Raspberry Pi Pod and micro:bit base

For those not aware of the Picorder project, read more here.

As with all best laid plans, they are susceptible to Murphy’s Law – all that can go wrong, will go wrong.

I was just about to go out to the Cambridge Raspberry Jam, with all my work on the PPC so far ready to go… Then I decided to test it.

At which point the Bluetooth connection to my Rii Keyboard/pad didn’t work and then… to top it all off… after all my work on my 7″ screen, that stopped working too.

Felt rather deflated after that so didn’t go to the Jam. Wish I had have done, but the old depression came back so didn’t.

Anyway, so this is a quick update to say what works and what doesn’t:

• The enclosure – a portable DVD player stripped out. This was okay, slightly reliant on electrical tape holding it together, but okay… Apart from space. I’ve decided to switch enclosure (not sure for definite what yet but the top candidate is an old Playstation 1) as I need more space for the hub, breadboard and Pi.
• Circuitry – I picked up a Pi Plate to solder a semi-permanent bunch of stuff eventually, but for now it’s done on a breadboard.
• Sensors – got the TMP102 temperature sensor working very well, plus a script to round the reading to 1 decimal place. Also got the SR04 ultrasonic sensor working reading distances based on the speed of sound and converting them to centimetres. Very cool, though a bit inaccurate as it has a 15 degree reading field of ‘vision’.
• Display – had a 7″ composite screen working. Having shortened and soldered the cable, everything was lovely up until I decided to test it (see above). Now it is powered but no signal. Joy. I’m determined it will form part of the PiPodCorder, but might have to use it ‘just’ for maintenance/debugging. At least until touchscreens come down a bit.
• Readout – the 16×2 LCD display is working again (after a rather fraught few hours with a Pi Cobbler from Adafruit). Not displaying text, but the backlight is back anyway! This is a prime candidate for fixing to the Pi Plate.
• Pi Cobbler – mine arrived… I soldered it… I soldered it again… I still have at least one pin not working. This would make life a lot easier. I’m wanting it so that I can solder things to the Pi Plate for ‘permanent’ and then use the Cobbler out to a breadboard for developing functions.

Not much what you’d call actual progress, but it does mean I now have Fritzing diagrams of all my circuits so pulling the breadboard wires out doesn’t hold so much fear now.

Short term: enclosure, screen, LCD.

Long term: Cobbler, plate.

And by long term, I mean in time for the MK Raspberry Jam… Next Sunday!!! Yikes!