Schlagwort: raspberry pi magazine

  • Build the Ultimate Media Centre in Raspberry Pi Official Magazine

    Build the Ultimate Media Centre in Raspberry Pi Official Magazine

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Take control of your home video, television and music, with a media centre build based on Raspberry Pi. Your film collection deserves the best!

    Trees are brilliant! They capture carbon, they keep urban streets cool, their roots slow down erosion, they provide habitat for millions of other life forms, and loads more. Meet the intelligent garden system that’s using Raspberry Pi and AI to monitor the health of trees, bees and other garden visitors.

    Take a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W, a couple of H-bridges, motors and a servo, and you too can build a remote-controlled car. Many have done it, but to our knowledge only Eugene Tkachenko has 3D printed everything else, from the wheels to the chassis through to the mechanical parts such as the drive train and gears. It’s a beautiful bit of work.

    If you like to take your music out and about, and you yearn for the days when we used to respect proper album artwork, you’ll like the PiPod, a mobile MP3 player that adorns the wearer’s upper limb like a viking arm ring. A viking arm ring that uses a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and a 4-inch screen to let those around you know that you’re listening to David Bowie.

    Fancy a go at stop-motion animation? How about time-lapse photography? Or building a photo booth, or a nature cam, or even getting into face recognition using AI? You can do all this, and more, with Raspberry Pi and one of its range of camera modules. Rob Zwetsloot has been snapping away.

    And that’s not all: we’ve hacked a toy robot arm to obey Micropython on a Raspberry Pi Pico, built a Raspberry Pi Pico drum machine, and blended the ancient art of origami with the much more recent innovation of an RGB LED, and loads more besides. Find out for yourself in the latest issue of Raspberry Pi Official Magazine, on sale now!

  • Win! One of five Sense HAT V2 bundles

    Win! One of five Sense HAT V2 bundles

    Reading Time: < 1 minute

    Sony Watchman cyberdeck

    From 1982 to 2000 Sony also made a line of pocket TVs, which didn’t catch on as much in the UK (who wants to walk around glued to a tiny portable screen, eh?). These devices, collectively called the Sony Watchman, came in many, many variants as screen technology evolved over 18 years of production. What’s […]

  • 3D printed spectacle case

    3D printed spectacle case

    Reading Time: < 1 minute

    Sony Watchman cyberdeck

    From 1982 to 2000 Sony also made a line of pocket TVs, which didn’t catch on as much in the UK (who wants to walk around glued to a tiny portable screen, eh?). These devices, collectively called the Sony Watchman, came in many, many variants as screen technology evolved over 18 years of production. What’s […]

  • KIWI digital KVM review

    KIWI digital KVM review

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Plug ‘n’ play

    There is a little bit of noticeable lag when working over KIWI. The mouse cursor feels a little bit like it’s being dragged through mud, although keyboard inputs feel more responsive. It’s faster than Raspberry Pi Connect at least, but we wouldn’t want to be doing any twitch FPS gaming using it.

    It also provides several very useful functions for this kind of screen capture – sending some basic key commands, allowing you to paste from your host computer and even do a screen recording. The interface for this is all very customisable, even allowing for a random ‘mouse jiggle’ to keep a screen alive.

    Debugging a Snake game with KIWI KVM

    Extra functions

    A fairly unique ability in its PRO version is the ability to (physically) uncover some extra GPIO ports on the device and control them via the interface, which also have UART. They’re marketed at IT professionals, allowing for debugging and control of ATX power, and there’s even an extra function of turning the input cable into a virtual serial cable. It’s quite impressive.

    With the myriad ways you can connect to a Raspberry Pi from another device, we did wonder if this would be superfluous. However, due to the speed of getting it working, no need for any local networking, and its fairly small footprint, it’s a great alternative to Connect and other network-based remote connection tools. These network tools also only work once a system has fully booted up, whereas KIWI’s physical connection allows you to see the boot process, which means you can troubleshoot any misbehaving Raspberry Pi without plugging it into another monitor.

    If you use Raspberry Pi a lot, this is definitely worth considering adding to your arsenal of add-ons. 

    Controlling the desktop of Raspberry Pi

    Verdict

    9/10

    A surprisingly functional and full-featured digital KVM and screen capture device, and much smaller than even a Raspberry Pi.

    Specs

    I/O: USB-C (host connection), USB-C (input connection), HDMI, 6 × GPIO (PRO version)

    Dimensions: 46 × 46 × 15 mm

    Connectivity: 1080p video, human input devices, virtual serial connection, UART, ATX

  • MIDI Blaster

    MIDI Blaster

    Reading Time: < 1 minute

    Sony Watchman cyberdeck

    From 1982 to 2000 Sony also made a line of pocket TVs, which didn’t catch on as much in the UK (who wants to walk around glued to a tiny portable screen, eh?). These devices, collectively called the Sony Watchman, came in many, many variants as screen technology evolved over 18 years of production. What’s […]

  • Raspberry Pi Pico Ticket Game

    Raspberry Pi Pico Ticket Game

    Reading Time: < 1 minute

    Chris emailed us a little while ago (sorry, Chris!) about his fun little Raspberry Pi Pico project which he describes as “a simple stand-alone Q&A game or ice-breaker for a party, using a Pico, a thermal printer, and a big red button” – although we’d say the button is medium-size compared to the 100 mm ones we’ve seen/used in the past.

    pico ticket game

    According to the GitHub page for the project (which includes the build instructions too), it was made for a New Year’s event, and is easily modifiable. “I used a cigar box for the build, but it can fit into any suitable project box,” Chris says. Although we quite like the box ourselves.

  • F/A-18C Right Console

    F/A-18C Right Console

    Reading Time: < 1 minute

    To many readers, ‘F/A-18C Right Console’ will look like a bunch of letters and numbers thrown together. To aviation enthusiasts, though, those letters and numbers clearly refer to the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, a fighter plane developed in the 1970s for the US Marines and US Navy. This replica control console by ValeNoxBona was apparently the maker’s first ever build using the Arduino microcontroller, which is used to control the addressable RGB LEDs that light this project. The build uses a 3D-printed enclosure with a laser-cut and engraved acrylic top, backlit with WS2812 addressable RGB LEDs mounted on a custom PCB and controlled by the Arduino.

    The lettering is engraved into the acrylic, which makes the material thin enough for the lights underneath to shine through. Apart from the time involved, the biggest cost in building this was the switches, made by NKK of Scottsdale, Arizona.

  • Argon ONE V5 case review

    Argon ONE V5 case review

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    The first thing that strikes you is the sheer size. This is not a small case, and that’s because it has a few tricks under its tough exterior. Argon is clearly intending this case to be your powerhouse server. Removing the solid aluminium lid, we find space for your Raspberry Pi 5 along with some impressive passive heatsinking and a mounted PWM 30 mm fan. On-board ports – including the GPIO header – are exposed within the housing for projects and there’s a few millimetres of clearance for adding your own bits and pieces. Argon’s signature daughterboard design is here too, with a PCB that plugs into the USB-C and HDMI ports of your Raspberry Pi, breaking them out to full-size HDMI and an additional two front-mounted USB-A connectors. Slotting it all together onto the plastic base creates a solid unit for your next project.

    All the usual rear ports plus full-size HDMI and antenna mount points

    Features and upgrade options

    There is a very good reason this case is so much larger than standard. Alongside the Raspberry Pi, there is space for two M.2 NVMe slots for up to full-sized 2280 solid-state drives. This case then becomes a NAS with SSD RAID capability. You can purchase the add-on PCBs for each M.2 separately or pre-mounted, offering flexibility on price and future upgrade options. Then, nestling next to the front-mounted USB ports, there’s an audio-out port. This case comes with a DAC built-in, which upgrades it further to a potential media server.

    Home automation enthusiasts may be tempted by the optional Zigbee add-on which plugs into the daughterboard and comes complete with an antenna which mounts to the case externally. If you’re using the case headless and want to see some info at a glance, the £9 OLED module adds a tiny screen to the top of the case for you to use as you wish. Finally, another option is to add a dedicated uninterruptible power supply (UPS), which sits neatly under the case. Argon has created an entire ecosystem around the simple concept of a case.

    We were supplied with a manual, thermal pads for the various Raspberry Pi chips, and additional thermal pads for protecting the M.2 SSDs. Assembly was easy and the result was formidable. It may not look as pretty as its predecessors on your living room cabinet, but you’ll probably be able to drop it from some height without causing it much damage.

    There is excellent heat dissipation and port access inside

    Verdict

    10/10

    If you are looking to build a home server for media, automation, or just data storage, this is a well-priced option that will keep your Raspberry Pi cool and protected with a wealth of upgrade options.

    Specs

    Ports: 6 × USB, USB-C, 2 × full-size HDMI, 3.5 mm audio

    Add-ons: Up to 2 × NMVe M.2 SSD (2230, 2242, 2260, 2280), Zigbee module with antenna, OLED screen, UPS

    Cooling: Passive aluminium, active 30 mm PWM fan

  • Chop saw tape dispenser

    Chop saw tape dispenser

    Reading Time: < 1 minute

    It’s in this spirit that Bunchowills has made the world’s smallest chop saw that is also a tape dispenser. Yes, the spinny 3D-printed blade won’t give you the same clean edge as a pair of scissors, but it looks considerably more awesome, and that’s the whole point.

    This mostly 3D-printed build runs on a pair of AA batteries, and can technically be used for woodworking projects as well as stationery management (its maker claims it can cut through toothpicks). Download the STL files, fire up your printer, and make one today for the woodworker with everything in your life.

    Warning! Moving parts

    Be careful when handling this project because it has moving parts. Children should be supervised.

  • Practical AI in the Raspberry Pi Official Magazine

    Practical AI in the Raspberry Pi Official Magazine

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    We’ve filled the magazine with tutorials and hands-on projects – as always, a lot of these come from the fantastic Raspberry Pi user community, without which we’d be nothing. Thank you to everyone who’s ever built a project with Raspberry Pi, and special thanks to the subscribers who make this magazine possible.

    Practical AI with Raspberry Pi

    Our biggest budget build this issue is the McLaren Car Play – Adam Bell has used a Raspberry Pi to fool a 90s super car into thinking that it’s an iPod, adding Apple’s in-car entertainment setup via a Raspberry Pi 5.

    McLaren CarPlay

    We have literally scoured the alphabet to bring you the A to Z of Raspberry Pi – from AI to Zero and every point in between, there’s a factoid ready for your next computing-themed pub quiz.

    The A to Z of Raspberry Pi

    Feeling a little fuzzy and light-headed? Best get that checked out. But if you want to check whether the air in your office if making you drowsy, PJ Evans has built a CO2 monitor using a sensor, a Pimoroni Badger 2040 W and a smattering of Python programming. It’s getting warmer in the UK now, so take this as a cue to open the window!

    Build a smart C02 sensor

    Then again, sometimes a fuzzy is good… like the way video games used to blur pixels to trick the mind into thinking that their graphics were more detailed than they actually were. KG Orphanides adds a CRT emulator to a modern setup to put more beauty back in retro games.

    Build a CRT emulation console

    You’ll find all this and much more in the latest edition of Raspberry Pi Official Magazine. Pick up your copy today from our store, or subscribe to get every issue delivered to your door.

  • Win one of three 26 TOPS AI HAT+

    Win one of three 26 TOPS AI HAT+

    Reading Time: < 1 minute

    Subscribe

  • Discover the all-new Raspberry Pi Official Magazine

    Discover the all-new Raspberry Pi Official Magazine

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    We’re hugely proud of the new magazine. It’s got all the amazing features that made The MagPi such a success, but with a new design that’s easier to read, better at displaying code, and more in sync with Raspberry Pi’s amazing documentation and tutorials.

    Thank you again to everybody who supports us by subscribing to the magazine or contributing to our endeavour. We really can’t do it without you.

    We’ve worked incredibly hard to make this issue one to remember. Inside the inaugural Raspberry Pi Official Magazine, you will discover…

    Level up your tech skills with our guide to Raspberry Pi troubleshooting

    Raspberry Pi problem solving

    Our lead feature this month is a huge analysis of Raspberry Pi troubleshooting. We’ve gathered a vast amount of documentation on power requirements, SD card performance, Raspberry Pi OS customisation, boot problems, audio and video fixes, and hardware enhancements.

    Discover tools for every kind of maker

    The maker toolset

    It’s incredibly important to make things. Making is rewarding, fun, and practical. In this month’s magazine, you’ll discover everything you need to set up your makerspace. Our maker toolset has the full range from simple circuits and humble sewing up to 3D printing and metalwork.

    A unique musical instrument built with Raspberry Pi RP2040

    HexBoard

    Raspberry Pi Official Magazine is packed with all the best projects from around the globe. Jared DeCook shares his incredible HexBoard musical instrument with us. Instead of piano-style keys, it features hexagonal buttons and RGB LEDs, all controlled by Raspberry Pi RP2040.

    How one maker is using stepper motors and magnets to build a robotic chess set

    Raspberry Pi Chess Board

    Imagine playing chess against a robot. That’s what high school student Tamerlan Goglichidze has created. With a stepper motor and magnets it moves the chess pieces around.

    Your guide to attaching a Sense HAT V2 to Raspberry Pi and controlling its input/output

    Sense HAT V2

    Sense HAT is a great way to discover coding and data gathering. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to attach a Sense HAT to your Raspberry Pi and start controlling the LED display. 

    Build a CNC filament winder

    Custom CNC Machine

    Jo Hinchliffe brings together various parts for a custom CNC machine that acts as a carbon filament winding machine for making custom carbon-fibre tubes.

    10 amazing Raspberry Pi 5 accessories

    10 Amazing Accessories

    Power up your Raspberry Pi 5 with these incredible add-ons that enable extra functionality. We’ve got everything from USB sound cards to overpowered cooling systems.

    You’ll find all this and much more in the latest edition of Raspberry Pi Official Magazine. Pick up your copy today from our store, or subscribe to get every issue delivered to your door.

  • Win one of five PiFi kits

    Win one of five PiFi kits

    Reading Time: < 1 minute

    Ever been in a hotel or AirBnB with rubbish WiFi? Make it better by using a Raspberry Pi with PiFi, a powerful dongle that let’s you create a secure wireless router with a Raspberry Pi – including VPN capabilities. We have five to give away, and you can enter below…

  • Social battery badge

    Social battery badge

    Reading Time: < 1 minute

    Introverts aren’t shy, quiet creatures that need to stay at home all day – it’s more complicated than that. Where extroverts thrive on social interaction, introverts find it takes a bit of energy to be around other people. When they’re feeling full of social energy it’s fun to socialise; when that social battery is drained, they need to read a book, go for a walk, or conduct some other solitary activity in order to recharge. That’s something that a lot of people don’t understand, but the next time you’re at a conference and you need a break from people, you can spell it out with the aid of this Social Battery (£14.99) by David Capper.

  • Pi Terminal review

    Pi Terminal review

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    It also has the equally important connectivity requirements of modern industrial automation. From your classic terminal pins, serial connector, Ethernet, etc., there’s also access to the built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth of CM4, along with a GPS antenna add-on, and you can expand it with LoRa or LTE for more radio connections.

    Ready to go

    There’s no construction required for the device – unless you want to add LoRa, LTE, or an SSD module, but that’s exceptionally easy – and there’s even a little demo to help you get to grips with how the interface could work. It’s powered by a 12 V~36 V barrel jack which is a more old-school standard than USB-C, but does allow for a lot more taxing components to be attached to the various ports littered around the side.

    Extra antennas are included to help increase range, which is always very handy. Fortunately, every port is also well labelled, so it is unlikely that you’ll accidentally plug an antenna into the wrong radio port.

    The demo shows that the screen is sharp, colourful, and very responsive as well. It’s programmed in Node-RED, which may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the whole system is built upon Raspberry Pi OS, so you can create an interface in any language that Raspberry Pi/Linux can support. So, all of them.

    Biggest fan

    It’s a very nice piece of kit and very flexible thanks to its wide array of connectivity and Raspberry Pi base. Unlike other similar devices, it does lack physical buttons as standard, so everything will have to be touchscreen unless some switches are added by the user. The fan is also very loud when it gets up to speed, which may not matter for some noisy industrial environments, but was very distracting in a quieter setting. Still, it’s a robust and very capable device. The acrylic plates are incredibly strong and everything else is very sturdily constructed too. You also could easily create a 3D-printed case for it, if the need arose.

    Verdict

    8/10

    A great piece of kit at a good price that is stronger than it looks, although it does have its own minor quirks.

    Price

    £148/$180

    Specs

    SoC: Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 with 4GB RAM

    Display: 7˝ IPS LCD, 1024 × 600, 5-point capacitive touch

    Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi, BLE 5.0, GPS, LoRa (with expansion), LTE (with expansion)

    Wired connectivity: GPIO, Relay, DO, DI, CAN, RS485, ADC, RS232, USB-C, USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, 3.5 mm headphone jack, TF card, SIM card, CSI (for camera)

  • WOPR

    WOPR

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    What’s inside?

    Raspberry Pi 4

    Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2

    • 5 V / 30 A power supply

    • 615 Adafruit NeoPixels

    • Bluetooth speaker

    A script runs on boot, which twinkles the NeoPixels in the traditional 1980s supercomputer colours: yellow and red.

    Another script can be run to play a short clip from the film WarGames on the Touch Display 2 screen, explaining the WOPR. At the press of a button on the Touch Display, our faux WOPR also parrots famous lines from the film, such as: “Shall we play a game?” and “How about a nice game of chess?”

    For those who wish to linger a little longer in the Maker Lab, Toby devised a game in which clips from 1980s films and music videos flash (a little too fast, in our opinion) up on the screen, with your job being to enthusiastically shout out where each clip is from.

    Authentic enclosure

    The body of the WOPR is a combination of 3D-printed plastics and laser-cut MDF painted in industrial grey, with Cricut silver lettering on the side. Everything is glued together, and a great deal of sanding was required to make it appear as though it is a sleek and very fancy contraption from the future.

  • 150 People & Projects in The MagPi magazine, issue #150

    150 People & Projects in The MagPi magazine, issue #150

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Celebrating our 150th issue with people & projects

    20-pages of people & projects

    In 150 issues, we’ve seen a huge range of epic builds with Raspberry Pi computers at their heart. We’ve got everything machine learning prosthetic arms to underwater archaeology submarines; old-school equipment and futuristic robots. Over 20 pages with 150 incredible project ideas await you.

    A Raspberry Pi device to archive floppy disks

    Archiving old floppy disks

    Graham Hooley has converted an old floppy disk duplicator into an archiving machine that makes light work of preserving old files. The device uses the mechanical parts from an old disk duplicator, along with Raspberry Pi and a Camera Module. Disk images are scanned, snapped, and saved to a USB flash drive.

    Lawny - a Raspberry Pi robot mower

    Mow the lawn automatically

    Lawny is the brainchild of Eugene Tkachenko. This robot mower is built with windscreen wiper motors controlled by Raspberry Pi. A Raspberry Pi Camera provides a first-person view as Lawny rolls around the garden.

    Photon 2 Lander

    Photon 2 Lander

    This is the latest circuit sculpture in a series inspired by planetary landing craft, made by the artist and engineer Mohit Bhoite.

    Custom CNC machine: A carbon filament winder

    Custom CNC machine: A carbon filament winder

    “There comes a time in every maker’s life where the urge to build a completely custom

    CNC machine kicks in!” Or so says Jo Hinchliffe. This month Jo looks at increasingly approachable project area, making a prototype carbon fibre filament winding machine

    Build a Raspberry Pi audio recording studio

    Raspberry Pi Audio

    Raspberry Pi hardware is the ideal choice for home studios and audio systems. You can quickly drop a Raspberry Pi into a recording environment and use it alongside professional audio. This month maker, KG Orphanides, puts the powerful-yet-silent Raspberry Pi 500 at the heart of their audio studio build.

    You’ll find all this and much more in the latest edition of The MagPi magazine. Pick up your copy today from our store, or subscribe to get every issue delivered to your door. It’s a particularly shiny cover so we suggest getting this one in print.

  • Win! 1 of 15 Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W

    Win! 1 of 15 Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W

    Reading Time: < 1 minute

    Subscribe

  • ArmPi FPV AI Vision robot review

    ArmPi FPV AI Vision robot review

    Reading Time: < 1 minute

    The Standard kit features the robotic arm, breakout board (for Raspberry Pi 4 or 5), power supply, paper ‘map’, wooden blocks, coloured balls, and tags. The Advanced version adds some flat-pack shelving for ‘warehousing’ operations.

    A smartphone companion app is the easiest way to try out AI modes such as object tracking and face recognition. But there’s a lot more you can do: by following an extensive array of online tutorials, you’ll learn how to program it with Python, use OpenCV for image recognition, and much more.

    Verdict

    9/10

    A sturdy robotic arm with 6DOF and computer vision. Price: £236 / $300

  • Hozo NeoRulerGO review

    Hozo NeoRulerGO review

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    The lightweight gadget has a month-long standby battery life and recharges via its USB-C connector in two or three hours. The clever design hides the USB-C port at one end, revealed when you firmly yank off the silver plastic retaining clip.

    The NeoRulerGO (£55 [£47 now] / $59 [was $69 at launch]) has three modes: Ruler, Scale Ruler, and Customized Scale Ruler, plus a Settings menu. Cycle through metres, inches, feet, centimetres and millimetres, or select ‘fit in’ using the NeoRulerGO’s hard plastic buttons. Two red laser beams emitted at right angles are used to locate the start point. Roll along, keeping the device perpendicular for the most accurate reading, and lift the NeoRulerGO off the surface to lock in the reading.

    There is a Corner to Corner option to measure internal corners for which the NeoRulerGO needs to begin and finish at 45 degrees, swinging along the length. The 93 different scales translate to and from 1:100,000 with an accuracy of 1 mm based on the markings on the original drawing, impressing an architect friend who uses a £500 Leica DISTO professional laser measure.

    The tiny NeoRulerGO’s scales are precise to less than 1 mm

    Petite but precise

    Hozo packs plenty of features into the NeoRulerGO, but the trade-off for its teeniness is that it’s fiddly to use. Deviations and bumps in the course of rolling can also cause measuring to stop and start again, so make sure you sense-check the reading. These can be exported to the Meazor Android or iOS app for inclusion in a project or simply saved as a list. Hozo helpfully includes configuration options on the NeoRulerGO and within the app to change the screen orientation and left- or right-handed use, so it’s a matter of working out which settings work best for you.

    We used NeoRulerGO to take accurate measurements for bathroom spaces and fittings, including the trim needed for the circumference of a partially curved mirror. Its precise measurements were also helpful when stretching and blocking hand-knitted pieces that needed to be a fixed size and accurately sewn together, and when trying to design an enclosure for a Raspberry Pi to be fashioned from assorted materials of varying thicknesses and flex. It was really handy being able to simply cycle through measurements to see how a reading translated metric and imperial measurements down to the nearest ±1 mm, reassuring us when sourcing components.

    The Meazor app can automatically import measurements to a project

    Verdict

    9/10

    Despite a few handling issues, we found NeoRulerGO ideal for measuring awkward spaces and shapes, including curved surfaces, with none of the jeopardy of using a retractable metal ruler that might spring back painfully at any moment.

    Specs

    Weight: 45 g | Dimensions: 31×18×146 mm | Screen: 1.14 in | Wheel: 30 mm | Battery: 300 mAh | Resolution: ±0.02 in (0.5 mm) | Accuracy: ±0.04 inch (1 mm) + (Dx0.5%) in ideal circumstances | Features: Inches, feet, metres, centimetres, millimetres; 93 built-in scales, customisable scales (100K:1 to 1:100K)

  • Adventure Time self-playing guitar

    Adventure Time self-playing guitar

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Sensible but silly

    Allie has form with Adventure Time builds, having created a life-size BMO games console to house an OctoPrint 3D printer (see Allie’s GitHub page).

    “My technical background is incredibly diverse, but when it comes to electronics I am completely self-taught,” reveals Allie. “I got interested in the Raspberry Pi because of how incredibly powerful it was (at a really good price point!) and the community behind it.”

    The axe-shaped guitar completes Allie’s cosplay based on Adventure Time’s Marceline character

    Allie chose Raspberry Pi for this “incredibly silly and frivolous” prop project since it would “cover everything needed without me needing to spend tons of time looking for usable peripherals and testing things to make sure that they worked. It was also a chance to try Raspberry Pi 5 for the first time… [I] knew that it would demolish anything I threw at it; [I] didn’t want to worry about lag or usability”

    Since Allie can’t play the bass guitar, it was time for a creative solution that involved real musical instrument hardware and a means of making it play on demand. Allie designed a guitar case to house the electronics, cannibalised small speakers for their innards, and found a way to fool Raspberry Pi 5 into thinking it was drawing the mandated 5 amps, allowing for residual power to connect up a portable battery pack and a generic touchscreen.

    Time trial

    Allie says the time constraint was by far the biggest challenge, since inspiration came only two months before the DragonCon cosplay event at which it was to debut. “It was a huge undertaking to get everything done in time.”

    Allie designed their take on Marceline’s guitar in Fusion 360, with custom speaker enclosures for the Dayton Audio boards, electronics attachments, and detachable parts plus a sliding panel. Allie says the software side was pretty easy. “Raspberry Pi provides most useful things baked right into the OS. I only had to write some simple Python code to create the custom song buttons.”

    This project is based on the Adventure Time cartoon, but the design and fabrication was all down to Allie

    Although some tweaks were needed – “what project would be complete with a couple of iterations?” – these were mainly related to the sliding panel that covers the touchscreen when it’s not in use and which needed to be 3D-printed and painted and still be able to slide smoothly. Allie also tried to find an alternative solution to simply playing Spotify in the Chromium browser, feeling certain there would be a Python library for it, “but alas, there was not!”

    Although designing and creating the Adventure Time Self-Playing Guitar was a considerable task, Allie says the key to any successful build is breaking it into achievable bite-sized pieces. “When tackling a large project, especially if it has elements that are new to you, it’s really easy to get a bit overwhelmed and not know where to start or what to do next. Figuring out the broad strokes of a project first, then separating them into smaller and smaller pieces really helps make things feel a lot more manageable. Also, good sandpaper will save your life!” For another Adventure Time build.

    Allie tries on the newly printed and sanded guitar for size

  • The big One-Five-Oh

    The big One-Five-Oh

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Like Raspberry Pi itself, the magazine has just been going from strength to strength – although we’d have not got anywhere without the wonderful community we get to highlight, and the readers who pick up a copy at the shops or get it delivered to their door every month. Thank you all!

    Ten years official

    Next year will also coincide with ten years of the magazine being official, which means I’ll have worked on the magazine for ten years. At an old job, someone told me about how they change careers every ten years, and it’s something I think about often. I don’t mean because I’m thinking about leaving The MagPi – as a career I’ve been a magazine writer for about 13 years, so I’m long past due that anyway – but because ten years is a long time. It also probably feels especially longer because since 2015 a lot of major things have happened around the world.

    In my first year at Raspberry Pi, we put Raspberry Pi Zero on the cover – that was 2015! In fact when I joined, several months before the famous issue 40 came out, it was already on the cards. We were working up to it happening, building up the magazine with that issue as the goal. While issue 150 won’t be that grand (unfortunately we cannot put Raspberry Pi 500 on the cover, sorry), it will still be just as important. We’ll even have a fancy cover! We don’t know what kind of fancy cover yet but mark my words, fancy.

    Beyond 150

    As you may have noticed, a huge number of Raspberry Pi products have been released over the last few months and I am very excited to get to play with them more in 2025. The X00 series of Raspberry Pi are my fave, so I’m looking forward to getting my 500 shortly (it’s not even been announced as I write this) and upgrading my little workstation. I still have an AI Camera waiting to be used as well and I’m excited to get started with that – computer vision is one of my favourite uses of machine learning.

    So I hope you’ll join us for issue 150 and for the rest of 2025. While I may not be a spry 20-something anymore like when I started on it, the magazine is not slowing down one bit.