Schlagwort: tech articles

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Vizy setup

Vizy comes self-assembled (you can choose between 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB Raspberry Pi inside). A microSD card is pre-installed and all you need to do is plug it in and press the button to turn it on.

While there’s no fun in the build process, it is quick to get up and running. On first run, it uses Raspberry Pi’s Wi-Fi module to broadcast a network, which you can join from another computer. You can also connect via an Ethernet cable, which was the approach we favoured.

Once connected, you set up Vizy to automatically connect to a local wireless network so it connects whenever you boot up. Then, you can investigate the built-in software, divided into a range of apps and examples.

Built-in apps include a Bird Feeder (identifies birds), MotionScope (captures the motion of objects), and Object Detector (detects and logs classes with text alerts sent via Signal).

The examples are more simple, including OpenCV Edge Detection, Pet Companion, Pic Taker, TensorFlow Lite, and simple video capture. You can investigate the Python code for each example, to help you start to build your own apps. Detailed documentation at docs.vizycam.com includes a ‘Getting started’ guide, and information about accessories and applications, plus some simple API information. You can access the Python editor directly from the web interface, or log into the Shell and control Raspberry Pi directly.

These built-in programs ensure Vizy is a great platform for exploring machine learning possibilities. We particularly liked MotionScope, which captures the movement of an object (such as a bouncing ball) and provides detailed x, y, and z co-ordinates as graphs and a data dump. We can imagine this working incredibly well alongside calculus learning.

Meanwhile, the Object Detector and Bird Feeder can be used to analyse and respond to scenes, creating alerts for specific items. We had a lot of fun tracking a pet cat and sending alarms when she was detected on a table.

The camera is the equivalent of a Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera, although we’d be happier if it used an official camera offering. We also found the 1.5 m power lead to be a little short for some setups, mainly when we tried to move out into the garden for testing – although we note a Power over Ethernet Splitter (£15/$18) that would work well in this setting. There is also an optional outdoor enclosure with IP66 rating and a 4G LTE cellular network adapter.

Vizy provides you with a great introduction to image recognition that does a lot of the heavy lifting, allowing you to focus on practical projects. We think this would be ideal in a classroom setting.

Verdict

9/10

An interesting camera that allows you to quickly investigate image recognition projects.

Specs

Components: Raspberry Pi 4 (2, 4, or 8GB RAM), universal tripod mount, 32GB microSD, 25 W AC power supply, Vizy case (900 g; 10×15×10 cm)

Camera: 12-megapixel Sony image sensor (IMX477), wide-angle, 3.25 mm M12 lens (optional high-quality 8-50 mm C/CS zoom lens), electronically switchable IR-cut filter

I/O: Digital I/O, analogue I/O, PWM, UART serial;  high-current output (up to 1000 mA per channel), optional lighting accessory

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Rather than pay anywhere between £80 and £500 on a commercial dosing pump, however, he decided to make one himself. By using a Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller, along with good-quality relays and pumps, he has been able to create a driver for a fraction of the cost – just £14 in total. He has also done so without compromising. “Price wasn’t a limiting factor at all because these parts are relatively cheap,” he explains.

Nothing fishy

Although he was always keen to keep costs under £30, the main requirement was to create a device that could dose a configurable amount of chemicals accurate to within 0.5 millilitres or less. He also needed each pump to separately operate a configurable number of times each day so that different liquids could be used at different quantities.

“The doser needed to be low voltage because of its proximity to water, and I wanted it to be small and neat so that it could go near a beautiful reef tank and not look out of place,” Joe continues. “I also needed it to be repairable and easy to take apart if necessary to replace the parts. This is why I chose particular peristaltic pumps. You can take out the tubing and replace it with new tubing very easily from the front.”

Peristaltic pumps are low-maintenance and easy to sterilise. They use rollers or shoes to effectively massage a fixed amount of chemical through the tube while preventing back-flow. Sourcing the pumps and the relay took Joe a few hours. He was then able to design a case using 3D modelling software, map the wiring and electronics on paper, solder a prototype, and write the software.

Good dose

“When you buy a commercial doser, you’re stuck with the company’s proprietary software which is usually awful and painful to use, or simply doesn’t work half the time,” Joe says. “This project fit my ultimate aim which is to build everything for the aquarium myself, from the LED fixtures to the doser and temperature/pH monitoring system.”

Joe wrote the program in MicroPython and, after calibrating each of the doser’s two pumps to run at the same speed, he set it to run every 15 minutes. This allowed a small amount of calcium hydroxide to flow 96 times a day from one pump, ensuring 200 ml of the chemical would be dosed on a daily basis. The other pump was set to dose other chemicals, such as amino acids and food, when needed.

It’s certainly effective. Joe says that the Pico controls the relay, turning the pumps on and off with simple code sent via one of the GPIO pins. A few functions calculate the dosage/timing and the code just loops, sleeping in-between dosing. “My next step will be to upgrade to Raspberry Pi Pico W,” he says. “I will then write some wireless LAN code to control it via my mobile phone.”

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Word clocks are not new but they sure are fun, and Christopher’s entry goes further than most. As well as telling the time, it announces holidays and birthdays by shining LED lights behind specific letters and numbers on a custom-made panel. Everything is controlled by a Raspberry Pi computer. “When I thought of the project, Raspberry Pi felt like a natural fit,” he says.

Time to try

The idea came when Christopher bought a 3D printer. “Rather than printing figurines, I wanted something practical; something with function,” he explains. “I was browsing Printables when I came across a similar project and thought, ‘I bet I have most of the stuff I need to make this’.” Even so, aspects of the build posed a challenge.

Since Christopher was making his own housing for the clock, he needed to use a 3D graphics tool. “That meant learning Blender and taking precise measurements with callipers,” he says. He also opted to use a 128×64 HUB75 LED matrix that he’d received with a monthly HackerBox subscription, and this influenced the size of the word matrix that he had to print.

“There was a lot of trial and error,” he says. “A key problem I noticed early on was light. I opted to use a 2×2 grid of LEDs per illuminated letter, but putting the letters too close meant I could see each light,” Christopher says. “In the end, I designed a lattice to sit between the RGB matrix and the printed word matrix. Between it, I placed a grey sheet of paper cut to size, and this worked pretty well to diffuse the light.”

Clocking on

Since the word matrix was 62×32 characters, Christopher realised he had space for many letters. “Once I’d finished arranging the time parts, I had more than half a screen’s worth of real estate left, which is why I decided to also announce the date and any holidays and family birthdays,” he says.

To keep time, Christopher included an RGB Matrix HAT + RTC from Adafruit so that the project could benefit from a persistent real-time clock. Setup involved connecting this to the Raspberry Pi computer, and hooking everything to the display inside the printed case.

Of course, Christopher also needed to program the device. “The project I found on Printables had an example Python script, so that was a good jumping off point, but it still needed to be heavily modified,” he says. “I used a holidays library to determine if the current day was a holiday or not. I also had the challenge of lighting the letters.”

He had to figure out, for example, that LEDs at positions 14,46, 14,47, 15,45 and 15,47 needed to be turned on for the letter J. “This had to be done for each letter I wanted to turn on, so I set them into arrays for better organisation,” he adds. Once done, the clock could spring into life, looping every second to update the LED clusters. “Raspberry Pi has been a great device for the job,” he says.

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Raspberry Pi itself is deeply connected with industry professionals and enthusiasts, and a new Events section.raspberrypi.com/ can also be found on Raspberry Pi’s website.

Here, you’ll find Raspberry Pi at industry trade shows and hobbyist events. Kicking off with Embedded World 2023, where you can meet Raspberry Pi makers. Eben Upton will be talking about “Raspberry Pi: past, present, and future” at the University of Cambridge, and we will be at the Write the Docs festival in Portland, OR. You can also visit Raspberry Pi at its store in Cambridge, or a pop-up store coming soon to Southampton.

And this is just the beginning of official Raspberry Pi events. There are also Raspberry Pi community events: Tech Jams, meetups, and maker space days.

Team huddle

The Raspberry Pi community is a vibrant place, where industrial makers, enthusiastic programmers, educators, and hobbyists all gather to discuss projects and share ideas. This diverse group of people is brought together by a love of computing and the idea that ‘making makes the world a better place.’

This love manifests itself via Raspberry Pi, because it’s the best low-cost, single-board computer, around; but it’d probably exist anyway. I’ve tried lots of different computers, and Raspberry Pi is the best – mostly because it’s so versatile. This small, low-cost computer is used for a wide range of applications, from building robots to running servers; playing retro games and automating your home. And, of course, coding and computing for its own sake. I’m happy to mess around with some abstract concepts in Visual Studio Code.

Perhaps the most important part of the Raspberry Pi community is the spirit of collaboration that brings everyone together. Whether you’re a total beginner or an experienced professional, everyone is welcome, and everyone is encouraged to share their knowledge. This supportive atmosphere is reflected in the many online forums, blogs, and social media groups that are dedicated to the Raspberry Pi and the projects that can be built with it.

We’re currently in the midst of our #MonthOfMaking event, but you can share whatever you’ve made with The MagPi team using #MagPiMonday. Your build could make it into these hallowed pages.

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The Heavy Pan Tilt System addresses a common issue with astrophotography: the need for a setup robust enough to take a hefty digital SLR camera and have it pan smoothly across the night sky without juddering or losing either focus or the object in the viewfinder. Commercial options tend to be “quite expensive astronomical mounts,” so Vito set about create his own version using his own mechanical designs and software to automate object tracking. Raspberry Pi provided the critical stepper motor controls and OpenCV libraries for computer vision. Judging by the many plaudits quickly garnered online when Vigasan revealed his build, he’s nailed it, even if some people think it would be ideal for deadly accurate tennis ball volleys and other forms of sharp-shooting.

Labour of love

Not surprisingly, the Heavy Pan Tilt System – a “very robust motorised pan-tilt system capable of supporting cameras with heavy lenses” – is the work of many months. Its strength derives from the two aluminium frames, while Vito made everything else from parts he 3D-printed. He was lucky enough to have access to a fairly high-end PolyJet 3D printer, which meant he got very accurate results. Vito also designed the electronics and the control software, plus a custom circuit board, pairing a Raspberry Pi 4 and a small camera capable of automatic object tracking, as his video shows.

Vito began by creating a project using Raspberry Pi for object tracking, before moving on to the thornier issue of the mechanical design: “The need to move a camera with lenses of a certain weight requires considerable torque from the motors. So, to avoid using too big stepper motors, I designed a reduction system based on belts and pulleys with the advantage of using smaller motors.”

Cost-benefit analysis

Although he can’t quantify the time taken for designing the software and incorporating the necessary libraries (he’s been an engineer for 20 years, so programming is part of his day job), Vito says the specific app to control things took him about a month, while designing the hardware took about twice that. Having initially tried to create the project using an ESP32 microcontroller and finding it lacked power, Vito was glad he switched to using Raspberry Pi 4, which “guarantees good computing power and the existence of a large number of libraries for any type of requirement.”

His choice of a rock-steady aluminium frame added €150 to the overall cost, which was in the region of €800. Even so, this is considerably cheaper than buying a specialist astrophotography rig. Vigasan modestly claims not to have invented anything: “I don’t think I created anything new, I just enjoyed doing it and I hope that the project will be of help to those who want to use Raspberry Pi for their creations.”

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Heavy Pan Tilt System

Say hello to Vigasan, an electronic engineer turned DIY hero who’s built the Heavy Pan Tilt System, the perfect solution for astrophotography fans. This sturdy stand is robust, motorized, and can handle hefty cameras while smoothly tracking celestial objects.

Game Boy Interceptor

Get ready for a blast from the past! Sebastian Staacks, a Game Boy Tetris fan, created the Game Boy Interceptor – a nifty Pico-based recording device to stream gameplay without modifying handheld consoles. This clever gadget makes streaming Tetris tournaments a breeze, connecting to a host device via USB and appearing like a webcam.

Brachiograph

Meet BrachioGraph, a delightful plotter powered by Raspberry Pi. Created by Daniele Procida, it sketches portraits and images while being affordable, accessible, and easily reproducible. With just a few servo motors and household materials, you can bring back nostalgic drawing vibes and inspire a new generation of makers.

CinePi

CinePI is an open-source project transforming a Raspberry Pi into a high-end cinema camera. Created by Csaba Nagy, it records 2K RAW Cinema DNG video at 50fps with 12-bit colour depth, suitable for various projects like short films and commercials. Using a Raspberry Pi HQ Camera, lens, and a 3D-printed case, CinePI delivers high-quality footage at a fraction of professional cameras‘ cost, making it an excellent choice for budget-conscious filmmakers.

Learn to code with Python

Discover the joy of coding with our beginner’s guide to Python 3 on Raspberry Pi! Using Thonny IDE, learn the basics of Python programming and data types. Python is beginner-friendly, versatile, and portable, making it an ideal choice for your first programming language. Dive in and start your coding journey today!

Astrophotography with Raspberry Pi

Capture stunning shots of the cosmos with your Raspberry Pi, a Camera Module, and some smart code. Discover how to achieve fantastic night sky photos using the Raspberry Pi HQ Camera with the right lenses and exposure settings. With customizable automation and a range of excellent Camera Modules, you’ll easily capture the beauty of the stars and celestial bodies. Unleash your inner astrophotographer with this stellar guide by Rob Zwetsloot.

AI-Powered Camera for Makers: Vizy

We test out Vizy, an AI camera that marries Raspberry Pi with a Sony camera and lens in a custom case, creating the perfect playground for students and makers to explore machine learning projects. With built-in apps, examples, and detailed documentation, this snazzy device makes diving into image recognition fun and easy.

Raspberry Pi events return!

Get your Raspberry Pi kicks with these exciting community-organized events! From Melbourne Raspberry Pi Makers Group Meetup to Cambridge Raspberry Jam, there’s something for everyone: electronics, robotics, 3D printing, and more. Connect with fellow makers, showcase your projects, and expand your horizons. Check out the full event calendar and join the fun!

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Save 35% off the cover price with a subscription to The MagPi magazine. UK subscribers get three issues for just £10 and a FREE Raspberry Pi Pico W, then pay £30 every six issues. You’ll save money and get a regular supply of in-depth reviews, features, guides and other Raspberry Pi enthusiast goodness delivered directly to your door every month.

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Q: What are some of your favourite robots?

A: My favourite robots are small, 3D-printable robots that you can build and modify yourself. These include OpenCat, OttoDIY, SMARS (obviously), and Danielle Boyer’s Scobots. I love Raspberry Pi Pico, Pico W, and full Raspberry Pi robots such as the Pimoroni Trilobot. All the robots I build use MicroPython, too, because its so easy to read and write.

Q: What are some great kits for starters?

A: The Trilobot is a great starter kit, and can utilise the Raspberry Pi Camera Module to detect objects.

I designed the BurgerBot for beginners; its easy to construct and runs on either a Pico or Pico W, with parts from Pimoroni. CuteBot from Elecfreaks (micro:bit-based robot). Kitronik Autonomous Robotics Platform for Pico.

Q: What are some things people tend to forget?

A: Start small, work on one problem at a time, and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Robotics is a deep topic, and can be a bit overwhelming, but don’t give up! Look to your strengths in the three skill areas: mechanics, electronics, and programming. This will also help you understand where you need to develop your skills. (I’m still working on my electronic skills.)

Steps to make

01. Planning

Whether you’re building your first robot from scratch or gearing up for a Pi Wars contest, Kevin has this to say about robot planning: “What do you want to achieve? What should the robot do (and what are the bonus stretch goals)?”

02. Designing

“How will you make the robot do these things, what kit do you need, and what do you need to learn? Will you build this or buy it? I like to draw a sketch of the robot, and make a list of what it should do, in my robot lab notebook.”

03. Building

“Have a project box to keep all the bits together and understand that building is an iterative process – none of my robots are finished! Decide on what is good enough when building. Think about the parts you’ll need, the tools and materials you need, and time in your week when you can concentrate on building it.”

Kevin’s projects

Spooky Scary Skeleton
Robotics, 3D printing, sensors, spookiness

This Halloween decoration truly sends shivers down our spines. magpi.cc/spookyskele

PicoCat
Robotics, 3D printing, servos, non-traditional locomotion (it walks)

This Pico-powered feline walks on its four legs using a series of servos, and also has an ultrasonic distance sensor so it can, feasibly, not bump into you. magpi.cc/picocat

Cubie-1
Robotics, 3D printing, ROS, Lidar

A little experimental robot that uses Robot Operating System (ROS) on a Raspberry Pi 4. magpi.cc/cubie1

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If you think artists have it bad, then spare a thought for your lonely writers. We’re staring down the barrel of ChatGPT and Google’s response, Bard.

The creative mill

As Rob pointed out last month, ChatGPT’s copy is generously described as ‘hit-and-miss’. A more accurate assessment would be: “dumber than a tall person hopping at the very peak of Dunning-Kruger’s mount stupid”. It is convincing though and a lot of online copy is equally misguided. Which may be the point.

Getty Images is suing Stable Diffusion for $1.8-trillion because: “It is Getty Images’ position that Stability AI unlawfully copied and processed millions of images protected by copyright.”

Beyond copyright and clarity, there are legitimate ethical concerns. Since last month tech wizards with flexible morals have already got around safeguards by getting ChatCPT to role-play as a different AI called ‘DAN’ which stands for ‘Do-anything-Now’.

AI can create anything as dark as the mind can conjure. A quick traipse through the internet will reveal some very dark thoughts indeed.

Positive thoughts

It’s easy to knee-jerk against this advancement. I love what I do, but technology should replace people. I can quite happily sit on a beach and read poetry to my friends while computers do all the work.

The IBM/Jim Henson’s Machines Should Work; People should think speech from 1967 comes to mind. Computers are supposed to take out the trash, clean the floor, do the dishes and the washing up and we (the humans) are supposed to sit on the beach and share our stories, make up music, and paint pictures.

The future of machine-learning technology is, I suspect, in more mundane, but ultimately useful, applications. The robot vacuum cleaner that picks up the socks from your ‘floordrobe’ and puts them back in a drawer (or in the wash) is ultimately far more valuable to us than one that paints selfies.

Of course, that machine would probably need wheels and arms and a mechanical nose alongside the AI smarts to know what scruffy socks look like. Oh and look, scientists from Tel Aviv are working on a robot with a biological nose. Of course, it has Raspberry Pi inside.

This is the real stuff of the future. Where hardware and software and robotics and AI-smarts come together to do useful stuff while we all chill.

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“I foresaw a big blinking LED as a red nose, an animated leg (actuated by a simple servo), a turning star connected to a potentiometer, and lots of blinking lights to support the Christmas theme,” Bas says. “Simple, versatile to support users in programming their individual scenes, simple to connect by USB, and easy to update and modify with Thonny. Besides all of this, Pico was available at an attractive price.”

Very shiny nose

While drafting up the project, Bas made several examples using LEDs, servos, speakers, illustrations, etc., with the final version also using laser-cut and 3D-printed parts for people to construct.

“Rudolph, the burning wood-stove, the house, and the star are all laser-cut and glued together,” Bas tells us. “There is a cut-out mounting hole to keep the micro servo in place. The front leg of Rudolph is glued to the servo stick. The potentiometer is mounted at the top of the chimney of the house. LEDs are mounted in the Christmas tree, Rudolph’s nose, and in the house. Pico is clicked in a 3D-printed bracket to keep it in place, with the USB connector aligned to right. I created a full-option sketch where Rudolph’s nose is blinking, his front leg is twisting, and all LEDs have their own rhythm. By turning the star knob, the analogue value changes, which then changes several parameters in the [script] to make it even more active.”

Down in history

The workshop was quite successful, according to Bas, with attendees having the planned ‘positive programming experience’.

“They were enthusiastic and eager to get started,” Bas mentions. “At first, they were very surprised to have an electronic Christmas-themed Rudolph which they could connect to their own laptop. After a starting introduction of 30 minutes, they could get the first Christmas lights blinking and the front leg moving. Once they were able to understand how to program a scenes themselves and get interaction with the rotating star, I saw various applications which I hadn’t foreseen myself.”

Bas is currently planning other holiday-themed workshops like this – such as an Easter bunny – and is going to bring back Rudolph next Christmas: “Having fun with programming with a low-entry approach is applicable throughout the whole year, and shouldn’t be limited to the Christmas season only.”

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This prompted him to create a device using a Raspberry Pi Pico W. “Radiation is not something you can feel, see, taste, hear, or smell,” he says. “So, I created a device designed to be a silent observer of the ionising radiation levels in my city. I wanted it to become the sixth missing sense, if you will.”

Keeping count

As well as Raspberry Pi Pico W, the build includes an M4011 Geiger–Müller tube. It’s old technology, for sure – the concept was developed back in 1908 at the University of Manchester and it came into being 20 years later. “But I’ve never had an excuse to work with it, so I took it as a way to improve my knowledge,” Dmytro says. “It may be old, but it’s very important tech.”

At first, he tried to find all the components required to build a rudimentary Geiger counter from scratch before realising it would take him too long to locate everything he needed. “I then came across a pre-built module based on the M4011 which has a digital pin that can relay the tube’s pulse caused by an ionising event,” he continues.

“I configured an interrupt on one of the pins of my Raspberry Pi Pico W so it can listen and ‘remember’ the number of ‘ticks’ that the Geiger tube experiences over a period of time. Based on that, I can interpolate (or sometimes extrapolate) the current CPM (counts per minute).”

Stark warning

Understanding that CPM – while generally accepted and widely used in measuring radiation – doesn’t universally equate to dose rate, he implemented a conversion to sieverts per hour, a unit that allows radiation levels to be expressed. “Fortunately for me, DFRobot, the creator of the module, had an easy conversion formula for M4011,” Dmytro says. “So I decided to use that.”

Dmytro has placed the device next to a window in his apartment and it’s connected to an OLED screen so that he can keep an eye on the current radiation level. It’s also possible to check the device from afar.

“Raspberry Pi Pico W can push the readings to a server every few hours so I can keep track of what’s happening with the ionising radiation levels even if I’m not home,” he explains. “But, unfortunately, due to the power blackouts we’re having, the readings are not updated very often as I don’t keep the device plugged in any more.”

So far, the device has been showing around 25 CPM. “That’s what you expect from a tube like this in a ‘normal’ environment,” Dmytro says. “As for what reading would indicate a problem, well, I hope we won’t need to learn this,” he says. “But, overall if the readings are drastically higher than what they are at the moment, I’d interpret it as a problem that requires more thorough investigation.” Fingers crossed it never comes to that.

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Taking design notes from the original Game Boy, Neo Geo Pocket, and just about every portable game system since the release of the Game Boy Advance, this updated kit also whacks on a second analogue stick for much improved playability. Instead of two shoulder buttons, there are now four, and while that does mean two fewer face buttons, for the vast majority of games it’s a layout we prefer. It turns out there’s a reason why handhelds went horizontal after the Game Boy.

Hook it up

Installing a Raspberry Pi 4 is very simple – with the supplied screwdriver, you just need to take the eight screws off the back and then slot Raspberry Pi into the GPIO pins. There’s some thermal paste for the processor, and an optional adapter for the mini HDMI out. Four of the screws on the back-plate go through the mount holes on Raspberry Pi, making for a very elegant reassembly process.

Power and headphone jacks are routed to the underside of the console, with rechargeable batteries, adding up to 5600 mAh, connected to that USB-C power port for hours of play time. The standard USB and Ethernet ports are then left open at the top of the XRS for easy, if not perhaps slightly awkward, access for peripherals and memory sticks. Those pop out of a fake cartridge slot, which is a nice little design touch, especially paired with the hand-detachable cover that allows you to change out microSD cards without having to get the screwdriver back out.

Playing with power

Like DMG, the whole package is solid and feels good to hold – we find some handheld Raspberry Pi consoles can feel a little flimsy and, while this may be a little heavier than those, we appreciate the added heft.

Playing games is incredibly simple. Once the PiBoy image is installed, you can game basically straight away and as it’s the familiar RetroPie interface, you can easily customise it to your liking. Compatible games run smoothly thanks to the extra oomph of Raspberry Pi 4, and everything on the screen looked lovely as we played. Our kit came with the mini HDMI adapter, and we had no problems playing games on a bigger TV with it plugged in either – although, due to the graphical prowess of some games, it did look better on the smaller screen with a higher pixel density.

Also, as it has RetroPie, it means you can install Steam Link, so it’s a pretty cool alternative to a Steam Deck.

Verdict

10/10

The perfect retro handheld system is finally here, and you can even use it to comfortably play modern games as well.

Specs

Input: 2 × analogue sticks, 1 × D-pad, 7 × face buttons, 4 × shoulder buttons Ports: 3.5 mm audio jack, mini HDMI out, 2 × USB 2.0, 2 × USB 3.0, 1 × Gigabit Ethernet Dimensions: 162 × 93 × 36 mm Display: 3.5” IPS LCD

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First class upgrade

Apart from the seats, and various aesthetic aircraft appendages, there are two key sections to the Alternative Flight Simulator that help provide an authentic passenger experience. Firstly, Alex has constructed a ‘flight selector panel’ that the passenger uses to select the airport where they wish to land (and there is a wide choice).

Once a location is selected, a standard PC monitor behind the window plays the landing video, while two speakers emit some pertinent audio, so the passenger can fully immerse themselves in their approach into Innsbruck, or maybe New York. Alex managed to find all of the film/sounds for each specific flight approach on YouTube, then scaled and rotated them to fit the screen correctly. An overhead fluorescent light strip also kicks into action to give a realistic experience.

All of the above is controlled by a Raspberry Pi Zero: “I needed something that supports I2C/general IO, was capable of playing video and audio and, most importantly, was cheap,” says Alex. Raspberry Pi Zero takes inputs from the selector panel and outputs to its small LCD display using I2C. “It’s also responsible for video/audio playback, using the HDMI port and a USB sound card.”

The second key section, independent of the selector panel, is the overhead ‘customer service board’ control panel, reclaimed from an old plane. This unit is powered by an ESP32 microcontroller, and the passenger can use it to switch on the light above, be cooled by the three-speed fan, or press the assistance button. Cleverly, Alex has arranged for his Google speakers to utter those immortal words “assistance required” whenever the passenger presses this button. Aside from an in-flight meal tray containing some unappetising foodstuffs, there really is very little missing from the Alex Air customer flight encounter, as he has even included a whimsical button which plays a Ryanair jingle (played in the firm’s aircraft when they land on time).

Brilliant backdrop

Housed in his conservatory, it looks like the Alternative Flight Simulator is there for the long haul, so to speak: “It’s pretty much screwed into the wall so it’s not going anywhere else. I use it as a meeting room when taking video calls for work… it beats just having a boring IKEA sofa in the conservatory.” Furthermore, Alex Air has been very well-received, even featuring in a British national newspaper, a radio interview, and in blogs far and wide.

Alex admits that: “People think I’m a bit nuts but, having seen my other projects, generally expect this kind of thing from me.” Indeed, Alex’s other ingenious makes include an automated cocktail maker, an owl barometer, and an automatic pneumatic door.

While he doesn’t plan on making any changes to his Flight Simulator, saying, “I think I’m done for now – it does the job,” Alex does intend to post some source code soon, once he’s had the opportunity to tidy it up a little. Keep an eye on his GitHub page if you are interested in replicating this high-flying and deliciously eccentric venture.

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To get you up and running quickly, the Plasma Stick 2040 W is preloaded with Pimoroni’s own brand of MicroPython firmware, complete with a fair few example programs, including fire, rainbow, snow, and sparkle effects. These can easily be adapted to suit the number of LEDs in your strip. Alternatively you can code in C/C++, or flash Pico W with CircuitPython to make use of Adafruit’s LED Animation library.

Plasma programming

The MicroPython code examples are based around Pimoroni’s Plasma library, as used for the firm’s Plasma 2040 controller – although unlike that board, the Plasma Stick can’t be used with DotStar/APA102 LEDs. The colour of individual LEDs can be set using RGB or HSV, along with the overall brightness level.

Just connect to a computer via USB to power the Plasma Stick’s Pico W and run/edit the code. As usual, to get a program to run automatically on boot-up, save it as main.py and then connect a standard USB power source, such as a power bank.

Pico W’s Wi-Fi connectivity adds extra possibilities for your lighting projects. Code examples include responding to the current Cheerlights colour (see @cheerlights on Twitter) or weather conditions sourced from the web. You can also take readings from any sensor attached to the Plasma Stick’s Qwiic/STEMMA QT port.

Verdict

8/10

While you could always use a plain Pico W to control LED strips, the Plasma Stick makes it simpler and has the bonus of a Qwiic/STEMMA QT port and reset button.

Specs

Features: 3 × screw terminals (5 V, ground, data), reset button, Qwiic/STEMMA QT port
Dimensions: 67 × 22 × 12 mm

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Ronin built his first prototype circuit board six years ago and discovered Raspberry Pi a year later. He usually programs microcontrollers using embedded C, but learning MicroPython led him to Raspberry Pi and, more specifically, the Pico. After realising the scope of what Pico can do, Ronin says he was “mad at myself” for not buying a Raspberry Pi Pico for his workshop before, given that every project he works on has buttons, an OLED screen, and motors.

Protection measures

Ronin likes to design and manufacture a bespoke shield whenever he buys a new development board or a microcontroller, and is now a regular customer of custom circuit board printing company PCBWay. Most of his project builds are based on off-the-shelf or easy-to-acquire parts, but PCB production is “a difficult process”, so he prefers to rely on a paid-for service. Although Raspberry Pi has its own system of HATs as well as plenty of ports, a Proto Shield mimics the Arduino approach he was used to. Further research led Ronin to the idea of learning about Pico by making a robot arm – a popular Raspberry Pi project, for which he followed GHIZmo’s Instructable. Ronin had access to a 3D printer to print parts for this.

He also decided to incorporate an OLED screen into his custom Proto Shield, turning his Pico into an interactive Snake game as well as a robot arm controller.

Gaming the system

Quite sensibly, Ronin focused on the elements he could do well, namely developing a Proto Shield and designing a circuit board, reporting that Raspberry Pi’s liberal provision of GPIO pins and PWM, UART, and I2C features “provided a lot of convenience in the design process of the Proto Shield.” He chose Hari Wiguna’s enticing Pico Snake game for its visual engagement, but had to write image-to-byte array instructions. Aside from the time taken to order components and print parts, the whole thing took less than two days’ work to assemble and get working. He cheerfully admits he had little experience of MicroPython before working on his inaugural Pico project, but says any coding errors were because he wrote code that would have worked in C rather than typing in Python commands.

Responses to the project have been overwhelmingly positive, with so many email alerts he could barely keep up. Buoyed up by the feedback, Ronin is already hard at work on a similar project for a mini sumo robot, neatly recalling his first steps into robotics as a teenager.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Q: How did you get into retro gaming?

A: When I started, it was just ‘gaming’, thanks! My family won an MSX in a raffle when I was seven, and my mum, an IT worker, taught me how to program in BASIC. Then she borrowed an XT from work until we saved up enough for our own 286. I kept using PCs and picked up other computers and consoles cheaply as they went out of fashion. I vividly remember going on eBay as a teen in the late 1990s and sending envelopes of dollars off to the US in exchange for giant boxes of remaindered classic DOS games that reached me on a very slow boat, with very cheap postage.

Q: What kind of projects do retro gaming enthusiasts work on?

A: I love emulation for the way it’s kept old platforms and games relevant, for how accessible it is, and for the way it provides a window into the past.

Or you could buy or salvage old computers and consoles, or build a Pentium II or Athlon K7 based PC running FreeDOS. But platforms like Raspberry Pi (software emulation) and MiSTer FPGA (hardware emulation) mean you can build dedicated systems for running old games without the aging equipment.

Q: What are some of your favourite projects?

A: I love 1980s and 1990s audio hardware, so making an emulated USB version of a Roland Sound Canvas (my favourite sound card range) with mt32-pi was a blast.

I had no idea how much I wanted and needed an arcade cabinet in my life until I built one. You’ll find that, along with a few of my other makes (like the DIY CD-ROM console I made to play my PS1 game discs!), in Retro Gaming with Raspberry Pi.

Q: How do you find games to run on emulators?

A: Itch.io is your friend! Just search for the platform you’re interested in, like NES, C64, ZX Spectrum, or MSX!

If you’re after official digital releases of old commercial games for DOS and Windows, GOG and Zoom Platform should be your first ports of call.

Indie Retro News announces new releases across most major 8- and 16-bit retro computers, consoles, and fantasy consoles.

01. Planning

“Make things that bring you joy! It should be fun to build, fun to have or, ideally, both. Planning is playing! While working out what I want to make, I’ll research and experiment in software often just on my desktop workstation, often while procrastinating other work.

When I’m writing a project guide, I usually test all possible permutations of the software on the hardware I have in order to pick the one that produces the best result.”

02. Parts

“Make sure all the hardware and software you want to use is actually compatible! Your available hardware should generally determine what software you use. I’m a firm believer in recycling and reusing as much as possible. Actually paying money for new hardware is sometimes required, but some of my favourite builds reused old stuff I have around (a CRT TV, an elderly DVD drive) or draw on my stash of reusable components (SBCs, microcontrollers, adapters with screw-down terminators).”

03. Construction

“You should be pretty confident that everything works before you assemble parts into a inconvenient location. Where possible, build the innards of the project on the bench/your sitting room floor before permanently soldering, screwing, or otherwise mounting them into place. It’s been three years and I’ve still not rewired some arcade machine buttons I connected to the wrong GPIO pins, even though it preys on me sometimes. (I put in a software workaround instead.)

Finally: don’t be afraid of stickers, decals, stencils, and paint. They’re easier to position and reposition than you think, and any wonkiness is almost always completely invisible to everyone who isn’t you.”

Build a MicroPython handheld
Retro gaming, electronics, game programming, 3D printing

It turns out Pico is great for game programming! K.G. shows you how to make the most of it. magpi.cc/123

Commodore 64 emulation
Retro gaming, software, emulation

Raspberry Pi 400 is somewhat inspired by 1980s computers. Here’s how to make it run like one. magpi.cc/102

Pico DB9-to-USB joystick
Retro gaming, programming, electronics

Instead of daisy-chaining twelve adapters, how about creating a custom DB9 to USB interface? magpi.cc/125

RetroPie
A retro gaming system built upon Raspberry Pi OS that makes it very easy to set up and play games. It’s used in many retro projects!
retropie.org.uk

Make your own video games
K.G.’s guide on how to make games like in the old days. Many lessons can be brought forward to modern game development as well.
magpi.cc/73

Legal emulation information
Our handy guide on legal emulation, along with links to repositories of completely legal and legitimate ROMs you can get for your machines.
magpi.cc/legalroms

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Five user buttons are located on the front, each with an LED, with two more LEDs at the top to indicate activity and wireless connection. Two metal legs (supplied) can be used to stand up the board.

Refreshing stuff

The Inky Frame comes preloaded with Pimoroni’s brand of MicroPython firmware, including the PicoGraphics display library and several code examples. As soon as you connect it to a computer via USB, it’ll start a screen refresh which takes 25–30 seconds – typical for this kind of multicolour e-ink display.

By default, it auto-runs a launcher menu with five example programs. However, to run them you’ll first need to stop the launcher in Thonny and create a secrets.py file with your Wi-Fi credentials (see Pimoroni’s Getting Started guide).

An optional accessories pack adds a 3×AA battery pack (with batteries), Velcro square to attach it to back of board, 16GB microSD card, and micro USB to USB cable. You could use a LiPo battery instead, but the board can’t charge it. Still, it uses a small amount of power while refreshing, and can even be put into a super deep sleep mode with Pico W shut down – and reawakened by the real-time clock, buttons, or a trigger pin on the extension header.

Verdict

9/10

A classy colour e-ink display whose Wi-Fi connectivity greatly extends its possible uses, including as a digital photo/art frame, life organiser, or low-power smart home dashboard.

Specs

Display: 4.01-inch e-ink, 640×400, seven colours Features: Pico W, 5 × user buttons, reset button, LEDs, microSD card slot, breakout header, 2 × Qwiic/STEMMA QT ports, 2 × metal legs Dimensions: 102.8 × 96.7 mm

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“I have a YouTube channel, and a company called Divoom sent me a Bluetooth speaker to review,” Carter explains. “Unfortunately, I’m not a product reviewer, so I decided to make a project with it. Initially, I was hoping to make a standalone music and media player for my kitchen but, as I got further along, I realised that I’d need to remove the speaker if I wanted to fit in a display.”

The item Carter received was the Divoom Ditoo Plus Retro Pixel Art Game Bluetooth Speaker. It’s a curious little thing that’s styled to look like a desktop PC and, as well as six buttons and a tiny stick to navigate its many features, it has a screen which allows users to display pixel art, play games, or view information.

Key to success

To turn this device into a PC, however, the buttons, the screen, and the speaker needed to be stripped away. Carter grabbed cutting tools and a screwdriver and began disassembling, eventually leaving just the case. He then began inserting new hardware, starting with a replacement keyboard. He happened to have a USB BlackBerry Q20 keyboard with trackpad to hand, and this fitted neatly once he trimmed the corners.

“It was simply luck that the keyboard I had on hand was such a good fit,” he says, explaining that he hid the rough edges and the surrounding board by 3D-printing a bezel. Unfortunately, the display proved trickier. “The screen I had was not a good fit,” he laments. “Although being square was a good start, the glass was too large to fit within the speaker housing.

“I cut the glass with shears and covered the edge shards with a 3D-printed bezel. But cutting electronics with shears is a bit of an inside joke on my YouTube channel. It’s dumb and it’s not a method I recommend. To make the display look more like a CRT, I also shaped a piece of thermal plastic into a dome with a hair-dryer and placed it over the LCD.”

Making sacrifices

The final step was to fit a Raspberry Pi 3B computer. Again, it needed to squeeze into the case and it required removing the GPIO pins to fix on a right-angle header. This proved tricky and Carter still couldn’t create a sufficiently low profile, so he ended up cutting the bottom of the housing instead. “If I was to buy the parts, I would have used a Raspberry Pi Zero computer which would have fit better,” he says.

Even so, once assembled, the Mini PC has worked a treat. It boots up, displays the familiar Raspberry Pi OS screen, and it’s controllable via the keyboard. But if Carter worked on it again, he says he might do things differently.

“The bottom cover could be designed better to fit over the Raspberry Pi computer, and the upper housing could be redesigned to include a speaker,” he says. “I could find some way of preserving the LCD’s touch sensitivity while still achieving the CRT domed look. To be honest, though, I haven’t really used it much. I kinda just built it to see if I could.”

Reading Time: 3 minutes

50 Hints & Hacks

Unleash the full power of Raspberry Pi with our ultimate collection of tips and tricks. Create multi-monitor professional setups, adjust GPU memory settings, customise the Raspberry Pi operating system, automatically run programs and much more.

Desert Eye 2.0

This sophisticated Raspberry Pi 4 robot is designed to operate in harsh desert environments. It observes terrain for danger and could potentially save human lives.

Emulate a BBC Micro on Raspberry Pi 400

Using an optimised version of the B-Em emulator, Raspberry Pi 400 can take us back to the heyday of the British micro. Using a new optimized version of B-Em there are no longer any major performance issues.  KG Orphanides walks us through the setup process.

Make a giant Pomodoro timer using Galactic Unicorn

The Pomodoro technique is a simple system of effort and reward: work for 25 minutes and you get five minutes off. This project uses the jumbo-sized Galactic Unicorn and Python code to create a dedicated Pomodoro timer.

#MonthOfMaking with the experts

Every year we gather the community together to work on a project, take photographs of the build, and share it with other readers. This year we’re going to be talking to Allie Katz, Kevin McAleer, and KG Orphanides about their build process, projects and favourite resources.

PiBoy XRS reviewed

There have been many handheld gaming console designs for Raspberry Pi, and this latest one comes with a horizontal form factor that takes notes from various classic consoles. The result is a solid build that combines perfectly with Raspberry Pi 4 to produce a handheld gaming powerhouse.

VEEB interview

Meet two creatives who admire a minimalist aesthetic and enjoy making useful things from older technology.

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Save 35% off the cover price with a subscription to The MagPi magazine. UK subscribers get three issues for just £10 and a FREE Raspberry Pi Pico W, then pay £30 every six issues. You’ll save money and get a regular supply of in-depth reviews, features, guides and other Raspberry Pi enthusiast goodness delivered directly to your door every month.

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Reading Time: 3 minutes

Early promise

As with so many of our featured project showcase makers, Aaron showed a very early interest in electronics and technology. “When I was eight, I disassembled the TV remote and (poorly) punched holes through the faceplate so I could add ‘extra features’,” he relates. “I lovingly remember this as my first successful hack, even if it was awful and ugly.”

PaperPi also came about as the result of a hack: Aaron’s initial goal was to replace the failing display on a Logitech Squeezebox media player with “something more visually pleasing.” The LED screen should have shown the currently playing tracks or, when nothing was playing, the time. Aaron had “never been terribly fond of the aesthetic of the blue-green LEDs of the matrix screen” and the Squeezebox’s “decidedly early aughts [noughties] black and silver package.” With the screen failing, he saw an opportunity to replace it.

Elegant understatement

Aaron says Raspberry Pi driving an e-paper screen was perfect for his project. “As an added bonus, it was easy to add a HiFiBerry [DAC] and use Raspberry Pi for playing music directly into the stereo amplifier.” Aaron has been a Raspberry Pi convert since acquiring a Model A when backing the Kano kit on Kickstarter, and being charmed by the possibilities of its GPIO pins and blinking LEDs. “Raspberry Pi really is amazing because it combines the openness of the enormous Linux community and a massive, and generally affordable, hardware ecosystem” – and a great match for his Squeezebox replacement.

Aaron borrowed some of the logic and layout from VEEB’s Stonks and Edify projects, and was keen to emulate their clean and tidy look. “Ideally, the screen would be easy to read from across the room, look great, but also fade into the room.” He definitely didn’t want “loud colours, bright lights, animations, or anything distracting.” Instead, he devised PaperPi around a Waveshare e-paper display and ensured it shows only what interests the user, such as moon phases. Although it is theoretically limited to Waveshare screens, Aaron has written a number of plug-ins that allow his epdlib-based code to be used for different purposes, most recently as a digital photo frame. Since he can often adapt an existing plug-in, he can usually “crank out” a new plug-in in a weekend. He would also love to develop PaperPi for other makes of screen. “I haven’t worked the drivers into the project yet, but it is something I would love some help with if anyone is interested!”

Quizzed over the biggest design challenge, Aaron replies: “font choices: clashing descenders and ascenders!” He now has “so much more appreciation for why late 1990s Windows installations had a fit when I tried to change system fonts.”

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Raspberry Pi is a powerful tool that has already found its place in the video game community with RetroPie. We wanted to do the same and create new, fun games with the Raspberry Pi,” explains Romain Fontaine. When the team sat down to decide on the theme and title for their pinball machine, it became clear they were all fond of games from the 1980s era. Their retro game, The Mafia, “brings the player back to Chicago and the 1930s Prohibition Era with gangsters, casinos, and of course, a bank to rob!”

Pi-eyed

Team Pinball originally designed their game for Raspberry Pi 2, noting its compact size and price and that it had “everything we needed”, including being able to output audio, drive the screen, and control the machine through its GPIO,” says Romain. Having been updated and upgraded in the five years since Mafia Pinball launched to some acclaim in the pinball enthusiast arena, The Mafia is now based on a Raspberry Pi 3 that runs game code on top of a modified Linux image optimised for fast boot and low latency. There are two separate sets of software. One runs the game logic that reads the switches located in the machine and drives the solenoids and light show; the other plays music and audio effects, and also renders the score and animations on the LCD screen.

Starting from scratch

Team Pinball designed the game and cabinet themselves, basing it on their own sketches, cutting playfields, wiring harnesses, and the electronic controller. The game’s pinball layout is their own design too, while most of the pinball-specific parts, such as mechanisms, are standard and can be bought on pinball websites. As far as possible, parts were locally sourced: the wooden cabinet was made by a Welsh company, with printing and glass panels also done in Wales. “Our office is only 30 minutes away from Raspberry Pi’s factory,” says Romain, so they can also count that as a locally sourced part.

Team Pinball designed their own controller board, called Rboard, specifically for Raspberry Pi that is compatible with direct switches, as well as a switch matrix with up to 100 switch inputs. “It can drive more than 200 LEDs and 48 solenoids. This is more than previous pinball controllers such as the WPC, while using one tenth of the board space thanks to Raspberry Pi,” says Romain. “Several revisions” to the Rboard added a watchdog circuit to protect the hardware, capacitors, “and a regulator to maintain a perfect 5 V for Raspberry Pi.” The latest version includes a DAC for improved audio quality. Video needed to be in H.264 format, so they had to find alternative rendering techniques.

Manufacturing was measured in a combination of metric for bespoke parts and imperial for standard pinball parts, which added to the challenge – not least because some of the manufacturers had never worked on a pinball machine before. When the 32-tonne lorry delivering everything to Team Pinball’s HQ arrived, turning down the narrow Welsh lane was a feat too far, so Romain and his colleagues had to carry the cabinets for the last part of their journey in the pouring rain. Nonetheless, everything was assembled and comprehensively checked before Mafia Pinball eventually made its much-anticipated debut.

The game has been a big hit in the pinball community, gaining numerous plaudits and orders. Their machines have shipped globally, to USA, Canada, Sweden, France, Austria, and even Australia. A Canadian company also uses the Team Pinball system for their game design. Better yet, Romain says Team Pinball “absolutely!” has more pinball machines in the pipeline. “More pinball projects, all powered with Raspberry Pi, CM4, and Raspberry Pi Pico!”