Kategorie: PC

A list of Raspberry Pi books for #BookLoversDay
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While yesterday’s blog post covered YouTubers who create video tutorials about using the Raspberry Pi, today we want to focus on a more traditional medium in honour of #BookLoversDay.

Since we launched the Raspberry Pi back in 2012, staff and community members alike have been writing guides and projects books about our little green board, with some releasing them as free PDFs and others donating a portions of the revenue to the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Here are a few of our favourite books, written by our colleagues and you, our glorious community.

Getting started

For beginners just entering the world of Raspberry Pi, there is no end of ‘Getting started’ resources available online. For those of you who want a physical reference work, or who plan on giving a Raspberry Pi as a gift, here are some of the best beginners’ guides available:

Almost all of us will have at least one for Dummies book lying around at home. Easy to read and full of information, the series is a go-to for many. The third edition of the Raspberry Pi for Dummies book came out in late 2017, and you can read the first two chapters on co-author Sean McManus’s website.

The Raspberry Pi User Guide was co-written by Eben Upton, creator of the Raspberry Pi and co-founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. So it’s fair to say that the information in this guide comes directly from the horse’s mouth…so to speak. You can read an excerpt of the book on the publisher’s website.

For younger users, Carrie Anne Philbin’s Adventures in Raspberry Pi is both an introduction guide and project book, taking young beginners from the basics of setting up and using their Raspberry Pi through to trying out coding and digital making projects. Now in its third edition, the book is available in both paperback and e-book format.

You may also like:

Projects

If you’re looking for some projects to try out, whether they be Scratch or Python, screen-based or physical, the following books will help you get making:

Simon Monk has been writing tutorials and producing Raspberry Pi kits for both beginners and advanced makers. With his Raspberry Pi Cookbook, Simon has written over 200 ‘practical recipes’ for you to try with your Raspberry Pi.

Forget James Bond. If you’d rather be working for the dark side, try Donald Norris’ Raspberry Pi Electronics Projects for the Evil Genius* and build everything you need to take over the world.

*Swivel chair and fluffy white cat not included.

More inspirational rather than instructive, Creative Projects with Raspberry Pi by Kirsten Kearney and Will Freeman is a gorgeous coffee table book of Raspberry Pi projects from across the globe. From small gadgets to art installations and robots to weather stations, if this book doesn’t get your creative juices flowing, nothing will.

You may also like:

Computer science

Computer science is more than just writing code and lighting LEDs. If you’d like to learn more about the history and science behind STEM, these books are marvelous resources for the inquisitive mind:

Those wishing to go deeper into learning programming should check out The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master by Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas. Some consider it the classic go-to for novice programmers, with many veterans returning to it when they need a reminder of best practices in the field.

History buffs may want to look into Jacquard’s Web: How a Hand-Loom Led to the Birth of the Information Age by James Essinger. This book explores the development of technology, from the invention of the handloom by Joseph-Marie Jacquard in Napoleonic France to technological advancements of the digital age.

With its lighthearted fun mixed with historical events, the Eisner Award–nominated The Thrilling Adventures Of Lovelace And Babbage by Sydney Padua is a Pi Towers favourite, and should be the staple of every STEM enthusiast’s book collection. In fact, we’re sure that even those with no interest in the field will find this collection of stories entertaining. So there’s really no reason not to try it.

You may also like:

Magazines

If you’re looking for a periodical or two, may we suggest:

The MagPi, the official Raspberry Pi magazine. Available in both hardcopy and free digital PDF every month, The MagPi covers community projects and tutorials as well as Raspberry Pi–related add-on tech. You may also be interested in the MagPi Essentials Guides, written by community members to help you advance in various areas of Raspberry Pi creativity.

Hello World, the magazine for educators, is released termly and includes articles and advice from STEM educators across the globe. UK-based educators can get Hello World delivered free to their door, and everyone can download the free PDFs from the Hello World website.

HackSpace magazine covers more than just the Raspberry Pi. Consider it the maker magazine, covering a wide variety of different topics, skills, and techniques. An interesting monthly read that your eager hobbyist mind will love…but your wallet and free space/time, not so much. It’s out in both hardcopy and as a free PDF each month.

You may also like:
- AQUILA — while not specifically STEM-related, AQUILA will keep young minds engaged and inquisitive
- WIRED — WIRED offers a broad taste of emerging technologies and more
- The Beano — OK, so it’s not STEM, but c’mon, the Beano is awesome!
Add to the list

If you have a favourite book that we’ve left out, let us know so we can add it. Maybe you have a childhood classic that first got you into coding, or a reference guide you go back to again and again. So tell us in the comments which books we have missed!

Website: LINK
09/08/2018
New DLC Available – Total War: ROME II – Rise of the Republic Campaign Pack

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Total War: ROME II – Rise of the Republic Campaign Pack, all new content for Total War™: ROME II – Emperor Edition is Now Available on Steam!

Total War: ROME II – Rise of the Republic is a thrilling new campaign pack charting the events surrounding Rome in the 4th century BC.

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09/08/2018
Mario Kart VR launches at VRZone Portal London on HTC Vive

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Calling all UK Mario Kart fans! The highly anticipated Mario Kart VR experience opened last week at the BANDAI NAMCO Amusement Inc. VR ZONE Portal London located within Hollywood Bowl at London’s O2 arena, following a hugely successful launch in Shinjuku, Tokyo in 2017.

The multiplayer VR experience will offer four players at a time the chance to hop into specially designed ‘Mario Karts’, before racing through the iconic Mushroom Kingdom as either Luigi, Mario, Yoshi or Peach.

Running off the award-winning HTC Vive VR system, Mario Kart VR features industry-leading graphics and in homage to the original game, Vive’s Tracker technology allows players to reach up and grab classic items like banana skins to pelt their opponents with. Additionally, Mario Kart VR boasts haptic feedback capabilities, creating a truly four-dimensional experience that allows players to feel every single twist and turn.

Mario Kart VR will later this summer be rolled out to further VR ZONE Portal locations at Hollywood Bowl centres in Tunbridge Wells and Leeds.

The Mario Kart VR experience is bookable in advance with limited spaces on the day, with full information available at: https://www.hollywoodbowl.co.uk/vr

To hear more and see the karts in action, check out the video below captured from official launch event:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKA57dGKjc0?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&w=730&h=411]

Website: LINK

09/08/2018
Daily Deal – Universe Sandbox ², 40% Off

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Today’s Deal: Save 40% on Universe Sandbox ²!*

Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are!

*Offer ends Friday at 10AM Pacific Time
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08/08/2018
10 YouTubers you should be following

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When it comes to finding Raspberry Pi tutorials on the internet, many makers’ first port of call is YouTube. From professional content creators to part-time hobbyists, the video-sharing platform is full of makers documenting their projects for the world to see.

Here are some of Youtube’s finest who use Raspberry Pi at the heart of many of their builds.

JenFoxBot

Jen’s channel is a collection of educational videos about computer science, explorations into the inner workings of tech, and build videos using Raspberry Pi. We’ve covered her work on the blog a few times, sharing her IoT Pet Monitor and her safety helmet, and we get excited about our subscriber notifications whenever she posts a new video.

Let’s Make a (Local) Internet Server!

What is the Internet and how does it work? Also, what the heck is a server?? Learn about all these awesome things & how you can make your very own with a Raspberry Pi computer! Hooray!

Sean Hodgins

Sean describes himself as someone who likes building, creating, and making, and his channel is brimming with examples of just how ingenious and interesting his makes are. From designing and creating his own PCBs for Kickstarter, to 3D-printing and Raspberry Pi project building, Sean’s channel has plenty to keep makers happy.

Haunted Jack in the Box – DIY Raspberry Pi Project

This project uses a raspberry pi and face detection using the pi camera to determine when someone is looking at it. Plenty of opportunities to scare people with it. You can make your own! Want to support these projects?

N-O-D-E

N-O-D-E tears Raspberry Pis to pieces and rebuilds them, turning them into mini servers, dongles, Pi slims, and more. N-O-D-E’s channel an interesting resource for those looking to modify their Pi, and it’s well documented and accessible, thanks to the supporting website.

The NODE Mini Server: A Computer For The Decentralized Age

More at N-O-D-E.net

Estefannie Explains It All

Estefannie started her video-making journey as a means to reassure herself that she knew what she was talking about. If she could successfully produce a tutorial video about algorithm analysis, this meant she had retained the information to begin with. Smart! From there, her channel has evolved into a kitchen table maker diary, with fun, entertaining tutorials on how to build using Raspberry Pi and Arduino.

ROBO SUIT | Halloween Build ft. Arduino + Raspberry Pi

I like making robots. So this Halloween I am going to be a robot. Check out the whole story and full tutorial on how to make your own Robo Suit here: https://www.hackster.io/estefanniegg/halloween-build-robosuit-c1a615 I used three Arduinos, one Raspberry Pi, servos, LEDs, and tons of wires to make this costume!

TucksProjects

With only a few videos so far, Tucker Shannon’s channel is a promising collection of rather wonderful Raspberry Pi builds. We covered his DIY CNC wood burner on the blog last year, and sat patiently waiting for more. And boy, were we happy with what came next. Check out his Raspberry Pi laser turret, and spend the rest of your day trying to figure out when you can make time to build your own.

Raspberry Pi Laser Turret (Draws on wall!) Pt1.

Glow in the dark laser pi tutorial PT. 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg1HivG02tw STL FILES https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2965798

Tinkernut

OMG, LOL, ROFLCOPTER, animated baby GIF, animated baby JIF — if you like YouTube and Raspberry Pi, we’d be shocked if you haven’t come across Tinkernut yet. With his well-documented projects and live comment aftershows, Tinkernut beautifully bridges the gap between his love of making and the interests of the community devouring his content.

BUILD: Coke Bottle SPY CAM! – Tinkernut Workbench

Learn how to take a regular Coke Zero bottle, cram a Raspberry Pi and webcam inside of it, and have it still look like a regular Coke Zero bottle. Why would you want to do this? To spy on those irritating April Fooligans!!!

Blitz City DIY

Looking to build a Raspberry Pi thermal camera? Need a review about Android TV OS for the Pi? Whatever your Raspberry Pi needs, Blitz City DIY will likely have you covered. With a collection of fun digital making builds using various tech; 3D-printing experiments; and reviews aplenty, Blitz City DIY is a gem amongst the maker channels of YouTube.

webOS Open Source Edition for Raspberry Pi

After reading an article in MagPi about the availability of webOS OSE for Raspberry Pi, I was curious to check it out. I think it definitely has potential and it’s always exciting when a new open source OS is available for the Pi.

engineerish

We’ve covered a few of engineerish’s projects here on the blog. He’s the king of creating projects you didn’t know you needed until you saw them, such as a Raspberry Pi binary clock, and a maze generator. While engineerish’s channel is fairly new, we’re excited to see where his builds will take him in the future.

Build a Binary Clock with Raspberry Pi – And how to tell the time

In this video I’ll be showing how I built a binary clock using a Raspberry Pi, NeoPixels and a few lines of Python. I also take a stab at explaining how the binary number system works so that we can decipher what said clock is trying to tell us.

Frederick Vandenbosch

Members of the Raspberry Pi Twitter community, you’ll recognise Frederick, who is an active contributor that often answers maker queries and takes part in the general Pi conversation. And on YouTube, his contributions are just as plentiful and rewarding.

Raspberry Pi Connected Picture Frame with Resin.io

▼ Info and links below ▼ For this project, I created a digital picture from which downloads its pictures from a shared Dropbox folder. A simple user interfaces allows the user to navigate the pictures and optionally like them. Upon liking a picture, a notification is sent via the IFTTT service.

Explaining Computers

Christopher Barnatt’s Explaining Computers channel reminds us a little of the educational videos our science teachers would record for us to play back during exam prep season. His videos are easy-to-follow explanations of various computing topics, well-presented, and with a theme tune that’ll be stuck in your head for days!

Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Overclocking

Overclocking a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ using a Noctua cooling fan to stop it throttling. Here I show how to overclock a Pi 3B+, and steadily take the CPU speed as high as it can go . . . but how far is that?!

Shameless plug…

Not to be confused with this, a shameless pug:

The MagPi magazine

Is this cheating? Never mind. The MagPi magazine’s YouTube channel is full of reviews of the latest third-party add-ons for your Pi. 99% hosted by Rob (the guy who accosts our blog once a month to talk about the magazine), the MagPi’s channel is a must subscription for any Raspberry Pi enthusiast.

DiddyBorg Raspberry Pi robot

The DiddyBorg v2 is the latest robot from the excellent PiBorg, complete with ThunderBorg motor controller. Is it as good as it looks? Get one here: http://magpi.cc/diddyborg Subscribe today to twelve months print subscription to never miss an issue and get a Raspberry Pi Zero W with accessories.

Raspberry Pi Foundation

OK, this IS cheating, but it’s our blog post so we say it’s OK. The Raspberry Pi Foundation’s YouTube channel collects introduction videos for our free resources, live talks from events, portraits of your projects, and that one time our Director of Software Engineering decided to ride a Pi-powered motorised skateboard. Oh, and product releases like this…

A BRAND-NEW PI FOR π DAY

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ is now on sale now for $35.

Who did we miss?

If you run, or follow, a YouTube channel with Raspberry Pi–related content, share it with us in the comments! We’ll be watching.

Website: LINK

08/08/2018
Daily Deal – Puyo Puyo™Tetris®, 33% Off

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Today’s Deal: Save 33% on Puyo Puyo™Tetris®!*

Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are!

*Offer ends Thursday at 10AM Pacific Time
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07/08/2018
Now Available on Steam – Electronauts, 10% off!

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Electronauts is Now Available on Steam and is 10% off!*

Immerse yourself in an interactive sonic environment where you build, drop, remix, and jam with your friends and top artists. Create songs, crush sets, and express yourself like never before. Electronauts sets the stage for you to DJ, perform, and make music magic in virtual reality.

*Offer ends August 14 at 10AM Pacific Time
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07/08/2018
Pre-Purchase Now – Valkyria Chronicles 4

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Valkyria Chronicles 4 is Now Available for Pre-Purchase on Steam!

Pre-Purchase and receive the „A Captainless Squad“ DLC for free*

*Offer ends when the game is released.
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07/08/2018
Sync modular synths and electronic instruments with a DIY kit

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The Raspberry Pi community is wonderfully collaborative, with people all over the world supporting each other to make things they care about. It’s part of a much wider maker movement, and a new project from seismic industries, called spink0, brings the power of Raspberry Pi to another DIY community in the music world: modular synthesizer enthusiasts.

Modular synths

Modular synthesizers are dedicated machines for creating and controlling electrically generated sounds. Unlike the ubiquitous electronic keyboards, they don’t offer pre-set sounds. Instead, they allow players to deeply manipulate the nature of sounds: by connecting different modules with each other via cables, players use signals from one module to affect and alter the sounds from another, and generally get very creative with not just the musical notes but the sound itself.

A low to middling number of cables

Modular synths have seen a huge growth in popularity in the last few years. This year’s BBC Proms even featured an improvised modular synthesizer performance in the Royal Albert Hall.

Recent developments in technology, and enterprising module creators, have made these machines much more accessible, largely through a modular synth format called eurorack. A thriving DIY community has also grown, with people assembling their own modular synths using kits or even building their own modules from scratch.

spink0 syncs music

Enter the Raspberry Pi Zero W, just the right size for adding sophisticated computing power to a eurorack module. The spink0 eurorack module uses the power of a Zero W to allow musicians to keep their eurorack synth music in time with music created with more common electronic instruments like drum machines and computers. The Zero W connects to a wireless network and uses the Ableton Link protocol to share timing information across this network. It converts this digital data into the analogue square wave clock pulses that modular synths use for musical timing.

spink-0 jam with launchpad and ableton

jam with spink-0. launchpad, the two spinks and ableton are synchronized with their integrated LINK protocol via a WLAN accesspoint provided by the 2nd spink module. Tempochange in Ableton at 0:37

With spink0, seismic industries have developed shaduzLABS’ original prototype pink-0 into an open-source DIY kit including PCBs and a panel that rather neatly integrate a Pi Zero into a eurorack module (a CLK/RST generator, to be exact).

The PCBs that seismic industries designed for spink0

Pi-powered electronic music jam sessions

This opens up a whole world of jamming potential to musicians who use these esoteric machines to make their sounds. A group of electronic musicians can get together, connect over a wireless network, and improvise ideas, all kept in time across the network. Thanks to spink0, eurorack synths can coexist with computers and even iPads and other tablets.

spink0 without its top panel

Now anyone can link their modular synth with other music machines and computers for collaborative jams! Seismic industries offer the DIY kit, plus full instructions and code, so you can solder yours at home, or you can buy spink0 preassembled if you wish.

Website: LINK

07/08/2018
Daily Deal – Hard West, 90% Off

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Today’s Deal: Save 90% on Hard West!*

Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are!

*Offer ends Wednesday at 10AM Pacific Time
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06/08/2018
Raspberry Pi as car computer

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Carputers! Fabrice Aneche is documenting his ongoing build, which equips an older (2011) car with some of the features a 2018 model might have: thus far, a reversing camera (bought off the shelf, with a modified GUI to show the date and the camera’s output built with Qt and Golang), GPS and offline route guidance.

We’re not sure how the car got through that little door there.

It was back in 2013, when the Raspberry Pi had been on the market for about a year, that we started to see carputer projects emerge. They tended to be focussed in two directions: in-car entertainment, and on-board diagnostics (OBD). We ended up hiring the wonderful Martin O’Hanlon, who wrote up the first OBD project we came across, just this year. Being featured on this blog can change your life, I tell you.

In the last five years, the Pi’s evolved: you’re now working with a lot more processing power, there’s onboard WiFi, and far more peripherals which can be useful in a…vehicular context are available. Consequently, the flavour of the car projects we’re seeing has changed somewhat, with navigation systems and cameras much more visible. Fabrice’s is one of the best examples we’ve found.

Night-view navigation system

GPS is all very well, but you, the human person driver, will want directions at every turn. So Fabrice wrote a user interface to serve up live maps and directions, mostly in Qt5 and QML (he’s got some interesting discussion on his website about why he stopped using X11, which turned out to be too slow for his needs). All the non-QML work is done in Go. It’s all open-source, and on GitHub, if you’d like to contribute or roll your own project. He’s also worked over the Linux GPS daemons, found them lacking, and has produced his own:

…the Linux gps daemons are using obscure and over complicated protocols so I’ve decided to write my own gps daemon in Go using a gRPC stream interface. You can find it here.

I’m also not satisfied with the map matching of OSRM for real time display, I may rewrite one using mbmatch.

We’ll be keeping an eye on this project; given how much clever has gone into it already, we’re pretty sure that Fabrice will be adding new features. Thanks Fabrice!

Website: LINK

06/08/2018
Pre-Purchase Now – Football Manager 2019, save 10%

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Football Manager 2019 is Now Available for Pre-Purchase on Steam and is 10% off!*

Plus, pre-purchasers get access to the Beta when it’s ready.

*Offer ends when the game is released.
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06/08/2018
Daily Deal – Life Goes On: Done to Death, 80% Off

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Today’s Deal: Save 80% on Life Goes On: Done to Death!*

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*Offer ends Tuesday at 10AM Pacific Time
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05/08/2018
Daily Deal – DESOLATE, 33% Off

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Today’s Deal: Save 33% on DESOLATE!*

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*Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time
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03/08/2018
Daily Deal – Beholder, 75% Off

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Today’s Deal: Save 75% on Beholder!*

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*Offer ends Saturday at 10AM Pacific Time
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03/08/2018
Coolest Projects: it’s for the whole family!

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Wherever in the world I meet members of the Raspberry Pi community, I am always amazed by their enthusiasm for learning and making. And I often meet families that are enjoying computing together: kids who have introduced their parents to something that’s a whole new world for them, adults who are sharing a hobby they love with their children or grandchildren or nieces and nephews, and whole families that are learning alongside one another.

Earlier this summer, I met Raspberry Pi Certified Educator Heidi Baynes at Picademy in Denver, Colorado, and asked her about the Coolest Projects North America showcase event, which she and her son will be attending to on September 23 in Santa Ana, California. We hope you’ll join us there too, and to help you plan and build your own project to showcase, we’ve created a handy step-by-step guide for you to follow. Heidi and I talked about how she got involved with the Raspberry Pi community, and what she and her son are looking forward to at Coolest Projects.

Christina Foust: Heidi, what makes you excited about Coolest Projects?

Heidi Baynes: I love the idea of bringing kids together from all over North America to share their excitement about computer science and digital making. While I love all things Raspberry Pi, I like that this event includes projects from a variety of different sources. I’m excited to see projects built with Arduino, micro:bit, and other microcontrollers. I also can’t wait to see the digital creations that students have programmed as part of their coding classes and coding clubs. It’ll be a great celebration of computer science, robotics, and coding classes throughout North America.

CF: I can’t wait either! We’ve got some great projects registered. You’ve been part of the Raspberry Pi community for a few years. Can you tell me what first got you involved?

HB: As an educator, I was curious about Raspberry Pi and what it could mean for students and education. I applied to attend Picademy in the summer of 2016, and I was thrilled to be accepted to the Austin cohort. It was the most enriching professional development opportunity that I have ever attended, and I couldn’t wait to get back to my district and share everything I had learned. I’ve been lucky enough to continue my Picademy journey as a facilitator in Providence, Irvine, and just recently, in Denver. It’s been an opportunity of a lifetime to experience Picademy across the country and connect with so many wonderful educators!

CF: We love that you’re a part of the Raspberry Pi community, and we’re excited to have you join us for Coolest Projects. Your son is registered to present his project, Star Wars Piano. Where did the idea for his project come from?

HB: Music in general is a big focus in our house, so we purchased the Piano HAT to explore music and coding. As we searched through soundbites, we ran across a bank of Star Wars sounds and knew what we had to do. My son has talked about incorporating the piano into a costume so that different sound effects could be easily played while in character.

Heidi Baynes on Twitter

My son and I had a blast working on this Star Wars themed 🎹🎩 project. #picademy #pichatusa #piparty @bquentin3 @kboyceq https://t.co/mYOlVp5UxX

CF: I love Star Wars! What is he most excited about for Coolest Projects?

HB: He loves seeing what other kids have done and gets inspired by their creativity. In fact, as we’ve been talking about Coolest Projects and preparing his Star Wars Piano, he’s decided that he’d also like to try building a robotic car to share at the event. We’ve purchased the kit, and hopefully he’ll have time to complete it so he can share that project as well.

CF: I love that he’s inspired to keep building. We’d love to have him share the car too. What is he doing to get ready to share his Star Wars Piano project?

HB: He’s been adding a few more sound effects to his piano and is hoping to add another octave of sounds before he shares it at the event. We’ve talked about him creating images on the Sense HAT to play along with the sounds, so we’ll see what happens between now and then!

CF: That’s super exciting! I can’t wait to see how the project evolves. Do you have any advice for educators or parents with kids considering Coolest Projects?

HB: Stop considering and sign up! Don’t hesitate to come and share what you are working on, no matter how big or small the project might be. The Raspberry Pi and CS educator community is the most welcoming group of people. You and your students are sure to walk away with a few new ideas and some questions answered. We all learn from what others are doing. Your project could be the spark for someone else!

Coolest Projects North America

Coolest Projects will take place the Discovery Cube Orange County on September 23, 2018, and projects from young people with all levels of experience are welcome: we love to celebrate what kids and teens have created, whether they’re beginners showcasing their first projects, or seasoned makers! Find out how to attend the event and register your project at coolestprojects.org/northamerica.

Website: LINK

03/08/2018
Weekend Deal – XCOM® 2, 67% Off

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Save 67% on XCOM® 2 as part of this week’s Weekend Deal*!

*Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time

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03/08/2018
Free Weekend – Absolver, 50% off

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Play Absolver for FREE starting now through Sunday at 1PM Pacific Time. You can also pickup Absolver at 50% off the regular price!*

If you already have Steam installed, click here to install or play Absolver. If you don’t have Steam, you can download it here.

*Offer ends August 10th at 10AM Pacific Time
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02/08/2018
Weekend Deal – Board Games Weekend, Up to 90% Off

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Save up to 90% on hundreds of Board Games as part of this week’s Weekend Deal*!

Titles include, Tabletop Simulator, Town of Salem, Hand of Fate 2, Scythe: Digital Edition, Blood Bowl II, The Jackbox Party Pack 4 and many more!

*Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time
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02/08/2018
Endless Franchise Free Weekend, save 10 to 90%

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Play Endless Space 2, Endless Legend, Dungeon of the Endless and Endless Space for FREE starting now through Monday at 10AM Pacific Time. Save 10 to 90% on all Endless Franchise titles too!*

If you already have Steam installed, you can click the following links to start playing now! Endless Space 2, Endless Legend, Dungeon of the Endless and Endless Space. If you don’t have Steam, you can download it here.

*Offer ends Monday at 10AM Pacific Time

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02/08/2018
Build your own NASA Curiosity rover

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Put together your own remote-controlled Curiosity rover with the help of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a Raspberry Pi.

Why wouldn’t you want one of these?!

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

To educate the curious about the use of rovers in space, the Pasadena-based NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) built a mini-rover, ROV-E, to tour classrooms, museums, and public engagement events.

The original ROV-E comes with a much higher price tag, so the JPL engineers decided to scale it down for home makers

And so engaged was the public by the rover and its ability to manoeuvre harsh terrain, rocks, and small children, that the JLP engineers have published a building plan that allows rover-enthused makers to build their own for around $2500 using off-the-shelf parts.

Curiosity for the curious

The JPL open-source rover is a scaled-down model of Curiosity, the car-sized rover currently on day 2187 of its mission to explore the surface of Mars.

The Mars rover sings Happy birthday to itself on 5 August every year, and this fact breaks out hearts!

And while the home-brew version of Curiosity may not be able to explore the Red Planet, project sponsor Tom Soderstrom believes it can offer plenty of opportunities to future STEM pioneers:

“We wanted to give back to the community and lower the barrier of entry by giving hands-on experience to the next generation of scientists, engineers, and programmers.”

A Pi at the heart of the rover

The rover uses a variety of tech makers may already have in their arsenal, including USB cameras and a Raspberry Pi. JPL’s design also gives you the option to swap out components with alternatives.

Control the rover however you please: via a games controller, a smartphone, or a program of your own design

To control the rover, JPL decided to use a Raspberry Pi:

We chose a Raspberry Pi to be the ‘brain’ of this rover for its versatility, accessibility, simplicity, and ability to add and upgrade your own modifications. Any method with which you can communicate with a Raspberry Pi (Bluetooth, WiFi, USB devices, etc.) can be interfaced into the control system of the robot.

Full plans for the six-wheel rover are available on JPL’s GitHub, where they also list all parts required, final specs, and supporting info such as links to the project forum and parts suppliers. You can also visit the official project website to control your own rover on the surface of Mars…a simulated rover, of course, but one can dream!

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02/08/2018
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02/08/2018