a stepper motor with a L293D or ULN2803 -

Stepper motors fall somewhere in between a regular DC motor (Lesson 9) and a servo motor (Lesson 8]). They have the advantage that they can be positioned accurately, moved forward or backwards one ‘step’ at a time, but they can also rotate continuously.

In this lesson you will learn how to control a stepper motor using your Raspberry Pi and the same L293D motor control chip that you used with the DC motor in Lesson 9.

The Lesson will also show you how to use an alternative driver chip, the ULN2803.

For this project, it does not really matter if you use a L293D or a ULN2803. The lower cost of the ULN2803 and the four spare outputs, that you could use for something else, probably make it the best choice if you don’t have either chip.

The motor is quite low power and suffers less from the surges in current than DC motors and servos (which use DC motors). This project will therefore work okay powered from the 5V line of the Raspberry Pi, as long as the Pi is powered from a good supply of at least 1A.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 9. Controlling a DC Motor @ The Adafruit Learning System. Drive a DC motor forward and in reverse with variable speed -

This lesson describes how to control both the speed and direction of a DC motor using Python and a L293D chip.  In Lesson 8, we used the Pi to generate pulses to control the position of a servo motor. In this lesson we use pulses to control the speed of a regular DC motor and the L293D motor control chip to reverse the direction of the current through the motor and hence the direction in which it turns.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 8. Using a Servo Motor @ The Adafruit Learning System.

This lesson describes how to control a single servo motor using Python. Servo motors are controlled by pulses of varying lengths. This requires fairly accurate timing. The Raspberry Pi has one pin that generates pulses in hardware, without having to rely on the operating system. Occidentalis includes an interface to make use of this pin for controlling a servo motor.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 7. Remote Control with VNC @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson we will explain how to install and use VNC on your raspberry Pi. This will allow you to see your Raspberry Pi’s desktop remotely in a graphical way, using the mouse as if you were sitting in front of your Pi.

Connecting to a Pi like this can save on desktop clutter, and the problem of having multiple keyboards and mice all over the place. It also means you can put your Pi somewhere else on the network, but still control it.

Learn more.

Tutorial: Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 6. Using SSH @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson you will learn how to remote control your Raspberry Pi over your local network using Secure Shell (SSH). A common reason for remote controlling your Pi from another computer us that you may be using your Pi solely to control some electronics and therefore not need a keyboard, mouse and monitor, other than for setting it up. It also can just save on desktop clutter, and the problem of having multiple keyboards and mice all over the place.

Learn more.

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 5. Using a Console Cable @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson you will learn how to remote control your Raspberry Pi with a console cable. The great advantage of connecting this way is that it can even supply the power for your Pi and you do not need keyboard, mouse or display attached to the Pi to log into it.

You will need to install terminal emulation software (ZOC) and also USB drivers for the Console Lead. ZOC is available for Mac and Windows and allows you to communicate through a serial port from your Mac or PC to another computer – in this case the Raspberry Pi.

The Raspberry Pi uses its built-in serial port to allow devices to connect to its console and issue commands just as if you were logged in.

In the next lesson, we will look at another way of doing much the same thing but over a local network using something called SSH.

Learn more.

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 4. GPIO Setup @ The Adafruit Learning System. Learn how to setup your Pi for Hacking Electronics!

One of the great things about the Raspberry Pi is that it has a GPIO connector to which you can attach external hardware.

Learn more!

Tutorial: Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 3. Network Setup @ The Adafruit Learning System.

One of the first things that you will want to do is to get your Raspberry Pi connected up to the Internet.

In this lesson, you will learn how to:

• Connect using an Ethernet cable
• Use a WiFi adapter with both Raspbian and Occidentalis
• Find out the IP address of your Raspberry Pi

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 2. First Time Configuration @ THe Adafruit Learning System. Set up your Raspberry Pi for the first time!

In the first lesson of this series, we showed you how to prepare an SD card containing an operating system for your Raspberry Pi. In this lesson, we will show you how to setup your Raspberry Pi the first time you boot it up.

We do this using a tool called Raspi-Config that runs automatically the first time you boot your Raspberry Pi. This starts before the windowing system and so you have to use the cursor keys and Return key to navigate the menu system.

It is a bit like adjusting the BIOS settings on a PC, once you have things right, you probably won’t need it again.

We will start with the options that are most important and then look at some of the other options that you may wish to configure.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 1. Preparing and SD Card for your Raspberry Pi @ The Adafruit Learning System. A new series of of tutorials here at Adafruit by the prolific Simon Monk!

When you buy a Raspberry Pi, it may or may not be sold with an SD card. The SD card is important because this is where the Raspberry Pi keeps its operating system and is also where you will store your documents and programs.  

Even if your Pi came with an SD card with the operating system on, it is a good idea to update it to the latest version, as improvements and bug fixes are going in all the time. Since putting the operating system onto an SD card wipes everything else off the card, it is worth considering using a USB flash drive for your documents, so that when you install a new version of the operating system, you dont’ have the complication of copying them off somewhere self before reformatting the SD card.

If your Pi did not come with an SD card then the minimum size you should get is 4GB, but buy a bigger SD card if you think you will need the space.
This lesson shows you how to create an SD card for your Raspberry Pi.

Learn more!

This tutorial is about batteries (if you couldn’t tell) – and how to decide which batteries will run your project best! I’ll cover both rechargeable and “one shot” batteries, trying to cover everything I’ve learned about these surprisingly-complex electronic components!

Learn more!

One of our favorite tools in the Adafruit factory is our laser cutter. A laser cutter is a tool made of an XY plotter with a bed about 12″x24″ in size. Instead of a plotting pen, a laser beam is fired so that any shape can be cut out of a flat piece of plastic, wood, fabric, leather, etc. Even though laser cutters can only cut out of flat materials they are surprisingly versatile. By snapping together pieces and gluing or screwing parts together a full enclosure can be made.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 12. Sensing Movement @ The Adafruit Learning System. Sense movement and doors opening with your Raspberry Pi.

In this lesson, you will learn how to use the digital inputs on the GPIO connector with a door sensor and a PIR motion detector. In this lesson, we will concentrate on sensing movement and activation of the door switch. In Lesson 13 we will build on this security sensing to have the Pi use a digital output to control the power to an electrical appliance when movement is detected.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 11. DS18B20 Temperature Sensing @ The Adafruit Learning System.

The Occidentalis Linux distribution for Raspberry Pi (and Raspbian as of Dec 2012) includes support for the DS18B20 1-wire temperature sensor. These sensors come in a small three pin package like a transistor and are accurate digital devices.

In this lesson, you will learn how to use a DS18B20 with the Raspberry Pi to take temperature readings.

Since the Raspberry Pi has no ADC (Analog to Digital Converter), it cannot directly use an analog temperature sensor like the TMP36, making the DS18B20 a good choice for temperature sensing.

Learn more!

OAdafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 10. Stepper Motors @ The Adafruit Learning System. Control a stepper motor with a L293D or ULN2803 -

Stepper motors fall somewhere in between a regular DC motor (Lesson 9) and a servo motor (Lesson 8]). They have the advantage that they can be positioned accurately, moved forward or backwards one ‘step’ at a time, but they can also rotate continuously.

In this lesson you will learn how to control a stepper motor using your Raspberry Pi and the same L293D motor control chip that you used with the DC motor in Lesson 9.

The Lesson will also show you how to use an alternative driver chip, the ULN2803.

For this project, it does not really matter if you use a L293D or a ULN2803. The lower cost of the ULN2803 and the four spare outputs, that you could use for something else, probably make it the best choice if you don’t have either chip.

The motor is quite low power and suffers less from the surges in current than DC motors and servos (which use DC motors). This project will therefore work okay powered from the 5V line of the Raspberry Pi, as long as the Pi is powered from a good supply of at least 1A.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 9. Controlling a DC Motor @ The Adafruit Learning System. Drive a DC motor forward and in reverse with variable speed -

This lesson describes how to control both the speed and direction of a DC motor using Python and a L293D chip.  In Lesson 8, we used the Pi to generate pulses to control the position of a servo motor. In this lesson we use pulses to control the speed of a regular DC motor and the L293D motor control chip to reverse the direction of the current through the motor and hence the direction in which it turns.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 8. Using a Servo Motor @ The Adafruit Learning System.

This lesson describes how to control a single servo motor using Python. Servo motors are controlled by pulses of varying lengths. This requires fairly accurate timing. The Raspberry Pi has one pin that generates pulses in hardware, without having to rely on the operating system. Occidentalis includes an interface to make use of this pin for controlling a servo motor.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 7. Remote Control with VNC @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson we will explain how to install and use VNC on your raspberry Pi. This will allow you to see your Raspberry Pi’s desktop remotely in a graphical way, using the mouse as if you were sitting in front of your Pi.

Connecting to a Pi like this can save on desktop clutter, and the problem of having multiple keyboards and mice all over the place. It also means you can put your Pi somewhere else on the network, but still control it.

Learn more.

Tutorial: Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 6. Using SSH @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson you will learn how to remote control your Raspberry Pi over your local network using Secure Shell (SSH). A common reason for remote controlling your Pi from another computer us that you may be using your Pi solely to control some electronics and therefore not need a keyboard, mouse and monitor, other than for setting it up. It also can just save on desktop clutter, and the problem of having multiple keyboards and mice all over the place.

Learn more.

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 5. Using a Console Cable @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson you will learn how to remote control your Raspberry Pi with a console cable. The great advantage of connecting this way is that it can even supply the power for your Pi and you do not need keyboard, mouse or display attached to the Pi to log into it.

You will need to install terminal emulation software (ZOC) and also USB drivers for the Console Lead. ZOC is available for Mac and Windows and allows you to communicate through a serial port from your Mac or PC to another computer – in this case the Raspberry Pi.

The Raspberry Pi uses its built-in serial port to allow devices to connect to its console and issue commands just as if you were logged in.

In the next lesson, we will look at another way of doing much the same thing but over a local network using something called SSH.

Learn more.

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 4. GPIO Setup @ The Adafruit Learning System. Learn how to setup your Pi for Hacking Electronics!

One of the great things about the Raspberry Pi is that it has a GPIO connector to which you can attach external hardware.

Learn more!

Tutorial: Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 3. Network Setup @ The Adafruit Learning System.

One of the first things that you will want to do is to get your Raspberry Pi connected up to the Internet.

In this lesson, you will learn how to:

• Connect using an Ethernet cable
• Use a WiFi adapter with both Raspbian and Occidentalis
• Find out the IP address of your Raspberry Pi

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 2. First Time Configuration @ THe Adafruit Learning System. Set up your Raspberry Pi for the first time!

In the first lesson of this series, we showed you how to prepare an SD card containing an operating system for your Raspberry Pi. In this lesson, we will show you how to setup your Raspberry Pi the first time you boot it up.

We do this using a tool called Raspi-Config that runs automatically the first time you boot your Raspberry Pi. This starts before the windowing system and so you have to use the cursor keys and Return key to navigate the menu system.

It is a bit like adjusting the BIOS settings on a PC, once you have things right, you probably won’t need it again.

We will start with the options that are most important and then look at some of the other options that you may wish to configure.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 1. Preparing and SD Card for your Raspberry Pi @ The Adafruit Learning System. A new series of of tutorials here at Adafruit by the prolific Simon Monk!

When you buy a Raspberry Pi, it may or may not be sold with an SD card. The SD card is important because this is where the Raspberry Pi keeps its operating system and is also where you will store your documents and programs.  

Even if your Pi came with an SD card with the operating system on, it is a good idea to update it to the latest version, as improvements and bug fixes are going in all the time. Since putting the operating system onto an SD card wipes everything else off the card, it is worth considering using a USB flash drive for your documents, so that when you install a new version of the operating system, you dont’ have the complication of copying them off somewhere self before reformatting the SD card.

If your Pi did not come with an SD card then the minimum size you should get is 4GB, but buy a bigger SD card if you think you will need the space.
This lesson shows you how to create an SD card for your Raspberry Pi.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 11. DS18B20 Temperature Sensing @ The Adafruit Learning System.

The Occidentalis Linux distribution for Raspberry Pi (and Raspbian as of Dec 2012) includes support for the DS18B20 1-wire temperature sensor. These sensors come in a small three pin package like a transistor and are accurate digital devices.

In this lesson, you will learn how to use a DS18B20 with the Raspberry Pi to take temperature readings.

Since the Raspberry Pi has no ADC (Analog to Digital Converter), it cannot directly use an analog temperature sensor like the TMP36, making the DS18B20 a good choice for temperature sensing.

Learn more!

OAdafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 10. Stepper Motors @ The Adafruit Learning System. Control a stepper motor with a L293D or ULN2803 -

Stepper motors fall somewhere in between a regular DC motor (Lesson 9) and a servo motor (Lesson 8]). They have the advantage that they can be positioned accurately, moved forward or backwards one ‘step’ at a time, but they can also rotate continuously.

In this lesson you will learn how to control a stepper motor using your Raspberry Pi and the same L293D motor control chip that you used with the DC motor in Lesson 9.

The Lesson will also show you how to use an alternative driver chip, the ULN2803.

For this project, it does not really matter if you use a L293D or a ULN2803. The lower cost of the ULN2803 and the four spare outputs, that you could use for something else, probably make it the best choice if you don’t have either chip.

The motor is quite low power and suffers less from the surges in current than DC motors and servos (which use DC motors). This project will therefore work okay powered from the 5V line of the Raspberry Pi, as long as the Pi is powered from a good supply of at least 1A.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 9. Controlling a DC Motor @ The Adafruit Learning System. Drive a DC motor forward and in reverse with variable speed -

This lesson describes how to control both the speed and direction of a DC motor using Python and a L293D chip.  In Lesson 8, we used the Pi to generate pulses to control the position of a servo motor. In this lesson we use pulses to control the speed of a regular DC motor and the L293D motor control chip to reverse the direction of the current through the motor and hence the direction in which it turns.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 8. Using a Servo Motor @ The Adafruit Learning System.

This lesson describes how to control a single servo motor using Python. Servo motors are controlled by pulses of varying lengths. This requires fairly accurate timing. The Raspberry Pi has one pin that generates pulses in hardware, without having to rely on the operating system. Occidentalis includes an interface to make use of this pin for controlling a servo motor.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 7. Remote Control with VNC @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson we will explain how to install and use VNC on your raspberry Pi. This will allow you to see your Raspberry Pi’s desktop remotely in a graphical way, using the mouse as if you were sitting in front of your Pi.

Connecting to a Pi like this can save on desktop clutter, and the problem of having multiple keyboards and mice all over the place. It also means you can put your Pi somewhere else on the network, but still control it.

Learn more.

Tutorial: Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 6. Using SSH @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson you will learn how to remote control your Raspberry Pi over your local network using Secure Shell (SSH). A common reason for remote controlling your Pi from another computer us that you may be using your Pi solely to control some electronics and therefore not need a keyboard, mouse and monitor, other than for setting it up. It also can just save on desktop clutter, and the problem of having multiple keyboards and mice all over the place.

Learn more.

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 5. Using a Console Cable @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson you will learn how to remote control your Raspberry Pi with a console cable. The great advantage of connecting this way is that it can even supply the power for your Pi and you do not need keyboard, mouse or display attached to the Pi to log into it.

You will need to install terminal emulation software (ZOC) and also USB drivers for the Console Lead. ZOC is available for Mac and Windows and allows you to communicate through a serial port from your Mac or PC to another computer – in this case the Raspberry Pi.

The Raspberry Pi uses its built-in serial port to allow devices to connect to its console and issue commands just as if you were logged in.

In the next lesson, we will look at another way of doing much the same thing but over a local network using something called SSH.

Learn more.

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 4. GPIO Setup @ The Adafruit Learning System. Learn how to setup your Pi for Hacking Electronics!

One of the great things about the Raspberry Pi is that it has a GPIO connector to which you can attach external hardware.

Learn more!

Tutorial: Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 3. Network Setup @ The Adafruit Learning System.

One of the first things that you will want to do is to get your Raspberry Pi connected up to the Internet.

In this lesson, you will learn how to:

• Connect using an Ethernet cable
• Use a WiFi adapter with both Raspbian and Occidentalis
• Find out the IP address of your Raspberry Pi

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 2. First Time Configuration @ THe Adafruit Learning System. Set up your Raspberry Pi for the first time!

In the first lesson of this series, we showed you how to prepare an SD card containing an operating system for your Raspberry Pi. In this lesson, we will show you how to setup your Raspberry Pi the first time you boot it up.

We do this using a tool called Raspi-Config that runs automatically the first time you boot your Raspberry Pi. This starts before the windowing system and so you have to use the cursor keys and Return key to navigate the menu system.

It is a bit like adjusting the BIOS settings on a PC, once you have things right, you probably won’t need it again.

We will start with the options that are most important and then look at some of the other options that you may wish to configure.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 1. Preparing and SD Card for your Raspberry Pi @ The Adafruit Learning System. A new series of of tutorials here at Adafruit by the prolific Simon Monk!

When you buy a Raspberry Pi, it may or may not be sold with an SD card. The SD card is important because this is where the Raspberry Pi keeps its operating system and is also where you will store your documents and programs.  

Even if your Pi came with an SD card with the operating system on, it is a good idea to update it to the latest version, as improvements and bug fixes are going in all the time. Since putting the operating system onto an SD card wipes everything else off the card, it is worth considering using a USB flash drive for your documents, so that when you install a new version of the operating system, you dont’ have the complication of copying them off somewhere self before reformatting the SD card.

If your Pi did not come with an SD card then the minimum size you should get is 4GB, but buy a bigger SD card if you think you will need the space.
This lesson shows you how to create an SD card for your Raspberry Pi.

Learn more!

Tutorial: Stereo 3.7W Class D Audio Amplifier @ The Adafruit Learning System.

This incredibly small stereo amplifier is surprisingly powerful – able to deliver 2 x 3.7W channels into 3 ohm impedance speakers. Inside the miniature chip is a class D controller, able to run from 2.7V-5.5VDC. Since the amp is a class D, its incredibly efficient (over 90% efficient when driving an 8Ω speaker at over a Watt).

This amplifier is perfect for portable and battery-powered projects. It has built in thermal and over-current protection, but you really have to drive it hard before it even gets warm! This board is a welcome upgrade to basic “LM386″ amps!

Learn more and check out the Adafruit Stereo 3.7W Class D Audio Amplifier – MAX98306.

OAdafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 10. Stepper Motors @ The Adafruit Learning System. Control a stepper motor with a L293D or ULN2803 -

Stepper motors fall somewhere in between a regular DC motor (Lesson 9) and a servo motor (Lesson 8]). They have the advantage that they can be positioned accurately, moved forward or backwards one ‘step’ at a time, but they can also rotate continuously.

In this lesson you will learn how to control a stepper motor using your Raspberry Pi and the same L293D motor control chip that you used with the DC motor in Lesson 9.

The Lesson will also show you how to use an alternative driver chip, the ULN2803.

For this project, it does not really matter if you use a L293D or a ULN2803. The lower cost of the ULN2803 and the four spare outputs, that you could use for something else, probably make it the best choice if you don’t have either chip.

The motor is quite low power and suffers less from the surges in current than DC motors and servos (which use DC motors). This project will therefore work okay powered from the 5V line of the Raspberry Pi, as long as the Pi is powered from a good supply of at least 1A.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 9. Controlling a DC Motor @ The Adafruit Learning System. Drive a DC motor forward and in reverse with variable speed -

This lesson describes how to control both the speed and direction of a DC motor using Python and a L293D chip.  In Lesson 8, we used the Pi to generate pulses to control the position of a servo motor. In this lesson we use pulses to control the speed of a regular DC motor and the L293D motor control chip to reverse the direction of the current through the motor and hence the direction in which it turns.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 8. Using a Servo Motor @ The Adafruit Learning System.

This lesson describes how to control a single servo motor using Python. Servo motors are controlled by pulses of varying lengths. This requires fairly accurate timing. The Raspberry Pi has one pin that generates pulses in hardware, without having to rely on the operating system. Occidentalis includes an interface to make use of this pin for controlling a servo motor.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 7. Remote Control with VNC @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson we will explain how to install and use VNC on your raspberry Pi. This will allow you to see your Raspberry Pi’s desktop remotely in a graphical way, using the mouse as if you were sitting in front of your Pi.

Connecting to a Pi like this can save on desktop clutter, and the problem of having multiple keyboards and mice all over the place. It also means you can put your Pi somewhere else on the network, but still control it.

Learn more.

Tutorial: Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 6. Using SSH @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson you will learn how to remote control your Raspberry Pi over your local network using Secure Shell (SSH). A common reason for remote controlling your Pi from another computer us that you may be using your Pi solely to control some electronics and therefore not need a keyboard, mouse and monitor, other than for setting it up. It also can just save on desktop clutter, and the problem of having multiple keyboards and mice all over the place.

Learn more.

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 5. Using a Console Cable @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson you will learn how to remote control your Raspberry Pi with a console cable. The great advantage of connecting this way is that it can even supply the power for your Pi and you do not need keyboard, mouse or display attached to the Pi to log into it.

You will need to install terminal emulation software (ZOC) and also USB drivers for the Console Lead. ZOC is available for Mac and Windows and allows you to communicate through a serial port from your Mac or PC to another computer – in this case the Raspberry Pi.

The Raspberry Pi uses its built-in serial port to allow devices to connect to its console and issue commands just as if you were logged in.

In the next lesson, we will look at another way of doing much the same thing but over a local network using something called SSH.

Learn more.

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 4. GPIO Setup @ The Adafruit Learning System. Learn how to setup your Pi for Hacking Electronics!

One of the great things about the Raspberry Pi is that it has a GPIO connector to which you can attach external hardware.

Learn more!

Tutorial: Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 3. Network Setup @ The Adafruit Learning System.

One of the first things that you will want to do is to get your Raspberry Pi connected up to the Internet.

In this lesson, you will learn how to:

• Connect using an Ethernet cable
• Use a WiFi adapter with both Raspbian and Occidentalis
• Find out the IP address of your Raspberry Pi

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 2. First Time Configuration @ THe Adafruit Learning System. Set up your Raspberry Pi for the first time!

In the first lesson of this series, we showed you how to prepare an SD card containing an operating system for your Raspberry Pi. In this lesson, we will show you how to setup your Raspberry Pi the first time you boot it up.

We do this using a tool called Raspi-Config that runs automatically the first time you boot your Raspberry Pi. This starts before the windowing system and so you have to use the cursor keys and Return key to navigate the menu system.

It is a bit like adjusting the BIOS settings on a PC, once you have things right, you probably won’t need it again.

We will start with the options that are most important and then look at some of the other options that you may wish to configure.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 1. Preparing and SD Card for your Raspberry Pi @ The Adafruit Learning System. A new series of of tutorials here at Adafruit by the prolific Simon Monk!

When you buy a Raspberry Pi, it may or may not be sold with an SD card. The SD card is important because this is where the Raspberry Pi keeps its operating system and is also where you will store your documents and programs.  

Even if your Pi came with an SD card with the operating system on, it is a good idea to update it to the latest version, as improvements and bug fixes are going in all the time. Since putting the operating system onto an SD card wipes everything else off the card, it is worth considering using a USB flash drive for your documents, so that when you install a new version of the operating system, you dont’ have the complication of copying them off somewhere self before reformatting the SD card.

If your Pi did not come with an SD card then the minimum size you should get is 4GB, but buy a bigger SD card if you think you will need the space.
This lesson shows you how to create an SD card for your Raspberry Pi.

Learn more!

We have a new alpha release of the Rapsberry Pi WebIDE ready to go.  This latest version is primarily bug fixes, but it does have one new feature!  We’ve added the ability to create folders at all levels of your project to help with organization of those more complex projects.

The new changes for the 0.3.2 version of the WebIDE are as follows:

• Navigator: Add ability to create folders at all levels.
• Debugger: Fix display of local vs global variables.
• Terminal: Set terminal width based on containing parent, use entire width and height.
• Terminal: Resize browser window resizes terminal appropriately.
• Remove file creation and uploads in Adafruit repository (it would fail anyways) project

Also, 0.3.1 had been previously released with a single fix as follows:

• Fix for debugger hanging when stderr is written from script being debug.

Upgrading from 0.2.0 and higher

You can upgrade from 0.2.0 and higher from within the editor.  If you’d like the increased speed using the new node binaries, you’ll want to uninstall/install again.

1. Ensure that your code is safely saved in your repository at bitbucket.org.
2. Login to the editor.
3. Click Update in the upper right.
4. Update should take about a minute.

Upgrading From 0.1.9 and lower

To install this new editor, you’ll want to completely remove your old editor, and run the installation script again.

1. Ensure that your code is safely saved in your repository at bitbucket.org.
2. Uninstall using the following script
   1. curl https://raw.github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-WebIDE/release/scripts/uninstall.sh | sh
3. Either make sure there are no rogue node processes running, or restart your Pi.
4. Install the new and improved WebIDE
5. curl https://raw.github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-WebIDE/alpha/scripts/install.sh | sudo sh

Debugging with the Raspberry Pi WebIDE

The Raspberry Pi WebIDE includes an advanced, yet easy to use tool, to help you work through code that you’ve downloaded or written in Python.

If you haven’t used a debugger, either on the command line or in an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), hopefully this guide will help you understand why you’d want to do so, and how to effectively debug your code.

Learn more!

Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit, be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Have you tried the new “Adafruit Raspberry Pi Educational Linux Distro” ? It’s our tweaked distribution for teaching electronics using the Raspberry Pi. But wait, there’s more! Try our new Raspberry Pi WebIDE! The easiest way to learn programming on a Raspberry Pi.

We now have Raspberry Pi Model B with 512MB RAM in stock and shipping now!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 9. Controlling a DC Motor @ The Adafruit Learning System. Drive a DC motor forward and in reverse with variable speed -

This lesson describes how to control both the speed and direction of a DC motor using Python and a L293D chip.  In Lesson 8, we used the Pi to generate pulses to control the position of a servo motor. In this lesson we use pulses to control the speed of a regular DC motor and the L293D motor control chip to reverse the direction of the current through the motor and hence the direction in which it turns.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 8. Using a Servo Motor @ The Adafruit Learning System.

This lesson describes how to control a single servo motor using Python. Servo motors are controlled by pulses of varying lengths. This requires fairly accurate timing. The Raspberry Pi has one pin that generates pulses in hardware, without having to rely on the operating system. Occidentalis includes an interface to make use of this pin for controlling a servo motor.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 7. Remote Control with VNC @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson we will explain how to install and use VNC on your raspberry Pi. This will allow you to see your Raspberry Pi’s desktop remotely in a graphical way, using the mouse as if you were sitting in front of your Pi.

Connecting to a Pi like this can save on desktop clutter, and the problem of having multiple keyboards and mice all over the place. It also means you can put your Pi somewhere else on the network, but still control it.

Learn more.

Tutorial: Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 6. Using SSH @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson you will learn how to remote control your Raspberry Pi over your local network using Secure Shell (SSH). A common reason for remote controlling your Pi from another computer us that you may be using your Pi solely to control some electronics and therefore not need a keyboard, mouse and monitor, other than for setting it up. It also can just save on desktop clutter, and the problem of having multiple keyboards and mice all over the place.

Learn more.

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 5. Using a Console Cable @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson you will learn how to remote control your Raspberry Pi with a console cable. The great advantage of connecting this way is that it can even supply the power for your Pi and you do not need keyboard, mouse or display attached to the Pi to log into it.

You will need to install terminal emulation software (ZOC) and also USB drivers for the Console Lead. ZOC is available for Mac and Windows and allows you to communicate through a serial port from your Mac or PC to another computer – in this case the Raspberry Pi.

The Raspberry Pi uses its built-in serial port to allow devices to connect to its console and issue commands just as if you were logged in.

In the next lesson, we will look at another way of doing much the same thing but over a local network using something called SSH.

Learn more.

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 4. GPIO Setup @ The Adafruit Learning System. Learn how to setup your Pi for Hacking Electronics!

One of the great things about the Raspberry Pi is that it has a GPIO connector to which you can attach external hardware.

Learn more!

Tutorial: Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 3. Network Setup @ The Adafruit Learning System.

One of the first things that you will want to do is to get your Raspberry Pi connected up to the Internet.

In this lesson, you will learn how to:

• Connect using an Ethernet cable
• Use a WiFi adapter with both Raspbian and Occidentalis
• Find out the IP address of your Raspberry Pi

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 2. First Time Configuration @ THe Adafruit Learning System. Set up your Raspberry Pi for the first time!

In the first lesson of this series, we showed you how to prepare an SD card containing an operating system for your Raspberry Pi. In this lesson, we will show you how to setup your Raspberry Pi the first time you boot it up.

We do this using a tool called Raspi-Config that runs automatically the first time you boot your Raspberry Pi. This starts before the windowing system and so you have to use the cursor keys and Return key to navigate the menu system.

It is a bit like adjusting the BIOS settings on a PC, once you have things right, you probably won’t need it again.

We will start with the options that are most important and then look at some of the other options that you may wish to configure.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 1. Preparing and SD Card for your Raspberry Pi @ The Adafruit Learning System. A new series of of tutorials here at Adafruit by the prolific Simon Monk!

When you buy a Raspberry Pi, it may or may not be sold with an SD card. The SD card is important because this is where the Raspberry Pi keeps its operating system and is also where you will store your documents and programs.  

Even if your Pi came with an SD card with the operating system on, it is a good idea to update it to the latest version, as improvements and bug fixes are going in all the time. Since putting the operating system onto an SD card wipes everything else off the card, it is worth considering using a USB flash drive for your documents, so that when you install a new version of the operating system, you dont’ have the complication of copying them off somewhere self before reformatting the SD card.

If your Pi did not come with an SD card then the minimum size you should get is 4GB, but buy a bigger SD card if you think you will need the space.
This lesson shows you how to create an SD card for your Raspberry Pi.

Learn more!

Conductive Thread – 10 Tips on YouTube (please subscribe!) and Vimeo.

New tutorial! Conductive thread– sewing with steel! We’ve put together an ever-growing collection of tips and techniques for conductive thread.

Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!

Tutorial: Adafruit Triple Axis Gyro Breakout.

The Adafruit Triple Axis Gyro Breakout is based on the STMicro L3GD20 MEMS digital output gyroscope chip. We include a 3.3v regulator on board for compatibility with 5v controllers like the Arduino. And there are 4 holes so that it can be rigidly mounted.

The triple-axis gyro sensor is a MEMS (Micro Electrical Mechanical System) device consisting of 3 micro-machined ‘tuning fork’ structures on a silicon wafer. These structures are designed to vibrate when stimulated by an electrical signal. When rotated about the axis of the tuning fork, the tines will deflect due to the Coriolis force. This deflection is proportional to the speed of rotation.

The 3 MEMS structures are arranged orthogonally, on the X, Y and Z axis. Deflection on each tuning fork is detected as a change in capacitance between sensing plates built into the MEMS structure and converted to a degrees-per-second rotation rate for each of the three axis.

Learn more!

New Year’s Resolutions From 10 Top Minds and Makers @ Wired Design.

Every New Year people around the globe resolve to get healthy by joining gyms, eating better and quitting the detrimental habits that we complain about for the remaining eleven and a half months. We applaud those efforts, but propose that in 2013, we don’t just work on our waistlines, but on our hacking, coding, soldering and making skills as well.

We’ve gathered 10 DIY experts to get their proposed New Year’s resolutions, including repurposing forgotten materials and 3-D printing less stuff. And documenting projects better, something you’ll hear from a few of them. Read up, then get to your workshop.

Here’s to an inspired and productive 2013.

Read more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 7. Remote Control with VNC @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson we will explain how to install and use VNC on your raspberry Pi. This will allow you to see your Raspberry Pi’s desktop remotely in a graphical way, using the mouse as if you were sitting in front of your Pi.

Connecting to a Pi like this can save on desktop clutter, and the problem of having multiple keyboards and mice all over the place. It also means you can put your Pi somewhere else on the network, but still control it.

Learn more.

Tutorial: Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 6. Using SSH @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson you will learn how to remote control your Raspberry Pi over your local network using Secure Shell (SSH). A common reason for remote controlling your Pi from another computer us that you may be using your Pi solely to control some electronics and therefore not need a keyboard, mouse and monitor, other than for setting it up. It also can just save on desktop clutter, and the problem of having multiple keyboards and mice all over the place.

Learn more.

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 5. Using a Console Cable @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson you will learn how to remote control your Raspberry Pi with a console cable. The great advantage of connecting this way is that it can even supply the power for your Pi and you do not need keyboard, mouse or display attached to the Pi to log into it.

You will need to install terminal emulation software (ZOC) and also USB drivers for the Console Lead. ZOC is available for Mac and Windows and allows you to communicate through a serial port from your Mac or PC to another computer – in this case the Raspberry Pi.

The Raspberry Pi uses its built-in serial port to allow devices to connect to its console and issue commands just as if you were logged in.

In the next lesson, we will look at another way of doing much the same thing but over a local network using something called SSH.

Learn more.

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 4. GPIO Setup @ The Adafruit Learning System. Learn how to setup your Pi for Hacking Electronics!

One of the great things about the Raspberry Pi is that it has a GPIO connector to which you can attach external hardware.

Learn more!

Tutorial: Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 3. Network Setup @ The Adafruit Learning System.

One of the first things that you will want to do is to get your Raspberry Pi connected up to the Internet.

In this lesson, you will learn how to:

• Connect using an Ethernet cable
• Use a WiFi adapter with both Raspbian and Occidentalis
• Find out the IP address of your Raspberry Pi

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 2. First Time Configuration @ THe Adafruit Learning System. Set up your Raspberry Pi for the first time!

In the first lesson of this series, we showed you how to prepare an SD card containing an operating system for your Raspberry Pi. In this lesson, we will show you how to setup your Raspberry Pi the first time you boot it up.

We do this using a tool called Raspi-Config that runs automatically the first time you boot your Raspberry Pi. This starts before the windowing system and so you have to use the cursor keys and Return key to navigate the menu system.

It is a bit like adjusting the BIOS settings on a PC, once you have things right, you probably won’t need it again.

We will start with the options that are most important and then look at some of the other options that you may wish to configure.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 1. Preparing and SD Card for your Raspberry Pi @ The Adafruit Learning System. A new series of of tutorials here at Adafruit by the prolific Simon Monk!

When you buy a Raspberry Pi, it may or may not be sold with an SD card. The SD card is important because this is where the Raspberry Pi keeps its operating system and is also where you will store your documents and programs.  

Even if your Pi came with an SD card with the operating system on, it is a good idea to update it to the latest version, as improvements and bug fixes are going in all the time. Since putting the operating system onto an SD card wipes everything else off the card, it is worth considering using a USB flash drive for your documents, so that when you install a new version of the operating system, you dont’ have the complication of copying them off somewhere self before reformatting the SD card.

If your Pi did not come with an SD card then the minimum size you should get is 4GB, but buy a bigger SD card if you think you will need the space.
This lesson shows you how to create an SD card for your Raspberry Pi.

Learn more!

Tutorial: Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 6. Using SSH @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson you will learn how to remote control your Raspberry Pi over your local network using Secure Shell (SSH). A common reason for remote controlling your Pi from another computer us that you may be using your Pi solely to control some electronics and therefore not need a keyboard, mouse and monitor, other than for setting it up. It also can just save on desktop clutter, and the problem of having multiple keyboards and mice all over the place.

Learn more.

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 5. Using a Console Cable @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson you will learn how to remote control your Raspberry Pi with a console cable. The great advantage of connecting this way is that it can even supply the power for your Pi and you do not need keyboard, mouse or display attached to the Pi to log into it.

You will need to install terminal emulation software (ZOC) and also USB drivers for the Console Lead. ZOC is available for Mac and Windows and allows you to communicate through a serial port from your Mac or PC to another computer – in this case the Raspberry Pi.

The Raspberry Pi uses its built-in serial port to allow devices to connect to its console and issue commands just as if you were logged in.

In the next lesson, we will look at another way of doing much the same thing but over a local network using something called SSH.

Learn more.

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 4. GPIO Setup @ The Adafruit Learning System. Learn how to setup your Pi for Hacking Electronics!

One of the great things about the Raspberry Pi is that it has a GPIO connector to which you can attach external hardware.

Learn more!

Tutorial: Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 3. Network Setup @ The Adafruit Learning System.

One of the first things that you will want to do is to get your Raspberry Pi connected up to the Internet.

In this lesson, you will learn how to:

• Connect using an Ethernet cable
• Use a WiFi adapter with both Raspbian and Occidentalis
• Find out the IP address of your Raspberry Pi

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 2. First Time Configuration @ THe Adafruit Learning System. Set up your Raspberry Pi for the first time!

In the first lesson of this series, we showed you how to prepare an SD card containing an operating system for your Raspberry Pi. In this lesson, we will show you how to setup your Raspberry Pi the first time you boot it up.

We do this using a tool called Raspi-Config that runs automatically the first time you boot your Raspberry Pi. This starts before the windowing system and so you have to use the cursor keys and Return key to navigate the menu system.

It is a bit like adjusting the BIOS settings on a PC, once you have things right, you probably won’t need it again.

We will start with the options that are most important and then look at some of the other options that you may wish to configure.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 1. Preparing and SD Card for your Raspberry Pi @ The Adafruit Learning System. A new series of of tutorials here at Adafruit by the prolific Simon Monk!

When you buy a Raspberry Pi, it may or may not be sold with an SD card. The SD card is important because this is where the Raspberry Pi keeps its operating system and is also where you will store your documents and programs.  

Even if your Pi came with an SD card with the operating system on, it is a good idea to update it to the latest version, as improvements and bug fixes are going in all the time. Since putting the operating system onto an SD card wipes everything else off the card, it is worth considering using a USB flash drive for your documents, so that when you install a new version of the operating system, you dont’ have the complication of copying them off somewhere self before reformatting the SD card.

If your Pi did not come with an SD card then the minimum size you should get is 4GB, but buy a bigger SD card if you think you will need the space.
This lesson shows you how to create an SD card for your Raspberry Pi.

Learn more!

Arduino Lesson 15. DC Motor Reversing @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson, you will learn how to control both the direction and speed of a small DC motor using an Arduino and the L293D motor driver chip. The project uses a pot to control the speed of the motor and a push button to control the direction.

Learn more!

Previous lessons:
Arduino Lesson 14. Servo Motors
Arduino Lesson 13. DC Motors
Arduino Lesson 12. LCD Displays – Part 2
Arduino Lesson 11. LCD Displays – Part 1
Arduino Lesson 10. Making Sounds.
Arduino Lesson 9. Sensing Light.
Arduino Lesson 8. Analog Inputs.
Arduino Lesson 7. Make an RGB LED Fader
Arduino Lesson 6. Digital Inputs
Arduino Lesson 5. The Serial Monitor
Arduino Lesson 4. Eight LEDs and a Shift Register
Arduino Lesson 3. RGB LEDs
Arduino Lesson 2. LEDs
Arduino Lesson 1. Blink

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 5. Using a Console Cable @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson you will learn how to remote control your Raspberry Pi with a console cable. The great advantage of connecting this way is that it can even supply the power for your Pi and you do not need keyboard, mouse or display attached to the Pi to log into it.

You will need to install terminal emulation software (ZOC) and also USB drivers for the Console Lead. ZOC is available for Mac and Windows and allows you to communicate through a serial port from your Mac or PC to another computer – in this case the Raspberry Pi.

The Raspberry Pi uses its built-in serial port to allow devices to connect to its console and issue commands just as if you were logged in.

In the next lesson, we will look at another way of doing much the same thing but over a local network using something called SSH.

Learn more.

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 4. GPIO Setup @ The Adafruit Learning System. Learn how to setup your Pi for Hacking Electronics!

One of the great things about the Raspberry Pi is that it has a GPIO connector to which you can attach external hardware.

Learn more!

Tutorial: Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 3. Network Setup @ The Adafruit Learning System.

One of the first things that you will want to do is to get your Raspberry Pi connected up to the Internet.

In this lesson, you will learn how to:

• Connect using an Ethernet cable
• Use a WiFi adapter with both Raspbian and Occidentalis
• Find out the IP address of your Raspberry Pi

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 2. First Time Configuration @ THe Adafruit Learning System. Set up your Raspberry Pi for the first time!

In the first lesson of this series, we showed you how to prepare an SD card containing an operating system for your Raspberry Pi. In this lesson, we will show you how to setup your Raspberry Pi the first time you boot it up.

We do this using a tool called Raspi-Config that runs automatically the first time you boot your Raspberry Pi. This starts before the windowing system and so you have to use the cursor keys and Return key to navigate the menu system.

It is a bit like adjusting the BIOS settings on a PC, once you have things right, you probably won’t need it again.

We will start with the options that are most important and then look at some of the other options that you may wish to configure.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 1. Preparing and SD Card for your Raspberry Pi @ The Adafruit Learning System. A new series of of tutorials here at Adafruit by the prolific Simon Monk!

When you buy a Raspberry Pi, it may or may not be sold with an SD card. The SD card is important because this is where the Raspberry Pi keeps its operating system and is also where you will store your documents and programs.  

Even if your Pi came with an SD card with the operating system on, it is a good idea to update it to the latest version, as improvements and bug fixes are going in all the time. Since putting the operating system onto an SD card wipes everything else off the card, it is worth considering using a USB flash drive for your documents, so that when you install a new version of the operating system, you dont’ have the complication of copying them off somewhere self before reformatting the SD card.

If your Pi did not come with an SD card then the minimum size you should get is 4GB, but buy a bigger SD card if you think you will need the space.
This lesson shows you how to create an SD card for your Raspberry Pi.

Learn more!

Tutorial: Arduino Lesson 14. Servo Motors @ The Adafruit Learning System.

In this lesson, you will learn how to control a servo motor using an Arduino. Firstly, you will get the servo to sweep back and forth automatically and then you will add a pot to control the position of the servo.

Learn more.

Previous lessons:
Arduino Lesson 13. DC Motors
Arduino Lesson 12. LCD Displays – Part 2
Arduino Lesson 11. LCD Displays – Part 1
Arduino Lesson 10. Making Sounds.
Arduino Lesson 9. Sensing Light.
Arduino Lesson 8. Analog Inputs.
Arduino Lesson 7. Make an RGB LED Fader
Arduino Lesson 6. Digital Inputs
Arduino Lesson 5. The Serial Monitor
Arduino Lesson 4. Eight LEDs and a Shift Register
Arduino Lesson 3. RGB LEDs
Arduino Lesson 2. LEDs
Arduino Lesson 1. Blink

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 4. GPIO Setup @ The Adafruit Learning System. Learn how to setup your Pi for Hacking Electronics!

One of the great things about the Raspberry Pi is that it has a GPIO connector to which you can attach external hardware.

Learn more!

Tutorial: Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 3. Network Setup @ The Adafruit Learning System.

One of the first things that you will want to do is to get your Raspberry Pi connected up to the Internet.

In this lesson, you will learn how to:

• Connect using an Ethernet cable
• Use a WiFi adapter with both Raspbian and Occidentalis
• Find out the IP address of your Raspberry Pi

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 2. First Time Configuration @ THe Adafruit Learning System. Set up your Raspberry Pi for the first time!

In the first lesson of this series, we showed you how to prepare an SD card containing an operating system for your Raspberry Pi. In this lesson, we will show you how to setup your Raspberry Pi the first time you boot it up.

We do this using a tool called Raspi-Config that runs automatically the first time you boot your Raspberry Pi. This starts before the windowing system and so you have to use the cursor keys and Return key to navigate the menu system.

It is a bit like adjusting the BIOS settings on a PC, once you have things right, you probably won’t need it again.

We will start with the options that are most important and then look at some of the other options that you may wish to configure.

Learn more!

Adafruit’s Raspberry Pi Lesson 1. Preparing and SD Card for your Raspberry Pi @ The Adafruit Learning System. A new series of of tutorials here at Adafruit by the prolific Simon Monk!

When you buy a Raspberry Pi, it may or may not be sold with an SD card. The SD card is important because this is where the Raspberry Pi keeps its operating system and is also where you will store your documents and programs.  

Even if your Pi came with an SD card with the operating system on, it is a good idea to update it to the latest version, as improvements and bug fixes are going in all the time. Since putting the operating system onto an SD card wipes everything else off the card, it is worth considering using a USB flash drive for your documents, so that when you install a new version of the operating system, you dont’ have the complication of copying them off somewhere self before reformatting the SD card.

If your Pi did not come with an SD card then the minimum size you should get is 4GB, but buy a bigger SD card if you think you will need the space.
This lesson shows you how to create an SD card for your Raspberry Pi.

Learn more!