Accessories, GPIO boards, Raspberry Pi Foundation

VGA GPIO adapter for the Raspberry Pi goes open source

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Photo credit: Alex Eames

Gert Van Loo has just open-sourced the files for a new VGA adapter that plugs into the GPIO pins of the Raspberry Pi Model B+. You can find the source files on GitHub. The adapter, which was first covered on the RasPi.TV blog is not generally available to buy, so it’s hoped that someone out there will get together a group of people to buy them in bulk (single PCBs being a bit expensive). If you are interested in getting hold of one or more adapters, perhaps you could leave a comment on this blog post and we’ll see what we can do about production. It’s great that Gert has thought about surface-mounted and through-hole resistors – it means that it would be possible for an amateur to put one together.

If you’d like more information, you can read about the board over at the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Events, Raspberry Jams

Two Raspberry Jams this weekend – Blackpool & Berlin

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Just spreading the Jam again 🙂

This weekend there are two Raspberry Jams happening. One is in Blackpool, UK.

The Blackpool Jam is being held at the Palatine Library, on St Annes Rd (FY4 2AP) from 1pm until 4pm. You can get (free) tickets from EventBrite by visiting the Blackpool Jam website.

The other Jam is in Berlin, Germany.

The Berlin Jam is being held at the co-up (5th floor) Adalbertstr. 8 (10999) from 12pm-6pm. You can get (free) tickets from EventBrite by going here.

They’re intending to do some kind of live link-up between the two events, which is exciting.

If you can make it to either of these events, Les Pounder (Blackpool) and James Mitchell (Berlin) will be glad to see you!

Cases, Crowdfunding

LEGO-compatible Raspberry Pi B+ case launched on Kickstarter

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Tom Murray has created a great case for the Model B+ and is currently trying to crowd-fund it through Kickstarter.

The SmartiPi is a case that has a LEGO-compatible top. It’s got the following features:

  • Permanently embedded 2×6 Lego® compatible plates.
  • Included is a 6×10 Lego® compatible plate that can be snapped onto the embedded 2×6 plates. This makes the top flush.
  • Screw together construction with 4 screws included.
  • 3 holes which line up with 75mm vesa mounts
  • Areas in housing for routing through zip ties and/or twine.
  • Quick wall mount eyelets on back.
  • Stacking features on bottom allow for stacking of multiple SmartiPi cases.
  • Feature on housing can be used with GoPro® mounts (bolt included).
  • Holes for DSI and CSI cable routing.
  • Compatible with 40 pin GPIO connector (secondary strain relief must be removed, if applicable).
  • Visual access to LEDs.

There’s also a camera case that goes with it and a GoPro tripod mount too.

Tom’s clearly thought a lot about the design of his product and he’s already done 3D-printed prototypes which look great. If you’re in the USA, you can get the case on it’s own for $13 and you can get the main case and the camera case together for $17. If you’re not in the USA, it’s $17 (approx £10.50) and $21 (£13). This puts the case in the same cost bracket as the full PiBow, for example.

I think it’s great value and will be backing it myself. At $14k (because he needs all kinds of moulds made) it’ll have to go some, but I think it deserves to!

Back it here and view more information on the website here.