Alex Eames, from RasPiO, has just launched his latest crowdfunding campaign over on his website. He is hoping to fund the Breadboard Pi Bridge which is an easy way to bridge the gap between a Raspberry Pi and a breadboard, get solid connections and generally make your life easier. This is one of those “I wish I’d thought of that” products!
The bridge sits on top of your Pi’s GPIO pins and then breaks the pins out (backwards) and then plugs into the supplied breadboard. The pins are, in typical “Alex style”, in numerical, Broadcom, order. In simple terms, this means things like GPIO Zero will “just work” as they use the Broadcom numbering system. So, no more hunting around for the right pin. The kit (which needs to be soldered) comes with perspex plates for the bottom and to cover the Pi (if you wish) and all the fixings you need. It also comes with a selection of LEDs and resistors, and an extra wire if you want to connect up the “other” Ground rail on the breadboard. In fact, it comes with everything you see in the picture below. The only thing it doesn’t come with is the Pi itself, but I’m pretty sure you know where to go for one of them by now!
It’s a really neat product, I think, and solves the problem, particularly in education (but for hobbyists, too) of connecting things up incorrectly.
The Bridge costs £12 plus (very reasonable) shipping, but you can get it for £1 cheaper on an Earlybird basis by using the code “EARLY” at the checkout (this applies to the first 100 purchases or 24 hours after launch, whichever is reached first). There are also free gifts for multiple purchases, but I won’t go into those here – take a look at the page for details.
You can see more details and grab a Breadboard Pi Bridge here. If you want to read a bit about the development of the product, take a look at this post over at RasPi.TV.
Alex will only be putting this into production if 400 units are sold, so I hope some of you, at least, will see the benefits of it. I’ve already pledged in the hope that it will be successful.
