garg aaa aeite ges ie ine aIndustrial Raspberry Pi ComfilePi Powered by Raspberry Pi One The ComfileP’ is a touch panel PC designed with high tolerant components and no moving parts for industrial applications. It features a water-resistant front panel, touchscreen, color LCD (available in various sizes), RS-232, RS-485, Ethernet, USB, I2C, SPI, digital |O, battery-backed RTC (real-time clock), and piezo buzzer. Use the rear-panel 40-pin GPIO header to expand its features and capabilities with additional V/O boards. The ComfilePi is UL Listed and employs Raspberry Pi Compute Module. Visit www.comfiletech.com COMFILE © copyright COMFILE Technology, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TECHNOLOGYWelcome Welcome to Raspberry Pi Official Magazine ne amazing thing about Raspberry Pi productsis how Editor iste close you get to the metal. “This month Luey Metal - in this context - isn’t music, materials, or rind in font of military hardware, but the raw, physical hardware that makes a 4 fac recognition computer tick. Below your programs, underneath any operating project But dew the ae system, below the firmware, sits the metal: this is where the tothe Reck magic happens, Paper, Raspberry Pi Pico lets you reach into that world, It’s a mighty ® microcontroller board packed with GPIO (general-purpose input/ output) pins, These enable y and start experimenting with digital making. Suddenly you're not just coding - you're making! Attach some buttons, lights, sensors, motors, and you can start to imagine all kinds of physical builds. Pretty much anything used in modern electronics can become part of your next project. ‘This month, Ben Everard kicks things off with a brilliant beginner- friendly project: building a real-world game with Pico. It’s a joyful =a reminder of why we love Raspberry Pi in the first place. It’s not 1u to hook up electronic components ey | about the software; it’s about rolling up your sleeves and creating EI _ with hardware, Lucy Hattersley - Editor Raepbry Potosi agnane .ROTC Ca Cen EL ace Pere Us Ae-cl NOR UT ee i aedceae ls cee) 1 et Cipro URS une Stn Te LUC RUE a eee crm Cy erryContents World of Raspberry Pi 10 —-RP2350 Ad, RP2354, and a new Hacking Challenge 014 Connect for Organisations 016 Build HAT goes open source 018 Subscribe to Raspberry Pi Official Magazine Project Showcase 02 Edgeberry 022‘ Supersense Sens2 dementia aid 026 © DOOM SNES 2025 RaeperyPiotcal Magen 5Top Projects 030 _Dual-screen cyberdeck 032 Flexible PCB watch 034 German word clock 6 PeTmachine 038 aD print showcase Feature starter electronics: ‘Make a one-dimensional game with code and circuits Tutorials 048 Simple electronics with GPIO Zero - part 1 054 Manufacture a complete build 060 RISC OS for Raspberry Pi ~ part 5 064 Build a face recogniser 070 Unusual Tools - comer cutting sheer 072 Conquer the command line - part 3 078 ~The Computers that Made ‘The World - ABC Feature 088 Dive into marine technology: Under the sea with Raspberry PiELECTRONICS-— PCB Fabrication / CNC| 3D Printing / PCB Assembly / OEM | EMS . CUSTOMIZED TECHNICAL r{ § PARTS & PCB MANUFACTURED WHY CHOOSE PCBWAY? PCBWay offers a wide range of services including PCB fabrication, PCB assembly and even CNC machining for over a decade, and has earned a distinguished reputation globally in the industry. Hassle-free ordering ime shipping The digital quote-to-order platform © We maintain a 99% on-time delivery rate, puts you in the back seat. Upload a working in three shifts to ensure your Gerber file and receive feedback soon packages arrive fast. Quality assurance Customer support Our technicians have been working @ The customer service teams work inshifts strictly to high standards. All the boards to provide 24-hour support. You can always will go through the most stringent tests. contact a live customer service person. CONTACT US: © www.pcbway.com — @ [email protected] Scan the QR code for more details!Reviews 300 Powered by Raspberry Pi 104 Best of Breed: Raspberry Pi Pico add-ons 110 Preview: Argon ONE UP 44 —Ten amazing: garden projects Raspberry Pi Community 116 Interview 118 ‘This Month in Raspberry Pi 122 YourLetters 124 Community Events Calendar Competition 9 1 of 3 Raspberry Pi 500 kitsRace u te Me nee ee ee Pea oc Toa + High-speed QSPI Interface DUAL, QUAD modes supported + 8 Independent Sockets Multi-device connectivity + Low Power & Wake on LAN Effcie remote-friendly + Seamless loT & Industrial Integration POS, cameras, automation & more + Smart Home & loT Network sensors, smart APs, + Industrial & Factory Automation OS, network printers, LED displays e automation + Security Systems DvRs, CCTV, 55 contiol systems + Embedded Servers & Cloud Devices Up to 90 Mbps on RP2040) + Optimized speed across different @SPI modes MHz QUAD modeRP2350 A4, RP2354, and a new Hacking Challenge Raspberry Pi introduces two new variants of RP2350 microcontroller. By Lucy Hattersley aspberry Pi has introduced new variants of its RP2350 microcontroller chip under the Aa stepping (rpimag.co/rp2350). ‘These replace the launch model, which was designated A2, and feature fixes for issues found during Raspberry Pi's Hacking Challenge. Alongside RP2350, Raspberry Pi is launching two RP2354 models. These are pin-compatible variants of the 60-pin RP2350A (with 30 GPIO pins) andl o-pin RP23508 (with 48 GPIO pins) and add 6Mbit/2ME of flash memory in-package. RP2354 contains a Winbond flash die in-packago, providing an elegant solution for developers who requite a modest amount of storage. Bach RP2364 part costs, just 20 cents mote than the equivatent P2350 part, eS mierocontoler chipsRP2350 has found its way into countless party products Fixes from the Hacking Challenge ‘Thenew variants alsoaddress issues found, during Raspberry Pi's Hacking Challenge (soe Raspberry Pl official Magazine issue 51, spimag.co/15)), Like any silicon device, RP2360 wasn't perfect on day one,” notes Bben Upton, Raspberry Pico-founder and CEO. “The launch stepping, designated A2, is affected by a number of errata, including fan error in the GPIO pad design which prevents pads from properly going intoa high-impedance state [known as Erratum gin the RP2360 datasheet, rpimag.co/ed) and a number of security identified by participants in our RP2350 Hacking Challenge. Ad also addresses boot ROM security vulnerabilities outlined in Errata 20,23, and24;a security vulnerability related to one-time programmable (OTP) outlined in Erratum 16; and a vulnerability of the GPIO_NSMASK registers on 60-pin RP235x parts outlined in Erratum 3 “We're happy to announce the immediate availability of a new Aa stepping, which addresses the vast majority of these issues,” says Upton, One vulnerability has not been fixed, yet. IOActive discovered a hack called “Extracting antifuse seerets from RP350 by FIB/PVC". In this attack, IOActive > The Ad stepping fixes security issues found Curing Ra Pis Hacking Challenge third- (almost) demonstrated that data bits stored in the RP2360 antifuse memory array could be extracted using a wel: known semiconductor fallure analysis ‘technique: passive voltage contrast (PVC) with a focused ion beam (FIB) “In principle it may be possible to extend this attack to retrieve the complete contents of the OTP [one: time programmable},” notes Upton. “An upcoming application note will descr how to store secrets in OTP so as to mitigate both the current vulnerability ‘and a hypothetical future attack which can achieve complete readback. Onthe success of RP2350 and the Pico2 ‘microcontroller boards that use it, Upton adds: “since August last yea over half a million Pico 2 and Pico 2 W boards. RP2360 itself has found its way {nto countless third-party products, from secure displays to development boards tosynthesizers.” World of Raspberry Pi Paani] Challenge Tooicie wth the avalabilty of the Ad stepping and RPZ3S4 variants, Raspberry Pi has launched another P2350 Hacking Calenge iste itis fering 2 $2,000 prize for 2 rectal side channel tack onthe power hardened AES library that underpins the P2350 cecypting bootloader ‘pimag.corhackingchallenge2 Raspery Poca apeane ”Anatomy of a metal spin ‘The A stepping is what Upton calls a metal spr. In this upgrade, the functional changes, including the updated boot ROM, are implemented by mosifying some ofthe layers of wring that connect the gates in the desig Zooming in, here isthe implementation of an inva fix iv this case, part of the OTP security hardening required to adress Enatum 16). A2 (above and Ad (below) This image shows athe locations in which AA citfers from Az; the dense block of changes atthe bottom of the die implements the updated boot ROM eee ete) “The complete pric structure for Raspher P microcontroller products summarised in the table below. 7-nch ees ofeach product contain $00 units; 18nch reels contain eter 3400 unis (R200, F735) or 250 wns (APZIGIB) Single unit Trnch reel 13-inch rel P2040 $1.00 0.80 $070 RP2350A $110 $0.90 $0.80 P23508 $1.20 $1.00 90 RP2354A $1.30 si.10 $1.00 P2354B $1.40 $120 110Frequently asked questions World of Raspberry Pi How dot know whether have an A2 orn A&? The stepping identifier canbe found onthe top ofthe package, as shown below, RP2350(A2] RP2350(A4) | Ad softwarecompatible with A2? Yes. We have made a few minor changes to versien 2.2.0 of th Peo SOK (tpimag.ce/peosak) nat Picatoo| (rplmag,eo/pioteel) 0 suppor the AMsteping Will you EOL the A2 stepping? We nave already ceased production of AZ, mave al production to A and withdrawn the remaining inventory of €2 from channel Adis ropin replacement for 2, and customers should not experience any issues migrating to Ad What happened to A? AS was an intermediate stepping used to quali subset of the es presentin the A stepping, > P2354 ade 1eMbiN/2MB flash memory to ne chipset. & small amaurt of storage for persistent data without developers needing to add aeeparate storage solution Will thre be a PCN in PIP? You can the product change notice forthe A? to A ranston hor: pimag.co/adpen Will Pico2 products switch toA8? rerualyalPico2 products wil use the A stepping. While the AS stepping will nat be made avaiable to silcon customers, approximately 3000 uits of A3 inventory will be used to buld Pico 2 and Pico 2 product. id you change the pinout or package design with AA? "N-the A stepping i only an up othe metal layers ofthe RPZ350 di Do sil need to use the Abracon polarised inductor and Abracon crystal with Aa? Yes: please keep folowing our hardware design quid and reference BOMMayout Will there be an A? Wehave no curtent plans foran AS stoping. Over ime, itis posible thet ‘mare security vlerabities or unctional seus willbe found, t which paint we will est appropriately. aspary Pic apse 8Connect for Organisations Raspberry Pi Connect for Organisations features enhanced audit logging. By Lucy Hattersley > The aut log lists remote shell and screen sharing sessions with Timestamp, ‘ation, subject, and Actor “ cane fr rinetons aspberry Pi has announced an upgrade to Raspberry Pi Connect ~ its software designed to enable you to remotely access a Raspberry Pi with screen sharing and remote shell via a web browser. Connect for Organisations features an improved audit log designed to improve operational oversight. Administrators, can review activity from the past 90 days. “wvith the most recent events first, you can see every screen sharing and remote shell session, the creation of access tokens, the addition and removal of devices, and any changes to users and theirroles,” says Paul Mucur, senior principal software engineer at Raspberry Pi. What's new? New features also include: + Country tracking: see where events, took place and spot suspicious activity + Download CSV: download detailed logs for auditing and security + Filtering: focus on the specific actions important to you“we now goolocate every event by IP address, storing only the country code in order to preserve privacy,” explains Mucur. “This information is included in both the web interface and the newly ‘added CV export option to help youeas spot access from an unexpected country. Connect for Organisations offers a Download CSV function that enables administrators toexport a complete aut trail for offline review in spreadsheat software. It also offers the ability to filter the audit log by action, such as ‘screen sharing session started” or “invite accepted’ “Together, these new features can ald administrators in asecucity investigation if a team member reports unusual activity,” says Mucur. These new features can aid administrators in a security investigation ‘These improved audit log features are available immediately for existing Connect for Organisations use Connect for Organisations is available with a four-week free trial and then from $0.50 per device per month. Discover more at Connect for Organisations: pimag.co/connectfororgs. © —_ a) World of Raspberry ‘4 Administrators can filter by specifi events, such as access token creation, to feeus on relevant securty activity aspen Piotcal Manane PiBuild HAT goes open source Raspberry Pi opens Build HAT firmware to developers under BSD licence. By Lucy Hattersley Build HAT enables direct control of Lego Teenie matore and sensors aspberry PI has made the firmware for its superb Build HAT (rpimag.co/buildhat) ‘add-on board fully open souree. Build HAT is Logo Education-compatible hardware that enables Raspberry Pi to control Technic motors and sensors (ike ‘those found in the Lego Education SPIKE Prime sets “We're delighted to announce that the Build HAT firmware, together with its signing keys, is now open source and available under the permissive BSD 3-Clause licence,” says Gordon Hollingworth, CTO (Software) at Raspberry Pi According to Hollingworth, the decision to release the firmware source reflects a broader commitment to enabling users to “understand and take control of the technology they ‘uso where wecan.” “When we launched the Build HAT, the firmware that runs on its ‘on-board microcontroller was released. inbinary form only,” Hollingworth wrote inthe announcement. “While it was fully functional and documented vin the Raspberry Pi Foundation's Python Build HAT library (tpimag.co/pythonbuildhat), ‘the firmivare itself wasn’t something you could inspect, modify, or rebuild.” Check out the repo ‘The official Build HAT Gittub repository (epimag.co/brilahatgib contains the complet sourcecode, ld instructions, tnd protocol documentation for host communication, soyoucan start exploring and modifying it for your own projet. theRaspberyFiFoundations Python Build HAT hbrary has also been updated vwith new documentation to include fuldance on using the board with ome- Dull trmvae, paving the way for deeper experimentation and integration "we hope this change will inspire even more amazing projectsandbiliant builds; Holingworth not, extending thanks to contributors chris Richardson, Patrick Cherry, and ego Bducation for thelr support in making the open-source release possibe.©ty and Bulé HATSUBSCRIBE TODAY FOR JUST £10 Get 3 issues + FREE Pico 2 SUBSCRIBER BENEFITS Free Delivery ett fast and for free Great savings a SUApala myn =e4 1:2), Leh; ( Fotoerl degen a Pe IPAL Eta Jseusy | © subscribe online: rpimag.co/subscribe Email: [email protected]Subecriptions i SUBSCRIBE TODAY AND GET A FREE Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W (or Pico 2) ee oil Dereon) xedEdgeberry Turning home projects into a development loT platform. Rob Zwetsloot connects with the story Moker ‘Sanne Santene An embedded systems ‘and Linux crestor who hashad@ifelong fascination with inteligent machines ‘imag.coledgeberry Sanne inher happy pace, soldering and working on PCBS lot of Raspberry Pi projects ‘come to us after someone decided they couldn't got the right parts for their own personal projectas...well they didn'texist. Sane Santens' impetus for her project was not such diferent. “pageberry isthe result of many years of throwing Raspborry Pi [computers] all over the place literally, with all kinds of sensors, actuators, ete. ghied to them, with custom-designed enciosuesfor protection orintegration ints environment,” Sanne says. “I found myself basically redoing substantial parts of the system over and over ~ but just with small [variations]: ‘aking robust power solutions, mounting Raspberry Pi fboards) in boxes, wiring up interface boards, debugging flaky connections, weting device management features in an online dashboard.” After noticing the commonalities of the devices she had been building, she decided to create her own custom expansion board that combined them all together. “Edgeberty, to me, is the solid building plate / foundation on which 1 build my ot” ideas,” Sanne explains. loT development ‘This foundation becamesomething Sanne believes can be helpful to many kinds of Raspberry Pi users. “it's a modular expansion system that turns Raspberry Pi into a robust, adaptable 1ot edge device,” Sanne tells us. “It combines @ custom HAT-style board, a robust 3D printable enclosure, builtin user interface elements dike a status LED and buzzer), and a flexible hardware cartridge slot for application specific electronics (leaving most of Raspberry P's beloved 1/0 pins intact. Edgeberry simplifies the messy part of setting from prototype to real-world A threepin header going header forms the watch claspGerman word clock By Reputila rpimag.co/WordClock e've seen word clocks previously in several configurations, including Jaser-cut, 30-printed, andone intriguing. version that used servos to bring the projected words in and out of focus, rather than revealing them through a grid like usual. However - and this is sgiventhat we livein abig, varied we've never seen a word clock in a language other than English. at least, not until now. Reddit user Reputila built this example with their first 3D printer, a Bambu LabP1S, The electronics are based on a Raspberry Pi Zero W that they had lying around, which enables the time to syncover Wi-Fi while the clock isin range of the internet, and there's a DS3231 real- time clock to make sure that the device doesn't lose the time when it's either 1d to the internet or power As far as controls go, there are a couple ff buttons to control the brightness and colour of the LEDS. not conn > Somehow we fee wed be more punctual f wetald the time in German>= yg a Cl eae i eePETmachine By Igor Tylman rpimag.co/PETmachine he doom and gloom over climate change and ecological collapse does have one silver Uning: the high numbers of plastic bottles that we're currently throwing, away into landfill, orriversand seas, are brilliant potential source of b printing, filament. Polyotiylene terophthatate, or PEP as it’s abbreviated, is strong, light, non-reactive, and is a bartiar to oxygen, which is the molecule that among other things enables bacteria to turn beer into vinegar. It's an incredibly useful material {in food packaging for all these reasons, ‘and ints modified form of PETG, it's also ‘widely used in 3D printing. igor Tyiman has built @ machine that can reliably ‘tum ompty PET bottles into 3D printing, ‘lament, potentially turning rubbish into gold. Thare'sno place on Earth that doosn’t have an excess of plastic bottles, so this technology really could lower the entry barriers to 30 printing for many people. It's pretty simple: the rotating bottle is, continuously sliced intoa single thin strip ‘which runs through a heater to shape it Into a consistent 1.75mm wide filament, ‘The machine itself is aD-printed, and the electronics and build instructions are available from Igor’s website. The G at the end of PETG stands for ‘glycol- ‘modified’, which isa process that makes the PET easier to work with; without this modification, any printer using t recycled filament will neod an all-metal hotend capable of reaching. 270°C, on top of which the makers recommend using a dual-drive extruder.‘Top Projects # > The machine cute a PET bottle ita a continuous stip, feeds into a heated etude, and out comes a 1.75mm filament stand ly wound ento| ul AN Warning! Conlin fumes Heating plastic can release gases that ‘may be harmful to health f youre going to dothis,doitina wel-ventlated area, rpimag.cofumes Raspery Pica apneCute Chemistry The hardest science just became the softest Bane eee ene rochet is not only a mindful something reassuringly mathematical way of active relaxation about the way a crochet pattera lends and a way of making nice itself to being 3D-printed. Think of it woolly garments to keep yourselfand like f you will. your loved ones warm or giant woolly If you squint, we hope you can see the resistorsif youso wish ~seetlackSpace influences in this 3D-printed crochet Magazine issue 40 for more) - it's also style chemistry set, printed by Reddit intensely mathematical. s Nicolaking user 59 Bassman and designed by discovered in HackSpace Magazine issue NaraaPrints. The designer recommends 81, there’s a whole world of equations —printingata tiny layer height ofo.16mm, wrapped up withine infil; th ~ it'sjust numbers and yam, after all. shown here was printed in PLA, with while i's a bit of a stretch of the wood-fibre PLA used for the test tube Imagination, we think that there's stands and the corks. © ‘ode for your finge ery pieceofecrochet with two walls andl 1ees 9= ald ime ie 45 fa ie in: one SASS ELECTRONICS Get started with electronics with this simple one-dimensional game for Raspberry Pi or Raspberry Pi PicoPee.) Sram G een aspberry Pi computers and microcontrollers are ‘great tools for interacting with things inthe real ‘world We can add our own harcware or interface e@ them with other electronics using their GPIO (General-Purpose Input/Output) pins. These pins can detect voltage cinpub, send out voltage (output, and even transfer more complex data using low-level protocols. In his article, well use these three different abilities tobulld a game. We're going to use CircuitPython, because this Lets us use the same code on both Pico and Raspberry Pi We're going to use CircuitPython, because thislets us use the same code on both Pico and Raspberry Pi Thisallows you touse whatever hardware you already have, andit also helps you understand a little more about the capabilities of each ‘device. If you've not used CircultPython before, take a look at the boxes throughout this guide to get started, Button basics Let'sstart with one of the simplest uses fora GPIO pin: reading voltages. Most GPIO pins ae digital, which means they don’t ‘measure the exact voltage level. Instead, they only detect, whether the voltage is high (3.3V on Pico and Raspberry Pi) cor low (OV). (Gome pins on Pico can measure varying voltage Jovels~ these are called analogue pins - but we won't beusing those in this project.) ‘To read data using a GPIO pin, we need to build a simple circult that gives us 3.3¥ when somethingis‘on’ and ov when it’s‘off. Raepery Potosi Mannane a deIt's important to understand tht oV is not the same as an unconnected pin. oV is a defined voltage level, while an unconnected pin called “loating’) has no definite voltage and may behave unpredictably. m this state, the pincan randomly read as HIGH or LOW due to electrical noise or interference. ‘Thisis why we use pull-up or pull-down resistor ~to give the pin a default, reliable state when nothing else is connected. Figure 1 shows.a simple circult for connecting a buttonto aGPIO pin on Pico, When the button isnot pressed, the GPIO pin is connected to 3.3¥ via the pull-up resistor soreads HIGH. ‘When the button is pressed, it connects the GPIO pin directly to ground (the GND pin). This creates a clear path for current to flow to ground, and the GPIO reads a LOW signal (OV). ‘Since pull-up and pull-down resistors are very often needed with GPIO pins, both Pico and Raspberry Pi have Intemal resistors that you can use. You just have to initialise them in your program. ‘Now, with that theory behinds, let’s connect abuttonto Pico. There are lots of different buttons you could use for this. If you want, you could even just use a wire to connect GND and a GPIO pin and attach and detach the wire to simulate prossing the button 44 Figure 1: your ‘comectons use diagonally opposite ones ton bas four + Buttons ae more correctly ealed momentary push switches. They are usualy ‘open’ and when you press them, ‘they ‘lose the connection and complete Une E cess aiia ‘You can use CicuitPython code ona Raspberry by intaling Binks Binka acts. as a compatiblity layer, allowing CircuitPython features ‘to werk wit regular Python To install his, we need to frst create @ virtual enionment, 8 pythons -m venv venv --systen-site-packages § source venv/bin/activate Next, setup your Raspbery Pi and install Bika wth these comands: $ pips install --upgrade adatruit-python- shell $ wget https://rew.githubusercontent.con/ adafruit/Raspberry-Pi-Installer-Scripts/master/ raspi-bLinka.py '§ sudo -E env PATHSSPATH python raspi-bLinka.py @ ‘The frst command installs arequited package the second download the Binks installer sort, end the tid runs the instal, You may be asketo eboct the machire when this uns (nce the instalation complete you can use Binks torn GrcuitPython code with he regular Python interpreter, Just make sure you vita ‘emvironment is activated. You can activate itt anytime by running the {allowing command inthe terminal 8 source venv/bin/activate Torun anyof the code inti rt, ave tte a le and un § python # JThe code to read this in Circuit Python is shown below, ‘The biggest difference between Pico and a Raspberry Pi computer isthe pin numbering isa bit different. Pico pins are called GPo to G22 while Raspberry Pi pins are Do to D26. Not all the pins can be used for everything as some are reserved ot particular functions. In general, the pins on Picoare more flexible than the pins on a Raspberry Pi computer ‘We've provided both pin versions in the code below and you'll neod to comment out (add a # at the start of the line) the one you're not using, and tincomment (remove the # at the start of the Ine) the one that you are using. ‘Buttons usually have either two or four connections. If your button has two connections, then you can connect it either way around. Ifithas four connections, then there are really two sets of two, The eastest way todo it isto use dlagonally, opposite connections - either diagonal works. ‘Welll show the direct wire connections for the you can do this using wires or a breadboard, Anport board inport digitalio import tine #Pic0 BUTTON.PIN = board.cP1 sraspberry Pi #BUTTON_PIN = board.D17 button = digitalio.DigitalInout(board.cP14) # Use appropriate GPO pin button.direction = digitalio.0irection. INPUT button.pull = digitelio.Pull.UP # Enables internal pull-up resistor while True: Af not button.velue: # Sutton pressed (pin reads Low) print (“Button ie pressed") else: print("Button is not pressed") ‘time.steep(a-1) oes One slightly odd thing about this code is the line: Af not button. value ‘Youmight expect that toread 4f button.value, but we've using a pull-up which reads HIGH (which evaluates as True) hen the button Is pressed and LOW (Le. False) when it Is pressed. This might seem abit backwards at first, but ithelps if you think about what’s going on at an electrical level Blink and you'll miss it ‘We've created a simple input device, and now let's look at the simplest output device: a light-emitting diode, or LED. LEDs ight up when you puta voltage across them. However, LEDs are sensitive to too much current, which can damage them. Youcan calculate theexact resistor value needed using, srmulas based on voltages and current limits, but to keep ings simple, just use a 2200 resistor in series with the LED. Figure2 (overleaf) shows youhow toconnect uparesistor and an LED to a GPIO pin. Unlike pull-up or pull-down resistors, ica doesn’t provide internal current-limiting resistors for LEDs, s0 we need to add an external one. This tural will work on any version of Pico. To intl ircuitPython ‘on Pie, youfirst need to dovnload the appropriate UF2 le rom ‘pimag.co/ieutpython Then, press and hold the BOOTSEL bute on the Pico while comectingit to your computer via US. Keep hosing he button until the Pico i uly connected Cones connected, you shoud see a new sive called '#P2 appeat Drag and crop the UF2file onto the RP2 ve, Ths installs nds the RP2 ive wil GireuitPython ona Pico. After afew daoppesr, and 3 new civ caledCIRCUITPY wil appes. Now download the Mucode extor from eodemith.mu and instal ‘on your computer You can use this to enter, edt. and save the code were cresting in ths arte. Cick the Seal button in Muto view the output fom CrcutPythonunning on Peo. This canbe particularly sel in fing any eo, eatFigure 2: We need to add aresicterto prevent too much curent fom démaging the LED Unlike buttons, LEDs have an orientation. That means that they have to be connected the right way around. Usually there is a flat side and this marks the side that should be round (GND). You won't damage the LED by ng way around, so you can just pop it inand if it doesn’t work, turn it around, Here's some CircuitPython code to blink an LED import tine import board import digitalio aPico #LED_PIN = board.cP? sRaspberry PA LED_PIN = board.017 led = digitalio.DsgitalInout (LeD_PIN) led.direction = digitalio.Direction OUTPUT while True: ed.value = True # Turn LED on time.sleep(9.5) # Wait for 9.5 seconds led.value = False # Turn LED off time.sieep(@.5) # Wait for 9.5 seconds LED there be (more) light Buttons and LEDs hoth work with a single bit of data. That, means they can only be in one of twostates. A button iselthet pressed or not pressed, ancl an LED is either on or off. Many other devices are more complex and need to send and receive ore detailed information - for example, to control colours, positions, or movement. ‘We're going to use WS2812B LEDs, which are also known, asNNeoPixels. These allow you tocontrol many RGBLEDS from a single GPIO pin using a special communication protocol. Each LED's colour ean be changed by adjusting how much red, green, and blue light it emits. You can pu the resistor on either side of the LED and t will work Wiring them up is simple. You just need to connect the s¥ pin on the LED strip to the 5V output on Pico, GND to GND, and the Data In pin on the strip toa GPIO pin. Be aware that ‘these LED strips are directional. This means you must connect, ‘the GPIO pin to the correct end, which is usually marked with ‘DIN’ or an arrow. If you connect to the wrong end, the LEDS won't respond. WS28128 LEDs come ina lot of different forms, but when you get them, there is typically a wire with a three-pin Connector on the end, Usually, the socket enclof the connector ison the Data n side, but thisisn’t completely standard. For testing things out, we lke to use pin-to-socket headers and ‘we can poke the pin into the socket on the LED strip, the connect the socket to a GPIO on either Pico or Raspberry Pi ince these have slightly more complex comsmunie protocol, we need to add a module that implements this protocol. The process for adding modules is alittle different on each platform. nico, head to rpimag.co/cirepylibraries anc download ‘the bundle for the version of CircuitPython you have, This will bbe azip file Extract it and copy the neopixel.mpy file from ‘within the lib folder to the Mb folder on the CIRCUTTPY drive, on Raspberry Pi, make sure you're in the virtual environment you created when you set up Blinka, then run: pip install adafruit-etroustpython-neopixel- spi> ere is some code to test everything out by flashing up On Pico, we can use any pins for the LEDs; however, on. some colours. Raspberry Pi we are more limited. We have to use GPIO 10 for Initialising WS2812B LEDs is a bit different on each the pixel pin because this oneis attached to the SPI peripheral, platform, so there are two blocks of code: one for Raspberry and t's this that wo're using to send the data out tothe LEDs. Piand one for Pico, On Raspberry Pi we've used twopins for the LEDs, Dut wel leave one of them unconnected. It's because we're using a bit Anport board of hardware designed toclo something different to control the Anport busic ‘NeoPixels. We do have more flexibility with the button pin, But Anport time can't just use any as some are reserved for specific functions. NUM PIXELS = 10 BRIGHTNESS = 0.5 tor Pico ‘import neopixel #PIXEL_PIN = board.cP2 #BUTTON_PIN = board.cPt pixels = neopixel NeoPixe](PINELPIN, ee NUM_PIXELS, brightness=BRIGHTNESS, Teer ee ecacaey auto_write-Trus) else, they wont wark > There are aiferentspes of addressable LEDs, so make For Raspberry Pi #import neopixel_spi #PIXEL_PIN = board.010 #CLOCK_PIN = board.011 WS2812B LEDs come ina fyixels = neopixel_spi.neoPixel_sP1(busio . SPT(clock=CLOCK.PIN, HOST=PIXEL_PIN), 10) lot of different forms colors = [ (255, @, 0), # Red (0, 255, 0), # Green (e, @, 255), # Blue (190, 100, 108) # white 1 4 Younaveto nate True eri for color in colors: corning pixels. f211(co10r) sae tine. s1e09(0.8) (ese Raspbery Pi aspen Potosi Manan 610218» eno arcu) 01009), 03 0) © eat se © ermo(o.so ono 3m) eros oUF ities a Lae iat ie ol iit ol ges = ane ea <4 Pico’ pins are labeled onthe Gre underside, but for Raspberty cron) Pi youll need toeferto 8 eo sqa0) i wourn pinout diagram e- e* Ready, set, glow! BUTTON_PIN = doard.017 Now let's add a button and make a game. This is a cross pixels « neopixel_spi.NeoPixel_sPr(busio. between Chrome’s dinosaur game and a set of Christmas SPI(c1ock=CLOCK.PIN, MOSI=PIXEL_PIN), 18) lights. The idea is simple. The lights will ight up green, and red pixel will randomly appear and move towards the end. DeLay = 6.3 ‘You have to press the button in time to jump" over the red pixel when it reaches the end ofthe strip. If you're successful, GREEN = (0, 255, 0) te strip will ight up white. ‘The code for this is: import boaré import busio import tine import random import digitalio NUM_PIXELS = 10 BRIGHTNESS = 9.5 sror Pico fimport neopixel APLXEL_PIN = board.GPe BUTTON_PIN = board.cP1 pixels = neopixe) .NeoPixel( PIXEL_PIN, NUM_PIXELS, brightness=BRIGHTNESS, auto_write=False) aFor Raspberry Pi import neopixel_spi APIXEL_PIN = board.010 #0L.0CK_PIN = board.O11 RED = (255, 6, 0) WHITE = (190, 168, 100) FLASH_DURATION = 8.6 # Button setup button = digitelio.DigitalInout(BUTTON PIN) button. direction = digitalto. Direction. INPUT button.pull = digitalie.Pull.UP det Flesh_color (color, duratior FLASH_DURATION) pixels.f111(coler) pixels. show() ‘time.sleep(duration) while True red.pos = 0 # Move the red pixel forward While red_pos < NUM_PIXELS: # Draw strip for 4 in range(MJM_PIXELS) Af 1 == red_pos pixels[i] = REDelse pixels[i] = GREEN pixels. ehon() 4 Wait for DELAY, check for button 10 = tine.monotonic() pressed = False While tame.monotonac() ~ t@ < DELAY 4f not button. value pressed = True break Af pressed: 4 red_pos: # SUCCESS! Flashcolor (WHITE) else flash_color (RED) break red_pos else: 4 If 4t reaches the end and you didn't press, flash red for “niss* flash_color(RED) # snatl pause before restarting time. sLeep(0.7) The send data othe LEDs, but nat which bt of date corespondsto whieh eoout, 0 8 protocol describes how to YU may find that the colours aren right onyour LEDs. Youcan configure which bicof data by changing the code ends ta which colour oes fends our whirlwind tour of electronics on Pico and the detail to help you get up and running quickty, but hopefully you now know the basies of connecting other hardware to these two d You've also probably got a bit more of an idea about the differences between Pico and Raspberry Fi, The former has ‘more flexible 1/0 options and afar simpler software setup, and the latter has several orders of magnitude more processing cer, While there is some overlap between which projects workon which device, they arereally very different platforms. If you take the skills you've learned in this article further, je'd love to hear from you. Every Monday rl ‘media to find interesting projects, soif you're posting pictures at the start of the weok, tag #MakerMonday Hi Raspberry Pl. We've skipped over som fe take to soe 2B LEDs require the digital signal voage to heat east 70% ofthe supply wotag. This means that shouldbe at least 3.5. ico and Raspbery Pi operate at 3.5¥Thsis so cose that almost al 1 youl be fine connecting the datain ne tothe GPIO pin. J vcasionaly, youl gt a tip that behaves strang Yuan do ane of two things. You can cross your fingers and hope for the best fand his is what most people do) or you can correct. the protien which typical involves using level shies, We almost almays ust use a3.2V data signal and hope forthe best, unless we're creating aprojet that has to work reliably, especially in adverse conditions (such a aus in the ar). f your LEDs come wit a threein connection, you can poke gin headers ino them to ‘connect them t0 Pico or Raspery Pi aspen Photos annone aSimple Electronics with GPIO Zero: In the beginning Connect electronic components to your Raspberry Pi and write code to interact with the real world Maker Phi King ‘longtime Respbery Piuser and tinker, Prilieafrelanoe writer and editor with foeue contechlogy. phikingeditorcom « ‘spleens wh GO Ze nthe Bening aspberry Pi is a great platform for learning computing. Whothor that’s writing your own programs ot building a media server, Raspberry Pi has the tools, resources, and community support to help you Jeam how to build what you want, Raspberry Pi is also very good at physical computing ~ programming and interacting with the real world through electronics, as the name suggests, physical computing s all bout controlling thingsin the physical ‘world with your programs: using hardware alongside softwrare. When you set the program on your washing machine, change the temperature on your programmable thermostat, or press a button at traffic lights to cross the road safely, you're using physical computing. Electronic circuits are the physical part of a physical computing project. You'll connect these circuits to your Raspberry Pi, which, together with the code you'll writ, is the computing part of the project. These circuits can be simple or very complex and are made up of electronic components suchas LEDs, buzzers, buttons, resistors, capacitors, and even integrated circuit () chips. Atits simplest, an electronie circuit lets you route electricity tocortain components in a specific order, from the positive end of acircuit tothe ground (or zero volts) end. Think ofa light in your house: the electricity passes through it, soit lights up. You canadd a switch that breaks the elrcult, soit only lights up when you press the switeh. Now it’s an interactive electronic circuit.Tutorial Simple electronics with GPIO Zero Tisai san estat om fap Ps bik Sle etc nt CP Za Update apy dees betes rian Rome Surin elector oct sg 4 Reephery Pl PO pn. Cad a Pyton a—~o. & vite 0 Zia. oes res Lona mtor=esna arm gtr goed trie. and Raspbery robot tc : 1 | wimg olgieerobook a Figure A ireuit sevch ond Re ig circuit diagrams ae Bulldnga circuit canbe easy if'you know what you're doing, , EB HeHE, \ byt if you'te mating a new circuit or are new to electronics in” SMBOETO genoral, you'll most ikely have to refer toa circuit dingram, Sos SN ‘This isa common way you'll see a circuit represented, and these diagrams are much easier to read and understand than a photo ‘of acircuit. However, components are represented with symbols which you'll need to learn or look up. If you're making a new circuit, you'll most likely have to refer to a circuit diagram Figure1 isan example of alight circuit, Here we havea power source (@ battery in this circuit), a switch, a resistor, and an LED. The lines represent how the circuits are connected, either way round, such as the resistor or switch. However, others have a specific orientation, such as the LED. LED stands for Light-Emitting Diode, and diodes only let electricity flow freely inoone directions luckily, real-life LEDs have markers such as a longer leg ora flat edge toindicate which sideis positive, making —tr— —"-— nid ee Raepery Potosi Manan «+ Figure 2 Raspberry Pi PIO pinout Raspberry Pi pin numbers (5,48, 98+, 38, 28, Zero, Zero 2 W. At, B+) Figure 3: Raspberry Pi 400 and 500 PIO pinout Raspberry Pi pin numbers (500,400) Introducing the GPIO header At the top of Raspberry Pi’ circuit board, or at the back of a Raspberry Pi 490 or 500, you'l find two rows of metal pins. This is the GPIO (general-purpose input/output) header andit’s there so you can connect electronic components to the Raspberry Fi As the name suggests, these pins can be used for both input, and output. ‘Raspberry Pi's GPIO header is made up of 40pins, as shown in Figure2, Some pins are available for you touse in your physical ‘computing projects, some pins provide power, and other pins are usedl to communicate with add-on hardware. ‘The Raspberry Pi 400 and 500 compact keyboard computers have the same GPIO header with all the same pins, butit’sturned upside-down compared to other Raspberry Pi models. Figure assumes you're looking at the GPIO header from the back of Raspberry Pi 400 0r 500. always double-check your wiring when, connecting anything to the GPIO header on one of the compact ‘computer models - it's easy to forget, despite the Pin 40 and Pin 1 labels on the caset Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W has a GPIO header too, but doesn’t necessarily have header pins attached. Ifyou want todo physical ‘computing with Raspberry PiZero2W, or another model in the Raspberry Pi Zero family, you'll need to solder the pins into place using a soldering iron. If that sounds alittle adventurous for now, check with an approved Raspberry Pi reseller for a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 WH with the header pins already soldered into place for you. 0 ‘spleens wah 0 Zao nthebegning Raspberry Pi and electronic circuits Involving a Raspberry Pi computer in a circuit is quite easy. At its most basic, it can provide power to a circuit, as well as a ground (abbreviated as GND) end through the GPIO pins. Some pins are always powered, mostly at 3.3V, and several pins offer a ground connection. Most pins can be programmed to create or recognise a HIGH or LOW signal, though; in the case of the Raspberry Pi, a HIGH signal is 3.3V and a LOW signal is ground or ov. man LED circuit, you can wire up an LED to a 3.3V pin and ‘a ground pin and it will tum on, but you will need a low-value resistor (around 3208 is good) in there somewhtere to keep from ‘burning out the LED. If you instead put the positive end of the LED onto a programmable GPI0 pin, you can only turn it on by running some code that makes that pin go to HIGH, Wo'll lool at controlling LEDS in the next part of this series Staying grounded Youl sometimes see ground refered to as negative partcuariyin deserntons ofa battery’ pasitve and negative terminal, but eso as the minus symbol (-) ona breadboard and some components. Inthe king of ‘ruts youl see inthis tutorial series, youl be working wth S vos, 33 voll, ad #0 elt (roundWiring up a circuit to a Raspberry Pi computer is simple. To create the physical circuits in the guides throughout this series, we're using solderless prototyping breadboards, as shown in Figure4. These allow you tolnsert components and wires to connect them all together, without ‘having to fix them permanently. Youcan ‘modify your circuits and completely reuse your components because ofthis. Using GPIO Zero nce the components are all hooked up toyour Raspberry Pl, you need ta be able tocontrol them. Raspberry Pi is set up to allow you to program it with the Python language. GPIO Zero makes it easy to ‘program components in Python. It comes pre-installed in the latest Raspberry Pi 0S desktop image. if you don’t have it, however, you can install GPIO Zero ‘manually: after performing a package listupdate by entering sudo apt update ina terminal, run sudo apt install python3-spiozere. GPIO Zero was created to simplify the process of physical computing, helping new coders to learn. It's a Python library ‘which builds upon the existing GPIO Ibraries RPi.GPIO and pigpio. However, ‘while those libraries provide an interface to the GPIO pins themselves, GPIO Zero sits above them and provides a way to interface to the devices that you connect tothose pins. ‘This simplifies thinking about physical computing. Consider witing a simple push Dutton toGPI0 4 and ground pins. inorder to react to this button, we need to know that the pin should be configured with a pull-up resistor, and that the pin state ‘when the button is pushed will be LOW. Tutorial 4 Figure 4: A prototyping breadboard Here's what this would look like in the classic RPiGPIO library: ‘To complete beginners, there's quite a lot going; on there, ‘which gets in the way of experimenting with it and even earning thesimple logic required. Here's the equivalent code in GPIO Zero: ‘The boilerplate, the setup code you must write without necessarily understanding its inner workings, is reduced to the bare minimum that we need, The name ‘GPIO Zero" derives from this‘zero boilerplate’ philosophy, which was first espoused by Daniel Pope's Pygame Zero library. ‘The logic is straightforward, with no curious inversion of the input value, ‘So, now you've learnt about GPIO Zero and how it makes coding much simpler, it’s time to get started doing some physical computing with it. Next time, we'll show you how to wire up some LEDs on a breadboard and control them using GPIO Zero's LED class. asporyPioticalopnane 8eee) || os = = s = = Waring! = ce = fe a Sader msg very = pot nd stat tore = eta ere = netics = satya aor m= inh st when < youre na using itand ort touch the metal parts ~ even after its unplugged rpimag.co/soldering Feeling board Our weather station needs a PCB to hold the electronics and an enclosure to keep it safe outside. Let’s start by looking at, the Pca. ‘The electronics we'te using are a Bosch BME260 temperature, humidity and pressure sensor, and a PMS5008 particulate matter (airpollution) sensor. We'lluse a Raspberry Pi Pico W tocontrol these and upload the results to an online repository. ‘We could design a PCB to hold the bare BME280 sensor, but it’sa tiny device and quite hard to solder. Ifyou ikea challenge, then you might want to do this, but we took the easy option and used a module that holds the BME280 and a few other components to help it work: an Adafruit BME290 module, You should be able to use one from another vendor, but the pinout, might be different, so you'll need to check this and make any changes if necessary. ‘The PMSS008 connects via a cable that requires particular socket that's a bit hard to source, so we've opted ta cut the ribbon cable and instead put aset of screw terminals on the PCB, We don’t need all the connections, just 5V, Ground, Rx, andl, We won't go through the full design process, but it’s a fairly simple PCB using the same method that we looked at in part 1 of this series. You can download the full design, at rpimag.co/github. Once the PCB has arrived, you'll need to solder everything together and wire it up. We soldered socket headers for the BME280 and then pushed it into place. The PMS5008 is wired upas follows: Tutorial 4 our PCB asit cate back rom the factory There are four pins we need: + Power + Ground + RK oo ‘These are the first, second, fifth, and fourth pins respectively ‘n the PMESg008 (where pin 1 isclosest to the centre of the device). These connect to the PCB in the following order: + Ground +o + RK + Power starting with the end closest to the USE port. Boxed in Now that we have our PCB, we need an enclosure, We've gat the full range of industrial 3D printer materials to choose from, and we selected sintered nylon. This produces parts that are significantly tougher than those made on mast desktop printers, so our weather station should survive even if it takes a few bumps along the way. Our design is abox that's open atthe bottom, has sloped lid to shed rain, and includes two serew holes for mounting. You could design something like this in any CAD package. We used FreeCaD because'it’s the tool we're most familiar with. You ccan get the design files from rpimag.co/github. aspen Piotcal Mannane>> The PMSSO02s low-cost particulate ‘matter sensor tha’ teat for DIY projects Making it fit ‘One ofthe most challenging parts of a project like tisisensuring, that everything fits together. in this case, that meant making, sure the mounting holes forthe botts holding the PCB in place aligned property, and that the enclosure was the right size to hold al the components, FreoCAD does have the ability to import KiCad models; however, that would only work if all the parts we used in our PoBhad 30 models associated with them, which ours don't Inliewof tools that makeco-cesigning these parts easy, we've kept the interface as simple as possible: just three M2.5 holes. With fewer elements overall there’ less to keep track of, and loss that can go wrong. That said, there arestillafow traps that ‘could derail the project if we're not careful ‘Wensariy sent the project off with screwsthat were impossible to tighten. It's all well and good making sure al the holes are aligned, but if there isn’t enough clearance to ita screwdriver in, it'sallabit pointess. Fiting components in three dimensions is significantly more complex than fitting components in two The aD-rinted nylon enclosure, ready to beused In this project, we've designed our parts and sent them to be made at a factory. This approach has become affordable for one-off project 7 ‘yeats, and if you prefer the digital side (@osign and programming) to the physical side of making, then it's a great option. Once your designs are sot up, you just send them off and then wait for everything to be delivered to your door, New to CircuitPython? if youhaven't used Circuiteython before, here'sa quick primer. esa version of Python 8 built for microcontrollers, though it also works on computers. Perhaps the most useful featureis the huge array of libraries for maker hardware. You can downlcad both CircuitPython and the Library Bundle from eircuitpython.org. CircuitPython programs arejust text ilesinterpretedon the device itself, However, there are some minor issues with how it reads ils, so werecommend using the Mu editor (eodewith.m CircultPython has excellent documentation, and you can find more information at sphmag,co/WhatisCirculteython. 9 We've designed our parts and sent them to be made at a factory dele lel elie) ‘The cade we've gat here is enaugh ta get stared but ilacks a ecupl of features that you may want fora more robust setup. Fist, string passwords and keys ret inthe main code increases the sk of accidentally commiting sensitive information to version. contol systems ike Gi. Secondly the code leks eror handling fr runtime sues such a WF Aisconnectons While rebooting the mirocontrolle an often resolve issues implementing automatic recover logic - suchas reconnecting to Wii - would improve robustness. < Wsabitota squeeze, bu everthing ts into the enclosureDesign an RP2040 board Buy online: rpimag.co/kicad2040RISC OS Retro gaming in What delights can RISC OS offer the keen video gamer? Let’s take a look! By Ian Osborne Maker lan Osborne lari been working in ‘ch and vdeo games magazines fr far longer than i heathy. As wellas Rasphery Pi healso wites about other computers, era gaming end anything se tet pays Iosbornebeky socal o Fee gang RSC © on, admit it. You like computing diversions, especially video games. Sure, you're interested in the Raspberty Pisa development tool, and you love tinkering with RISC OS ona practical lovel. But when you havea spare half hour to kill, your thoughts turn to gaming, Or maybe youmake time for your games, and enjoy them as ahobby? And ‘why not? Video games are awesome. ‘There's a wealth of video games avaliable for RISC OS, some of which come bundled with the installation, and others that can bo downloaded from the PlingStore app. So boot up RISC OS on your Raspberry Pi, and let’s have some funt ‘You may be surprised to find you already have a decent handful of games and other distractions on your RISC OS- powered Raspberry Pi, Boot it up and open your SD card. From the window that appears, open the Diversions folder. Here, depending on the install you used, you should see a decent collection of gaming software and app toys. Mine has 180f them, all waiting to be played. ‘The first game in the Diversions collection is locks. As you have probably guessed, this is a Totris-type game, whore you ‘make lines with falling pleces. Use the 1 and 3 keys to move a fallingblock left and right, the 2key torotateit, and the SPACE bar to make it fall faster. Click on the game window with your ‘middle button and you can redefine these keys if you wish.# RISC OS Pi ree af Ce CLUES ay Gamers and tinkerers who are new to fia se RISC OS might make # beeline for !PackMan, {an app found inthe Apps folder. las, they be cisappointed The PackMan app isnt ISG 0S interpretation of he famous Namica aacade game Pacan, but a packaging syste used to dstritute updates to ee) the RISC 0S Pi discimage. A useful eo, Pees =| oe Ae a [ss 2 oy oa Mage RISC OS Pi cE ple 2 822 Raepbry Potosi Mannan aGaming by numbers tc sho juntDn reproduces the ‘num Countdown. You choos rs’ game from the popular TV six tiles from those on offer, and the alculates a number you must get to using those an your tiles with basic maths operations, -,x,=). Choose Easy, Hard, or impossibledificulty, then workit out with paper. It's y feature-packed, butt nt way toflex ‘your mathematical muscles while waiting for a program tacompile, ‘in the Distractions window is Dok. No, it'snothing todo with Star Wars; instead, it’s a Sudoku puzzle. pen theapp for an, ‘empty grid Middle-click and choose Create, then adificulty level, and the grid is populated by a puzzle. Clickon asquareand typaa ame then Sader ‘number fil ti. You can save your progress or get hint from, the middle-button menu. & quick hint from me, toc: the app only allows correct entries, soif you're tuck, click on a square and tap ‘each number in turn and see which one is allowed. Not that our readersneed toresorttosuch tactics, right? Click on the tFlasher icon in the icon bar and the caret flashes, helping you find it if you've lost it. Nothing to see here. Nothing to see with !Hopper either, 1 Frogger derivative that only runs under ‘emulation, $o it's on to !Madness, another cistraction that’'snot actually agame. Click it and a Madness window opens; sort of 1s actually just the ttle bar, found in the Dbottom-left corner of the sereen. The app makes every window except the Madness window move, slowly drifting across your ly desktop. To stop it, close the Madness window. 1 friends and colleagues. JERISC OS Pi great for pranking your" ¢ Asteroids action lemNow displays thecurrently available RAM in the Icon bar. A useful tool, but why i's in the Diversions folder and not stilts is yond me. Far more interesting is Meteors. No prizes for guessing what it is it’s Asteroids action all the way, with is great RISC OS interpretation ofthe late 1970s A controls are simple. Rotate your ship with Z and X, accelerate with SHIFT, and fre with RETURN. The SPACE bar ishyperspace, and N brings fortha new onslaught of floating space rocks. You an also use ESC to toggle betiveen full-screen and windowed ay, and P to pause and unpat way tokillalittle time, and if you're of a certain age like me), it will bring back few fond memories too. ‘Then ther ri coin-op, 2. t's great at should be familiar to anyone who grow up using Windows. I's called !Mineunt, and yes, Minesweeper ~ nothing to do with the Minecraft server of the same name. As usual, you're presented with a grid of squares. Left-click on one to open it. The number of adjacent squares (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal) containing a mine is shown: ght-click to place flag on asquare you think contain Find all the mines and you win, Click on a mine and you lose, ‘You can change the skill level by middle-clicking the grid, and n create custom game. sa game ialsi- ——! > MineHuntis Minesweeper fr RISC 0S, admit it~ you hours while the boss wast locking 3yed this geme for