Hacking with a Raspberry Pi: An Introduction
By Mike Street
I've recently been playing around with Raspberry Pi and some hardware - seeing what else can be done with the tiny computer.
I previously wrote about using the pi as a media centre, but I wanted to try something else (after seeing a friend using his for house temperature readings).
I've always wanted a basic weather station, one that just told me the temperature outside so that I knew what to wear for cycling, and this is what I set out to create.
This will be the first in a series of blogs posts detailing the steps i've been through. I've made a prototype, but I'm about to embark on making something proper and so I will be making a note of what I'm doing (for my sake as well as yours!)
Getting Started
I already had my raspberry pi, but if you don't have one I would recommend getting (at time of writing) the B+ or (if you can spare the extra cash) a Raspberry Pi B 2 (the 2 being the important bit!)
I also picked up a starter kit - although the documentation you get with it is appalling, it's good to have some starting hardware to use and call upon - then pick up the extra bits as when you need them.
Useful Links
- Adafruit is a brilliant resource for learning
- Ebay and Amazon are great places for picking up components
- PiFace is also an excellent shop
- Rapsberry Pi Spy has got some great resources!
I'm also keeping track of the code i'm using
- pypi-lcdscreen is my pip (python package manager) module for using an LCD screen (like the one found in the starter kit)
- WeatherStation - The code which runs and powers the weather station
