Alex Eames has written a great blog post in which he wires up and uses a 7-segment display using the Raspberry Pi. The display, which is of the common cathode type, has 4 digits and Alex shows you how to get resistors in place to prevent the display from burning out. He then provides the Python code to display things on the unit. He is offering kits for £12, including postage, which I think is good value for money considering what is contained in it (pictured below). Read the blog post here.
Tim Richardson, Jamie Mann (of The Pi Hut) and myself are very proud to announce the official launch of CamJam EduKit number 3. This one is all about Robotics and provides (almost) everything you need to build your own Raspberry Pi-powered motorised buggy. The best news is that everything comes pre-soldered so there is no excuse not to get started! 🙂
All you need to provide is: a chassis (use your imagination or use the box the kit comes in!), 4 AA batteries and a screwdriver.
As always, Tim has worked his socks off to create a series of worksheets that take you through from first Pi principles to using every component included in the kit. These worksheets are available to download for free from the CamJam website.
Here’s Alex Eames’ take on the kit, published on his site, RasPi.TV.
Here is a complete walk-through of the kit from The Raspberry Pi Guy (Matthew Timmons-Brown):
Here is a great video of a completed robot in action from Alex Eames:
And here is an ‘unboxing’ video from “Average Man”, Richard Saville:
We hope that everyone who buys the EduKit will have great fun with it. We’ve worked really hard to make the kit as fully-featured as possible, giving you the option of both manual remote-control and two ways of autonomous operation. There’s plenty of stuff to learn and play around with and, we think, it represents great value for money at £17. So, if you’d like to buy the EduKit, head over to The Pi Hut!
We’d like to extend our thanks to the beta testers and reviewers who have looked over the kit and provided feedback, photos and videos!
Main photo at the top of the page by Alex Eames, RasPi.TV
Martin O’Hanlon has previously used Pi Aware to access publicly available data about aircraft positions. Now he has taken his work further by creating a RADAR system that displays aircraft positions relative to your GPS co-ordinates. It’s a great example of taking a simple API and creating something great from the data. All the code is available on his website, so head over there to find out more.
The next Barcelona Raspberry Jam will take place on 14th November from 10am-5pm at Makers of Barcelona. The full programme is now available and you can book free tickets here.
Friday saw astronaut Tim Peake and Astro Pi competition winner Hannah Belshaw being interviewed on the BBC’s magazine programme The One Show. If you’re in the UK, you can watch the episode online via BBC iPlayer. Tim and Hannah talk about Astro Pi 9 minutes 15 seconds in. Read more about the appearance on the Raspberry Pi blog and read more about Astro Pi itself on the dedicated website.
Exciting news on the crowdfunding front today. The creators of Pi Top, the first Raspberry Pi laptop, have launched a new campaign to fund their desktop offering, the Pi-TopCEED.
The Pi-TopCEED offers you a Pi-based workstation with a 13.3″ HD LCD screen surrounded by a case that has an integrated stand. You then simply plug in a keyboard and mouse and away you go. The campaign offers the whole workstation, including a Raspberry Pi 2, for $99 plus shipping (which is around $19). Also available is a Pi-less option for $70. That’s $70 for a 13.3″ HD screen, case and stand. Both of these pledge levels are outstanding, in my opinion, and make a pretty portable HD screen really affordable.
Also included in the pledge level that includes the Pi is an SD card pre-loaded with pi-topOS which seems, from screenshots and videos, to be a very robust, user-friendly OS. Included in the OS is access to CEEDuniverse, which is an online multiplayer game that seeks to enhance learning through play. You also gain access to the Pi Top community which is beginning to establish itself following the successful shipping of the laptop products.
Estimated delivery for the CEED is April next year which I would say is very ambitious – be aware most crowdfunding campaigns deliver late. At least they’re not promising delivery before Christmas! 😉
I’ve already chosen to back the campaign and I hope you’ll give it strong consideration. It’s got the verbal backing of Eben Upton, CEO of Raspberry Pi Trading, so clearly the product prototypes have been impressive.
I wish the team, led by Jesse and Ryan, all the very best for the campaign.
So, if you are interested, head over to the IndieGoGo campaign page to review pledge levels and get more details.
Here’s the announcement video for the campaign:
