Gary Sims over at MakeTechEasier has written a brief tutorial about installing ‘mono’ and programming in C# on the Pi and compiling programs so that they can be used on both the Pi and on Windows. He also covers installing the MonoDevelop IDE. Read it here
Home Energy Centre using a #RaspberryPi and Nook Simple Touch
Raspberry Pi Foundation forum user Gaz99 has developed a Home Energy Centre which uses a Pi to collect Solar PV data and Solar Thermal (hot water) information along with the weather and turn this into an easy to understand display that is displayed on a Nook Simple Touch e-reader, or a browser or smartphone. You can read more on his blog.
#RaspberryPi Pi in the Sky becomes a proper board
Dave Akerman has worked with Anthony Stirk to create a new GPIO board for the Pi to facilitate high altitude ballooning launches. Called Pi in the Sky, the board comes with the following features:
- Efficient built-in power regulator providing run time of over 20 hours from 4 AA cells
- Highly sensitive UBlox GPS receiver approved for altitudes up to 50km
- Temperature compensated, frequency agile, 434MHz radio transmitter
- Temperature sensor
- Battery voltage monitoring
- Sockets for external i2c devices, analog input, external temperature sensor
- Allows use of Raspbery Pi camera
- Mounting holes and spacers for a solid connection to the Pi
… and comes with a full software suite to complement the outstanding hardware.
Beta testers have successfully flown their sample boards and the production boards are expected to be available mid-late July.
Seven Segments of Pi at the BBC
Guest post from Nevil Hunt of Innovations in Education
I have been invited to the BBC/Google “Computing for a new Generation” Conference at Media City on the 2nd July where I will be demonstrating…
A – Seven Segments of Pi – “Possibly the Simplest Games Console in the World!”
Write software for a “PiDice”, a “PiStopWatch”, and the game “Figure Eight My Pi” – “Could this be your first step to becoming the next generation of Computer Games Designer?”
B – The PiTrol – “Control your Pi with the PiTrol!”
“Pi” shaped Games Controller with Joystick & PushButtons interfaced to GPIO. Modify games to control them using The PiTrol or write new single player computer games.
“Could this be your second step to becoming the next generation of Computer Games Designer?”
C – PiDapter – “P1 Adapter for The PiTrol!”
The PiDapter allows 2 PiTrols to connect to the Raspberry Pi. You can modify games to create 2 player versions or write new 2 player computer games. “Could this be your third step to becoming the next generation of Computer Games Designer?”
If you are attending the BBC Conference on the 2nd July feel free to drop by for a demo! If not I will also be at the Cambridge Raspberry Jam on the 5th July, or visit my Web Sites www.SevenSegmentsOfPi.com www.ThePiTrol.com and www.PiDapter.com
– Nevil
New podcast for the #RaspberryPi launched
Russell Barnes, previously editor of Linux User and Developer magazine and now working freelance, has just launched RasPi.today – a website hosting his podcasts. He’s released three short podcasts so far with (I hope) many more to follow. You can listen to the podcasts by heading over to his new site.
Weather station with the #PiTFT
Jamie Jackson has written some code that uses the weather.com API to pull a weather forecast into his Pi. He then displays it on his PiTFT using some icons he downloaded. It’s a neat little set-up that is well worth a go if you like to be kept up to date on all things meteorological (and yes, I did use spell-checker for that!). Read all about it here