Welcome to Practical Raspberry Pi Pro ects J For a device that can fit in the palm of your hand, the Raspberry Pi has had a pretty colossal impact since its launch in 2012. In just a few short years it’s changed the way computer science is taught in schools, it’s been used in some amazing projects at Raspberry Jam events across the world, and it’s inspired a new generation of coders to create and craft new gadgets. No matter your age or experience level, there’s a Pi project for you, and in Practical Raspberry Pi Projects we’re giving you everything you need to fire up your imagination and unleash your creativity. From hardware-based projects like building a Raspberry Pi-controlled car, through software projects like coding a simple synth, all the way to advanced electronics projects that will see you transforming your Pi into a retro NES, alarm clock robot or quadcopter, we’ve got plenty here to keep you busy. All you need is your favourite $35 computer and a passion for making things! Practical Raspberry Pi Pro ects J Imagine Publishing Ltd Richmond House 33 Richmond Hill Bournemouth Dorset BH2 6EZ (cid:8) +44 (0) 1202 586200 Website: www.imagine-publishing.co.uk Twitter: @Books_Imagine Facebook: www.facebook.com/ImagineBookazines Publishing Director Aaron Asadi Head of Design Ross Andrews Editor In Chief Jon White Production Editor Hannah Westlake Senior Art Editor Greg Whitaker Assistant Designer Steve Dacombe Photographer James Sheppard Printed by William Gibbons, 26 Planetary Road, Willenhall, West Midlands, WV13 3XT Distributed in the UK, Eire & the Rest of the World by Marketforce, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU Tel 0203 787 9060 www.marketforce.co.uk Distributed in Australia by Gordon & Gotch Australia Pty Ltd, 26 Rodborough Road, Frenchs Forest, NSW, 2086 Australia Tel +61 2 9972 8800, www.gordongotch.com.au Disclaimer The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material lost or damaged in the post. 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Raspberry Pi is a trademark of The Raspberry Pi Foundation Practical Raspberry Pi Projects Second Edition © 2016 Imagine Publishing Ltd Part of the bookazine series Electronics 106 Build a Raspberry Pi car computer Make your own touchscreen navigator Software H ow I made: Ras Pi 114 Terrarium controller 72 Supercharge your Pi Investigate an environmental control system Get the most out of your Raspberry Pi 116 Make a Ras Pi sampler 76 Create your own digital Build your own looping drum machine assistant, part 1 120 Transform your Pi into a Tell your computer what to do micro oscilloscope 78 Create your own digital Transform your RasPi with BitScope Micro assistant, part 2 124 How I made: Pi Glove 2 Continue this project by decoding audio Control lights, send texts and more 80 Create your own digital assistant, part 3 126 Assemble a Minecraft power move glove Run the commands you’re giving your Pi Enhance your game with this cool hack 82 Run science experiments on the Expeyes kit 130 Build a complex LED matrix Make use of this digital oscilloscope Program your own light system 86 Monitor CPU temperature 134 Add gesture control to with Dizmo your Raspberry Pi Access the Internet of Things Easily add touch controls to your projects 90 Talking on the I2C bus 138 How I made: Joytone Talk to the world with the I2C bus A new type of electronic keyboard 92 Print wirelessly with your 140 Build a Connect 4 robot Raspberry Pi Try your hand at outsmarting a robot Breathe new life into an old printer 142 Program a quadcopter 94 Remotely control your Take to the skies with this gadget Raspberry Pi 148 20 Raspberry Pi Employ your Pi as a media centre hacking projects 96 Turn your Pi into a motion sensor with SimpleCV Repurpose everyday items Implement facial recognition into your Pi 98 Code a simple synthesiser Write a simple synthesiser using Python 7 10 PRACTICAL RASPBERRY PI PROJECTS Still haven’t done anything with your Raspberry Pi? Follow along with our expert advice and kick-start your own amazing Raspberry Pi projects 8 10 PRACTICAL RASPBERRY PI PROJECTS Build a RasPi Make a stop web server motion animation Create a voice synthesiser From our time covering this incredible credit card- sized computer, it’s become clear there are two types of Raspberry Pi owners: those that use theirs and those that don’t. Whether it’s fear of the unknown, a lack of time or inspiration, when we ask people what they do with their Pi we’ll often hear that it’s still in the box. If that’s you, then you’re in the right place. In this feature we’ve handcrafted ten Raspberry Pi projects practically anyone can enjoy. These aren’t just a random selection of side-projects, though. These are practical ideas designed to help kick-start bigger and better things. Knowledge gained from one project can also be applied to another to create something completely new. For example, you could combine our Twitter and three-colour lamp tutorials to create a desk lamp that changes colour as your Twitter account is retweeted. You could go on to make Pong in Minecraft-Pi or use a button attached to Scratch to take photos with your Raspberry Pi camera module. The list goes on. All these projects are open source, so you’re encouraged to tweak and develop them into something entirely new. If you share your tweaks and changes with the community, you’re sure to start benefi tting from doing things the open source way… Code your own Twitter bot 10 PRACTICAL RASPBERRY PI PROJECTS Make music with the Raspberry Pi Program your own melodies using Sonic Pi and create musical cues or robot beeps One of the major features of Scratch is 01 Getting Sonic Pi its ability to teach the fundamentals If you’ve installed the latest version of Raspbian, Sonic What you’ll need of coding to kids and people with no Pi will be included by default. If you’re still using a slightly older computing background. For kids, its version, then you’ll need to install it via the repos. Do this with: (cid:3)(cid:81) Portable speakers especially appealing due to the way it $ sudo apt-get install sonic-pi allows them to create videogames to (cid:81) Sonic Pi interact with as part of their learning. In www.cl.cam.ac.uk/projects/ raspberrypi/sonicpi/teaching.html this kind of vein then, Sonic Pi teaches people to code using music. With a simple language that utilises basic logic steps but in a more advanced way than Scratch, it can either be used as a next step for avid coders, or as a way to create music for an Internet of Things or a robot. (cid:3)(cid:81)(cid:3)Sonic Pi is a great way to learn basic coding principles and have fun 10