Raspberry Pi Projects

Learn to build software and hardware projects featuring the Raspberry Pi!

Congratulations on becoming a proud owner of a Raspberry Pi! Following primers on getting your Pi up and running and programming with Python, the authors walk you through 16 fun projects of increasing sophistication that let you develop your Raspberry Pi skills. Among other things you will:

• Write simple programs, including a tic-tac-toe game

• Re-create vintage games similar to Pong and Pac-Man

• Construct a networked alarm system with door sensors and webcams

• Build Pi-controlled gadgets including a slot car racetrack and a door lock

• Create a reaction timer and an electronic harmonograph

• Construct a Facebook-enabled Etch A Sketch-type gadget and a Twittering toy

Raspberry Pi Projects is an excellent way to dig deeper into the capabilities of the Pi and to have great fun while doing it.

Autorentext
Dr Andrew Robinson (Manchester, UK) worked at the University of Manchester School of Computer Science, where they have just launched the Great British Raspberry Pi Bake Off, a competition to get people making projects with the Pi. Andrew has quickly become a leading expert on the Pi and its astounding capabilities, including guest posts on raspberrypi.org, the official mouthpiece of Raspberry Pi. He is the creator of PiFace, which makes interfacing with the Raspberry Pi significantly easier. He is currently utilizing the Raspberry Pi as part of the team behind the BBC's Springwatch. Mike Cook is is the co-author of Raspberry Pi For Dummies. Mike is a veteran tech author and a freelance consultant for all things to do with Physical Computing. A former Lecturer in Physics at Manchester Metropolitan University, he has written more than three hundred computing and electronics articles for the pages of computer magazines since the 1980s. Mike patrols the forums as Grumpy Mike, though he is anything but!

Inhalt
Introduction 1 A History of Making 1

Consumer Computing 2

Why Everyone Should Learn About Computing 2

Enter the Raspberry Pi 3

About This Book 4

How to Use Th is Book 4

The Future 6

Part I: Getting Started with the Raspberry Pi

CHAPTER 1 Getting Your Raspberry Pi Up and Running 9

The Operating System 10

Connecting Your Raspberry Pi 16

The Boot Process 25

Starting the Graphical Desktop 26

Starting a Terminal under X 26

Troubleshooting 26

Let the Fun Begin! 28

CHAPTER 2 Introductory Software Project: The Insult Generator 29

Running Your First Python Program 30

Saving Your Program 33

Generating an Insult 36

Insult Your Friends by Name! 39

Create a Stream of Insults! 41

Putting It All Together 45

Part II: Software Projects

CHAPTER 3 Tic-Tac-Toe 49

Errors 50

Making a Start 51

A Two-Player Game 55

Getting the Computer to Play 59

Over to You 70

CHAPTER 4 Here's the News 71

Early Teleprompters 72

The Pi Prompter 73

What You Need to Do 73

A Step Closer to a Usable Program 78

Your Final Pi Prompter Code 84

The Physical Setup for Your Prompter 89

Over to You 92

CHAPTER 5 Ping 93

Early Commercial Products 94

The Ping Game 94

Improving the Ping Game 99

A Single-Player Game 104

A Two-Player Game 111

Over to You 118

CHAPTER 6 Pie Man 121

The Pie Man Game 122

Gather Your Resources 123

Setting the Stage 127

The Game Action 133

Drawing the Screen 141

The Final Function 144

Over to You 150

CHAPTER 7 Minecraft Maze Maker 151

Installing Minecraft 152

Starting Minecraft 153

Playing Minecraft 154

Preparing for Python 156

Using the Minecraft Module 156

Over to You 174

Part III: Hardware Projects

CHAPTER 8 Colour Snap 177

Implementing the Game 178

The Software for Testing the Game 193

The Software for the Game 196

Over to You 202

CHAPTER 9 Test Your Reactions 203

Welcome to the Embedded World! 204

Obtaining Components 205

Setting up PiFace Digital 206

Connecting PiFace Digital 210

Using the Emulator 210

Interfacing with Python 211

The Reaction Timer 214

What Will You Interface? 226

CHAPTER 10 The Twittering Toy 227

Hacking the Toy 228

Making It Talk 232

Making It Move 235

Connecting to Twitter 239

Putting It All Together 245

Wrapping Up 248

CHAPTER 11 Disco Lights 251

Defining Your Sequence 252

Getting the Code to Do More 254

A Small Detour into Theory 256

Designing the Sequencer 257

Implementing the Sequencer 258

The Lights 265

Using Longer Strip Lights 268

Making the Lights Move 269

Designing the Circuit 270

Building the Circuit 273

Running the Circuit 273

Over to You 274

CHAPTER 12 Door Lock 275

The System Overview 276

Safety-Critical Systems 276

The Door Lock Hardware 277

The Initial High-Level Software Simulation 278 The Output Block 281</p&...