RaspberryPi Case; add a GPIO slot

Our Computer Science students have just started hanging components on the RaspberryPi GPIO.

However, the nice cases that protect the RaspberryPi also make it difficult to connect wires to the P1 connector.

Rather than removing the lid from all boxes completely, I decided to cut a slot in the top, just large enough for nimble young fingers to connect insulated jumper wires.

Class Notes; #2 Using Breadboard for the Flashing LED Circuit

Teachers having to train themselves for the new English Computer Science syllabus, have a lot to learn in a short time.

 

Many have no experience of handling and working with electronic components, as I recently discovered.

So this post expands upon my earlier post: How To Drive LEDs From A RaspberryPi, and is taken directly from my class notes produced for young Computer Science students.

RaspberryPi GPIO; Using Gambas

The digital IO on the RaspberryPi is very useful for reading switches and turning on relays, lights and driving small motors....

...and controlling the digital IO with Gambas turns out to be really easy.

Here is a very basic example which makes use of the wiringPi library written by Gordon Henderson.

Class notes; How To Drive LEDs From A RaspberryPi

I was asked recently to help with a RaspberryPi training session for a group of young Computer Science pupils.

 

So this post is simply the hand-outs from this session.

BirdBoxPiCam 2014; #2 Activity Based Power-up & Power-down

Although the power drawn by the RaspberryPi is very low for a computer, its still significant for battery powered equipment such as my bird box monitor.

So here is an idea to reduce power consumption during periods of inactivity.

During the early weeks of the nesting season, visits by birds to garden nest boxes may be infrequent. Typically here in southern England, garden birds may start checking out nest sites during February, with more activity running into April, when nest building typically gets under way.

RaspberryPi: keeping time without the internet

The RaspberryPi does not have a real time clock (rtc) so normally requires an internet connection to reset the time and date from a time server.

 

For my BirdBox 2014 project I need to be able to time-stamp files & data, but it would not matter if the system time was a few minutes out either way, so I have been considering the options.

One popular solution is to connect a small rtc board to the RaspberryPi. These boards are small, low cost, and include a lithium backup battery.

BirdBoxPiCam 2014; #1 The Plan

I bought my first Raspberry Pi mid-2012 with the idea of using it with a bird box camera.

 

Unfortunately there were problems with the EzCap video capture module driver, and I have still not been able to get this going.

However, now armed with a PiCam I'm hoping for better luck with my new project.

How to quickly (and safely) defrost the freezer

So, some clown left the freezer door open last night, and now you have ice, lots of ice.

Or if you've been away for the weekend and left the door slightly ajar, you now have an alpine glacier running through your kitchen!

How do you defrost a vertical freezer quickly, before your valuable stock of burgers go all mushie?

Lubuntu Keyboard Shortcuts

The one thing I hate about my lovely ASUS X401A laptop is the touch-pad.

Its just a plastic rectangle that clicks when you press along three of the sides.

I guess there are two problems with my touch-pad:-

1. Clicking the mouse tends to move the cursor, so I often select the wrong menu option or highlight the wrong text
2. When typing, the cursor sometimes moves, so text gets inserted in the wrong part of the document (maybe my hands get too close to the touch-pad)

Since the laptop boasts "...palm proof technology..." I suspect my problems are due to either the Linux touch-pad driver, or its configuration settings.