Programming, Sensors, Tutorials

Very, very frightening indeed: Lightning detector uses a sensor and a Raspberry Pi

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France-based Hexalyse has hooked up an AS3935 Franklin Lightning Sensor to his Raspberry Pi. This sensor is able to detect the approach of a storm by detecting lightning up to 40km away and it comes on a little breakout board that can interact with the Pi over the I2C bus. He used a library that someone else had written and Python to detect the lightning flashes and, if certain circumstances are satisfied (such as number of strikes within a time frame), the system Tweets via the Tweepy library. He’s uploaded the code to GitHub and written up the project on his blog. You can get hold of the sensor from Embedded Adventures (although I’m sure it can be found elsewhere too).

3D printing, Accessories, GPIO boards, Raspberry Pi Zero, Tutorials, Wearable

E-paper portfolio and name badge using a Raspberry Pi Zero and a PaPiRus

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Belgian maker Frederick Vandenbosch wanted a wearable to take to this year’s Raspberry Pi Big Birthday Weekend (Pi Party). So, he put together a Raspberry Pi Zero, a Pi Supply PaPiRus e-paper HAT, a Pimoroni Zero LiPo and a 3D-printed back plate and created a lanyard-hung badge. The badge shows his personal details, his logo and also photographs of various projects so he could press a button and then talk about the project being shown. He’s written the whole thing up on the Element 14 website, so head over there to take a look.

Accessories, Making, Programming, Raspberry Pi Zero, Retro

Make a modern-day telegraph with a Raspberry Pi and a button

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Here’s a nice project, but you’ll possibly need access to a laser cutter or CNC machine, or the know-how to get it done for you over the Internet. The Brothers McKenty have taken inspiration from old telegraph machines and built one themselves out of a Raspberry Pi Zero, a nice arcade button and a 3V button. The enclosure is laser cut (although I’m sure you could just hack around a plastic box if you wanted to). Read more over at Make.

3D printing, Emulation, Games, Making, Retro, Tutorials

Retro gaming machine is 3D printed with a Raspberry Pi inside

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Matthias Ladkau has created a portable retro gaming machine using a Raspberry Pi 3 and a custom-designed 3D-printed case. He’s called it the Spieljunge. It runs RetroPie to emulate loads of gaming machines and features a variety of small 3D-printed parts and off-the-shelf buttons. He’s written the whole project up here and published the 3D parts here.

Operating systems, Software, Tutorials

Install Raspbian x86 on VirtualBox on a Windows PC

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Andrew Oakley from Cotswold Raspberry Jam wanted to try out the x86 version of Raspbian. However, he wanted to run it inside VirtualBox on his Windows 10 PC to save having to have another machine with just Raspbian running on it. He’s written up the method for doing it on his blog. He does point out the limitation of such a set-up (such as lack of GPIO pins and that it’s running on an x86 processor, not an ARM) but it’s well worth a look if you want to use Raspbian.

Update: From the comments, Andrew Oakley has managed to get the Ryanteck RTk.GPIO working with the VirtualBox install! Take a look at the video below:

Blinkies, Making, Silliness

Space-age console in a bunk bed gets sound effects from a Raspberry Pi

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Pete Dearing wanted to do build something for his kids, and it had to have buttons. A lot of buttons! He purchased plans for a space-themed bunk bed and then proceeded to create a console with dozens of buttons, switches, toggles and other controls. The build, which took approximately 100 hours, mostly comprised sheets of MDF and runs on 12V power. The power is cut when the children are in bed, or when they aren’t actively playing, and most of the controls actually do something like controlling lights, sounds and meters. All the sound effects are controlled by a Raspberry Pi which is buried in the console. You can read more about the project, and see more photos of the build, over at Make.

This is in the best traditions of makers such as Jeff Highsmith and ‘Helicarrier’ Andy – take a look at their builds by clicking on their names.