W

Raspberry Pi
NE

The Complete Manual

The independent handbook for all Raspberry Pi users

25+
projects
inside
100% UNOFFICIAL

Edition
Digital
EIGHTEENTH
EDITION
 Welcome to
Raspberry Pi
The Complete Manual
The Raspberry Pi is one of the most exciting things
to happen to computer technology in recent years.
As an educational tool, this tiny PC has reignited
interest in bare-metal computing in schools and
homes all over the world. As a platform for open-
source software, it has also inspired millions of
people to try Linux – many for the first time. Most
exciting of all is the potential to incorporate the
device into practical projects, as demonstrated by
the tutorials in this new edition of Raspberry Pi The
Complete Manual. Grab your Pi and start creating!
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we care about our planet and make a difference where we can,
for us and every generation that follows.
 Raspberry Pi The Complete Manual
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Raspberry Pi The Complete Manual Eighteenth Edition (CMB2951)

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Contents
What you can find inside the bookazine

Getting started The projects

40 Get to grips with the

Enviro pHAT
Take weather-related readings
42 Back up your Pi
Never lose a file again

44 Beginner’s guide to nano

Edit text from the CLI
46 Remote desktop access
Use Raspbian anywhere
48 Raspberry Pi plus Arduinos
How to use your Arduino

52 Program with Scratch

8 Raspberry Pi models 26 Get Pixel desktop Drag and drop coding
Meet the Pi 4 Model B The new desktop environment
56 C
 reate a Snake clone
12 The starter kit 30 Master the Config tool with Scratch
What you need for your Pi How to tweak your settings Make your first game

14 Set up your Pi 32 Get online 60 Check your mail

Configure your new PC Access a world of apps Let Raspberry Pi act as a
mail checker
16 Set up your Pi Zero 34 Install & use packages
How to use apt-get
64 B
 oost your Pi’s
Start up your tiny Pi
performance
20 Install a distro 36 Use graphical installations Improve performance
Get your new OS running Install & remove graphically
68 Monitor your network
22 Command line basics 38 GPIO explained Analyse your local network
Learn essential new skills Get to grips with GPIO pins
70 Tether to Android
Access the Internet anywhere
using a hotspot

6
72 Add a battery pack
Take your Pi mobile
84 Control lighting with Echo
Use your Alexa with Pi Code
74 Draw circuits with paint 90 C
 reate a real-time LED
humidity display
& create
with
Assemble circuits using Bare
Conductive paint Use the Astro Pi

76 Send SMS
Text for free from your Pi
92 Turn your Pi into a Tor
proxy with Onion Pi
Make a wireless access point
your Pi!
78 B
 uild your first
web server 94 Make a doomsday switch
Learn new web skills Keep your data safe
80 Print wirelessly “Once you’ve
96 Get hands on with the
Keep those wires hidden
Pimoroni Blinkt! familiarised yourself
82 Time-lapse
camera trigger
Create lights with Blinkt! with the basics,
Make a timelapse video 98 Create a Pi-powered
virtual reality setup
there’s almost no
Use Python-VRZero limit to what you
102 B
 uild a networked can achieve with
Hi-Fi with Pi Zero
Play music with your RasPi your Raspberry Pi”
106 Take control of your drone
Create code to automate flight
110 B
 uild and control a Pi-
powered car
The ultimate in RC
118 Xbox Zero arcade
Turn your Pi Zero into a
console-controller combo

7
 Getting started Raspberry Pi 4 Model B

Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
A super-charged Raspberry Pi that finally does everything you’d want it to, for
the exact same price as the previous models
While the Raspberry Pi has enjoyed years of processor helps to make the Pi 4 a much more
success, there’s always been a couple of things functional board. Whereas before you might have
a lot of users wanted. A slightly more powerful had problems surfing the internet or writing a
CPU that could handle day-to-day computing, document, now the Pi 4 Model B breezes through
plenty of USB ports, and maybe wireless to make these tasks with ease and plenty of processor
connecting to the network easier. power to spare.
The Raspberry Pi 3 solved these problems, At heart though, the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B is
but the Pi 4 Model B has improved the overall still the same board as the Raspberry Pi B+. As well
performance and added a couple of new features as two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports, there’s the
to make it the most impressive model yet. It uses Ethernet port for wired internet, a good-quality
a similar board design as the previous Pi models, 3.5mm headphone jack for sound, a USB-C power
but comes with two micro-HDMI ports, as input and a 40-pin GPIO port. This expanded
opposed to the one standard HDMI that was on GPIO port is fantastic for making your physical
previous models. More importantly, these micro- projects even more involved and complicated,
HDMI ports are capable of outputting 4K video. letting you do far cooler things.
The Pi 4 Model B also has added built-in wireless For those worried about compatibility, all your
capabilities for connecting to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. old files and projects and such work just fine on
The new BCM2711 chip is the heart of the the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, and all you need to
Raspberry Pi 4 Model B. The quad-core, 1.5 GHz do is transfer them over like any normal files.
8
 Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Getting started

GPIO port Ethernet port USB ports

The 40 pins in the GPIO port give The Pi 4 retains the improved The four USB ports give you much
you a range of power and function Gigabit Ethernet port for wired more flexibility with the Raspberry
slots to control a project or read network and internet connection Pi 4, allowing you to easily add a
more data from your surroundings. that was on the Pi 3 Model B+. It keyboard, mouse, wireless dongle
This makes the Raspberry Pi 4 can run up to three times faster and external storage without need-
the perfect core for an Internet of than older Pi models ing to constantly switch out or get a
Things or Maker project powered hub

Integrated wireless
The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B has
built-in 802.11n wireless LAN and
Bluetooth 5.0. Connecting to the
internet and other devices has
never been easier

Headphone jack
Need to listen to your Raspberry Pi
privately? Do you want to connect
it to a pair of portable speakers?
Well if you do, the 3.5mm jack is still
on the Pi 4

MicroSD Micro-HDMI ports

Underneath the board is where the New to the Raspberry Pi 4 Model
boot medium lives – the microSD B is its special ability to decode
card. Much smaller than the SD 4K video on the fly with very little
card of the original, it still holds the problem. Even better, the device
full operating system and allows has two of these ports which
the Pi 4 to be much smaller allows for dual-display support

“The Raspberry Pi 4 still won’t be able to

power a USB hub, so if you need to expand
the complement you’ll need to get a
powered hub”
9
 Getting started Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+

Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+
The A+ took what worked with the Pi 3 and condensed it

Despite the Model A+ skipping Raspberry Pi 2 both wired and wirelessly. The Raspberry Pi
series of devices, Raspberry Pi’s engineers took 3 Model A+ also kept a lot of the features
a look at everything that worked with the Pi introduced in the model B+, such as the 64-bit
3, listened to feedback from the community, quad-core processor.
then tweaked the specs in a few places and put If you want a slightly more expensive alternative
everything on the model A+ board. there is the Model B+, which is similar to the A+
While it may look pretty much identical to the but has more connectivity options and memory
previous A+, it is faster in terms of connectivity built onto a larger board.

MicroSD Storage USB input CSI camera port

No more worries about the SD There is a single USB input on This input is compatible with
card being snapped off or lost. The the Pi 3 Model A+. If you require the Raspberry Pi Camera
Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ features a more inputs then you will want to Module; the accessory can be
push-push slot for a microSD card purchase the model B+ instead purchased for around £24 is
compatible with a range of
Raspberry Pi devices

Its size
The Pi 3 modelA+ has kept the same Power socket HDMI output
dimensions as the original Raspberry With the micro USB power socket The Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+
model A+ so any accessories you positioned beside the HDMI socket, it’s has one full-size HDMI input that
have for that should be compatible easier to arrange and manage cables supports video up to full 1080p

10
 Raspberry Pi Zero Getting started

Raspberry Pi Zero W
The tiny £4 computer has taken the world by storm, but what’s changed?

While identical to the original Raspberry Pi Zero and includes further connectivity options through
in shape and form, the Pi Zero W was the first of mini-HDMI and USB OTG ports. Plus, thanks to the
its kind to offer full wireless connectivity. Thanks HAT-compatible 40-pin header, the Zero W is a
to an on-board 802.11 b/g/n wireless chip, the Pi great way for connecting other single-boards to
Zero W can act as a central hub for any wireless this mini-marvel. It’s low price makes it the perfect
projects you may own. starting point for children to get into coding, and
Aside from its wireless integration, it’s also one schools are starting to introduce them into the
of the few Pi variants to offer built-in Bluetooth, classroom, too.

Smaller than a MicroSD card Unpopulated GIPO header

credit card This is the same as the newer B With an identical pinout to Model A+/
Measuring in at 65mm x 30mm x models, meaning you can swap in an B+/2B/3, headers can optionally be
5mm the Zero comes in at a tenth existing card to be up and running soldered on yourself, making the Zero
the model B’s overall footprint in seconds HAT compatible

New mini HDMI port Minimal connectors Micro USB port

You will need an adapter to make use of No Ethernet or audio port and no The shortage of ports means a USB
this port. Or better still, go headless and camera or display connector. However hub and an adapter will be more
install yourself a lite OS image unpopulated composite video and reset important than ever to connect
headers are still available things such as a keyboard or Wi-Fi
adapter

11
 Getting started The starter kit

The starter kit

There’s more to your Pi than first meets the eye.
Here are some vital peripherals to get you started
In order to get the very best experience from your Raspberry Pi,
you’re going to have to get hold of a few extras on top of the
actual Raspberry Pi board itself. For example, you’re going to need a
keyboard and mouse with which to enter commands and navigate.
While it’s possible to do projects without a keyboard and mouse
attached, you’ll need them for the initial setup. An SD card is also an
important purchase – it’s where the operating system lives.
Perhaps you’ll need a Wi-Fi adapter, or maybe just a length
of network cable. Then there’s the basic electronics side of the
Raspberry Pi, what would you need to start some of the beginner
electronics and control experiments? Clearly, there’s more to the
Raspberry Pi than some might think.
By ‘peripherals’, we mean other hardware that can be attached
and utilised by the Raspberry Pi. They could be something as simple
Did you know… as a decent HDMI or they could be the latest, greatest bespoke
Most online retailers sell
gadgets that enhance your project capabilities.
packages complete with all the There is an entire world of possibilities available for the Raspberry
accessories you might need –
even pre-installed SD cards.
Pi; from robot arms to remote-controlled helicopters… The only
limits are the hardware available and your imagination.

Keyboard and mouse SD card

Let’s start with the most basic of components, the keyboard Early Raspberry Pi computers required an SD card, whereas
and mouse. Generally speaking, virtually any USB keyboard later models such as the Raspberry Pi 2 and 3 use microSD
and three-button scroll mouse will work with the Raspberry cards for storage. This is where your chosen operating
Pi, and although for some projects you won’t even need a system (such as Raspbian) is installed, and these can be
keyboard and mouse, you’ll need them for initial setup. bought in various sizes, pre-installed with the OS, or blank.

12
 The starter kit Getting started

Power cable Case

The Raspberry Pi uses a standard micro USB connector for Securing your Raspberry Pi in a case will protect it and
its power input, running at 5V. In most cases a micro USB prevent the delicate GPIO pins from accidental damage. A
to USB cable will suffice, of which one end can be plugged case can also make your Raspberry Pi a more attractive or
into your desktop computer’s USB port. An Android phone striking unit, perhaps as a media centre. Ensure you choose
charger should also work perfectly (5.25V 1500mA). the right case for your Raspberry Pi model.

Video output Powered USB hub

There are two video output ports, a HDMI port and an RCA Extra USB ports are worth considering as an early purchase
Socket. HDMI is the primary video-output connector for with your Pi. Once you’ve connected a keyboard and mouse
most users, but the RCA video-out port can also be used to you’ll realise why! Using a powered USB hub is important, to
connect TVs, monitors or to a SCART cable. Remote access stop any power being drained from the Pi, and allow you to
to your Raspberry Pi is also possible via SSH or VNC. attach the likes of an external hard drive, for example.

Raspberry Pi camera board USB Wi-Fi adaptor

This is a custom designed add-on board that attaches to Using a USB Wi-Fi adaptor will bring flexibility to where you
one of the Raspberry Pi’s on-board sockets via a flexible position your Raspberry Pi. Without a restrictive Ethernet
cable. It’s extremely small, but remarkably powerful, having cable, it could be used for more advanced projects where
a native resolution of five megapixels and supporting 1080p running a wired internet connection isn’t a valid option. Just
video. It’s essentially a smartphone camera for the Pi. make sure you buy a Raspberry Pi-friendly Wi-Fi adaptor.

13
 Getting started Set up your Raspberry Pi

Set up your
Raspberry Pi
Learn what goes where in your brand new
Raspberry Pi with our easy-to-follow guide
While it looks daunting, setting up the Raspberry Pi
for day-to-day use is actually very simple. Like a TV
or a normal computer, only certain cables will fit into
the specific slots, and the main job really is making
sure you’ve got plugged in what you need at any one
time. The Raspberry Pi itself doesn’t label much of the
board. However, most good cases will do that for you
anyway – if you decide to invest in one.

Power adapter Monitor

The Raspberry Pi is capable of
The Raspberry Pi is powered using displaying a 1920 x 1080 output –
a micro USB cable, much like a otherwise known as 1080p. Some
lot of modern Android phones. modern monitors allow you to
It can be powered off a laptop or plug HDMI straight into them,
computer. But to make the most just like TVs do. However you may
out of it, a proper mains adapter – need an adapter in some cases
like this one – is ideal

USB hub
There are only a limited number
of USB ports on a Raspberry Pi
(just one, if you have Model A). Case and accessories
To get around this you will need A case is not necessary to use the
a USB hub. It’s important to get Pi correctly, but a decent one can
a powered one, as the Pi cannot keep it well protected from dust,
supply enough juice on its own and make it easier to move while in
operation. You will need an SD card,
however, of at least 4GB

Keyboard and mouse

Like any computer, you’ll need a keyboard and
mouse for any standard PC-style operations you
do with the Raspberry Pi. The more basic the
keyboard, the better; same with the mouse, as
some special ones need additional software

14
 Set up your Raspberry Pi Getting started

USB
All the peripherals you want to connect
via USB – USB hubs, keyboard, mouse,
Analogue output USB storage etc – is plugged in here.
For setups that don’t use HDMI, Ensure you have external power to the
the yellow video out port USB Hub if you have to use one though
is available. To use this with
sound, you’ll need to use the
small black port next to it, with
headphones, or an auxiliary
cable to pipe out the audio

SD card
The SD card goes in underneath the
Raspberry Pi board. This will hold your
operating system that runs the Raspberry Pi.
The Pi OS needs to be set up from another
computer before using it though

Digital output
The HDMI port is the main video (and
audio) output of the Raspberry Pi,
allowing you to display videos on the
desktop at a resolution of up to 1080p.
TVs that support it will also pick up the
audio automatically through it

Networking
The Raspberry Pi does not come with
wireless internet, and while you can add a
USB adapter, it’s usually easier to plug in an
Ethernet cable. This will plug into the back
of your router on the other end and give you
internet and access to your home network

Cabling
Make sure you have the right selection
of cables, such as an Ethernet cable for
networking and internet, and an HDMI or
Video cable for video out. The HDMI can
handle audio, but the video out will require
an additional auxiliary cable

15
 Getting started Set up your Pi Zero

What you’ll need…

Raspberry Pi Zero Set up your
Pi Zero
Micro USB power supply
Soldering iron and solder
Pi Zero adaptor bundle
Monitor, mouse and keyboard
Optional Get to grips with your Raspberry Pi Zero, either as
USB Wi-Fi or USB a headless device or for use together with a screen
Ethernet adaptor
Optional
and keyboard
USB hub So you’ve picked up one of the tiny yet powerful Zeros, but before
Optional
the coding fun can begin you need to get more familiar with it.
Don’t worry; we’ll walk you through the Raspberry Pi Zero, the
required cables, how to prepare a NOOBS SD card, and how to
solder the GPIO header onto the Pi. Once the Pi is working and
booted we’ll show you how to get it working on Wi-Fi
through the Raspbian user interface. You’ll need a
USB hub for this, or even just to use a keyboard
and mouse together. We’ll also show you
how to prepare a Raspbian SD card for
headless use (either VNC or SSH)
with only a Wi-Fi adapter or USB-
to-Ethernet adaptor.

Raspberry Pi Zero
Cable Overview

01 The Raspberry Pi Zero is very

small, and as such cannot
fit normal-sized USB and HDMI
connectors on. To use it, you therefore
need adaptors that break out micro
USB into full-size USB and mini HDMI
to full-size HDMI. You also need to be
very careful when connecting the
micro USB cables as the micro USB
power cable will fit into the connector
meant for USB data. It‘s easy to tell
them apart though, as they’re clearly
labelled, and the USB data connector
can be found between the HDMI and
power connectors.

16
 Set up your Pi Zero Getting started

Fig 1: Once you’ve soldered the header into place, your Pi Zero should resemble any other Raspberry Pi

GPIO header the kit we used with a soldering the first few minutes, so don’t worry if
iron, stand, solder sucker and some that happens. Still, be mindful of your

02 Soldering your brand new lead-free solder was £8 on Amazon. safety and make sure that you are
Raspberry Pi Zero might seem We managed to solder the GPIO pins soldering in a well-ventilated area – try
like a scary prospect at first, but it’s using this kit no problem. not to breathe in any fumes. Once
not that difficult! What is difficult, the iron is hot, apply some solder
however, is snapping off the correct Holding the GPIO headers to the tip and wipe any excess
solder on the sponge. Then start to
number of GPIO header pins (40), as in place solder the pins. For each pin, touch
the kit supplies more than 40. It’s also
the tip of the iron on the bottom
well worth noting at this point that it
doesn’t matter too much if you mess
up and end up missing a couple of the
04 Before you can solder the
GPIO headers, you need to
be able to hold them in place. We
of the GPIO header and the metal
contact on the Pi, then apply a
bottom pins. recommend putting some blu-tack on very small amount of solder. Once
either side of the pins for this. This also the solder has flowed onto the pin
Soldering kits has the advantage that you can flip and the metal contact, then you
the Pi over and then use the blu-tack can remove the iron. If there is too

03 Soldering irons are very

cheap these days. If you are
going to be doing a lot of soldering
to keep it in place on a table while you
are soldering. The blu-tack should just
much solder then you can reheat
the solder and use the solder sucker
to remove it. Take breaks when
easily peel off once you are done.
then it’s probably worth getting a soldering the GPIO headers for a
temperature-controlled one where Solder the GPIO headers couple of reasons: 1) you don’t want
you can change the tip. However, to overheat any components on the

05 Here comes the bit you might Pi, and 2) you can melt the plastic
have been dreading, but don’t of the GPIO headers and that will
worry! Make sure you have wet the allow the pin to fall through. Keep
sponge in the soldering iron holder, wiping the tip of the iron on the
as you will need to wipe the iron on sponge to keep it clean throughout
the sponge to keep the tip clean. the soldering process. Make sure
If this is the first time your iron has you unplug the iron and put it
been used, the heating element will somewhere safe to cool down
probably give off a lot of smoke for when you are finished.

17
 Getting started Set up your Pi Zero

GPIO
Once you’ve soldered on a 2x20 male header,
your GPIOs will work as usual. To the right, you can
see the four unpopulated pins for video output
and a reset switch

Video Data
You’ll need a mini-HDMI- The power port, on the right, is micro USB as
to-HDMI adaptor to use this audio/video port, usual. The data port beside it is now micro USB
although you can also use the RCA composite as well, however, so you will likely need a micro
video output via the unpopulated pin USB-to-USB adaptor

Prepare NOOBS SD Card Boot NOOBS and

install Raspbian
06 See www.raspberrypi.org/

07
help/noobs-setup for more Connect your Pi Zero up as
details. NOOBS requires an SD card shown in the first step. The
formatted as FAT32. You then need minimum you need connected for
to download the latest NOOBS a NOOBS install is a monitor and a
image from https://downloads. keyboard. However, a mouse and perfectly with the Pi out of the box.
raspberrypi.org/NOOBS_latest either an Ethernet adaptor or Wi-Fi Once at the Raspbian desktop, you
and then unzip it to the SD card. On adaptor are also very useful. Press Enter can click on the network icon in order
Linux, the steps are as follows: to select Raspbian and then press I to to see the available wireless networks.
sudo parted /dev/mmcblk0 install. Then press Enter to agree. Once Once you click on one it will ask you
(parted) mktable msdos it is finished it will say ‘OS installed for the password. After that it should
successfully’. Press OK and your Pi will be associated; you can hover your
(parted) mkpart primary
reboot into Raspbian. Alternatively, if mouse over the icon and see the
fat32 0% 100%
you don’t want to use NOOBS, you networks that you are connected to.
(parted) quit
can flash Raspbian to an SD card in the
sudo mkfs.vfat /dev/ usual manner. Raspbian will boot into Configure Wi-Fi from
mmcblk0p1
cd /mnt
a desktop environment by default. another machine
Configure Wi-Fi
sudo mkdir pi
sudo mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 pi 09 If you want to use the Pi Zero
as a headless device with
cd pi
sudo unzip ~/Downloads/
08 If you are using a USB-to-
Ethernet adaptor then the
Pi should already be connected
Wi-Fi then you can prepare an SD
card using another Linux machine
NOOBS_v1_5_0.zip that will already be configured
to the internet. If you are using a to connect to the correct Wi-Fi
sync Wi-Fi adapter then you will need network. You have to mount the SD
cd .. to configure it to connect to your card and edit /etc/wpa_supplicant/
sudo umount pi wireless network. We are using an wpa_supplicant.conf, which is the
Edimax EW-7811UN, which works same file that is configured by the

18
 Set up your Pi Zero Getting started

Raspbian user interface from the

previous step. Insert the SD card into
your Linux machine and work out
what the device is called.
dmesg | tail -n 3
[320516.612984] mmc0: new
high speed SDHC card at
address 0001
[320516.613437] mmcblk0:
mmc0:0001 SD8GB 7.35 GiB
So the device is /dev/mmcblk0 – now
we need to work out which partition
number the root partition is (this will
be different on a Raspbian image; we
are using a NOOBS image here).
sudo parted /dev/mmcblk0
print Fig 2: The Zero may be tiny but it is just as good for programming
This will give you a list of the partitions.
The largest partition will be the root -p22 -sV 192.168.157.0/24 will scan for connected). There is no audio support,
partition. In this case it’s partition a list of devices with SSH open. but for any other tasks (including the
7, so the root filesystem is at /dev/ Example output: use of pygame) VNC should provide
mmcblk0p7. To mount the SD card Nmap scan report for an acceptable level of performance.
and edit the wpa_supplicant.conf file 192.168.157.29 You can install a VNC server with the
do the following Host is up (0.070s latency). following commands
cd /mnt PORT STATE SERVICE VERSION sudo apt-get update
sudo mkdir pi 22/tcp open ssh sudo apt-get install
sudo mount /dev/mmcblk0p7 (protocol 2.0) tightvncserver
pi/ Then you can SSH in with: There are several free VNC clients
available so a search engine will help
cd pi/ ssh [email protected]
you find a suitable one. To start a VNC
sudo nano etc/wpasupplicant/ The password is ‘raspberry’. If you
session on your Pi, log in over SSH and
wpa_supplicant.conf are using the Pi headless, you’ll want
then run tightvncserver. You will be
Then fill in your Wi-Fi details: to disable the user interface that is
prompted to enter a password the
network={ started on boot by default:
first time you run it. You can specify a
ssid=“your_wifi_network” sudo systemctl set-default screen resolution with the -geometry
multi-user.target option: for example, -geometry
psk=“your_wifi_password”
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK 1024x768. You can kill an existing
Setup a VNC server vnc session with tightvncserver -kill
}
:1, where 1 is the session number.

11
Then finally: VNC stands for Virtual Network To connect to that session on a
cd .. Computing. Using VNC you Linux machine, you could use the
sudo umount pi/ can access the Raspbian desktop command: vncviewer 192.168.157.29:1,
over the network (meaning you only substituting for the IP address of your
Remotely access your Pi need power and Ethernet/Wi-Fi Raspberry Pi.

10 You can use nmap to scan

the local network to find a
Raspberry Pi. You need to know the
“The minimum that you need
address range of your local network
(common networks are 192.168.1.0/24,
connected for a NOOBS install is a
and 192.168.2.0/24). You can find it
with the ip addr command. nmap
monitor and a keyboard”
19
 Getting started Install a distro

What you’ll need…

Raspberry Pi downloads
www.raspberrypi.org/downloads
Install a distro
We take a look at some of the key aspects
involved in installing a pre-built OS
With its small size and cheap price, many people might be fooled
Did you know… into thinking that the Raspberry Pi is only usable for basic tasks, and
The official distro for the learning to program on. While one of the primary goals of the Pi
Pi is called Raspbian. That’s was to increase computer literacy at a lower level rather than just
what we recommend, but
there are other options. learning how to create Excel spreadsheets, the Pi has many other
great uses.
As the Raspberry Pi is essentially a mini PC, with an HDMI and
analog TV output rather than a traditional monitor connection, it
can perform many common tasks that a laptop or desktop is often
used for. While it doesn’t really have the processing power or RAM
to run the latest version of Windows, there are other options.
There are a wealth of fully fledged operating systems, many
forked from their desktop big brothers that have been optimised
specifically for the Pi. One of the most popular of these is Raspbian,
which is a port of Debian. Debian is a key part of the Linux
ecosystem, and many other popular open source distributions
are forked from the Debian source code. The original Debian was
released in 1993, and it’s come a long way since. Raspbian needed
work to get performance levels up to standard, as the Pi uses the
older ARMv6 architecture. It’s now a great everyday desktop.
Card speed
It's a good idea to
get a reasonably
fast SD card to keep
your system running Command line
smoothly. Class 4 or If you are using OS X or
above is best Linux, then its likely you
will use the command
line to install your prebuilt
operating systems

Card format
Before you copy
your OS image,
you’ll need to make Automated tools
sure the SD card is There are a couple of
formatted into the graphical tools available
FAT32 file system which make installing
an image onto an SD
card easy

20
 Install a distro Getting started

Formatting the card

05 In Windows, to format the card

simply insert and wait for it to
mount. Then click on ‘My Computer’
and then right click on the cards icon.
After that choose format and then
‘FAT32’ from the drop-down menu.

Using the terminal

Obtaining OSs OS Format

01 One of your first questions

may be “where can I find some 03 Within the zip you’ll find a file
with a .img or .iso extension.
06 If you are using OS X or Linux,
then you’ll have to use the
terminal to copy the image. In OS X,
operating systems to download?”. These are the equivalent of a the Terminal app comes installed by
Most of the common images can be ‘snapshot’ of an installation CD or DVD. default, and most Linux versions come
found on the main Raspberry Pi site: Simply copying the file to the SD card with one in some form or other. It
www.raspberrypi.org/downloads. won’t do anything; you’ll need to use a may be referred to as the ‘console’ or
These are stable and well tested program to extract it. ‘command line’.
systems worth investigating.
SD card format DD command
Unzipping

02 When you’ve downloaded

your image, the first thing
04 The SD card that you’ll boot
from needs to be blank, so
make sure there is nothing important
07 The command you need to
use is called ‘dd’. This is entered
in the format of ‘sudo dd bs=1m
you’ll most likely need to do is unzip it. on it first. You’ll also need to format it if=[img] of=/dev/[sdcard]‘. Eg:
This can be done in Windows by right to use the FAT32 file system. This is a
clicking and choosing ‘extract’. In OS X, common system, used by most USB sudo dd bs=32m if=/Users/
just double click to extract the files. sticks and cameras. rachelcrabb/Desktop/ArchLinux/
archlinux-hf-2013-02-11.img
of=/dev/disk1

Win 32 Disk Imager

08 Windows users can use Win32

Disk Imager. Once you’ve
downloaded the tool, simply right
click on the .exe, and choose ‘run as
administrator’ and follow the prompts.
When the installation is complete you
can put the SD card in your Pi. Easy!

21
 Getting started Command line basics

What you’ll need…

Raspbian Command
line basics
www.raspberrypi.org

Learn an alternative way to control your Raspberry Pi

by using the command line and your keyboard
We’ve probably all been there with the Raspberry Pi. You’ve installed
Did you know… Raspbian or another Raspberry Pi OS to your SD card and you’ve
The command line remembers rushed through the setup script or not quite done your research.
your last commands. Simply You start the operating system and… you end up at a command
use the Up and Down arrows to
use them. line. The first step here is to not panic: this is perfectly normal. It
may just be a bit of a foreign concept to you, only seen in films with
streetwise hackers who want to bring down ‘the system’.
The second step, at least in Raspbian’s case, is simply to type:
$ start x
That’s it. Raspbian will load up the desktop and you can start
using the mouse again. Quick and painless in this case, and in that
of many other operating systems as well. What you’ve done is use a
command, specifically in this case to start the X server. The X server
handles the graphical interface and can be turned off by default on
some Pi systems.

Fig 1: The terminal emulator allows you to access the command line while still being in the desktop environment

22
 Command line basics Getting started

Fig 2: Access raspi-config to change

A new world settings such as boot to desktop or
adding a camera module
Getting your Raspberry Pi into the desktop isn’t the only thing
you can do on the command line, though. There’s a whole world
of functionality built into the command line; in fact, most of the
graphical programs you’re using are just executing these commands
in such a way. You don’t have to leave the comfort of the desktop
environment to perform these commands either, as all Raspberry
Pi operating systems will come with an application known as a
terminal emulator.
This creates a window where a command can be written in the
same way that we launched the desktop, and use the exact same
commands (Fig 1). On Raspbian, look for the app LX Terminal in
the Accessories section of the menu and click on it. If you’ve had to
use start x to get into the desktop, then we can now fix that before
continuing. In the terminal, enter:
$ raspi-config
Here’s the initial setup screen (Fig 2). From here you can enable
the desktop on boot (Fig 3), and even update the firmware and add
support for the official Raspberry Pi camera module. This allows you
to modify Raspbian without having to reinstall again.
You won’t be using those two commands very often, though, so
is there practical use for delving into the command line? Very much
so. For starters, Raspbian doesn’t have an official package manager.
This is a program that allows you to browse the available software
for the operating system, similar to the Pi Store.
However, there’s other software available to Raspbian that you
can’t get through the store. You also can’t specifically update the Pi Fig 3: Change the default selection to
software either, and all of this can be fixed using the command line. desktop for the next time you use the
Raspberry Pi

23
 Getting started Command line basics

Fig 4: Upgrade your system and files, and

have the latest updates and bug fixes in Software for all
the process
The first thing you’ll want to do is let Raspbian know exactly what’s
available online. It’s a very simple task: all you need to do is:
$ sudo apt-get update
This will run down a list of online repositories (or repos) that
contain the software that Raspbian uses. Once it’s finished, the
command-line prompt will pop up again waiting for your next
command. As this is the first time you’ve done it, you’ll likely need to
update the current software on your Raspberry Pi. You can do that
with the command:
$ sudo apt-get upgrade
It may ask you to confirm the upgrade, in which case type ‘y’
and then press Enter. What we’re doing both times is using the
command-line package manager Aptitude (apt-get) to first check
the repos, and then upgrade packages according to that (Fig 4).
The first command, sudo, allows it to run the apt-get task as an
Did you know… administrator, and is used in a lot of other command-line operations.
You can use the Tab to
To install software you use install instead of update or upgrade,
complete commands. Just start followed by the name of the package. For example, with the
typing and hit tab. If you like
what you see hit Enter to finish!
mathematical programming language, you can install it with:
$ sudo apt-get install wolfram-engine

24
 Command line basics Getting started

Move and create

Installing and updating are just a couple of the many things you can Did you know…
do in the command line. You can also browse the entire file system, You can always return to your
move files, create folders and delete items. All of these are very Home folder in the command
line by typing cd ~ and
simple operations. pressing Enter.
When you first open the terminal, it will open up in your home
folder. While you can’t specifically tell that it is, you can display
exactly what kind of files are in the directory with (Fig 5):
$ ls
The tilde sign (~) is used to denote the home folder and can be
used for navigating around the file system. To navigate, we’ll be
using the cd command, followed by the location you want to move
to. This can be done like so:
$ cd /home/pi/Downloads
This will move you to the Downloads directory. As we were
starting off in the home folder to begin with, we actually only “The command
needed to do this: line or terminal
$ cd Downloads
It’s context sensitive and knows to look in the directory it’s already
will try to auto-
in. There’s another trick you can use so you don’t have to remember complete the
the exact name of the path – the command line or terminal will phrase if you
try to auto-complete the phrase if you press the Tab key while press the Tab key
something is only partially typed. Try the cd command again, but
try pressing Tab when you’ve only written ‘Down’.
while something
Finally, there are some quick commands you can use to is partially typed”
manipulate files. Individual files can be copied using the command
cp, followed by the filename and the new location like so:
$ cp file.txt ~/Documents/file.txt
You can also use this to rename files by doing:
$ cp file.txt otherfile.txt
The original file can then be deleted by using the rm command:
$ rm file.txt
Want to create a new folder? Use cd to move to the directory you
need to add a folder to, and then use mkdir followed by the name
you want to give the folder:
$ mkdir NewFolder
There’s a lot more you can do with the command line, but these
are the very basics. As you use Linux more and more, you’ll be
confronted with tasks that need the command line, and through
this process you’ll learn just how much can be accomplished when Fig 5: There are many simple
command‑line tools that can help you
you work like a street-wise movie hacker. browse and use your system

25
 Getting started Get the new Pixel desktop

What you’ll need…

Raspberry Pi: Get the new
Pixel desktop
(Ideally a Pi 2 or 3 if you want to use
Chromium for streaming video)

8GB Micro SD card:

(If installing from Raspbian from scratch)

Access to a computer:
(For connecting via SSH and/or to install
Raspbian Jessie with Pixel)
Explore Pixel, the new official desktop environment
for the Raspberry Pi
Pixel (Pi Improved Xwindows Environment, Lightweight), is the latest
iteration of the Raspbian desktop. The major changes are apparent
the first time you boot up – the multitude of boot messages has
been replaced with a simple splash screen with the release number.
There are now 16 stunning desktop background images to choose
from thanks to Pi Foundation developer Greg Annandale. The
icons on the file manager, task bar and menu now have a crisp,
professional appearance. Menus are also cleaner and more readable
as application icons no longer appear by default.
The rather clunky windows we formerly knew in Raspbian have
now been replaced with rounded corners and a modified title bar.
The infinality patchset actually also makes for much cleaner
font rendering.
Beneath the hood, RealVNC Server is now bundled to allow you
to easily select VNC from the interfaces menu, then connect via
a viewer. There’s also a provisional release of Chromium for the Pi,
which in combination with the h264ify plugin makes use of the Pi’s
Did you know… hardware to stream video.
Some of the newly designed
icons aren’t immediately
visible as none of the default
applications belong in the
Engineering or Education
categories. If you’re curious
about this, head over to /usr/
share/icons/PiX to take a peek
at the icons. Alternatively click
on Menu>Preferences>
Add/Remove software to
see the categories and their
respective sleek icons. It is
possible to modify the icons for
individual apps. Check Step 15
for more information.

26
 Get the new Pixel desktop Getting started

press Q to dismiss this and proceed. emu python-sense-emu-doc

Install Chromium

03 The latest version of Raspbian

includes an initial release of
Chromium. As we’re performing a
manual upgrade, you can install this
Choose your install with the command:
method sudo apt-get install -y rpi-
Load Pixel Desktop
chromium-mods

01 There are several ways to install

Raspbian with Pixel. If you have
05 Reboot the Pi to see your
new, shiny Pixel Desktop. You
may see a message stating that your
Raspbian with NOOBS, you can restart
previous configuration files have been
your Pi by holding Shift and choose
overwritten. Click OK to dismiss this.
to reinstall. This will upgrade you to
At this stage you might also want to
the latest version using Pixel but will
change the default wallpaper. Right
also wipe your existing installation. Chromium comes bundled with
click anywhere on the desktop and
Alternatively you can download the the previously mentioned h264ify
click Desktop Preferences. Click the
latest Raspbian Image from https:// extension, which forces YouTube to
Wallpaper menu to choose from any
www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/ use the Pi’s hardware acceleration
of the stunning options. Our current
raspbian/ and follow the easy when streaming videos. The
favourite is Mountain.
installation guide at https://www. awesome adblocker uBlock Origin is
raspberrypi.org/documentation/ also bundled to strip out resource- Examine your interfaces
installation/installing-images/ hungry adverts.

06
README.md. If you use either of these Disable both Bluetooth and
methods, skip ahead to Step 5. Wi-Fi from within the desktop
environment with the click of a
button. Simply click on the relevant
icon and turn it off. Head over to
Menu>Preferences>Raspberry Pi
Configuration>Interfaces and click
Enabled under VNC. The VNC icon will
Install SenseHAT Emulator appear at the top-right of the desktop.
Click this to view your Pi’s private IP

04 This step is optional, but is address for VNC clients.

Manual upgrade to included as the SenseHAT
Raspbian with Pixel emulator is also included with the
latest version of Raspbian. The

02 If your Raspberry Pi has an SenseHAT is an add-on board for the

existing installation of Raspbian Raspberry Pi with a range of sensors
Jessie, you can upgrade to the latest from a thermometer to a gyroscope.
version of Raspbian with Pixel by The emulator allows developers to
opening Terminal or connecting via test code for devices without actually
SSH and running the commands: owning a SenseHAT itself. For more
sudo apt-get update information see www.raspberrypi.org/
blog/desktop-sense-hat-emulator/ Import old bookmarks
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Run this command to install all into Chromium
necessary files:
The upgrade process will take some
sudo apt-get install -y
07
time. You’ll see a message about the You can open Chromium by
plymouth I/O multiplexing framework; python-sense-emu python3-sense-
clicking the web browser icon

27
 Getting started Get the new Pixel desktop

at the top-left of the screen. If you Preferences>Appearance Settings. launch it from the Programming
want to import your bookmarks from If you’re used to a menu bar at the menu in Applications. The Emulator
Epiphany, open Terminal on the Pi bottom of the screen, change the comes bundled with around a dozen
and run: Position setting to Bottom. You can example scripts to get you started.
epiphany-browser. also change the size of the bar to Simply click the File menu at the top-
medium or small. left of the emulator window, then
Open Example. There are beginner,
intermediate and advanced projects.
If your interest has been piqued,
SenseHATs are currently available
online from the Pi Hut for £30. See
thepihut.com/products/raspberry-
pi-sense-hat-astro-pi.
Click the Settings gear icon on the
top-right and choose Edit Bookmarks. Enable login screen
On the window that opens you’ll
have the option to export your
bookmarks to HTML format. Close
Epiphany and choose the blue link 10 Now the Raspberry Pi has a
rich desktop environment and
modern web browser, you may wish
Import Bookmarks in Chromium to
add them there.. to use it for a work or home computer.
To make the Pi require a password on
startup, open Terminal on or connect
Change the via SSH and run the command:
Appearance Settings sudo nano /etc/lightdm/
lightdm.conf

08 While the default options

make for a stunning desktop,
you may wish to perform some small Test SenseHAT Emulator
Scroll down to the line autologin-
user=pi and put a hash (#) at the start.
tweaks at this stage, particularly Press Ctrl+X, then Y, then return to
if this is a new install of Raspbian.
In the main menu, head over to 09 If you installed the SenseHAT
Emulator previously, you can
save and exit. Remember the default
password is ‘raspberry’.

28
 Get the new Pixel desktop Getting started

Now enter the password for the new Use the right arrow to find the text
user twice when prompted to create ‘quiet splash’ and delete it. Use Ctrl+X,
the account. then Y, then return to save and exit.
Practise resizing windows Add temperature/
voltage monitors
12 One blessing of the old
Raspbian desktop is that
window frames were quite thick
whereas Pixel includes much slicker,
thinner windows so it can be tricky
14 In previous versions of Raspbian,
if the Pi was overheating
or underpowered, you may have
at first to resize them. Fortunately in noticed crude yellow and red squares
the latest version of Raspbian the grab appearing in the corner of the screen.
handles now extend outside These have now been replaced
the window, so even if the mouse is with pictures of a thermometer and
just outside the frame, you’ll see the lightning bolt respectively. Right-click
cursor change. the task bar and Add Panel Items to
display the system temperature and
Add new users Configure splash screen voltage if you wish.

11 If you followed the previous

step, you may want to add 13 Pixel’s sedate splash screen on
boot may not sit well with some
people’s principles; the previous text
Explore your icons
extra user accounts for your family or
colleagues. First open Terminal on the
Pi or connect via SSH and then run the
boot is also very useful for detecting
errors. If you wish to go back to the 15 The icons have been
painstakingly redrawn for
Pixel by Sam Alder and Alex Carter,
following command: old style boot screen, open Terminal
or connect via SSH and run the who also illustrate the graphics of
passwd. the official Raspberry Pi website. You
command:
can find all the system icons in /usr/
This will allow you to change the sudo nano /boot/cmdline.txt
share/icons/PiX. The icons are very
default password ‘raspberry’ to professional and easy on the eye,
something more meaningful. Once however if you wish to replace any of
you have done this add more users them, make sure to try and use a .PNG
with the command: image and to give it the exact same
sudo adduser name as the image you’re replacing,
(e.g sudo adduser bob) for example launch.png.

29
 Getting started Master the Config tool

What you’ll need…

Raspbian: Master the
Config tool
www.raspbian.org

Tell your Raspberry Pi how to behave using the

powerful built-in Config tool
The ‘RasPi Config’ tool allows configuration of your system that
Did you know… would otherwise be trickier in the Linux environment and it’s the
You can access the Config tool first thing you’ll see when you install Raspbian. Why? Tasks such as
anytime by typing ‘sudo raspi- setting the date and time or regional settings for your keyboard
config’ from a terminal window
or the command line. are often done in a command-line interface with no dialogs, no
additional help – for a new user, this is a nightmare.
There are some further specifics for the Pi and Raspbian itself,
such as: the ability to easily enable overscan for your TV; change the
split of memory to the computer/graphics card or even overclock
your system to make it a little faster; enable remote SSH access to
the system; stop the system booting into the desktop environment
among other things. The Raspi Config tool takes the pain out of the
process and puts real power at your fingertips.

Change password Expand roots Open the raspi-config tool

Change the password for your default Allows you to very quickly and easily
‘pi’ username to make it something more change the partition of the roots to fill

01
personal or easier to remember for you the SD card completely
Start by double-clicking the
LXTerminal icon on your
desktop. This will start the command
prompt, where you’ll be able to run
the config tool. To do this you’ll need
to run a command.
sudo raspi-config
When asked for your password, you
won’t actually see it being typed.
When you’ve typed the password
and pressed Enter to submit it, the
config screen will be shown to you.
There are a few settings of particular
interest that we’ll cover in this section,
although they all have their uses in
the running of your Pi. Some of the
Configure your keyboard Overclocking settings in this menu are important
Set the correct keyboard up – there are Allows you to quickly and easily and some are irreversible, so use them
many different layouts. Using the wrong overclock your Pi to give you some extra
one can be annoying speed and power with little risk with caution.

30
 Master the Config tool Getting started

Expand the root file system and ensure good airflow around start X automatically, on boot. Set this
your Pi. option to ‘Yes’ to enable this behaviour
If you see any noticeable instability, by default.
02 By default, the Raspbian root
file system will be 2GB – this is
done so that the image provided for
run this wizard again and set the
clock speed back down to something
You can obviously revert this at any
time to return to a text-based login
it can fit on as many different SD cards slightly lower – repeat until your where you have to start manually:
as possible. system is completely stable. For startx
If your card is larger the ‘expand_ the scope of this tutorial, a Modest/
roots’ option will make the OS use the Medium overclock is recommended
– it seems to give a little extra Turn overscan on and off
entire space. Upon using this option,
the command will be executed performance with no noticeable
immediately. The operating can take
some time. Reboot your system to see
side effects. It is also recommended
to reboot your system after making 07 You may have noticed one of
two behaviours if you’re using
your Pi with a modern HDTV.
the changes. this change. Hold the Shift key to
temporarily disable overclocking. There is a black border the whole
way around the image output by the
Pi – it just doesn’t fit correctly. This is
Change the memory split caused by underscan.
If you can’t see the edges of your

Configure your location

05 Changing the memory split of
the Pi allows you to give either
the system or the graphics processor a
screen to get to them you’re suffering
from overscan.
If you have the former issue, you
larger amount of memory. may need to either turn on overscan,

03 Locale is the language and

regional settings that your Pi
is using – while this generally has little
The value you give to it must be
either 16/32/64/128/256. Here are our
recommendations:
or enable a ‘zoom’ mode or similar on
your TV.
If you have the latter issue, you
impact on what you’ll see, it is also 32MB GPU memory for basic distro need to turn overscan off so that you
responsible for any default currency usage where video and 3D rendering can see the edges.
settings, etc, so could prove to be an aren’t required.
irritant at a later time if wrong. 64MB GPU memory for desktop
Upon selecting the option, you’ll use that requires video playback or
Update raspi-config
be taken through a wizard. Use the have 3D effects enabled.
arrow keys to check the built locale
before building more (it takes a while).
128MB GPU memory for graphical
applications and games that do
08 The raspi-config tool receives
updates from time to time.
This is generally to either add more
Timezone will take you to a tzdata extensive multimedia or play 3D
features or fix small bugs, or both!
screen where you can adjust it. rendered games.
It’s not a bad idea to run the
For most people, a 64MB split for
updater when you use the tool
graphics will suffice.
Overclock your Pi – before you start changing any
system settings. While it’s much
Change boot behaviour
04 You can set the clock speed
and voltage of your Pi to
more likely that it’ll be updated
to look better or do more things,
several different presets. Setting the
clock speed and voltage at higher
rates than the specification may cause
06 By default, the Raspbian distro
will boot into a command-line
interface, whereby you have to first
it’s not impossible there could be
miscellaneous bug fixes hidden
within that would otherwise cause
instability, so do so in small increments log in as ‘pi’. you some grief.
If you then want to run a window Remember, though, when you’re
manager (in this case, it’s called trying to update your copy of the
‘X’), you have to give the system a raspi-config tool, you’ll need an active
command to let it know that’s what internet connection, either through
you want to do. an LAN cable or wireless dongle.
For a lot of people this isn’t really Without them, it’s never going to get
ideal since command lines scare them. any newer. Always try to make sure
Because of this, there’s an option to you’re on the latest version.

31
 Getting started Get online

Get online
What you’ll need…
Any Raspberry Pi distro
www.raspberrypi.org/downloads

Wi-Fi dongle or Ethernet

To access a world of utilities, apps and resources
you need to get online. This is how to do it…

The easiest way to get online is to buy a Raspberry Pi Model B+, as

Did you know… it comes with an Ethernet socket. The Model A not only lacks the
If your Raspberry Pi is going to
Ethernet port, but is handicapped by only having one USB port.
be placed near your Internet That means you will have to buy a power USB hub in order to get
router, all you need to do is
plug in an Ethernet cable.
online. Back to the Model B+ though and to get online, simply
plug an Ethernet cable into the socket on the Pi and connect it
to a similar port on the back of your internet modem/router. Turn
your Pi on and launch the desktop, then double-click on Empathy
and you should see the internet appear (main image). To check
that it’s working, look at the lights on the Pi itself. The red power
light should be on. Above this is the green light that flickers when
accessing the SD card. Below the power light are the three Ethernet-
related lights. Note that the Model A does not have these LEDs
because it doesn’t have the Ethernet socket. The middle light is
green and comes on when it detects a Full Duplex LAN connection.
This means it is able to send and receive data to the internet. The
next light is green and flashes when actually accessing the internet
by sending or receiving data. The last light is yellow and will come
on and stay on when a 100Mb LAN connection is detected.

The Wi-Fi option

If you aren’t close enough to the modem/router to be able to plug
in the Ethernet connection, or you simply have a Model A, then
a powered USB hub is required. This plugs into a USB port on the
Fig 1: With a Wi-Fi dongle attached, run the
utility and scan for available networks
Pi. You can then plug a Wi-Fi dongle into this. Boot up the Pi and
launch the desktop. Then double-click on the Wi-Fi Config icon.
You should see a name for the dongle in the Adapter section.
Click on Scan to look for networks and a list of those found should
appear (Fig 1). Double-click on the one you want to connect to
and the details for it will be listed. Almost all home networks use
a network key, which is usually written on the modem itself. Click
on PSK, which stands for pre-shared key, and type it in (Fig 2). Then
Fig 2: Enter the pre-shared key in order to
connect to your home router click on Add. It will process this, then associate the connection and
32
 Get online Getting started

then finally, a new IP address for the Wi-Fi connection will appear.
If you click on the Manage Networks tab, the network will now
be listed and have an Enabled radio button active. To get on the
internet, simply launch Empathy and you’ll be connected. The Wi-Fi
utility will remain running on the bottom right of the panel. If you
right-click on the Wi-Fi icon you will see options to Disconnect or
Reconnect, event history and the results of the most recent scan.
Click on Status to see how it’s performing.

Checking the connection

To check that the Pi has a valid internet connection, double-click on
Fig 3: If it doesn’t look like the connection
LXTerminal. Enter this command: is working, there are some easy ways of
checking what’s going on
ip addr
You should see a list of numbers, with the bottom line starting
‘inet’ and then the IP address of the Pi connection (Fig 3). Typically
this is something like 192.168.1.11 and this shows that the connection
is working because the Pi has been assigned an IP address based on
the one used by your internet modem/router. If this doesn’t come
up then there may be a problem at the router end. The modem/
router should be running a DHCP server and when the Pi connects Fig 4: Both Windows and Mac computers
can share their internet connections with a
to it, it will be given the IP address. If it isn’t running then nothing directly-connected Pi

else connected to it will be able to access the internet either.

Use the web interface with another device to log
onto 192.168.1.0 or whatever is your modem’s actual
IP address in order to check that the DHCP server
service is turned on. Finally, in the terminal, type:
ping google.com

Sharing a connection
If you don’t have a Wi-Fi dongle, a powered USB
hub or a long enough Ethernet cable, but do
have another computer connected to the internet,
there’s another way of getting access. On a Mac,
connect it to the Pi via a USB or Ethernet cable. Launch
System Preferences; under Internet & Wireless, click on
Sharing. Click on Internet Sharing, then select Wi-Fi (or
AirPort) as the connection type to share, and select how
the Pi is connected to your Mac (Fig 4).
On a Windows PC, go to Windows Explorer>Networking>
Networking and Sharing Center>Change Adapter Settings.
33
 Getting started Install and use packages

What you’ll need…

Apt command help page:
http://linux.die.net/man/8/apt Install and use
packages
Apt-get help page:
http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/
lucid/man8/apt-get.8.html

The Raspberry Pi is great, but it’s made better with

the software you install onto it

On its own, the Raspberry Pi is a near-perfect mini computer. It

Did you know… already contains a wealth of educational software, a few games,
If you press the Tab key the some programming utilities and a number of system tools. But, as
command line will attempt to with most computers, this is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
auto-complete your command
for you – just press Enter to finish. By installing more programs, you can do much more.
These programs, known as packages, are as wide and as varied
as the developers who originally designed them. In Linux, if there’s
a need for a particular program, then someone develops one.
They then put it out to the world and make the source code freely
available, hence ‘open source’. Once the program has been tested,
it will eventually make its way onto one of the many remote servers
for that particular Linux distro.
These remote servers, called repositories, or repos, contain all
the elements of the package in order for it to be downloaded and
installed onto your system. The process is very quick and easy once
you know how it’s done…

34
 Install and use packages Getting started

Update and upgrade you will need to know to be able to Apt Easter eggs
install it. Use the arrow keys up/down

01 07
Getting hold of a package to navigate; press ‘Q’ to exit. The Apt command is a shorter,
on the Raspberry Pi involves non-menu-driven variant
dropping into the command-line Installing a package of the Aptitude command. This
terminal, via the LXTerminal icon command has a long history in
on the desktop, and entering a few
commands. But before we do that, 04 Using the up and down arrow
keys, navigate the list. If you
find something you like the look of, say
Linux, and as a result has some rather
special ‘features’, also known as Easter
we need to make sure the system is eggs. Purely for a little bit of fun, type
up to date. Enter the following into Angry Drunken Dwarves, remember in the following commands and see
the terminal: the name of the package, in this case the results:
sudo apt-get update ‘angrydd’, and press ‘Q’ to exit the list. aptitude moo
To install the package, enter the
sudo apt-get upgrade aptitude -v moo
following in the terminal:
Or… aptitude -vv moo
sudo apt-get install angrydd
sudo apt-get update && sudo aptitude -vvv moo
apt-get upgrade aptitude -vvvv moo
aptitude -vvvvv moo
Search for a package aptitude -vvvvvv moo
sudo apt-get moo
02 The apt-get command
(Advanced Package Tool) is
the key to downloading and installing
packages on the Raspberry Pi. In
the previous instance, we updated
the existing packages and system, Executing the package
upgraded any that needed it, and
updated the current package list.
Now, let’s search the list of server
packages for available games.
05 The result of the previous
command should be the
successful download and installation
apt-cache search game | less of the game, Angry Drunken Dwarves.
To execute the newly installed
package, you can either run it from
the LXDE Menu under Games>Angry Man the Apt command
Drunken Dwarves, or by typing in the

08
following into the terminal: As you can see, there is more
angrydd to the simple Apt command
than what first meets the eye. There
Remove a package are many different sub-commands
that you can run, and many different
variations in which to run them.
06 This installing of packages is
perfectly fine, and you can
see just how powerful a command
If you want to see what else the Apt
command can do, enter the following:
Apt really is. But, what if you want to man apt
Apt searching remove a package?
Using the Apt command again, let’s

03 The current list you find say we want to completely remove all
yourself in is the name of all trace of Angry Drunken Dwarves from
the packages labelled as ‘games’ from the Raspberry Pi.
the available server. In the list, the sudo apt-get --purge remove
part before the hyphen tells you the angrydd
name of the package, which is what Enter ‘Y’ to accept the removal.

35
 Getting started Use graphical installations

What you’ll need…

Synaptic:
Use graphical
installations
www.nongnyu.org/synaptic/

Would you prefer a graphical interface to install new

programs? If so, then read on…

If you’re new to Linux, you may find using its built-in Apt package
Did you know… management tool a bit intimidating and confusing. The apt-get
Synaptic has access to the command is used for installing applications through the internet,
same repo as via the command connecting to the remote servers – called repositories – which
line as demonstrated on the
previous two pages. house the programs as packages. But it is used through the
terminal command prompt, which can be daunting, so we need
an alternative: a desktop environment interface method of getting
hold of packages.
This is where Synaptic comes in. Synaptic is a friendly-looking
graphical interface to the apt-get terminal command which
allows you to manage your application installations, and removals,
through the already familiar desktop environment. Think of it as a
kind of online shop where you can pick and choose the programs
you want and have them downloaded and installed onto your
Raspberry Pi without you having to drop into the terminal.
Upgrade entire systems
Synaptic has the ability to update
and upgrade every program or
package, and it can upgrade your
entire system to the latest version

Install and more

Synaptic is a very powerful tool.
With it you can install, remove,
upgrade and downgrade single or
multiple packages and programs

Browse all
documentation
From within Synaptic, you are
able to browse and read all available
online documentation related to a
package or program

Easily find programs

Synaptic enables you to easily locate
packages and programs by name,
description, version and even by
who developed the program

36
 Use graphical installations Getting started

Update the system the menu and left-click Properties. In

the Command text box, change the

01 Unfortunately, if you have an text to add the gksudo command. So

aversion to dropping into the instead of ‘synaptic-pkexec’, it will read:
command-line terminal, then you’re gksudo synaptic-pkexec
going to be stuck at the first step.
Before we install anything, we need to
make sure that the Raspberry Pi is fully
Fixing Synaptic –
updated and any existing packages Running Synaptic – Part 2 Option 2
are upgraded. Simply enter the
following into the LXTerminal:
sudo apt-get update 04 You should be now looking at
the Synaptic program window,
where you can scroll through the list of
07 The second, and best, option
is to drop back into the
terminal and alter the way in which
sudo apt-get upgrade
available programs and click on each to the program is executed from the
download and install. Now we need to menu. All that’s needed is to change
test whether it will run from the LXDE one line to another, so that the gksudo
menu. Click on the icon in the bottom command is again used instead of
left, then go to Preferences>Synaptic the plain synaptic-pkexec. From the
Package Manager. terminal, type:
sudo nano /usr/share/
Running Synaptic – Part 3 applications/
synaptic.desktop
Installing Synaptic
05 Running Synaptic from the
LXDE menu results in an error.
Change ‘Exec=synaptic-pkexec’ to…
Exec=gksudo synaptic-pkexec

02 To install Synaptic, you’ll first

need to enter the LXTerminal
and run the command below – don’t
Don’t panic, however: all it’s doing
is asking for a password. Enter the
following password into the box: Synaptic fully working
forget to type Y to any prompts asking raspberry
you to accept the installation:
sudo apt-get install
synaptic
This is the default Pi password so we’re
assuming you haven’t changed it. 08 After you’ve entered those
changes, exit nano via Ctrl+X,
followed by Y to accept the changes,
Fixing Synaptic – and then press Enter a couple of
times to get back to the command
Option 1
prompt. You can now launch Synaptic
from the menu, or by entering the
06 This will temporarily fix the
issue, but to permanently
resolve it, do one of the following.
following command when you’re in
the terminal:
First, right-click the Synaptic icon in gksudo synaptic

Running Synaptic – Part 1

03 In essence, that’s all you need

to do. Synaptic is now installed
and ready to use. However, due to
its complexity, there may be some
bugs that need ironing out first, so it’s
best to follow these steps. To test if
Synaptic is working okay, first enter the
following command into the terminal:
gksudo synaptic

37
 Getting started GPIO port explained

What you’ll need…

Prototyping equipment GPIO port
explained
RPi.GPIO
https://pypi.python.org/pypi/RPi.GPIO

Learn how to harness the power of the GPIO port

on your Raspberry Pi. It’s easier than you think…

The general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins on your Raspberry Pi

are often central to the success of the projects you’ll find in this book.
Without them you have no way of interfacing with the real world, be
it to trigger lights, buttons or buzzers or read sensors.
GPIO pins aren’t special to the Pi; they’re actually a standard
designed to help control input and output behaviour with all kinds
of integrated circuits. Usually you’ll find that any one GPIO pin has no
particular use pre-defined and they tend to be turned off by default.

Raspberry Pi GPIO
The GPIO pins on the Raspberry Pi can be controlled and triggered
in many ways. You can use them from the terminal directly and
through Bash scripts, or you can control them using specially
designed modules for popular programming languages. Since
Python is the official language of the Raspberry Pi, you’ll find the
GPIO module for Python gives you among the best control for
inputs and outputs available. The library is called RPi.GPIO and
is installed by default on all Raspberry Pi, but can otherwise be
installed in exactly the same way you’d install any useful Python
library. The project is hosted on SourceForge and can be found at
sourceforge.net/projects/raspberry-gpio-python. You’ll also find
useful links, information and examples of how to use and control
the GPIO pins from within simple Python scripts. It helps to have a
basic understanding of Python if you plan to use RPi.GPIO, so we’d
recommend a basic introductory course like the one found at
www.codecademy.com or by reading the official Python
Above The Pi’s GPIO
port comprises 26 pins, documentation at www.python.org/doc.
used to connect it with
all manner of electronic There are 26 GPIO pins on the Raspberry Pi and you can use the
components/devices
vast majority of them in any way you want. There are a few pins that

38
 GPIO port explained Getting started

have special purposes, though, so we recommend you familiarise

yourself with their layout. For example, the very top row of pins are
designed to offer power to external devices like buttons and lights.
Since an earth line (often called ‘ground’) is needed to safely create a
circuit, you’ll also find several ground pins located in the GPIO port. Below Become familiar with the
layout of the GPIO pins and what
they do – some have special
purposes, such as ground pins
How to use GPIO pins
To exploit the power of the GPIO port you’ll need a few essential
components, the most important of which are jumper leads. Since
the pins on the port are ‘male’, you’ll need to purchase either
‘female to male’ or ‘female to female’ cables, depending on
what hardware you intend to connect to your Pi. Assuming
the device you’re connecting to also has mail connectors,
‘female to female’ jumper leads will do nicely, but often
you’ll be using a breadboard to prototype your circuits, in
which case ‘female to male’ connectors are preferred. Cables
and breadboards can be bought very cheaply from just about
any online store that sells Raspberry Pi accessories and can
usually be found in the ‘prototyping’ section of the store.

Naming conventions
Once you’re ready to connect your device, the next task is to
find the right pin for the job. While it’s true that all GPIO ports are
multipurpose, some are more multipurpose than others! As we’ve
already discovered, some pins are reserved for 5V, 3.3V and ground.
Others also have special capabilities, but what’s worse is that they
can also be called different things. For example, GPIO 18 is also
known as pin 12 and PCM_CLK. This particular pin (around halfway
down the right side of the GPIO port) is capable of hardware pulse-
width modulation (PWM), and is useful for controlling LED lights and
motors among other things.
The pin-naming convention you use in your Python scripts can be
set manually. This can either be set as BCM (the Broadcom pin name)
or the physical pin locations (BOARD).
You’ll see in any of the projects where we’re using the GPIO port, Did you know…
the following line with either BCM or BOARD in the brackets: The RPi.GPIO library has some
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BCM) really useful documentation. All
The easiest way to deal with the GPIO pin-naming issues is to pick you need to do is click on the
‘wiki’ on Sourceforge.
a convention and stick with it.
39
 Projects Get to grips with the Enviro pHAT

What you’ll need…

Raspberry Pi Get to grips with
the Enviro pHAT
Pimoroni Enviro pHAT

Take weather-related readings such as temperature

and pressure, track movement, measure light and
even identify the colour of an object
Pimoroni makes a wide range of HAT (Hardware Attached on Top)
boards for the Raspberry Pi. These boards are designed to be fully
compatible with all Raspberry Pi models. Enter the Pi Zero, a super-
slim, super-cheap, $4 version of the Pi. In response, Pimoroni created
a range of HATs that fit the Pi Zero, called pHATs. This tutorial focuses
on the Enviro pHAT, a nifty little board that packs in four different
sensors that let you measure temperature, pressure, light levels,
colour, acceleration, take a compass heading and retrieve readings
from analog inputs. This creates up to ten different variables, making
it ideal for monitoring conditions in your house, garage or garden.

Installation …on line 3. Add a short pause, line

4, before turning the LEDs off, line 5.
Save and run your program; the LEDs
01 Attach your Enviro pHAT onto
the GPIO pins and push down
to secure in place. Then start up your
will blink once.
import time
Raspberry Pi and install the required from envirophat import led
libraries. Pimoroni makes this very easy, leds.on()
open the LX Terminal and type: time.sleep(5)
Did you know… sudo apt-get update leds.off()
sudo apt-get upgrade
The RGB colour model is an
curl -sS https://get.pimoroni. Take a temperature
additive colour model in which
red, green and blue light is com/envirophat | bash reading
combined in various amounts This downloads and installs the

03
to create a wide range of required software. It also includes Start a new Python window
colours, over sixteen million a folder that contains example and import the weather
different variations. The lowest programs, which you can use to get module from the Python library; type:
value for a colour is zero which
started with the Enviro pHAT. from envirophat import weather
usually denotes black, as black
is not a colour but an absence …on line 1. Next, create a variable
of colour! The top value is Your first program, LED on called temperature to store the
255, for example, red 255 temperature reading. Use code:

02
means that the maximum Open the LX Terminal,, and weather.temperature()
amount of red is being type:
detected by the sensor. …on line 2. This takes the current
sudo idle3 temperature and then saves this value

40
 Get to grips with the Enviro pHAT Projects

into the variable. Finally, print out the from envirophat import motion
reading using a print statement, line Take a light reading and
threshold = 0.2
3. Save the program and run it; the
readings = []
sense colour: part one
temperature will be on your screen.
last_z = 0
08
from envirophat import This final program takes a
weather,
Sense movement: reading of the amount of light
temperature = weather. that is in the room or surrounding
temperature() part two environment. Start a new window and
print(“{} degrees celsius”. import the time and the light module
format(temperature))
Read the pressure
06 On the next line, create a
while loop to keep checking
for movement, then take a reading
for the program, lines 1 and 2. Create a
variable called ‘amount_of_light’; this
stores the light reading. To take the
of the position of the z axis and add reading use this code:

04 The EnvriopHAT comes it to the ‘readings list’ using the code

light.light()
equipped with a digital readings.append, on line 2. On line 4,
Then store this in the variable. Then,
barometer to take pressure readings. take an average of the readings, and
on the next line down, create three
This is easily achieved with a few lines then assign this value back the variable
variables to store the amount of red,
of code. Import the weather module, ‘z’; this is used to compare the new
green and blue light that is sensed. To
which includes the lines of code value with the previous value. Note
take a colour reading of the light use:
required for reading the pressure, that lines 3, 4 and 5 are indented.
light.rgb()
line 1. On line 2, create a new variable while True:
…on line 4.
called pressure. This will hold the readings.append(motion.
pressure reading from the sensor: import time
accelerometer().z)
weather.pressure from envirophat import light
readings = readings[-4:]
to take the reading, line 2. Finally, on amount_of_light = light.light()
z = sum(readings) /
line 3, print out the reading: len(readings) r, g, b = light.rgb()
from envirophat import
weather, Sense movement: Take a light reading and
pressure = weather.pressure()
part three sense colour: part two
print(“{} Pascal”.
format(pressure))

Sense movement: 07 Create a condition using an if

statement to compare if ‘the
last value of z is greater than zero’ and
09 The last step is to print out the
values of light and colour that
part one that the ‘absolute value of the new
have been read and stored in the four
variables. Display these readings using
value of z minus the previous value
05 The accelerometer can
be used to detect motion
including across three axes and plot a
is greater than the threshold value’. If
the value meets these criteria, then
print(“Amount of light”,
amount_of_light)
…which prints out a message
the Enviro pHAT has moved to a followed by the reading. The values
compass reading. Start a new program
new position. Inform the user with a shown are the amount of white light
by importing the time and motion
simple print statement, line 2. On line and the amount of red, green and
modules. Next, create a threshold
3, update the variable last_z with the blue light (RGB) between a value of
value that holds the amount of
current z reading. Take a small pause zero and 255. Try running the program
motion that will trigger the detection.
before checking again for movement. while moving your hand over the
This means that you can detect
The program then checks again to see sensors. Also, try placing a coloured
small wobbles or larger movements!
if the z value has changed again and is object over the sensors to change the
Create a list called reading to store
within the threshold tolerance. colour reading. This is similar to the
the motion readings. Create a variable
called last_z which holds the position if last_z > 0 and abs(z- paint-matching software that is used
of the z axis. Set the z axis to an last_z) > threshold: in hardware stores.
initial value of zero to denote that no print(“Motion Detected!!!”) print(“Amount of light”,
movement has yet been detected. last_z = z amount_of_light)
import time time.sleep(0.01) print (“Colour”, r, g, b)

41
 Projects Back up your Pi

What you’ll need…

A second computer
External storage
Back up your Pi
Take the initiative and back up your Raspberry Pi to
make sure you never lose files again
While the Raspberry Pi is a very solid piece of kit, failure can happen,
Did you know… so it’s best to be well prepared and keep your files safe.
SD cards don’t last forever so The good news is that the Pi’s files are all kept externally on the
always make sure you’ve got a SD card. If your Pi breaks, everything will still be available on the SD
backup of your files and your
entire OS. card and accessible from elsewhere. The SD card is still susceptible
to problems, though. There are a number of ways to back up a Pi.
The methods can be broken down into two main categories: saving
the important files and creating an exact copy of the
state of the SD card. The former involves having copies
of files elsewhere, while the latter has you create
the same kind of image that you’d normally
write to the SD card when installing Raspbian
or other Pi-operating systems.

Important files
To save important files, we need to create a
copy on an external source, such as external
hard drive or another PC. One of the best
methods to do this doesn’t even involve a Pi;
all you need is a PC or laptop with a card reader and you’re
good to go.. Turn off your Pi, unplug it and remove the SD
card from the slot. Find the SD card reader on your PC and
slot it in. The main file system of the SD card can be read
by Linux PCs by default, and a Windows or Mac computer once
you’ve installed a program that lets it read the ext file system, such as
Ext2Fsd. On Windows, the SD card will be listed with the rest of the
drives under My Computer (Fig 1). On Linux and Mac, it will be listed
wherever storage is shown on the menus and file managers.
Once you’ve found the SD card on here, open it up and navigate
to home and then pi. This is where the Documents, Downloads,
Desktop and other directories can be found. All you need to do
is select the files you want to copy and move them to a secure
directory on your PC or a connected external hard drive.

42
 Back up your Pi Projects

If you want to keep the files on another computer, that’s fine, but
it will be prone to the exact same problems as the Pi in the long
run. Keeping them on an external hard drive is a good idea, and
putting them on a cloud storage service is better yet, enabling you
to access them from anywhere with an internet connection (Fig 2).

Cloning Fig 1: Accessing the SD card from another

PC is an easy alternative to transferring files
Creating a clone depends on what operating system you’re using between machines via a USB stick

on your main computer. For Macs and Linux, you can use a simple
command-line tool called dd to create an exact copy of the SD card
(Fig 3). This is done in the terminal emulator or command line, so
bring that up first. Make sure the SD card is plugged in and enter:
$ fdisk -l
This lists all connected storage devices. The SD card will have 2, 4 or
8GB of space, depending on its size. It’ll likely be listed as something
like /dev/sd[x], where x is the letter the computer attaches to the SD
card. To copy it using dd, enter the following into the terminal:
$ dd if=/dev/sd[x] of=backup.img bs=1M Fig 2: Cloud storage services make backing
up files easy and secure, as they’re a lot less
You can also add a path to the image you’re creating to put it in a prone to problems

specific folder. The process will take some time, and will produce
a multi-gigabyte file which you can then write onto the SD by
reversing the previous command:
$ dd if= backup.img of=/dev/sd[x] bs=1M
While this is useful as a backup, you can also use the image to mass-
produce SD cards to give to friends or keep in the various places
where you use your Raspberry Pi.

Windows Fig 3: The dd tool is what you’ll use on a

To create a clone on Windows, we can use the Win32 Disk Imager Linux and Mac computer, and it’s available
by default in the terminal emulators
(Fig 4). Download it from here to install it: bit.ly/L8JdYG.
Once installed, insert the SD card and launch the software.
Choose a name for the backup file and select the SD card from the
list of devices. Now press Read and it will create the backup file.
Again, this might take a while; however, this time you are at least
shown a progress bar.
Storing your cloned image is a little more difficult than your
important files – the size of the image being in the gigabytes means
it will fill up a lot of cloud-storage services. If you have the space,
definitely keep it on there; however, you may need to put it on an Fig 4: Win32 Disk Imager makes backing up
the entire OS easy, and you can even use it
external hard drive. to write the image back to the SD card

43
 Projects Beginner’s guide to nano

What you’ll need…

Full nano manual Beginner’s
guide to nano
www.nano-editor.org/dist/v1.2/nano.1.html

Learn how to edit text on the command line and in

a terminal with one of Linux’s best tools

If you have the itch to do more with your Pi, one of the skills you’ll
Did you know… need to learn to pull off many projects is the ability to edit system
Nano is one of the best files. The command line text editor nano is definitely one of the best
command line editors for tools for the job. Text editors are very basic tools; the clue is in the
beginners, but there are lots of
options like Kate and Vim. name in this case. There’s no formatting or colouring or anything
of the sort you would get in a word processor, but that’s the point.
The kind of files you’ll be creating or editing will generally contain
code – code which doesn’t require to be made bold or bulleted.
nano removes all of these distractions, but still has a few of the
more handy features you’d find in a graphical text editor. We’ll teach
you how to make the most out of nano to make your projects run
quickly and efficiently.

Writing
Create plain text files in the
command line, even write
some code for a program

Editing
Edit system files to suit
your needs and projects
without digging through a
file manager

Advanced
functions
Search, copy, paste and
insert text from another file
using some of the built-in
nano functions

44
 Beginner’s guide to nano Projects

Open nano Save and exit Advanced navigation

01 Open the terminal, or enter the

command line, and simply type
nano. This will open a blank new file.
04 Once you’ve finished
modifying the file and need
to get on with the next task, you can
07 You’ve probably been using
the arrow keys to move one
space at a time left, right, up or down.
From here you can create a simple text press Ctrl+X to exit nano. It will ask if There are other ways to move around
file such as a list, or create a system you want to save any modifications, the file, though. Using Ctrl+A will act
file, script or piece of code. How the which just requires a Y to confirm. the same way as the Home key does
system interprets your file depends on If you want to exit without saving in a graphical editor, moving the
what you write and how you save it. changes, you can just use N. To cancel cursor to the start of the line. Same
before making a decision, use Ctrl+C. with Ctrl+E moving you to the end like
the End key. Ctrl+V is page down, and
Ctrl+Y is page up.

Searching a file

Save and continue 08 Sometimes you’ll be looking

for a specific line or phrase in
a large text file. Instead of using the
arrow keys and tirelessly reading every
02 Once you’ve finished with
nano, you can save/write
out using Ctrl+O. All shortcuts and
line, you can use the search function
via Ctrl+W. Entering the search term
will begin looking through the
functions such as this are done using
document, and once you’re finished
Ctrl and a letter key. It will ask you what Copy and paste you can press Ctrl+C to exit the search.
name to save the file under. Whatever
you name it, it will be saved in the
directory you opened nano from
unless you specify a path.
05 This is more of a terminal-
specific command, but it can
be used just as well in nano. While you
cannot use your mouse to navigate
around the file in nano, you can
highlight text in the same way you
would in a graphical text editor. Once
highlighted, pressing Ctrl+Shift+C will
copy any text. Ctrl+Shift+V will paste.
Opening files
Insert from file Extra help
03 To edit already existing files,
you’ll first need to know their
location and name. To open them in
nano, type the following:
06 If you need to directly insert
the contents of another file,
there’s a quick way to do it without
09 There are many more
functions available in nano.
For a full list of commands, you can
$ nano /path/filename needing to use copy and paste. Typing use Ctrl+G, which lists all the shortcuts
For example, to edit fstab you Ctrl+R and entering the path to the and what they do. The caret symbol
would type: file will insert it into the spot your (^) in this list denotes the use of Ctrl on
$ nano /etc/fstab cursor is at. your keyboard.

45
 Projects Gain remote desktop access

What you’ll need…

TightVNC Gain remote

desktop access
www.tightvnc.com/release-2.7.php

Learn how to get access to your Raspberry Pi

desktop without it being in front of you…
VNC (Virtual Network Computing) is a graphical desktop access and
Did you know… sharing system that allows a user to remotely control and use the
TightVNC Viewer is a free desktop of another computer from their own system.
resource for accessing VNC It’s handy in many ways: to give you control over a remote
servers, like the one we’ll install
in this tutorial. system; to help out another user elsewhere; to allow a computer to
remain powered on, but without the need for a keyboard, mouse or
even a monitor.
In our case, we aim to allow access to the Raspberry Pi desktop
without it being hooked up to the aforementioned peripherals. This
way, you can do everything you would normally do, but with just
the power supply and network attached, thereby freeing up space
and saving extra expense. In real-world terms, this means you could
potentially access the Pi desktop via an Android tablet or phone.

Static IP address Static IP part 2 Static IP part 3

01 The first step for us is to make

sure that the Raspberry Pi
has a static IP address. Basically, an IP
02 This file controls the IP
addressing for the Pi. You need
to scroll down to the ‘iface eth0’ line
03 After you’ve entered those
details, exit nano by pressing
Ctrl+X, followed by Y to accept the
address is a group of numbers that and remove DHCP and replace it with changes, and then press Enter a
your network assigns to devices in static. Now, on the line directly below, couple of times to get back to the
order to tell them apart. To set up a enter the IP address that you want command prompt in the terminal. You
static IP address, simply double-click force your Pi to have, along with the can now either reboot your Pi, or type
LXTerminal and type the following subnet mask and the gateway: the following into the terminal:
and then press Enter: address 192.168.1.93 sudo /etc/init.d/networking stop
sudo nano /etc/network/ netmask 255.255.255.0 sudo /etc/init.d/networking
interfaces  gateway 192.168.1.254 start

46
 Gain remote desktop access Projects

Installing VNC part 1 Reboot and ready to go

04 Now we’ll install VNC and ensure that it starts automatically whenever
the Pi is booted up. This used to be a bit annoying under older Raspbian
versions, as configuring services often had a nasty habit of breaking the system.
08 Now press Ctrl+X, then Y
to save, followed by Enter a
couple of times to get you back into
But no longer. Enter the following commands, pressing Enter after each one: the Terminal. What we need to do
sudo apt-get update now is edit the permissions of the
sudo apt-get install tightvncserver script we’ve just created so that it’s
tightvncserver executable and active. Do this by
typing the following commands into
the terminal, ensuring that you press
Enter after each one otherwise it will
not be registered:
sudo chmod 755 /etc/init.d/
tightvncserver
update-rc.d tightvncserver
Installing VNC part 2 Configuring boot service defaults
sudo reboot 

05 When the packages have

downloaded and installed,
follow the instructions on screen
07 We’re back in nano, and we’ll
need to enter some lines
of commands in order to allow the
Once you have completed these
steps, the final thing that you will
need to do is to unplug the Raspberry
(see below) to set up a password Raspberry Pi to activate the VNC server Pi and locate it somewhere that has
and confirm it, but answer ‘n’ to the when it boots. In the editor, type: easy access to a network cable. If you
view only option. This really is just #!/bin/sh install the likes of TightVNC Viewer,
a security feature and since you are # /etc/init.d/tightvncserver or any other remote access software
only accessing the Pi at home, it’s not (as long as it uses the Tight protocol)
# Set the VNCUSER variable to
absolutely necessary – it’s still good then you should be able to point the
the name of the user to start
practice, though. client to the IP address 192.168.1.93:1
tightvncserver under (or whatever the static IP address is of
You will require a password
to access your VNCUSER=’pi’ the network that you wish to connect
desktops case “$1” in the device to) and have full access to
start) the Raspberry Pi.
Password:
Verify: su $VNCUSER -c ‘/usr/bin/
tightvncserver :1’
Would you like to enter a
view-only echo “Starting TightVNC
server for $VNCUSER”
password (y/n)? n
;;
New ‘X’ desktop is raspberrypi:1
stop)
Configuring VNC server pkill Xtightvnc
echo “Tightvncserver stopped”

06 That’s the VNC server

installed, up and running.
Now we need to make sure it loads
;;
*)
echo “Usage: /etc/init.d/
up as a service every time the
tightvncserver
Raspberry Pi reboots, so you can
{start|stop}”
access it even if the Pi undergoes a
power cycle. To configure the Pi to do exit 1
this, type the following in the terminal ;;
and press Enter. 
sudo nano /etc/init.d/ esac
tightvncserver exit 0

47
 Projects Raspberry Pi plus Arduinos

Raspberry Pi
plus Arduinos
Find out just how to get your Raspberry Pi
to talk to and use your Arduino

The Raspberry Pi is a truly amazing single-board will probably want to use a powered USB hub to
computer that gets used in lots of DIY projects. connect them since the Raspberry Pi can’t provide
That has been the basis for this whole column huge amounts of power through its USB port.
and the previous several articles. While the While they are connected over USB, the Arduino
Raspberry Pi has a GPIO and can communicate will appear as a serial port to the Raspberry Pi.
with sensors and actuators, you may have cases This means that you can communicate with
where you want to use your Raspberry Pi as the the Arduino directly over the serial connection.
brains of your project and offload the interactions To be completely sure you have all of the relevant
with the physical world to another system. libraries installed, you can simply install the
This is usually handled by one of the many Arduino IDE with the command:
microcontroller boards that are available. In this
issue, we will specifically use the Arduino board sudo apt-get install arduino
and see how to connect it to a Raspberry Pi and
how to handle the communications between This will make sure that you are starting with all
the two. As always, we will be using Python as of the core software that you might need. When
the language of choice to handle all of the actual you plug in your Arduino, you need to know over
coding in the examples here. which port communications will happen. The
The Arduino is an open source prototyping specific port name will vary based on the exact
platform defined as a specification. This means version of Raspberry Pi and Arduino that you are
that you can get Arduino implementations from using. However, it should be something like ‘/dev/
several different manufacturers, but they should ttyUSB0’ or ‘/dev/ttyACM0’. In the example code
all behave in a similar fashion. For this article, the below, we will be assuming that the Arduino is
assumption will be that whatever implementation visible on the port ‘/dev/ttyUSB0’.
you wish to use will behave properly. The first Once you have the two devices connected,
step is to connect the two boards together. You you can start writing code to have them talk to

“For this article, the assumption will be that whatever

implementation you wish to use will behave properly”
48
 Raspberry Pi plus Arduinos Projects

each other. We will start with the most low-level To load this program to your Arduino board,
protocols and build upwards from there. The first you will need to use the Arduino IDE that was
step is to open a serial connection to the Arduino. installed at the beginning of this article. This is a
In order to do this, you will need to make sure graphical program, so you will need to connect
that the Python serial module is installed. If you your Raspberry Pi to a monitor if you want to
are using Raspbian, you can do this with: do this step using it. Otherwise, you can do this
programming of your Arduino using your regular
sudo apt-get install python-serial desktop. If you are using the standard bootloader
on most Arduinos, it will start up whatever
You then need to create a new Serial object program was last uploaded to it. This way you can
connected to a given serial port, along with the use your desktop to upload your code and then
speed you need to use. connect it to your Raspberry Pi later on. Moving
back to the Raspberry Pi, how can you read this
import serial message from the Arduino? You can simply do a
ser = serial.Serial(‘/dev/ttyUSB0’, 9600) read from the Serial object that you created earlier.

In the above example, the speed is 9600 baud import time

while True:
(bits/sec). With this Serial object, you can read
message = ser.readline()
and write data to and from the Arduino. But you
print(message)
need code on the Arduino to handle its part of if (message[0] == ‘H’)
this communication. The Arduino has its own do_something_useful()
programming language, based on C, which time.sleep(.5)
you use to write the code that will run on the
board. The way Arduinos work is that at bootup As you can see, we imported the time module
it will load a program that will run as long as it is in order to be able to sleep in the loop between
powered up. As a simple example, the following attempts to read from the serial port. What about
code will listen on an input pin to see if it goes sending instructions out to the Arduino? This is
high. If so, it will then fire off a message on the also requires Arduino code to be uploaded ahead
serial port. of time. For example, the following code will take
an input number andflash an LED that number
int pirPin = 7; of times
void setup() {
pinMode(pirPin, INPUT); int ledPin = 13;
Serial.begin(9600); void setup() {
} pinMode(ledPin, OUPUT);
void loop() { Serial.begin(9600);
if (digitalRead(pirPin) == HIGH) { }
Serial.println(“High”); void loop() {
} if (Serial.available()) {
delay(500); flash(Serial.read() - ‘0’);
} }

49
 Projects Raspberry Pi plus Arduinos

delay(1000); volts for 5V boards, or 3.3 volts for 3.3V boards).

} You can also use two internally supplied reference
void flash(int n) { voltages, one at 1.1 volts and a second at 2.56
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
volts. For special cases, you can supply an external
digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
reference voltage to the AREF pin. You need to be
delay(100);
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW); sure that it is only between 0 volts and 5 volts.
delay(100); Going in the opposite direction, you can use
} the Arduino to supply an output voltage. This is
} done by using a PWM (pulse width modulation)
output signal. The idea is to actually send out a
Then, you can send a count from your Python number of pulses with some duty cycle that is on
code with something like: for some percentage of the time and off for the
remainder of the time. For example, if you have an
ser.write(‘5’) LED connected to one of the pins, you can light it
at half brightness with the following code.
This will flash the LED 5 connected to pin 13 on
your Arduino five times. One missing element on int ledPin = 9;
the Raspberry Pi is an analogue-to-digital (ADC) void setup() {
converter to take a given voltage and turn it into a pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
number that can be used in some piece of control }
void loop() {
software. This is where attaching an Arduino
analogWrite(ledPin, 127);
can be extremely helpful, as it has a 10-bit ADC }
converter included. The following code will read
the voltage on pin 3 and then send it out over the The second parameter to the analogWrite()
serial connection to the Raspberry Pi. function is a value between 0 and 255, which
defines the duty cycle between 0% (or fully off)
int analogPin = 3;
to 100% (or fully on). This analog output signal
int val = 0;
void setup() { stays on at the given duty cycle until a new call
Serial.begin(9600); to the analogWrite() function. By having your
} Raspberry Pi write out values over the serial
void loop() { connection, it can then control the output duty
val = analogRead(analogPin); cycle by sending a simple integer. This short
Serial.println(val);
article will spark some ideas on how you can
}
start combining multiple computing platforms to
expand the capabilities of your own projects.
This maps the measured voltage to an integer
There is no reason to try to find the one silver-
between 0 and 1,023. The minimum voltage is
bullet platform for your project when you can
zero, while the maximum voltage can be set with
pick the sub-modules that actually do their own
the function analogReference(). By default, the
individual jobs best and build up the complex
maximum is the power supplied to the board (5
behaviour you need from these simpler parts.
50
 Raspberry Pi plus Arduinos Projects

PyFirmata can help even more

Discover ways to make interacting easier

While you can write your own code to run on When you want to read from a pin, you have the
the Arduino, there are several projects that can possibility of overflowing input buffers. To deal
be uploaded to it to make interacting a bit with this issue, you can create an iterator object
easier. One of these is the Firmata project, which and start it before doing any reads, using code like
includes a Python module to help you talk to that below.
the Arduino. The first step will be downloading
the Firmata Arduino code and uploading it to it = pyfirmata.util.Iterator(board)
your Arduino, most easily done with a desktop it.start()
computer. The code is available at github.com/
You can now get selected pins for either input
firmata/arduino. There are a few different versions
or output. The following code will get pin 4 for
available, but for these examples you should
digital input and pin 12 for analogue PWM output.
upload the StandardFirmata sketch with the
Arduino IDE. There are client libraries available pin4 = board.get_pin(‘d:4:i’)
for many different programming languages, pin12 = board.get_pin(‘a:12:p’)
including several for Python. The one we will look
at using is pyFirmata. You can install it on your You can then read and write with these new pin
Raspberry Pi with: objects with the related methods:

sudo pip install pyFirmata val = pin4.read()

pin12.write(100)

You can now use Firmata to act as a sort of When you are done, don’t forget to reset any
remote control to the Arduino port, where your output pins back to 0 volts, and then you can
Python code can get almost direct access to all of close down the connection with:
the functionality available. To get started, import
board.exit()
the pyFirmata module and create a new Arduino
object connected to the relevant serial port:

import pyfirmata
“There are a few different
board = pyfirmata.Arduino(‘/dev/ttyUSB0’) versions available, but for
You can now access digital I/O pins directly. For
these examples you should
example, the following code would write a 1 to upload StandardFirmata
pin 10. sketch with the Arduino IDE”
board.digital[10].write(1)

51
 Projects Program with Scratch

What you’ll need…

Scratch Program
with Scratch
Internet connection

An interactive guide to coding with the Pi’s

graphical programming language
Would you like to delve into the world of animation and game
Did you know… creation? Do you want to bring your creative ideas to life without
The website for Scratch, www. learning a software-development language? With Scratch you can
scratch.mit.edu, contains lots do all this, and much more.
of programs and games other
users have made. Scratch 1.4 is already installed on the official ’wheezy’ Raspbian
operating system image. If your Raspberry Pi doesn’t already have
Scratch installed, don’t worry, just hop on over to the official MIT
Scratch website to find the download and install instructions.
To begin, all we need to do is open the Scratch Studio. Click
on Scratch’s cat icon on the desktop, or find Scratch in the LXDE
desktop menu.
The Scratch Studio is a complete development environment.
It’s divided up into a number of separate panels. Each panel has a
specific role in the app-construction process and its own specific
set of features and tools.
Scratch studio projects

01 Located at the top of the Studio

are three quick-access icons
and the main menu (Fig 2).
provides access to the browser-hosted
help pages.
Rather interestingly, the ’Share’
and the ’Upload To Scratch Server’
form (Fig 3).
Let’s load the ’Aquarium’ example
The first globe-style icon sets the menu allows us to share our projects project. Select the ’Open…’ option in
language for the Studio. The other two with the whole world. Any Scratch the ’File’ menu to display the Open
buttons provide rapid access to the project can be posted onto the Project dialogue. From the list of
project save and share features. Scratch community website via the large buttons on the left, click on the
Under the ’File’ menu there’s ‘Share This Project Online…’ option one called ’Examples’. Next, on the
a typical set of file-management right, select the ’Animation’ folder
features to open, save and import with a double click. Then select the ’6
Scratch projects. There is also a Aquarium’ item. The open dialogue
’Project Notes’ option where we are window contents should look like the
able to enter feature descriptions one in Fig 4.
and comments. With the Aquarium project loaded
The ’Edit’ menu contains a mixed our Scratch Studio should look similar
bag of animation, image and audio- to Fig 1. We’ll begin our Studio tour
editing tools. While the ’Help’ section with the staging area.

52
 Program with Scratch Projects

Fig 3: Project Share Dialogue – We can share our

projects using the Studio’s Share menu

Fig 4: File Open Dialogue – Use the Studio’s File

Fig 2: Scratch Studio Menu – Scratch Studio’s main menu and shortcut icons in action menu and ’Open…’ to load the Aquarium project

Scratch studio stage Scratch studio sprites

02 The stage is where all the

action takes place and is
located at the upper right of the
03 Beneath the Staging Area is the collection of sprites for this project. The
’Stage’ sprite is separated from the rest. It’s a little different to the others
and acts as the background image for the stage.
Scratch Studio. The three buttons across the top of this area offer various ways to create a
The stage is constructed from new sprite. The first button opens up a blank canvas in the Paint Editor. The
graphical elements called sprites. second button creates a new sprite based in an image file, as selected by the
Here we have plants, bubbles, fish popup file section dialogue window. The third will select a random image from
and other creatures. You can also the pre-installed image collection.
add and create your own assets with We can manage sprites directly from the stage using the four buttons to the
scratch, but we’ll come to that later. right of the main menu. Here we click on a particular button and then a sprite
At the top of the ’Staging Area’ on the stage.
there’s a green flag and a red circle.
Click on the green flag to bring
the aquarium to life. Now spend a
little time studying the Aquarium
animation. Note the creature’s
movements and rising bubbles. The
red circle icon stops the action.
We can set the view mode with
the three buttons located just
above the green flag.
The two left-hand buttons
increase or decrease the size of
the Staging Area panel. A smaller
Staging Area means the central area
of the Studio increases in relative
size compared.
The right-hand button is the
Presentation Mode which displays
the stage in full-screen mode (see
Fig 5). Exit presentation mode with
the curly arrow button at the top
left, or press the ’esc’ key. Fig 5: Stage Presentation Mode – The Studio’s stage presentation mode is the best way to see the project

53
 Projects Program with Scratch

Use Scratch blocks and tools Scratch block styles

Getting to grips with the Scratch Studio toolbox 01 The ’Blocks Palette’ contains
the complete collection
of scripting blocks. Blocks come
Situated in the centre of the Studio is the Edit Panel. The panel in three basic styles, namely hats,
contents relate to the currently selected sprite. stacks and reporters (see Fig 3 on
Let’s start by selecting the jelly fish sprite, called Creature1, from the opposite page).
A hat-style block will start block
the Sprite Collection area. script execution based on a specific
At the top we have the sprite’s image and name, plus an event. The classic hat block is the
indication of its current stage coordinates and direction. On the ’green flag’ click event. However,
left are three animation control buttons. The top button will rotate there are numerous other hat blocks,
including hat blocks that start script
the sprite, the second switches between left- and right-facing
execution after a specific key press,
states, and the third turns animation off. a mouse click and even following
Below are three Edit Panel tabs. The script tab is where block sensor event from the some GPIO
scripts are created. Here’s where we’ll drag and drop our blocks, connected hardware. As you can
probably tell, this offers a lot of
snapping them together in various combinations.
options to Scratch programmers.
To change a sprite’s visual appearance we’ll use the ‘Costumes’ Reporter blocks allow us to
tab. Each sprite can have one or more costumes. For example, the specify textual, numeric and boolean
jellyfish has two costumes (Fig 1). Each costume has buttons to values. They fit into specific shaped
edit, copy and delete. New costumes can be painted, imported or ’holes’ in other blocks. A rectangular
reporter will contain a text string.
captured using the three ’New Costumes’ buttons. The sound tab While the rounded end reporters
allows us to add audio to our project. are associated with numeric values,
angle-ended reporters contain
boolean true and false values.
Stack blocks are the core
script building elements. They
interconnect with other blocks
via their top-edge notches and
bottom-edge bumps. Many stack
blocks contain ’holes’ for reporter
style blocks, which will modify
their operation depending on the
specified reporter block values.
The Scratch block collection is
divided into groups. We select a
block group using the eight buttons
located at the top of the Block
Palette panel, namely ’Motion’,
Control’, ’Looks’ and so on. These
groups are colour coded. Apart from
aiding block selection this colour
coding provides a visual clue to a
block’s type when reading a block
Fig 1: Jellyfish Sprite Costumes – The jellyfish sprite has two different costumes script in the Edit Panel.

54
 Program with Scratch Projects

Did you know…

There is more than one option
available to start your scripts
beyond the standard Green
Flag block.

Block script walkthrough

Fig 2: Sound Recorder Tool – Scratch Studio includes a tool to record our own sounds

Scratch block help 03 Let’s dig deeper into how

a block script works in
practice. For this, we will use a

02 As we’ve seen, there are many blocks, each with their own specific simple Aquarium project block
functionality and capabilities. script. From the ’Sprite Collection’
In one way this is great news. A large block collection means Scratch can panel select the Stage sprite. Then
be used in a vast range of software projects, such as games, animation, music, go back to the central ’Edit Panel’
graphics, math, science, robotics, electronics and much more. and select the ’Scripts’ tab.
However, the wide selection of blocks can be quite a challenge for the novice There’s just a single block script.
Scratch coder. To help with this problem the Scratch Studio designers have Starting at the top there’s a ’green
included an informative set of block-centric help pages. flag’ hat-style block to kick off the
A simple right click on any block will display a pop-up help page option. The activity. Next there’s a ’forever
help page contains context-specific descriptions, graphical images and, where loop’. The blocks inside this loop
appropriate, a script example of how to use this particular block (Fig 4). are actioned until the stop button
It’s a terrific feature which greatly simplifies the process of deciding which is pressed. This forever loop block
blocks to use. More importantly, studying these help pages is a highly effective contains two other blocks.
way to enhance our scripting skills and discover the potential contained within The first inner script block selects
Scratch’s feature-rich block collection. the next background image. Click
on the ’Backgrounds’ tab to view all
the stage images. The second inner
block simply pauses execution for
a number of seconds. Setting the
value to ’1’ means that this script
will pause for a second before then
performing the action specified by
the next block.
It’s important that you remember
these two blocks are enclosed in
the forever loop block. So, the stage
background images will be displayed
in sequence for one second each.

Fig 3: Block Style Examples – the Scratch blocks come in a number of Fig 4: Block Help Window – Example of the help
different styles window associated with an ’ask and wait’ block

55
 Projects Create a Snake clone in Scratch

What you’ll need…

Scratch project archives
www.scratch.mit.edu/explore/?date=ever
Create a Snake
clone in Scratch
Design your own version of Snake to test your
new programming skills!
Here, we will create a version of the classic Snake game where you
Did you know… move the snake around the Scratch stage using the arrow keys. You
control the head of the snake and must avoid a collision with either
Snake is a very popular the body of the snake or the edge of the stage.
beginner game that started life
in the arcades in the Seventies The snake body grows longer each time you eat an egg. You get
and is still popular today. points added to your score for eating good yellow eggs and lose
points for eating bad black eggs. There are also bonus sprites to eat
for extra points.
By following this tutorial you will learn to create your own
simple sprite graphics, send and receive broadcast events, use a
list variable to store data, play sound effects, generate random
numbers and use sensing commands to detect when a sprite is
touching something.
Egg sprite
The Egg sprite appears randomly on the screen and lets other sprites
know when it has been eaten (touched by the snake tongue)

Snake sprite
The Snake sprite
moves the head
around the stage
and draws the
body behind it.
It also detects
collisions with the
body or edge
Paint the Snake sprite

01 Click the New Sprite: Paintbrush

icon to paint the Snake sprite.
In the Paint Editor, draw a small
green ellipse for the snake head and
add a red rectangle for the tongue.
Tail sprite Bad Egg sprite It’s important that the tongue is a
The Tail sprite follows the head, erasing the end The Bad Egg sprite also appears randomly
of the body so the snake moves, and pausing but decreases the score when eaten. It also
different colour to the head. Name
when it needs to grow grows in size, getting harder to avoid your sprite Snake.

56
 Create a Snake clone in Scratch Projects

Add a Snake sound Initialise Snake variables Add main action loop

02 When the Snake tongue

touches the snake body or
the edge of the stage, we are going
05 Use a ’when green flag clicked’
Control command and initialise
the Snake variables as shown, using
07 Use a ’forever’ command with
an ’if-else’ command nested
inside. We have a collision if the red
to play a Game Over sound. We need commands from the Variables palette. tongue is touching the blue body (the
to add this sound to the Snake sprite. We want to start each game with an head is always touching the body) or
With the Snake sprite selected, click empty Next Direction list, so delete all the Snake sprite is touching the edge.
the Sound tab and choose Import. of its entries. The Score must start at Use the Eyedropper tool to select
Select the Electronic>Screech sound. zero. The Speed sets difficulty. colours within Scratch.

Respond to arrow keys Draw Snake body

03 Drag four when key pressed

commands from the Control
palette, and four point in direction
06 Use commands from the Pen
palette to control the drawing
of the snake body. You should also use
Handle Game Over
commands from the Motion palette.
Configure them as shown so that the
up arrow changes the direction to
commands from the Motion palette
to move the snake to the centre of the
stage and point left at the beginning
08 When a collision has been
detected, broadcast a Game
Over event (you’ll need to create a
0 degrees (up) and so on. Click the of each game. The pen is up until the new event) to the other sprites so they
green flag above the stage to test this. snake is in the starting position. In the can also react. Also, play the Screech
next steps we’ll use colours to check sound effect and stop all scripts so
to see if the head is touching anything that the snake freezes in its current
it shouldn’t. position at the end of the game.

Make Snake variables

04 Click on the Variables palette.

Make two variables, Score and
Speed, that are visible to all sprites.
Make a list called Next Direction which
is visible to all sprites; it will store the
sequence of directions that the head
takes. Only have the Score variable
checked so it appears on the stage.

57
 Projects Create a Snake clone in Scratch

Handle movement Make a Grow variable Grow and move

09 Now handle the typical case

where there is no collision and
the snake must move in its current
12 Make a Grow variable which is
for this sprite only – no other
sprites need access to it. The Grow
15 Use a ’forever’ command to
keep the tail moving. If Grow
is 1 it should pause and reset Grow to
direction. The pen is down so it will variable is used to determine when 0 – this makes the body grow longer.
draw the body. The Speed variable the snake body needs to grow and Use the first value from Next Direction
determines how many steps to move. the tail therefore needs to pause to set the direction and remove it so
Add the current direction to the Next before following to allow the head to you get a new value next time. Move
Direction list for the tail to read. get further ahead. Speed steps.

Handle events
Try out the snake
13 The Tail needs to listen for two
new events which you create Try out the tail
10 You can now try out your Snake
sprite. It will move around
the screen in response to pressing
as you need them. When it receives
an Egg Eaten event from one of the
Egg sprites, it sets Grow=1 so that the 16 Now you can try out the Tail
sprite. The snake won’t keep
the arrow keys. It will draw its body, tail can pause. And when it receives growing yet because it won’t receive
which will just get longer and longer a Game Over event from the Snake, it any Egg Eaten events. But the tail will
because we need the tail to erase it. must freeze. follow the snake head around the
And it will screech and end the game stage, erasing the snake body as it
on detecting a collision. goes by drawing over it with a white
pen (which is the same colour as
the background).

Initialise the tail

Paint the tail

11 Click the New Sprite: Paintbrush

icon to paint the Tail sprite. Draw
14 When the green flag is clicked
to start the game, Grow is set
to 1 so the snake gets a short body.
a small green circle to represent the Move to the centre of the stage with
end of the tail. Name this sprite Tail. the pen up and configure the pen to
The Tail sprite will follow the Snake draw a trail the same colour and size
and erase the end of its tail so that the as the stage background so that it
snake body doesn’t grow indefinitely. erases the body.

58
 Create a Snake clone in Scratch Projects

Paint the Egg sprite Make Bad Egg Grow Bad Egg

17 Click the New Sprite: Paintbrush

icon to paint a new sprite. In
the Paint Editor, draw a small yellow
20 Create the black Bad Egg in
the same way as the Egg
but using a different graphic and the
21 Add another ’when green flag
clicked’ script to the Bad Egg
so it sets its size to the default 100%
ellipse. Name the sprite Egg. The Egg Instruments>StringPluck sound. Drag when a new game is started and
will appear randomly on the stage and the Egg’s green flag scripts onto the then increases its size by ten every ten
cause the snake to grow and increase Bad Egg to copy them – just change seconds. The Bad Egg will get bigger
its score. the sound that’s played and reduce and bigger and harder to avoid.
the score instead of increasing it.

Add Egg sound

Create Bonus sprite
18 Go to the Sounds tab for the
Egg sprite and import the
Percussion>Cymbal Crash sound. Or
you can choose a different sound if
you like. This sound will play when the
22 Create the Bonus sprite in a similar way. You can choose the shape and
sound for the Bonus. Its scripts are similar to the Egg ones so you could
drag one of those to the Bonus sprite and work from that. Make sure you change
snake eats an egg. the sound and increase the score by a random bonus.

Add Egg scripts

19 Copy the Egg script so that

the Egg appears randomly
at the start of the game. When the
Egg senses that it has been eaten, it
must hide, play the Cymbal sound
(or whatever you chose in Step 18),
update the score, broadcast the
Egg Eaten event and then randomly
appear again. When the Game Over
event is received, it must stop.

59
 Projects Check your mail

Check your mail

With Python, you can have your Raspberry Pi act as mail checker,
giving you a running list on incoming email

Since the Raspberry Pi is such a small computer, You need to use the POP3_SSL class when
it gets used in a lot of projects where you want connecting to Gmail because Google uses SSL for
to monitor a source of data. One such monitor its connections. If connecting to a different email
you might want to create is a mail-checker that server, you can use POP3 to make an unencrypted
can display your current unread emails. This issue, connection. The POP communication protocol
we’ll look at how to use Python to create your involves the client sending a series of commands
own mail-checking monitor to run on your Pi. to the server to interact with it. For example, you
We’ll focus on the communications between the can get the welcome message from the server
Pi and the mail server and not worry too much with the getwelcome() method:
about how it might be displayed. That will be left
my_pop.getwelcome()
as a further exercise.
To start with, most email servers use one of
The first things that you will want to communicate
two different communication protocols. The
to the server are the username and password
older, simpler one was called POP (Post Office
for an email account that you are interested in.
Protocol), and the newer one is called IMAP
Having the username in your code is not too
(Internet Message Access Protocol). We will cover
much of a security issue, but the password is
both protocols to cover all of the situations that
another matter. Unless you have a good reason
you might run into. We’ll start with the older POP
to have it written out in your code, you should
communications protocol. Luckily, there is support
probably ask the end-user for it. Included within
for this protocol as part of the standard library. In
the standard library is the getpass module, which
order to start using this protocol, you will need
you can use to ask the end-user for their password
to import the poplib module, and then create a
in a safer fashion. You could use the following
new POP3 object. For example, the following will
code, for example.
create a connection to the POP server available
through Gmail.
import getpass
import poplib my_pop.user(‘[email protected]’)
my_pop = poplib.POP3_SSL(host=’pop.gmail.com’) my_pop.pass_(getpass.getpass())

“The first things that you will want to communicate to the

server are the username and password for an email account”
60
 Check your mail Projects

print(i)
You should now be fully logged in to your email
account. Under POP, your account will be locked You need to explicitly do the search because the
until you choose to execute the quit() method of number of lines included in the headers varies
the connection. If you need a quick summary of between each message. Once you’re done, don’t
what is on the open server you can execute the forget to execute the quit() method to close
stat() method: down your connection to the email server. One
last thing to consider is how long the email server
my_pop.stat()
will keep the connection alive. While running test
code for this article, it would frequently time out. If
This method returns a tuple consisting of the you need to, you can use the noop() method as a
message count and the mailbox size. You can get keep-alive for the connection.
an explicit list of messages with the list() method.
You have two options for looking at the actual As mentioned previously, the second, newer,
contents of these emails, depending on whether protocol for talking to email servers is IMAP.
you want to leave the messages untouched or Luckily, there is a module included in the standard
not. If you want to simply look at the first chunk of library that you can use, similar to the poplib
the messages, you can use the top() method. The module we looked at above, called imaplib.
following code will grab the headers and the first Also, as above, it contains two main classes to
five lines of the first message in the list. encapsulate the connection details. If you need
an SSL connection, you can use IMAP4_SSL.
email_top = my_pop.top(1, 5) Otherwise, you can use IMAP4 for unencrypted
connections. Using Gmail as an example, you can
This method will return a tuple consisting of create an SSL connection with the following code.
the response text from the email server, a list of
the headers and the number of requested lines, import imaplib
and the octet count for the message. The one import getpass
problem with the top() method is that it is not my_imap = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL(‘imap.gmail.com’)
always well implemented on every email server. In
those cases, you can use the retr() method. It will As opposed to poplib, imaplib has a single
return the entire requested message in the same method to handle authentication. You can use
form as that returned from top(). the getpass module to ask for the password.
Once you have your message contents, you
my_imap.login(‘[email protected]’, getpass.
need to decide what you actually want to display.
getpass())
As an example, you might want to simply print
out the subject lines for each message. You could IMAP contains the concept of a tree of mailboxes
do that with the following code. where all of your emails are organised. Before you
can start to look at the emails, you need to select
for line in email_top[1]: which mailbox you want to work with. If you don’t
if ‘Subject’ in i:
give a mailbox name, the default is the inbox.
61
 Projects Check your mail

This is fine since we only want to display the

newest emails which have come in. Most of the subject_line = email_mesg.get(‘Subject’)
interaction methods return a tuple that contains a
status flag (either ‘OK’ or ‘NO’) and a list containing There are many different potential items that you
the actual data. The first thing we need to do could select out. To get the full list of available
after selecting the inbox is to search for all of the header items, you can use the keys method, as
messages available, as in the following example. shown below:

my_imap.select() email_mesg.keys()
typ, email_list = my_imap.search(None, ‘ALL’)

Many times, the emails you get will come as

The email_list variable contains a list of binary multi-part messages. In these cases, you will
strings that you can use to fetch individual need to use the get_payload() method to extract
messages. You should check the value stored in any attached parts. It will come back as a list of
the variable typ to be sure that it contains ‘OK’. To further email objects. You then need to use the
loop through the list and select a given email, you get_payload() method on those returned email
can use the following code: objects to get the main body. The code might
look like:
for num in email_list[0].split():
typ, email_raw = my_imap.fetch(num, ‘(RFC822)’) payload1 = email_mesg.get_payload()[0]
body1 = payload1.get_payload(

The variable email_raw contains the entire email

body as a single escaped string. While you could As with POP email connections, you may need
parse it to pull out the pieces that you want to to do something to keep the connection from
display in your email monitor, that kind of defeats timing out. If you do, you can use the noop()
the power of Python. method of the IMAP connection object. This
Again, available in the standard library is a method acts as a keep-alive function.
module called email that can handle all of those When you are all done, you need to be sure to
parsing issues. You will need to import the clean up after yourself before shutting down. The
module in order to use it, as in the example here. correct way to do this is to close the mailbox you
have been using first, and then log out from the
import email server. An example is given here:
email_mesg = email.message_from_bytes(email_
raw[0][1])
my_imap.logout()
my_imap.close()

All of the sections of your email are now broken

down into sections that you can pull out much You now should have enough information to
more easily. Again, to pull out the subject line for a be able to connect to an email server, get a list
quick display, you can use the code: of messages, and then pull out the sections that

62
 Check your mail Projects

you might want to display as part of your email

monitor. For example, if you are displaying the “When you are done, you
information on an LCD, you might just want to
have the subject lines scrolling past. If you are
need to be sure to clean
using a larger screen display, you might want to up after yourself before
grab a section of the body, or the date and time,
to include as part of the information.
shutting down”

What about sending emails?

Find out how to send as well as receive
In the main body of the article, we have only sendmail(). As an example, the following code
looked at how to connect to an email server and sends a ‘Hello World’ email to a couple of people.
how to read from it. But what if you need to be
able to also send emails off using some code? my_smtp.sendmail(‘[email protected]’,
[‘[email protected]’, ‘[email protected]’], ‘This
Similar to poplib and imaplib, the Python standard
email\r\nsays\r\nHello World’)
library includes a module called smtplib. Again,
similar to poplib and imaplib, you need to create
The first parameter is the ‘from’ email address. The
an SMTP object for the connection, and then log
second parameter is a list of ‘to’ email addresses.
in to the server. If you are using the GMail SMTP
If you have only a single ‘to’ address, you can
server, you could use the code
put it as a single string rather than a list. The last
parameter is a string containing the body of the
import smtplib
email you are trying to send. One thing to be
import getpass
my_smtp = smtplib.SMTP_SSL(‘smtp.gmail.com’) aware of is that you will only get an exception
my_smtp.login(‘[email protected]’, getpass. if the email can’t be sent to any of the ‘to’ email
getpass()) addresses specified.
As long as the message can be sent to at
This code asks the end user for their password, least one of the given addresses, it will return as
but if you aren’t concerned about security, you completed. Once you have finished sending your
could have it hard-coded into the code. Also, you emails, you can clean up with the code:
only need to use the login() method for those
servers that require it. If you are running your own my_smtp.quit()
SMTP server, you may have it set up to accept
unauthenticated connections. Once you are This cleans everything up and shuts down all
connected and authenticated, you can now send active connections. So now your project can reply
emails out. The main method to do this is called to incoming emails, too.
63
 Projects Supercharge your Pi

What you’ll need…

Raspbian Supercharge
your Pi
www.raspberrypi.org/downloads

SD card

Get the most out of your Raspberry Pi with these

performance-enhancing tips and tricks

Your Raspberry Pi is plugged in. Raspbian is installed on the SD card

and you are right in the middle of setting up a wireless print server
or building a robot to collect your mail from your doormat. But
are you truly getting the most from your little computer? Perhaps
you haven’t explored the full set of options in Raspbian, or you’re
running the entire OS from SD card, something that can reduce
SD card lifespan. Various tools and techniques can be employed
to improve performance, from choosing the right hardware to
overclocking the CPU. You might even maximise storage space
on the Pi’s SD card or all but replace it with a secondary device.
Use these tips and tricks to reconfigure your Pi setup and optimise
software and hardware to ensure you get the best performance.
 Supercharge your Pi Projects

Use better
storage hardware

01 Your choice of storage media

can have an impact on your
Raspberry Pi’s performance, regardless
of the operating system. A low
capacity SD card with poor error
correction, is going to be slower than
a larger card with greater resilience, so
you need to find the right balance for
your project and shop wisely. Expand the Raspbian partition

Choosing the best SD card 04 Maximising the partition affords the full capacity of your SD card, which
will increase the media’s lifespan (there is more space to write too, so the
same sectors aren’t being overwritten as often). With raspi-config running, use

02 Various standards of SD card

are available, with the more
expensive designed for better error
the arrow keys to select expand_rootfs in the menu. Then wait briefly while the
partition is resized.

correction. For the best performance

on your Raspberry Pi, choose an SDHC
Write data to RAM Enable fstab in Raspbian
card with a high rating. The same
advice applies to MicroSD cards, which
you can use on your Raspberry Pi with
05 Rather than reading and
writing data to your SD card –
something that will eventually result
06 This is much like creating a
RAM disk in Windows. In the
command line, enter:
an SD card adaptor or directly insert
in a deterioration of reliability and sudo nano /etc/fstab
into a Raspberry Pi B+.
performance in the card – you can Add the following line to mount a
configure Raspbian to write to the virtual file system:
Make the most system RAM, which will speed things tmpfs /var/log tmpfs
of your storage up slightly and improve the SD card’s defaults,noatime,nosuid,mode=
overall performance. This is achieved 0755,size=100m 0 0

03 You’ll typically need 1-2GB using fstab (file systems table), a Follow this by saving and exiting nano
of storage for your chosen system configuration available in (Ctrl+X), then safely restarting the Pi:
Raspberry Pi distro, so any remaining most Linux distros. sudo shutdown -r now
storage on your SD card will be
used for updates and data you
create or save. In Raspbian you can
open a command line and run the
“You’ll typically need 1-2GB
configuration utility to gain more of storage for your chosen
space (only if your SD card’s greater
than 2GB): Raspberry Pi distro”
sudo raspi-config

65
 Projects Supercharge your Pi

Picking an Configure fstab for fast performance

external USB drive
Speeding up your Raspberry Pi
by migrating the root filesystem
07 Upon restarting, the virtual filesystem will be mounted and /var/log on the
RAM disk. Other directories that can be moved to RAM include:
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,nosuid,size=100m 0 0
to an external USB drive is a tmpfs /var/tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,nosuid,size=30m 0 0
start, but what sort of device tmpfs /var/log tmpfs defaults,noatime,nosuid,mode=0755,size=100m 0 0
should you use for the best
tmpfs /var/run tmpfs defaults,noatime,nosuid,mode=0755,size=2m 0 0
performance? With a USB thumb
drive you can add flash storage tmpfs /var/spool/mqueue tmpfs defaults,noatime,nosuid,mode=0700,gid=
up to 16GB without running into 12,size=30m 0 0
any significant problems (the Add each to /etc/fstab in nano.
larger the drive, the greater the
current is required to read/write). Move your OS to a HDD Back up the SD card
Anything larger is expensive and
unnecessary. If you’re planning
to use an external HDD, there are 08 If you’re concerned about the
lifespan of the SD card, why
not reduce your Raspberry Pi’s reliance
09 Create a copy of your Pi’s SD
card. Shut down, remove the
card and insert it into your desktop
no power issues as it will have its
own power supply. As ever, your on it? Instead of using the SD card as computer. In the command line, run:
choice should suit your project. a sort of budget SSD, change its role sudo dd bs=4M if=/dev/sdb
and add a HDD or USB stick to run of=~/backup.img
the operating system, leaving the SD The path /dev/sdb represents the
card for bootstrapping. This can give SD card. Copying takes 5-10 minutes.
a marked performance boost to the When complete, remove the SD card
SD card. and connect your USB device.

Copy Raspbian to USB

10 Using a blank Ext4-formatted USB thumb drive (or external HDD) as the
destination drive, enter:
sudo dd bs=4M if=~/backup.img of=/dev/sdc
Below Having your filesystem on a Leave the backup on your computer, just in case something goes wrong. With
USB stick is great for backups as well as an SD card and USB storage device sharing an identical disk image, it’s time to
performance boosts
consider what you’re going to do next – create a faster Raspberry Pi.
 Supercharge your Pi Projects

Split the Raspbian partitions

11 Ideally, the boot partition

should remain on the SD card
while the root filesystem is run from
the external HDD or USB thumb
drive. Using your preferred partition
manager (Disk Utility is in most
distros), unmount and delete the root
filesystem from the SD card, ensuring
you have retained the boot partition.
After removing the SD card, connect
your USB device and delete the boot
partition, taking care to leave the root
Above Heat
filesystem intact. Then resize the root sinks for the Pi are
filesystem on the USB device, making widely available and
usually cost less than $10
sure that 10MB remains.

Identify the root filesystem Make your Pi fast and reliable

12 You’re going to have the SD

card and the external USB
storage connected, so you need to tell
14 Make a note of the GUID and then switch to the SD card. Reopen cmdline.
txt and change root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 to root=PARTUUID=XXXXXX,
where the numerical string from the partition unique GUID should replace the
the Pi where the root filesystem is. On XXXXXX. When you’re done, save and exit. You can then start your Raspberry Pi.
the desktop Linux computer with your Congratulations, your Raspberry Pi is now faster and more reliable to use.
SD card inserted, run:
sudo nano /boot/cmdline.txt Boost performance with overclocking
Find root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 (or similar)
and change that to read root=/dev/
sda2 which is your external USB
storage. Save and exit.
15 Need more from your Pi? It is possible to overclock the computer, although
you should be aware of the risks inherent with this activity. You should also
ensure that your Raspberry Pi’s processor is suitably cooled – heatsinks for the CPU,
Ethernet controller and power regulator can be purchased online.
Add other USB devices
Overclock your Pi
13 You can now restart your

16
Pi with the storage devices Overclocking is available through raspi-config. Launch from the command
attached, but as soon as you connect line and arrow down to the overclock option. Four further options are
further USB media you’ll suffer available: Modest, Medium, High and Turbo. With your ideal clock speed selected,
problems. Avoid by installing gdisk: exit raspi-config and restart your Raspberry Pi to apply:
sudo apt-get update sudo shutdown -r now
sudo apt-get install gdisk Now you will need to perform tests to see how stable it is overclocked. Raspberry
Then run gdisk: Pi founder, Eben Upton, suggests running Quake 3 as a good stress test. Should
sudo gdisk /dev/sdb the Pi fail to boot, hold Shift to boot without overclocking, run raspi-config and
Enter ? to display the options and select a more modest overclock.
select Recovery and Transformation
options (experts only), followed by Run Raspbian without the GUI
Load MBR and Build Fresh GPT. Tap ?
one last time and select ‘Write Table to
Disk’ and exit. Remove and replace the
USB device and run gdisk again. This
17 Despite these changes, you may find that the GUI remains slow. If you find
yourself running a lot of commands in bash, the best thing to do is disable
launching into X. In raspi-config, choose boot_behaviour and select the first
time enter I and then 1 to display the (default) option to ensure your Pi boots to the command line. Should you need
Partition Unique GUID. the GUI, enter ‘startx’ in Terminal.

67
 Projects Monitor your local network with NagiosPi

What you’ll need…

NagiosPi
piimagehub.com/project/nagiospi

Win32 Disk Imager

bit.ly/L8JdYG

Disk Utility
bit.ly/1Lec9r5

Internet connection
4 GB (or larger) SD card

Monitor your local

network with NagiosPi
Embrace the power of Nagios to keep an eye on
servers, switches and applications on your network
Is your PC offline? Has your Linux box stopped serving Minecraft or
Counter-Strike? If you’re out of the house, or even the country, there
is no real way of knowing without trying to log in – something you
probably won’t be able to do without being on the premises (unless
you’re using remote desktop software).
A far better way would be to simply receive notifications when
your network devices are knocked offline, and this is why we turn
to NagiosPi, a Raspberry Pi-built version of the popular open source
network monitoring tool.
NagiosPi is available as a full image ready to be written to SD card,
with the real configuration taking place once it’s up and running.
Let’s get started.
68
 Monitor your local network with NagiosPi Projects

Download NagiosPi

01 Windows users should write

the extracted contents
of the NagiosPi_v2.0.zip file to a
formatted SD card using Win32
Disk Imager. Linux desktop
users can use Disk Utility or the
command line (bit.ly/1z36sp8).
With the image written to SD, safely
eject the card and insert it into your
Pi before booting.

Log in to NagiosPi

02 As with most Pi projects,

you’ll probably want to
operate via SSH, so check your
router’s list of connected devices
to find the IP address and connect. Monitor your NagiosPi box
You can also use a keyboard
and monitor connected to your
Raspberry Pi. The default username
and password for NagiosPi is as
05 In the RaspControl section
you’ll get a flavour of just
what Nagios can do. On the home
follows: pi/raspberry. screen you’ll see general hardware
information such as connectivity and
Expand the filesystem system status, and as you flick through
Details, Services and Disks you’ll see
what level of monitoring is possible.
03 Before proceeding, run
sudo raspi-config. You’ll
View host status
Create configuration file
need to select the first option,
Expand Filesystem, and wait 08 Each check must be set up
individually. Some require the
a moment as the filesystem is
expanded to the full size of the 06 Next, go to Nagios and pick
Hosts. Here you will see the
current status for the configured
installation of NRPE (Nagios Remote
Plugin Executor) on remote devices
SD card. to interrogate and present full system
Once done, select Change User hosts, which is a combination of
details, but this isn’t necessary for basic
Password to add some security to items detected on your local network
things like ping.
your NagiosPi, then select Finish and preset entities. Look for Current
When you’re done, click Submit,
and reboot. Network Status in the upper-left area
then Generate Nagios Config.
of the console, just below this you will
Following this, select Deploy.
find alternate views.
Open in your browser
Monitor your server
Add a host to monitor
04 With the Pi rebooted,
you’ll be able to open
09 In the NagiosPi window, select
the NagiosPi web console in your
browser. Visit http://[your.IP.address.
here] to see the available options.
07 Open NConf to add the server
you wish to monitor, using
the ‘Hosts – Add’ button to input the
Services for a view of currently
monitored servers and devices.
For each listed device, there will be
Here you’ll spot a menu of device hostname, IP address and alias. additional information that you drill
links in the top-left corner of the Click Submit when done, then switch down into by clicking Actions. We’ve
page, each accompanied with the to ‘Services – Add’, where you can only shown you the basics of NagiosPi
username and password to sign in. assign a name and check command – investigation will demonstrate just
Start with RaspControl. (such as check_ping) to monitor. how powerful it really is!

69
 Projects Tether to an Android device

What you’ll need…

Android device Tether to an
Android device
USB cable

Need the internet on your Pi? Try out a physical tether

to your Android device for online access
The portability of the Raspberry Pi is one of its most lauded features.
Mini screens, mini wireless keyboard and mouse combos, portable
batteries and more can get you out and about, but the internet is
a stumbling block that you can’t easily fix with an accessory. What
you do also usually have with you is an Internet-connected magic
pocket box called a smartphone that, with a bit of know-how, you
can connect the Pi to and steal some internet from. Over the next
two pages we will impart this know-how to get you using your
Raspberry Pi on the Internet when you’re on the go.

The easy way

01 Many smartphones have a

Wi-Fi hotspot feature, which
your Pi can easily attach to. First of
all, turn the hotspot on and then
boot into the Pi. Connect a wireless
dongle and open up the wpa_gui
in Preferences>Wi-Fi Configuration.

Scan for device

02 Click Scan to open up the

scan window and then
select Scan again from inside there.
Set up tether
It should pick up your device –
connect it as you would to any Wi-Fi 03 First connect your phone to
your Raspberry Pi via a USB
cable – depending on the amount of
network and the Pi will remember it
for when it needs it next. power your Pi has, it might have trouble
charging your phone but it
will still let you tether. In the
tethering menu you can now
activate USB tethering.

70
 Tether to an Android device Projects

“What you do also

usually have with
you is an internet-
connected magic
pocket box called
a smartphone
that you can
connect the Pi”

Check connection Quick connect

04 Your Android device will create an interface known as eth0 on the

Raspberry Pi. You can check to make sure this is happening, and that it will
let you tether, by opening up a terminal and typing the following:
05 You can connect from the
terminal right now to access
the Internet. You should be able to
$ ifconfig do this by typing the following into
the terminal:
Test connection $ sudo dhclient usb0
This will automatically grab any

06 There’s a few ways to test your connection. We’d usually stay in the terminal available IP address that your phone
and ping www.google.com, which you can do, or you can click on the will give to it.
browser and see if it loads the page.

Save the settings

07 Once you reboot your

Raspberry Pi, it won’t
remember to automatically connect
to the phone’s tether. However, we
can add an entry to its config so that it
will try and do this in the future. From
the terminal use:
$ sudo nano /etc/network/
interfaces

Tether on the go

Interface settings
09 After a save and reboot, your
Pi should now automatically
connect to your phone, whether
it’s via Wi-Fi hotspot or a physical
08 Here you’ll find all the current network settings – yours might look different
from ours depending on if you have added any fixed wireless settings or
passthroughs. Using the same syntax as the eth0 line, add:
connection. It may draw a little more
charge than usual while tethering,
so be sure to keep an eye on your
iface usb0 inet dhcp battery level.

71
 Projects Add a battery pack to your Raspberry Pi

What you’ll need…

AA battery box
bit.ly/1FDiJGa

3-Amp UBEC
bit.ly/1HLKih7

3-Amp terminal strip

6x AA rechargeable
batteries

Add a battery pack to

your Raspberry Pi
Don’t leave your Raspberry Pi behind – incorporate
it into mobile projects by powering it up using
humble AA batteries
Your Raspberry Pi’s mobility is usually restricted by the length of
the power lead. Rather than limiting it to your desk or living room,
however, you can use it for mobile projects as diverse as launching
it into near-Earth orbit or monitoring and automating your garden.
Of course, to do this you will need batteries, but adding battery
power to your Raspberry Pi is simpler than you might have
imagined. All that is required are six rechargeable AA batteries (or
single-charge alkaline), a battery box with space for the batteries
and a UBEC. The latter is a Universal Battery Elimination Circuit, a
voltage regulator that will regulate the power supply and prevent
damage to the Raspberry Pi, and can be bought for under £10.
72
 Add a battery pack to your Raspberry Pi Projects

“You can use your

device for mobile
projects as diverse
as launching it into
near-Earth orbit”
Make your order Move connector pins

01 If you’re buying your

components online, you 03 In order to use the UBEC with
a 3-pin connector, you’ll need
Measure uptime
should be able to get them all within
five days. However, if you’re ordering
offline (specifically the UBEC), you
to alter the position of the pins so
that they occupy the two outer slots.
Just use a small jeweller’s screwdriver
07 You should have already set up
your Pi for SSH use, so connect
to the device via Putty after giving it
should avoid traditional electronics to lever up the small plastic catch time to boot fully (at least 60 seconds).
stores and instead visit a model and remove the red wire from the In the terminal, enter:
enthusiast store, as these circuits are central slot, before sliding into the
regularly used in RC devices. unoccupied outer slot. sudo dd bs=32m if=/Users/
rachelcrabb/Desktop/ArchLinux/
Check your UBEC Connect to battery box archlinux-hf-2013-02-11.img
of=/dev/disk1

02 Two types of UBEC are

available to choose from. If
you used the store that we suggest
04 With five batteries in the
battery box, connect it to
the UBEC (red-to-red, black-to-black)
This command will display the system
uptime and also keep the Wi-Fi
in the resources box to the left, you’ll by twisting the wires, soldering or connection active.
receive one with a micro USB power employing a 3-amp terminal strip, cut
connector for easy connection to your down to two pairs. It can be cut to size Judge your uptime results
Raspberry Pi. However, if you bought using a modelling knife.
one from eBay then there is a strong
chance that you will receive one with
a 3-pin connector.
Add a battery to boot 08 Uptime results depend upon
the type of battery you use
and the Raspberry Pi model. Single-

05 With your Pi ready to use and

your Wi-Fi dongle plugged in,
connect the UBEC to the micro USB
charge batteries will last a little bit
longer, but this is a more expensive
option. Meanwhile, newer models
port and insert the sixth battery into have greater power requirements but
the battery box. The Pi’s power and run for less time. For more power, add
status lights should indicate that the more batteries!
computer is booting up, which gives
you a fully portable computer. Power extreme!
Connect the 3-pin UBEC
09 More batteries added in
parallel should result in almost

06 If you purchased the UBEC

with the now-modified 3-pin
connector, you’ll need to connect
double the uptime (at least 16 hours
on a 256MB Raspberry Pi Model A),
but instead of alkaline or rechargeable
this to the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO header. batteries you might consider a
Connect the positive +5V (red) modern lithium-based AA cell, which
connector to Pin 2 and the negative will last considerably longer than
0V connector to Pin 6. alkaline batteries.

73
 Projects Draw circuits with paint

What you’ll need…

Bare Conductive paint
(pen or tub)
Draw circuits
Male to female jumper wires
An assortment of LEDs,
switches and resistors
(optional)
with paint
Assembling circuits has never been so easy with
the joys of conductive paint, enabling you to bring
together art and electronics in a whole new way
Playing with electronics and physical computing is a very rewarding
task. For a beginner though, the mess of wires and components can
become very confusing quite quickly and things like soldering can
be a safety concern when children are involved. Bare Conductive
has taken the joy of electronics and made it far safer, easier and
more versatile with their conductive paint. You can literally draw
wires on paper with a paintbrush, use it for cold-soldering or a
conductive adhesive and much, much more. There are not a
great deal of boundaries to what you can do. Pair this paint with
a microcontroller board and you could be creating interactive art,
clothing and projects in no time.

Get your tools

01 Paint and a paintbrush

aren’t the first items that
come to mind when you think
Get your tools about electronics, so you may be
wondering where to get them from.
Bare Conductive stock the paint and a
selection of components in their shop
(bareconductive.com/shop) but you
will need to go somewhere else for
art supplies. We would recommend
trying a high street craft shop such as
Hobbycraft (hobbycraft.co.uk) or a
local independent.

74
 Draw circuits with paint Projects

“The mess of wires

and components
can become very
confusing”

Clean up

06 A lot of you are probably

thinking that something as
cool as conductive paint is going to be
Pick your platform Connect it up nasty stuff. Actually Bare Conductive
paint is non-toxic, water-based and

02 The great thing about Bare

Conductive paint is that, when
dry, it works just like normal wiring!
04 There are plenty of ways to
connect to the conductive
paint (from battery packs for example)
water-soluble, and can therefore be
cleaned easily with soap and water.

That means you can use it with any no matter what surface it’s on, Make it waterproof
of your favourite microcontrollers like because once it is dry it acts just like
the Bare Conductive Touch Board, a
Raspberry Pi or Adafruit’s wearable
an uninsulated wire. Therefore you
can use wires glued on with the paint, 07 This paint only comes in
black and is not waterproof.
However, the great thing is that you
FLORA platform. Or you can just use paper clips, bulldog clips, alligator clips
some small pin batteries and flashing or even sewn-in conductive snaps for can use it underneath or alongside
LEDs for a standalone system. wearable projects. any regular paints, varnishes and
waterproofing sprays in order to act as
Start to paint Make repairs insulation – or just to add some colour
into your designs.

03 You can paint Bare Conductive

paint onto pretty much any
surface – paper, fabric, walls, clothing,
05 The conductive paint is
thick and when it’s dry it
becomes quite strong. These means
wood, plastic and much more. For you can use it to cold solder things
really accurate shapes and results, the together and repair any breakages.
best idea is to create or purchase a In other words, you could glue
stencil (paper stencils are easiest to components into a circuit board or
make at home but use vinyl for the glue wires together and they would
best edge finish). still function electrically.
Touch and sound

08 Bare Conductive paint

can also be used as a
capacitive surface, meaning you
can use it for touch, gesture or
proximity controls when it is paired
with a suitable control board. Bare
Conductive make their own called the
Touch Board which has everything
you need to start experimenting
with touch and sound. It can even
act as a MIDI controller, an interface or
an instrument.

75
 Projects Send an SMS from your Raspberry Pi

Send an SMS from your

Raspberry Pi
What you’ll need… Create a program that combines Twilio and simple
Python code to enable you to send an SMS from
Raspberry Pi your Pi to a mobile phone
Twilio account
Text messaging, or SMS (Short Message Service),
has become a staple of everyday communication.
What began life as a 40 pence message service
is now offered by most tariff providers as an
unlimited service used worldwide. Twilio, a cloud
communications company, enables you to send SMS
messages for free from your Raspberry Pi to a mobile
phone using just six lines of code.

“Create other communication

programs, such as making
phone calls, recording a call,
and retrieving data”

76
 Send an SMS from your Raspberry Pi Projects

Set up your Twilio account Install the software the message that will be sent:
message = raw_input(“Please

01 04
The first step of this project Now boot up your Raspberry enter your message”)
is to register for a Twilio Pi and connect it to the
account and Twilio number. This is internet. Before you install the Twilio Add your numbers
free and will enable you to send an software, it is worth updating and
SMS to a registered, verified phone.
Once signed up, you will receive
a verification code via SMS to the
upgrading your Pi. In the LX Terminal,
type sudo apt-get update, then sudo
apt-get upgrade. Once complete,
07 To send the message, you
need to add the code line
below and your two phone numbers.
registered phone. When prompted, type sudo easy_install twilio or The first number is your mobile
enter this onto the Twilio site to sudo pip install twilio to install phone number, which is registered
authenticate your account and phone. the software. (If you need to install pip, and validated with Twilio (Step 2). The
Go to twilio.com/try-twilio and create type sudo apt-get install python- second number is your Twilio account
your account now. pip python-dev, press Enter, then number, which can be retrieved from
type sudo pip install -U pip.) your dashboard page under ‘Call
the Sandbox number’. Change the
Register numbers Sandbox number to your country
Twilio authentication location and remember to add the
02 Your Twilio account is just
a trial account unless you
pay the upgrade fee, which means 05 Now you are ready to create
the SMS program that will
international country code.
message =
you can only send and receive client.messages.
send the text message to your mobile
communications from a validated create(to=“+44YOURMOBNUMBER”,
phone. Open your Python editor
phone number. Enter the phone from_=“+44YOURTWILIONUMBER”,
and import the Twilio REST libraries
number of the contact who you want body=message)
(line one, below). Next, add your
to verify, ensuring that you select the AccountSid and Auth Token, replacing
correct country code. Twilio will text the X with yours, as you will find on Send the message
you a verification code and you will your dashboard:
need to enter it into the website form
and press submit.
from twilio.rest import
TwilioRestClient
08 Now send your message. The
code below is not required,
but is useful to indicate your message
account_sid = “XXXXXXXXXXXXX
has been sent. Add the lines and save
The dashboard XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX”
your program. Ensure your Raspberry
# Enter
Pi is connected to the internet and
03 Once registered and
logged in on Twilio, visit the
dashboard page, which will display
Yours
auth_token =
“XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX”
that your mobile is on, then run your
program. You have just texted from
your Raspberry Pi.
your AccountSid and your Auth Token. # Enter
print message.sid
These are both required to use the Yours
print “Your message is being
Twilio REST. Keep these secure and client = sent”
private, but be sure to make a note of TwilioRestClient(account_sid, print “Check your phone!”
them as you will need them for your auth_token)
Python program later.
Other API and codes
Create your message

06 You will probably want to

be able to change your
09 You can also create other
communication programs,
such as making phone calls, recording
text messages rather than send the a call, and retrieving data including
same one. Create a new variable in caller IDs and call duration. The API
your program called message. This here also complements a wide range
will prompt you to enter the phrase of programming languages, including
that you want to send to the mobile Ruby, PHP, Java and Node.js (twilio.
phone. When the program runs, this is com/api) to name a few.

77
 Projects Build your first web server

What you’ll need…

Internet connectivity Build your first
web server
Web browser
Google Coder
googlecreativelab.github.io/coder/
raspberrypi/sonicpi/teaching.html

Use Google Coder to turn your Raspberry Pi into a

tiny, low-powered web server and web host!

We’re teaching you how to code in many different ways on the

Raspberry Pi in this book, so it only seems fitting that we look at
web development too.
There’s a new way to use the web on the Raspberry Pi as well:
internet giant Google has recently released Coder specifically for the
tiny computer. It’s a Raspbian-based image that turns your Pi into a
web server and web development kit. Accessible easily over a local
network and with support for jQuery out of the box, it’s an easy and
great way to further your web development skills.

Plug in your Pi

02
Below Google Coder is a For this tutorial, you’ll only
brilliant way to introduce
yourself to web development need to connect a network
cable into the Pi. Pop in your newly
written SD card, plug in the power
and wait a few moments. If you’ve
got a display plugged in anyway,
you’ll notice a Raspbian startup
sequence leading to the command-
line login screen.

Get Google Coder

01 Head to the Google Coder

website, and download the
compressed version of the image.
Unpack it wherever you wish, and Connect to Coder
install it using dd, like any other
Raspberry Pi image:
$ dd if=[path to]/raspi.img
of=/dev/[path to SD card] bs=1M
03 Open up the browser on your main system, and go to http://coder.local.
You may have to manually accept the licence. It will ask you to set up your
password, and then you’ll be in and ready to code.

78
 Build your first web server Projects

Language of the web Full code listing

04 Now it’s time to create

your own app or website.
Click on the ‘+’ box next to the
HTML
examples, give your app a name <h1>Welcome to the internet...</h1>
Some simple HTML <h2></h2>
and then click Create. You’ll be
code that can <p><a href=”http://www.linuxuser.
taken to the HTML section of the
point us to some co.uk”>Linux User & Developer</p>
app. Change the Hello World
important websites. <p><a href=”http://www.reddit.
lines to:
The h2 tag is used com/”>Reddit</p>
<h1>This is a HTML to display the time
header</h1> <p><a href=”http://www.linuxfoundation.
thanks to Java org/”>The Linux Foundation</p>
<p>This is a new block of
<p><a href=”http://www.fsf.org/”>Free
default text</p>
Software Foundation</p>

Java
We’re calling the
current time using var d = new Date;
jQuery in the JS var hours = d.getHours();
tab so that we can var mins = d.getMinutes();
ultimately display it if (hours > 12) {
on the webpage var hour = (hours - 12);
var ampm = “PM”;
Styled to impress We’re going to }
display the time as else {
05 Click on the CSS tab. This
changes the look and style
of the webpage without having
a 12-hour clock in
the first if statement,
var hour = hours;
var ampm = “AM”;
and use AM and PM }
to make the changes each time in to differentiate if (hours == 12) {
the main code. You can change the the time var ampm = “PM”;
background colour and font with:
}
body { if (mins > 9){
background-color: var min = mins;
We make the
#000000; }
minutes readable
color: #ffffff; else {
by adding a 0 if
} var min = “0” + mins;
it’s below 10, then
}
concatenate all the
var time = “The time is “ + hour +
Querying your Java variables and assign
“:” + min + “ “ + ampm;
to the tag h2
$(“h2”).html(time);
06 The third tab allows you
to edit the jQuery, making
the site more interactive. We can
make it create a message on
click with:
$(document).click(function()
“Coder is a Raspbian-based image that
{ turns your Raspberry Pi into a web server
alert(‘You clicked
the website!’);
and web development kit. It’s an easy
} and great way to further your skills”
);

79
 Projects Print wirelessly with your Pi

What you’ll need…

Latest Raspbian image Print wirelessly
with your Pi
USB printer
USB wireless card

Breathe new life into an old printer by using your

Raspberry Pi as a wireless print server
Wireless printing has made it possible to print to devices stored in
cupboards, sheds and remote rooms. You don’t have to own a shiny
new printer for this to work; old printers without native wireless support
don’t have to end up in the bin, thanks to the Raspberry Pi.
The setup is simple. With your Pi set up with a wireless USB dongle,
you connect your printer to a spare USB port on the computer. With
Samba and CUPS (Common Unix Printing System) installed on the
Raspberry Pi, all that is left to do is connect to the wireless printer from
your desktop computer, install the appropriate driver and start printing.
CUPS gives the Raspberry Pi a browser-based admin screen that
Below Setting your Raspberry Pi to print
wirelessly is a great way to get rid of can be viewed from any device on your network, enabling complete
annoying cables at your workstation
control over your wireless network printer.
 Print wirelessly with your Pi Projects

Check your printer works Join a Windows workgroup

01 Before starting, check that the printer you’re planning to use for the project
still works and has enough ink. The easiest way to do this is to check the
documentation (online if you can’t find the manual) and run a test print.
07 With these additions made,
search for “workgroup” in
the configuration file and then add
your workgroup:
workgroup = your_
workgroup_name
wins support = yes
Make sure you uncomment the
second setting so that the print
server can be seen from Windows.
Next, save your changes and then
restart Samba:
sudo /etc/init.d/samba
restart

Detect your printer Install Samba and CUPS

02 With your Raspberry Pi set

up as usual and the printer
connected to a spare USB port, enter:
03 Install Samba on your Pi to
enable file and print sharing
across the entire network:
lsusb sudo apt-get install samba
This will confirm that the printer has Next, install CUPS:
been detected by your Raspberry sudo apt-get install cups
Pi. In most cases you should see the With a print server created, begin
manufacturer and model displayed. configuration by adding default user
‘pi’ to the printer admin group:
sudo usermod -a -G lpadmin pi
Accessing your printer
Set up print admin

04 Set up the CUPS print admin

tool. Boot into the GUI (startx)
Add your printer 08 Meanwhile, it’s a lot easier to
access your wireless printer
from a Linux, Mac OS X or other
and launch the browser, entering
127.0.0.1:631. Switch to Administration,
before ensuring that the ‘Share printers’
05 A list of printers will be
displayed, so select yours to
proceed to the next screen where
Unix-like system, thanks to CUPS.
All you need to do is add a network
printer in the usual way and the
and ‘Allow remote administration’ you can confirm the details, add device will be displayed.
boxes are selected. Select Add Printer a name and check the Share This
and proceed to enter your Raspbian Printer box. Click Continue to load the
username and password. list of printer drivers and select the Add AirPrint compatibility
appropriate one from the list.

Configure Samba for network printing

09 It’s also possible to print
wirelessly from your Apple
iPad using Apple’s AirPrint system. To
do this, you need to add the Avahi

06 Using a Windows computer for printing? Samba will need some

configuration. Open ‘/etc/samba/smb.conf’ in nano, search (Ctrl+W) for
‘[printers]’ and find ‘guest ok’ which you should change as follows:
Discover software:
sudo apt-get install avahi-
discover
guest ok = yes Your wireless printer will now be
Next, search for “[print$].” Then change the path as follows: discoverable from your iPad or iPhone
path = /usr/share/cups/drivers and will be ready to print.

81
 Projects Time-lapse camera trigger

What you’ll need…

Latest Raspbian Image Time-lapse
camera trigger
www.raspberrypi.org/downloads

Breadboard
Connectors
Jumper wire
DSLR camera
Make shooting time-lapse video with your DSLR
Compatible shutter cable
camera a cinch with our expert advice
You’d be forgiven for thinking that creating mesmerising time-lapse
videos like those of Vincent Laforet (www.laforetvisuals.com) or John
Eklund (www.theartoftimelapse.com) might be out of reach of the
Average Joe. With the help of the Raspberry Pi and a sprinkling of
Python code, though, that’s no longer the case. In this guide we’re going
to trigger our DSLR camera to create pixel-perfect time-lapse imagery…

Set up the Raspberry Pi Full code listing

01 For this tutorial we’re assuming

you’re using a recent build of
Raspbian. With the Raspberry Pi set up
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import time

with a keyboard, mouse and monitor, print ‘\nWelcome to the Complete Manual Time-lapse Tool.’
open the terminal and type: print “Just tell us how many shots you’d like to take and
the interval between them.\n”
sudo apt-get update print “Try googling ‘time-lapse interval calc’ if you need
help deciding.\n”
Install the RPi.GPIO library
def main():
02 Next we want to make
sure your development
environment is set up. Follow these
shots = raw_input(‘How many shots would you like to
take?\n ->’)
interval = raw_input(‘How frequently do you want to
steps to make sure you’re all set. take them (in seconds)?\n ->’)
In the terminal, type:
suda atp-get install python-dev if shots.isdigit() and interval.isdigit():
shots = int(shots)
sudo apt-get install python- interval = int(interval)
rpi.gpio
print “You’ll be shooting for %d minutes.\n” %
Set up the Pi Cobbler (shots * interval / 60)
answer = raw_input(‘Are you ready to proceed?(yes/

03 For this tutorial we’ve

used a cheap prototyping
breadboard and an Adafruit Pi Cobbler
no):’)
confirm = answer.lower() in [‘yes’, ‘y’]

to give us easy access to the Raspberry if confirm:

GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)
Pi’s GPIO pins. As you can see from GPIO.setup(16, GPIO.OUT)
the picture, the Cobbler straddles the taken = 1
centre-point of the breadboard and a print
ribbon cable connects the two. print ‘Starting a run of %d shots’ % (shots)

82
 Time-lapse camera trigger Projects

Manual focus Configure the breadboard

We won’t be controlling
2.5mm to 3.5mm
04 For the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO to
the autofocus with our
Python app, so set the We’re using a cheap Canon EOS
focus to manual and select DSLR, so to trigger the shutter with
control the camera, we need
your camera settings in the Raspberry Pi, all we need is a to create a circuit between a pin on the
advance of the shoot simple 2.5mm to 3.5mm cable
GPIO (in this case pin 23 on the Cobbler
– but it’s actually physical pin 16) and the
pin that connects to the ‘head’ or ‘tip’
of the camera cable that activates the
shutter when connected. The base of
the connector cable is always ground, so
make sure you ground the ‘GND’ pin on
the Cobbler and the middle pin on the
audio jack. With the circuit complete, we
can focus on the code.

The Time-lapse
Photography Tool
Pi Cobbler
We’re using the Pi Cobbler as a
breakout for the Pi’s GPIO pins,
making the build process easier
(though it’s not required)
05 We’ve created a small 55-line
Python utility called The Linux
User Time-lapse Photography Tool,
which asks the user to input how
many shots they’d like to take and
for i in range(0, shots):
print the frequency they’d like them taken.
print ‘Shot %d of %d’ % (taken, shots) It then takes that information and
taken +=1 uses it in a For loop to activate the
GPIO.output(16, GPIO.HIGH) shutter using GPIO pin 16 . If you’d like
time.sleep(0.5) to use the project ‘in the field’ we’d
GPIO.output(16, GPIO.LOW) recommend using the Android app
time.sleep(interval) ConnectBot to SSH into your RasPi
GPIO.cleanup()
for input and feedback. Don’t forget
else:
print “Let’s try again (or press Ctrl + C to to start your script with sudo python
quit):\n” time_lapse_camera.py
main()
else: Creating a video
print “Oops - You can only enter numbers. Let’s try
again:\n”
main() 06 With your camera packed with
images, we need to collect
and output them as a video file. While
print it’s possible on the Pi, copy them to an
print ‘Thanks for using the Complete Manual Time-
easily accessible folder on a separate
lapse Tool!\n’
again = raw_input(‘Would you like to do another time- Linux PC to make it much faster.
lapse? (yes/no):\n -> ‘) We’re going to use FFmpeg. With the
proceed = again.lower() in [‘yes’, ‘y’] terminal open in the folder where your
images are stored, type: ffmpeg -f
if proceed: image2 -i image%04d.jpg -vcodec
main() libx264 -b 800k video.avi. This
else: assumes you have libx264 installed on
print ‘\nSee you next time!\n’
your machine and the ‘image%o4d.
quit()
jpg’ assumes the file format and the
if __name__ == ‘__main__’: number of digits it’s dealing with (in
main() this case: ‘picture0001.jpg’).

83
 Projects Control lighting with the Pi and Amazon Echo

What you’ll need…

Github repository: https://
github.com/alexellis/
motephat-alexa

Pimoroni mote-phat and

accessories (pimoroni.com)

Soldering iron, flux and solder

Control lighting
with the Pi and
Amazon Echo
Control Pimoroni’s home lighting kit for the
Raspberry Pi through the Alexa Skills kit
Natural Language
Parsing (NLP) In 2016, Amazon brought the Echo (£150) and Echo Dot (£50)
The Alexa service sends devices to the UK market, providing a voice assistant for your home.
recordings from your device
to the Amazon cloud where The Alexa service provides lots of built-in features such as radio and
NLP (Natural Language music streaming, creating and editing your shopping lists, weather
Parsing) breaks the words
down into intents and slots. updates and many other custom skills provided by third parties.
A sample phrase such as Skill builders such as Uber and Capital One publish their skills for
“Alexa, what is the weather
for London tomorrow?” the general public, which means they go through a vetting process
would be parsed as an intent similar to that of the Apple App Store. For this tutorial, we will be
of “FindWeather” with two
slots of: Date=tomorrow creating an unpublished skill for our own Echo or Echo Dot to
and Location=London, UK. control the Pimoroni home lighting kit called Mote.
Sample utterances help
cover the many different Our skill will provide utterances for changing the colour of our
ways we can say the same LEDs like “Alexa, ask Mote change to blue” and will let us turn them
thing in a language.
off by saying “Alexa, tell mote turn off.”
84
 Control lighting with the Pi and Amazon Echo Projects

Prepare your hardware Install Docker

01 Prepare your mote-phat add-on board by

attaching and soldering its 40-pin female header,
which will be included in the packaging. If you’re using a
04 Docker is a packaging and runtime system that allows
us to build, ship and run software easily. Run these
two commands then reconnect over SSH.
Pi Zero you will also need to solder a 40-pin male header ```
before continuing. # curl -sSL get.docker.com | sh
# sudo usermod pi -aG docker
Set up the base system ```
Now clone the Github repository and build the Docker image

02 Flash a new SD card with Raspbian Jessie Lite,

making sure to create a file in the boot partition
called ‘ssh’; this will let us connect over SSH remotely and
(this will take some time):
```
# apt-get update && apt-get -qy install git jq
copy/paste commands without needing UI packages or a
# git clone https://github.com/alexellis/
screen. Once plugged in, your Pi will be accessible via ssh
motephat-alexa
[email protected].
# docker build -t alexamote .
Responding to Alexa – Lambda or HTTPS ```
The resulting Docker image contains everything needed for
our application in an isolated package.
03 Alexa can either invoke code over a HTTPS endpoint
(web-service) or via a Lambda function, which is
a piece of code uploaded to Amazon’s AWS service and
invoked on demand. For our tutorial, we’ll set up our own “Our skill will change the
HTTPS endpoint from our Pi to the public internet with the
ngrok tool. Download and unzip ngrok for Linux ARM into / colour of the LEDs”
usr/bin` from https://ngrok.com/download.

85
 Projects Control lighting with the Pi and Amazon Echo

“The flag -p tells Docker to expose the port for our web server
code that talks to Alexa. The -d flag tells the service to run in
the background”

Start the code with Docker Test the endpoint

05 Our project’s code is packaged with all its

dependencies into a single container. We can now
run that in the background and open the ngrok HTTPS
06 Now you can test everything out by sending in
a request just like the one the Alexa SDK creates.
We have captured two samples and saved them in the Git
tunnel to the internet. The flag -p tells Docker to expose the repository. Test going red:
port for our web server code that talks to Alexa. The -d flag ```
tells the service to run in the background. # curl -X POST -H “Content-type: application/
``` json” -d @coloursample.json https://c00738f6.ngrok.io
# docker run --name mote --privileged -d -p ```
5000:5000 alexamote Test turning the lights off:
# ngrok http 5000 > /dev/null & ```
# curl localhost:4040/api/tunnels | jq -r # curl -X POST -H “Content-type: application/
“.tunnels[1].public_url “ json” -d @coloursample.json https://c00738f6.ngrok.io
``` ```

86
 Control lighting with the Pi and Amazon Echo Projects

“Now you can test everything out by sending in a request

just like the one the Alexa SDK creates. We have captured two
samples and saved them in the Git repository”
87
 Projects Control lighting with the Pi and Amazon Echo

Create an Alexa skill

Above Test your codes on
Amazon’s developer website

Docker
Docker is a game-changer
for packaging, deploying and
07 Head over to https://developer.amazon.com/
myapps.html and click Alexa>Alexa Skills Kit>Get
Started. You may need to register for this step and provide
running software. Each time billing information for any purchases you want to make.
you build software, Docker Click Add a New Skill>English UK and type in ‘mote’
creates an image with its own for the name and invocation name fields. For the intent
root filesystem and network schema, copy/paste ‘speechAsssets/intentSchema.json’ and
addresses. Inside a Docker
for sample utterances ‘speechAsssets/sampleUtterances.
container it feels exactly like
a full virtual machine, except txt’. You must also add a custom slot called colour with the
faster, because a container values red/green/blue on separate lines. The custom slot
is regular process with some helps Alexa by providing a list of all the things you could say
advanced syscalls applied for to her – it’s like a parameter in coding.
security and isolation. The
Docker CLI is intuitive for Linux
users with commands like
‘docker ps’, ‘docker run’, and
‘docker kill’. The ‘docker build’
“The custom slot helps Alexa
command uses a Dockerfile,
which is similar to a Makefile.
by providing a list”
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 Control lighting with the Pi and Amazon Echo Projects

Point Alexa to your HTTPS endpoint

08 Under the configuration tab of your Alexa Skill, click

service endpoint type: HTTPs. Then select your
nearest region (this will be Europe in the UK) and paste in
the ngrok URL from earlier.
Now click ‘My development endpoint has a
certificate from a trusted certificate authority’ on the SSL
Certificate tab.
On the Test tab you can type in sample utterances such
as “change to blue” or “turn off” – when you click ‘Ask mote’
a message will be transmitted to your Pi from Alexa’s online
service bypassing the Echo/Dot.
Next steps
Point Alexa to your HTTPS endpoint

09 If everything worked you will be able to talk to

your Echo/Dot. Simply say “Alexa, ask mote change
10 Now that you have created your first skill, maybe you
can think of some ways to extend it or to apply it to
other hardware projects? We think dimming the light could
to red” or “Alexa, ask mote to turn off”. For dimming the be useful and it should be easy to add other colours. If you
brightness level you can take inspiration from Alex’s want to know more about Docker, check out the boxout,
Christmas Tree hack’s source-code at: the Dockerfile on the articles GitHub and Alex’s beginner
http://blog.alexellis.io/christmas-iot-tree/ tutorials at: http://blog.alexellis.io/tag/raspberry-pi/

89
 Projects Create a real-time LED humidity display with Python

What you’ll need…

SenseHAT
Create a real-
time LED
humidity display
with Python
Use the Astro Pi (aka SenseHAT) to take humidity
readings and immediately display the results
Take a Humidity is a measure of how much moisture or water there is in the
different reading air. In this tutorial you will use Python to build a real-time humidity
Humidity measures the display. The program takes and stores a humidity reading using the
amount of water vapour SenseHAT’s on-board sensor. Then it calculates a simple ratio to
there is in the air. You can
replace humidity with ‘sense. determine how many LEDs to turn on. In essence, the higher the
temperature’ to create a simple humidity the more LEDs are turned on. Then the number of LEDs
digital thermometer. Put the
SenseHAT in the fridge or near that need to be turned ‘off’ is calculated and these are added to the
a warm heat source to take list. Finally, you’ll set the program to display and ‘turn on’ the required
various readings.
number of LEDs.

Attach the SenseHAT A test program from sense_hat import

SenseHat

01 Ensuring that your Raspberry

Pi is off, take the SenseHAT
and attach it to the GPIO pins. Slot it
02 Next create a simple program
to take a temperature reading
and test that your SenseHAT is working
sense = SenseHat()
temp = sense.get_
temperature()
firmly into place with the SenseHAT correctly. The SenseHAT has a built-in
print(“Temperature: %s C” %
covering the main body of the Pi. Add heat sensor that can be used to read
temp)
the power supply and boot up the Pi. and return the current temperature. The
Open the LXTerminal Window and sensor is close to the CPU and will pick
type sudo idle3 to open the Python 3 up some of the residual heat. However,
code editor. From the File menu, select on the whole the reading is sound.
New File to create a new program. Import the SenseHAT module and set
the sense variable (lines 1 and 2). Take
a temperature reading and store it in a
variable called temp (line 3). Finally, print
out the current reading (line 4). Save
your program and run it; by pressing F5
on the keyboard.

90
 Create a real-time LED humidity display with Python Projects

Create the live What about LEDs On or Off

humidity reader larger readings?
07 Now you have the total
number of LEDs that need
03 Now that you have tested the
SenseHAT, you can begin to
create the main program. First, import
05 Depending on the time of
year or where you are located,
turning on or off. Write these values
back to the list that you created in (Step
the humidity reading may be very
the SenseHat library (line 1). Then use 5), combining the colour and the total
high. However, above a certain value
the clear code to turn off any LEDs that number of LEDs. First, take the colour of
the readings become insignificant. Set
have previously been on (line 3). This the ‘on’ pixels set in Step 1 and multiply
a conditional to check if the reading
ensures that the LED matrix is reset this by the number of LEDs to turn on.
is greater than 100. If it is then change
each time the program starts. Create Then use the extend list function to
the reading value to 100 (line one
two variables, one for the colour of the write these values into the list created
and two). This means that the top
LEDs when they are on and another in Step 2. For example, if the humidity
humidity reading is set to a maximum
for when they are off. In this example is 50, then the total ‘on LEDs’ will be 32
of 100 and makes the calculation of
the ‘on’ colour is set to red but you and this step will add 32 red-coloured
which LEDs to turn on easier. On the
can change the values to change the LEDs to the led list.
next line create a list called leds which
colours to your own preference. will store the number of LEDs to turn
From sense_hat import on or off. The SenseHAT has 64 LEDs leds.extend([on_pix]*on_count)
SenseHat so calculate the value of humidity
sense = SenseHat() which each LED represents (line four). Add the ‘off’ pixels to the
sense.clear()
(Each LED represents a value of 0.64 list and turn on the LEDs
humidity.) Note that the first two
on_pix = [255,0,0] lines are indented in line with the
off_pix = [0,0,0] previous step.
08 In Step 6 you calculated the
number of LEDs that needed to
be turned off using the code: off_count
Take a humidity reading if hum > 100: = 64 - on_count. Use this value and
hum = 100 multiply it by the colour that you set

04 Now it’s time to take a

humidity reading and
round it to one decimal place. Begin
leds = []
ratio = 64 / 100.0
for the LEDs when they are off, in Step
1. (In this tutorial, (0, 0, 0).) Use the code,
‘extend’ to create a list which holds
by creating a while True loop (line the 64 LEDs and record how many of
1), which means the program will LEDs On or Off these are ‘on’ and how many are ‘off’.
continually take a reading and display Now read the list and plot it onto the
the results. This ensures that the LED
06 You now have the SenseHAT LED matrix using the code:
display is always updated and the sense.set_pixels(leds) line 2.
components to work out
readings are ‘live’. On line 2 create a
the number of LEDs to turn on to
variable to store the humidity reading. leds.extend([off_pix]*off_
represent the humidity. The formula
The reading will be very accurate count)
ratio*hum takes the humidity reading
and contain several values after the
and multiples it by the ratio from Step sense.set_pixels(leds)
decimal point. These are not required,
5. For example, if the humidity reading
so round up the reading to one
decimal place (line 3).
is 50, then 50 multiplied by the ratio Run the program
equals 32, half the LEDs. Convert this
to an integer using int and store the
while True:
hum = sense.humidity
value in a variable called on_count
(line 1). To calculate the number of
09 That completes the program.
Press F5 to save and run the
program. Watch the LED display, which
hum = round(hum,1) ‘off’ LEDs, subtract the number of ‘on’
will display the current humidity as a
LEDs from 64, since there are 64 LEDs
ratio of the 64 LEDs. Try huffing onto the
in total (line 2).
humidity sensor to see what happens.
The number of LEDs displayed should
on_count = int (ratio*hum) increase. Challenge family and friends to
off_count = 64 - on_count see who can light up the most LEDs.

91
 Projects Turn your Pi into a Tor proxy with Onion Pi

What you’ll need…

Raspberry Pi:
Turn your Pi into
Tor:
https://www.torproject.org/

a Tor proxy with

Onion Pi
Turn your Raspberry Pi into a wireless access point
to access the anonymous Tor network
In this age of ubiquitous surveillance it’s harder than ever to stop
hackers, advertisers and shadowy government organisations from
snooping on your browsing habits.
However if you choose to connect through Tor, your connection
is encrypted and passed through a number of proxies through a
process known as ‘onion routing’. While this does slow down your
connection, it also increases your privacy, making it extremely
difficult to trace your actual current location.
Follow the steps in this tutorial to turn your Pi into a wireless AP
(Access Point) named Onion_Pi. Any devices connecting to Onion_
Pi will do so over the Tor network. When you’re done, use a service
like www.whatismyip.com to see that your location has changed.
For more information about Tor visit https://www.torproject.org/
about/overview.html.en.

Did you know…

The Tor network is a group of
servers or ‘relays’ operated by
volunteers. When you start tor
on the Pi, it will build a circuit
of encrypted connections
through relays on the network.
Each relay only knows the
last relay a data packet came
from and where it’s going,
meaning it’s extremely difficult
to trace the data back to you.
Tor also changes the circuits
it uses every few minutes to
make it even harder to find
your machine.

92
 Turn your Pi into a Tor proxy with Onion Pi Projects

Connect to Pi and check ‘wlan0’. Press Ctrl + X, Y, return to save #DAEMON_CONF=”/etc/hostapd/

and close. Run the commands sudo hostapd.conf”
wireless is detected update-rc.d hostapd enable and sudo Don’t forget to remove the # in front
update-rc.d isc-dhcp-server enable to to activate it. Repeat these same

01 Attach your Pi to your router via

the Ethernet cable, then either
open Terminal on the Pi or connect
make sure your changes start.

Set static IP
steps for hostapd with the command
sudo nano /etc/init.d/hostapd again
modifying the line #DAEMON_
to it via SSH. Run the command sudo CONF=”” so that it reads DAEMON_
ifconfig -a. You should see the text
wlan0 which shows that the wireless 05 Run sudo nano /etc/network/
interfaces. If you see the text
‘auto wlan0’ add a ‘#’ at the start to
CONF=”/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf”

module is up and running.

comment it out. Find the line allow-
Configure Tor
hotplug wlan0 and delete the two
Install essential software lines below it. Replace them with:
iface wlan0 inet static
08 Run sudo nano /etc/tor/
torrc to configure Tor. Find

02 Run the command sudo

apt-get update then sudo
apt-get install hostapd isc-dhcp-server
address 192.168.42.1
netmask 255.255.255.0
## https://www.torproject.org/docs/
faq#torrc and after it paste:
Log notice file /var/log/tor/
tor iptables-persistent to install the Run sudo ifconfig wlan0 192.168.42.1 notices.log
software. When you install iptables- to set your IP. VirtualAddrNetwork
persistent you’ll be asked if you want 10.192.0.0/10
to save the rules for your current Configure the
AutomapHostsSuffixes .onion,.
configuration. Select ‘Yes’ both times. Access Point exit
AutomapHostsOnResolve 1
Configure the
DHCP server 06 Run sudo nano /etc/hostapd/
hostapd.conf to create a blank
file. Paste in the following:
TransPort 9040
TransListenAddress
192.168.42.1
03 Run sudo nano /etc/dhcp/ interface=wlan0
dhcpd.conf. Find the two lines driver=nl80211 DNSPort 53
beginning ‘option domain-name’ and ssid=Onion_Pi DNSListenAddress 192.168.42.1
put a ‘#’ at the start of each. Remove Save and exit. Run sudo update-rc.d
country_code=US
the ‘#’ from the line ‘#authoritative’. tor enable to make Tor start on boot.
hw_mode=g
Scroll to the end and type:
channel=6
subnet 192.168.42.0 netmask
macaddr_acl=0
Configure IP Tables
255.255.255.0 {
range 192.168.42.10
192.168.42.50;
auth_algs=1
ignore_broadcast_ssid=0 09 Run sudo nano /etc/tor/
torrc to configure Tor. Find
## https://www.torproject.org/docs/
option broadcast-address wpa=2
wpa_passphrase=Raspberry faq#torrc and after it paste:
192.168.42.255;
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK sudo iptables -t nat -A
option routers 192.168.42.1;
PREROUTING -i wlan0 -p tcp --dport
default-lease-time 600; wpa_pairwise=CCMP
22 -j REDIRECT --to-ports 22
max-lease-time 7200; wpa_group_rekey=86400
sudo iptables -t nat -A
option domain-name “local”; ifieee80211n=1 PREROUTING -i wlan0 -p udp --dport
option domain-name-servers wme_enabled=1 53 -j REDIRECT --to-ports 53
8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4; sudo iptables -t nat -A
} Apply Access Point PREROUTING -i wlan0 -p tcp
configuration --syn -j REDIRECT --to-ports
Edit interface 9040

04 Run sudo nano /etc/default/

isc-dhcp-server. Scroll to
07 Run sudo nano /etc/default/
hostapd. Find the line: and run:
Next, make your changes permanent:
sudo sh -c “iptables-save >
#DAEMON_CONF=”” /etc/iptables/rules.v4”
the word INTERFACES=”” and insert Edit it so it says: Reboot your Pi when done.

93
 Projects Make a doomsday switch

What you’ll need…

Suitable for all models of
Make a
doomsday
Raspberry Pi

switch
Keep your data safe with a handy ‘nuke’ password
to erase your home folder in case of emergency

If you’re worried about the somewhat Orwellian notion of forced

disclosure of passwords, this project posits a rather radical solution
to the dilemma by creating a second password for your user
account, which, instead of logging you in, will nuke your home
folder using special tools.
While this is simple to set up, do make sure to back up your
personal data to a safe place before going ahead. Also bear in mind
that anyone with physical access to your machine may seize it
before you have a chance to flip this kill switch.

Hidden extras
In addition to the srm
command in the nuke script,
which securely erases the
home folder, you may have
noticed two other commands,
sfill and smem. Remove the
# at the start of these lines to
overwrite the free space in the
Create your new user account
/home folder and clean any

01
files in the Pi’s virtual memory Create a new Pi account for sudo adduser name
(RAM) respectively. This will this project even if you already Add your new user as an Admin with:
take much longer than the srm have one by opening Terminal on sudo adduser name sudo
command on its own but is a
your Pi or connecting via SSH and Substitute ‘name’ with your
good deal safer.
running the command: chosen username.

94
 Make a doomsday switch Projects

Create your Nuke script

02 You should stay logged into

the ‘Pi’ user for now and run
the following command: Modify the script Test your new account
sudo nano /etc/security/
security.sh
In the new window, paste 04 Run nuke script on login
Make your nuke script 07 Reboot your Pi and log into
your new user account using
the normal login password. Check that
the following: executable with the command…
your files are where you need them.
#!/bin/bash sudo chmod a+x security.sh
read password Next run…
# If the username and sudo nano /etc/pam.d/common-
password match... auth
if [ “$PAM_USER” = …to open the Pluggable
“name” ] && [ “$password” = Authentication Modules (PAM).
“nukepassword” ] Find the line starting ‘auth
then [success=1…’ and change this to ‘auth
#Begin Nuke Process [success=2…’. Immediately below this
echo “Nuke is starting.” line, paste the following:
#Securely erase the home
folder Test your nuke switch
srm -rvvv /home/name/
echo “Home folder has been
erased.”
#Overwrite the /home folder
08 If your data is backed up,
there’s no harm checking your
nuke password works. Reboot the Pi
with random data once again. Select your new username
#sfill /home and enter the nuke password. The
echo “Home folder has been system will hang while it removes
overwritten”
Install secure delete tools your files.
#Clean RAM memory
#smem
echo “RAM is clean” 05 Run the command…
sudo apt-get install
echo “User data has been secure-delete
nuked.” …to install the tools necessary to
fi erase your home folder securely.
exit 0
Substitute ‘name’ with your Check nuke logs
chosen username.

Migrate your data

(Optional) 09 You can still connect to the Pi
via SSH while the nuke script is
running. Use the command…
Modify the script cat /tmp/pam.log
06 If you previously had
personal data in another
…to check the progress of the nuke.
Any further attempts to log in will just

03 In Line 5, substitute ‘name’

and ‘nukepassword’ for the
username of your new account and
user account, you should take this
chance to move data across from
that account to another from your
take the user back to the login screen.

the desired nuke password. Make sure backup drive. If you wish to delete
this is different to your current one. the originals, do so using the new
Change ‘srm -rvvv /home/name/’ to secure-delete tools, for instance:
the path of your real home folder. ‘srm -r /home/bob/Pictures’

95
 Projects Get hands on with the Pimoroni Blinkt!

What you’ll need…

Pimoroni Blinkt!
Get hands
on with the
Pimoroni Blinkt!
Learn the basics and create sparkling
Who is using the
Internet?
lights with your Blinkt!
Do you live in a household or Pimoroni has created an awesome ‘super-bright RGB LED indicator’
work in an office where several
people use the Internet? Are that is ideal for adding visual notifications to your Raspberry Pi
there numerous devices always without breaking the bank! The Blinkt! offers eight APA102 pixels in
connected to the network
that suck the bandwidth up the smallest (and cheapest) form factor to plug straight into your
and slow down the speed for Raspberry Pi 3/2/B+/A+/Zero. This tutorial walks you through how
all other users? Combine the
Blinkt with Python and nmap to install the Blinkt! and the required Python libraries and modules.
to identify users, track them Next, create and try out some simple code to control the lights and
on the network and create a
colourful LED visual for each change the colours and the brightness of the LEDs. Finally, combine
user as they join and leave the these skills together to code an LED colour generator that selects a
network. Watch the video here:
youtu.be/r_JDw65FTMA. random LED and a random RGB colour value for the range of eight
lights. This creates a psychedelic disco-light setup.

Turn on an LED

02 To turn on an LED, open your Python editor and

import the required Python module, line 1. Use the
code set_pixel(), line 2, to set which pixels are turned on. The
first number in the brackets corresponds to each LED. As with
Install the Blinkt! the common computing method of numbering, the first LED
is referred to by the number zero, the second LED is number

01 The guys at Pimoroni have made it very easy to

install the software for your Blinkt! (which also
includes a wide selection of cool examples to show off
one and so on up to the eighth LED, number seven. Copy the
code below and run the program to turn the first LED on.
from blinkt import set_pixel, show
its features). To get started, ensure that the power is off,
set_pixel(0,255,0,0) show()
attach the Blinkt! to the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO pins and push
down firmly. One side of it is straight and one is curved.
The curved edges align with the curved corners of your
Raspberry Pi. This ensures that you attach it the correct
way round. Now attach your power supply and boot up
your Pi. Open the Terminal and type:
curl -sS get.pimoroni.com/blinkt | bash
This will install all the required code.

96
 Get hands on with the Pimoroni Blinkt! Projects

Change the colour of an LED Create a random blinking light

03 The next three values in the brackets (x, 255, 210,

150), are used to control the colour of the LED with
the standard RGB colour palette. You can control and set
06 Combine the previous code steps and create a
random set of sparkling disco lights! Begin by
selecting a new blank Python file and importing the
the amount of Red, Green and Blue between the values of random module, line Finally, import the codes to clear the
0 and 255; the higher the number, the more of that colour LEDs when the program exits, set a particular pixel to on
is displayed on the LED. Combining these values gives you and reduce the brightness, line 3. Line 4 enables the LEDs to
over 16 million possible combinations and colours. Change clear on exit and line 5 sets your required brightness value.
the values in your code, save and then run. import random
set_pixel(0,255,255,0) show() import time
from blinkt import set_clear_on_exit,
Adjust the brightness of the LEDs set_pixel, show, set_brightness
set_clear_on_exit()

04 You may find that the LEDs are too bright to look at.
It is not advisable to look at them for long periods
as they may damage your eyes. Instead, turn down the
set_brightness(0.1)

Create a while loop and set random values

brightness so that they can be viewed safely. First, import

07
the brightness module, line 1. You can import multiple Now create a while loop to ensure that the program
modules by including the ‘module name’ on the same continually repeats and loops over the code, line 1.
line– for example, from blinkt import set_pixel, show, Use a for loop to iterate the code over each of the LEDs. This
set_brightness. Now set the brightness to a suitable level, has the effect of applying the next instruction to each of the
line 2. The values range between zero and one, where one LEDs, working from the first LED to the last, line 2. Turn the
is full brightness and zero renders all the LEDs off. LED on using the set_pixel code, line 3.
from blinkt import set_brightness while True:
 set_brightness(0.5)
for i in range(8):
set_pixel(i,
Turn on multiple lights
Select a random colour
05 Turn multiple LEDs to on using the set_pixel code

08
and then set the RGB colour values. Remember that When coding the LED, state the RGB colour values
for the LED number, ‘zero’ is the first LED, as you count from of the LED as covered in step 3; use the code
zero upwards. The last LED is number seven. Try turning on random.randint(0,255). Add two more incidences of the
two or more LEDs; for example, the last LED set to red and code to select values for the Green and Blue colours. Set
the fourth LED set to blue. Save and run the program. the LEDs to display the colour using the code show(); note
set_pixel(7,255,0,0) show() that this line doesn’t have an indent. Finally, add a short time
set_pixel(3,0,0,255) show() delay so that you can observe the lights before they change.
set_pixel(i, random.randint(0,255), random.
randint(0,255), random.randint(0,255))
show()
time.sleep(0.05)

Run the program

09 Save your program file and run it by pressing F5;

call the file a suitable name. Press Enter and the
program will run, displaying a variation of random colours
on each of the LEDs. Experiment with the colour values to
create variations that you like and also to speed up or slow
down the delay between changes.

97
 Projects Create a Pi-powered virtual reality setup

What you’ll need…

Raspberry Pi 3
Create a
Pi-powered
8GB SD card
Xbox 360 controller
Oculus Rift Developer Kit

virtual
(optional)

reality setup
Combine the Raspberry Pi, Python-VRZero and 3D
graphics module Pi3D to edit or make virtual
reality environments

Virtual Reality is huge now and has come a long way since the
concepts and CGI visuals of Stephen King’s Lawnmower Man. It is
one of the fastest growing areas of technology and you can now
design models, explore new places and play games all within a
virtual environment.
A professional VR hardware package is expensive and will set you
back several hundred pounds. However, it’s possible to emulate the
VR setup up using a Raspberry Pi, Python-VRZero and a 3D graphics
module, Pi3D. Now, this is purely for fun and learning, so don’t
expect huge gaming PC frame rates, although some of the demos
do peak at around 25-30 FPS on a Raspberry
Pi 3. This tutorial shows you how you create
a VR setup using the Raspberry Pi 3, a Xbox
360 controller and some Python code. Our
first steps will walk you through how to
install the required software and modules.
We’ll then cover configuring the hardware
and drivers to enable you to control
movement within the VR environment.
The final steps look at the program code
structure, where you can develop your own
versions of the VR demo or design and
build your own virtual worlds.
98
 Create a Pi-powered virtual reality setup Projects

Python-VRZero to date by adding

the code --upgrade
to the end of the
01 Using Python-VRZero is a
frictionless way to get started
creating your own virtual reality worlds
first line. Then
install Pi3D software
which will render
in Python on a Raspberry Pi and
the images. Type the
combine an Oculus Rift. The program
two lines below as shown and
adds a number of features on top
press Enter.
of Pi3D and solves the headaches of
configuring a Pi 3 for VR development sudo apt-get install -y
in Python. It includes default input libhidapi-libusb0 xboxdrv
event handling for keyboard, mouse, sudo pip3 install pi3d==2.14
controller and the Rift for moving
and altering the view of the player. Install the VR software –
It also supports Xbox 360 controller
configuration and uses OpenHMD
part 1
to read the rotational sensor reading
from the Rift.
05 The Python-VRzero is available
from the GitHub website and is
Fresh SD card install easy downloaded using the git clone
command, line one. Type this into your
LXTerminal. Then move to the python-
02 Before you get started, it is
recommended that you use
a new SD card with a fresh installed
vrzero folder (line two) and install the
program (line three). This deploys
the software to interact between the
image of the Raspberry Pi’s official
hardware, 3D software and
operating system, Raspbian. You
VR environment.
can download the operating system
directly from the Raspberry Pi website sudo git clone https://
at https://www.raspberrypi.org/ github.com/WayneKeenan/python-
downloads. Install using your normal vrzero
preferred method. This project setup cd python-vrzero
was tested using the Pixel OS image. sudo python3 setup.py
install
Update the Pi
Install the VR
03 Boot up your Raspberry Pi. At
this stage you do not need to
software – part 2

06
connect the Xbox 360 controller or Once the installation completes,
Oculus Rift. When loaded, open the select and install the OpenHMD
Try some
LXTerminal and update and upgrade (line one) which enables the data from other demos
the OS typing the two lines below. the Oculus Rift sensors to be read and
This may take some time. worked with. Type line one into the You may be interested
sudo apt-get update in trying out some other
LXTerminal and press Enter, then line
demonstrations which are
sudo apt-get upgrade two to install the required module. availble at https://github.com/
Enter line three and press Enter to link pi3d/pi3d_demos. Perhaps
Install the Xbox 360 together all the required libraries: try riding a Roller Coaster or
driving a tank! This resource
controller drivers also provides a guide how to
sudo dpkg -i install/
create your own models

04 Now install the package openhmd_0.0.1-1_armhf.deb using the Pi3D python library
dependencies for the Xbox 360 sudo apt-get install -f and code.
controller. You can keep the library up sudo ldconfig

99
 Projects Create a Pi-powered virtual reality setup

Copy over the configura- kit, you will need to copy over the Restart and plug in
tion files – part 1 configuration file into the config.txt

12
file. This file contains the configuration This completes the installation

07 To interact with the Oculus settings for the operating system and project setup. From the
Rift’s rotation sensor and the which are loaded when you Raspberry LXTerminal, shutdown the Raspberry
Xbox 360 controller, you’ll need to Pi boots up. Type the line below into Pi (line one). Attach the Xbox 360
copy over the configuration files. the LXTerminal and press Enter. controller and if you have one, the
This enables you to orientate and Oculus Rift. Turn the Rift on first
look around the environments. As sudo cp config/config_DK1.txt before starting the Pi to ensure that
you turn your head to the left the VR /boot/config.txt it registers the hardware when the Pi
environment will adjust as if you are boots up:
looking to the left. Type both of the Rift Development Kit 2
lines below into the LXTerminal and sudo shutdown

10
press Enter after each line: If you have access the Oculus
Rift development kit version Hardware controls
sudo cp config/83-hmd.rules 2, then you will again be required to and setup
/etc/udev/rules.d/ copy over a configuration file. Except
this time select the config_DK2.
sudo cp config/xboxdrv.init /
etc/init.d/xboxdrv txt file and copy the contents to the
boot/config file. In the LXTerminal
13 Python-VRzero sets up sensible
defaults for handling input
events from attached devices. The
type the line below and press enter. keyboard controls movement and the
Ensure that you select the correct default mappings are: WSAD, SPACE
configuration for the kit version which for jump and ENTER for action. The
you have. mouse controls looking (and direction
of travel when moving). Mouse button
sudo cp config/config_DK2. 1 is action and mouse button 2 is
txt /boot/config.txt jump. An Xbox 360 controller controls
movement and view using the left
Complete the set up and right stick respectively. The ‘A’
Copy over the configura- button is ‘action’ and the ‘B’ button is
tion files – part 2
11 Finally run two commands. The
first command (line one) enables
jump. The OpenHMD library is used
to read the HMD sensor data. VR

08 The Xbox 360 controller

setup requires an additional
command line to copy the default
the root-less USB udev config setup
which was set up earlier in Step 7. The
second command (line two) disables
Zero automatically rotates the Pi3D
Steroscopic camera in response to
HMD readings.
configuration file to the folder which BluetoothLE. This is required as it stops
contains the Xbox Drivers. This file the OpenGL ES, from hanging. Ensure
contains all the mapping for the that each line is typed in as printed,
Running a demo
buttons, paddles and joysticks. Type in and press Enter after each line to
the line as shown below and
press Enter:
enable the command to run: 14 Now for the fun part, which is
to run a demo program and
immerse yourself in a VR world. There
sudo udevadm control are several to choose from, and each
sudo cp config/xboxdrv. --reload-rules one demonstrates the features of the
defaults /etc/default/xboxdrv sudo systemctl disable Python–VRZero program. The demos
hciuart need to be run using Python 3 and
Rift Development Kit 1 executed as a script from the demos
folder. (If you are using a Oculus Rift

09 If you do not have an Oculus

Rift kit you can still use a HDMI
monitor to display the output. Move
you will need to navigate to the
folder via the display inside the Rift
headset.) Open the LX Terminal, and
to Step 11. If you own or have access move to the python-vrzero/demos
to the Oculus Rift Development folder, line one. To list the available

100
 Create a Pi-powered virtual reality setup Projects

demos type ls, this will list the file Alter the message
names of all the demos. To run a Keep up to date
17
demo type ./ followed by the name Return to your Python editor
of the demo, for example to run the and locate line 71. This holds Python-VRzero is an ongoing
abbey demo type, ./abbey.py (line the message which is displayed in the development, and updates
2). You will be presented with a VR shapes VR demo. Change the text to and improvement are always
render of Buckfast Abbey, to end the being added. Refer to the
a sentence of your choice.Save and
environment simply press Escape on GitHub repository for the latest
run the program. Congratulations updates: https://github.com/
the keyboard. you have now begun to modify your WayneKeenan/python-vrzero
own VR demos. Experiment with the
cd python-vrzero/demos program files for each of the demos
./abbey.py editing the textures. For example,
how about creating a church made
out of chocolate? If you want to try
Editing the textures other demos, go to https://github.
com/pi3d/pi3d_demos.
15 If you have used Pi3D before
you can access the program
template to set up your own models.
If not, then change the textures
in the Shape demo program. First
open the LXTerminal and type sudo
idle 3 to load Python 3. Select File
and open, navigate to the following
folder /home/pi/python-vrzero/
demos and select the shapes.
py program. Locate line 14 which
begins patimg = pi3d (pictured, top
of the page). This is the first line of
code which tells the program which
textures to load for each shape.
There are several after which can also
be edited.

Change a texture

16 Using the folder explorer, click

the file icon to navigate to the
textures in the texture folder /home/
pi/python-vrzero/demos/textures.
You will see the files that are used for
the shapes demo. Replace the image
file with one of your own and then
on line 14 of the program change
the file name to match your selected
image file choice.
If you don’t want to use your own
texture file then you can change the
file name to one of the other image
files listed in the folder. Press F5 to
save and run the demo. You will
notice that the shape textures
have changed.

101
 Projects Build a networked Hi-Fi with a Pi Zero

What you’ll need…

Github repository
Build your own
networked
http://github.com/alexellis/pyPlaylist

pimoroni pHAT DAC

Soldering iron, flux & solder

Hi-Fi with a
Pi Zero
Put the Pimoroni pHAT DAC together with a Pi Zero
to create a networked Hi-Fi

Take advantage of the UK’s online radio stations, Linux’s popular

Music Player Daemon, and utilise a responsive web-server to control
it all. The full-sized Raspberry Pis have two built-in audio outputs:
audio over HDMI cable and a 3.5mm headphone jack that can suffer
interference and noise. The Pi Zero itself has no audio
jacks but Pimoroni has come to the
rescue and built a high-quality
DAC (digital audio converter)
using the same chip as the
Hi-Fi berry (PCM5102A).

Did you know…

We wrote pyPlaylist with the
Python flask framework, which
is an ideal starting point for
simple RESTful websites. The
front-end code saves the screen
from completely reloading by
using jQuery to update the
song or radio information.
Bootstrap has been employed
to make the pages responsive
(compatible with your PC,
phone and tablet). The code
has been released under GPL,
so why not fork the code and
tweak it to your own needs?

102
 Build a networked Hi-Fi with a Pi Zero Projects

Solder the headers Install Music Player give us a way of controlling our Hi-Fi
through a web-browser. The following
Daemon (MPD) will install pyPlaylist on Raspbian:

01 The pHAT DAC comes with a

03
40-pin header, which you will Now go on to install the MPD sudo pip install flask
need to solder. We consider a flux package and enable it to start python-mpd2
pen, work-lamp and thin gauge 60/40 on boot. MPD will be the backbone cd ~
solder essential for this. An optional of the project, providing playback of git clone https://github.com/
RCA jack can also be bought to give a MP3s and internet radio stations. The alexellis/pyPlaylist
phono-lead output for older stereos. MPC (client) software is also installed
cd pyPlaylist
for debugging and setting up your
./raspbian_install.sh
Install drivers initial playlists.

02 The DAC relies on I2C, so we

have to load some additional
kernel modules. If you are running
sudo apt-get install mpd mpc
sudo systemctl enable mpd “An optional RCA
Raspbian then you can type in the
following for a one-script installation
Clone and install pyPlaylist jack can also be
web-server
over secure HTTP:
curl -sS https://get.pimoroni.
bought to give a
com/phatdac | bash
While HTTPS provides a secure 04 NpyPlaylist is a responsive
(mobile-ready) web-server
phono-lead output
download, curious types may want to
review the script before running it.
written with Python & Flask web
framework. Once configured it will
for older stereos”
103
 Projects Build a networked Hi-Fi with a Pi Zero

Choose the of the playlists are available, as shown in

Did you know… radio stations the list below:

In Raspbian/Jessie the
controversial systemd software
was added, giving a highly
modular way of managing
05 We have put together a list of
some popular radio stations
in the UK which can be run into MPD
$ mpc ls
BBC6Music
start-up scripts among with the add_stations.sh file. You can BBCRadio1
other things. While systemd edit this file or find your own from this BBCRadio2
configuration files are now site: http://radiofeeds.co.uk. BBCRadio4
considered best practice,
CapitalXtra
they can take time to fully
understand. For that reason we cd ~/pyPlaylist KissFM
would suggest using cron to ./add_stations.sh
start the script on reboot as a If you decide that you want to remove
temporary measure. one of the stations then just type in
crontab -e
Review the stations the following:
@reboot /usr/bin/python
/home/pi/pyPlaylist/
app.py
06 Each of the radio station are
added into their own playlists
– the mpc ls command shows which
mpc rm BBC6Music

104
 Build a networked Hi-Fi with a Pi Zero Projects

Start the web-server

07 Now that we have some

stations, we can run the web-
server from the pyPlaylist directory. Then
open up a web browser to start playing
a radio station. The following command
reveals your IP address on Raspbian:

$ ./raspbian_get_ip.sh
192.168.0.20

Once you know the IP address, connect

to the URL in a web-browser on port
5000, ie

http://192.168.0.20:5000/

Add a custom
music playlist

08 Now put together a sub-

directory with your music files
under /var/lib/mpd/music/ and ensure
that mpd:audio has access to read it.
Then we update mpd’s database, clear
out the current playlist and add in all the
tracks from the new directory (ambient),
finally saving it as a new playlist.

mpc update
mpc clear

mpc ls ambient | mpc add

mpc save ambient

Finishing up

09 Now your music player is

functioning, all that’s left to do is “Now that we have some stations, we can
to add some speakers, obviously! Almost
anything with a RCA or 3.5mm input run the web-server from the pyPlaylist
source will work for this purpose. That
part we will leave up to you.
directory. Then open up a web browser
To take a look at the code here in full, go to start playing a radio station”
to http://bit.ly/290maiH. Go ahead and
enjoy the tunes!

105
 Projects Use Raspberry Pi to take control of your drone

What you’ll need…

Wi-Fi enabled Raspberry Pi

Use Raspberry Pi
to take control of
Parrot Drone 2.0 (or other)

your drone
Create code which enables you to customise and
automate drone flights, retrieve flight data and respond
to the drone tag

Drones are becoming ever more popular and mainstream. You

may already be aware that Amazon is currently working on
using drones to deliver packages directly to your
house within hours of you placing an order,
creating a new requirement for them to be
autonomous and programmable.
This tutorial offers a little taster of a Python
module which enables you to write and deploy
programs to your drone. The API used is now a few years old
(2014) and supports operation with Python 2.7. However, it offers
a number of simple methods for beginners to create their own
programs and spark your curiosity.
The tutorial begins with a quick walkthrough on installing the
required software and libraries. Then jump straight in and create
a simple but inspiring program which, when run, automatically
launches the drone and then lands it. The tutorial covers the
instructions to connect to the drone via the Raspberry Pi’s Wi-Fi and
then deploy your programs. You will then learn how to automate
the drone and program a predetermined set of flight actions; for
example, fly forward, turn left, turn right and then land. You can
experiment with the various movements and create your own
versions and flight plans. The final section of the tutorial introduces
the use of the ‘tag’ symbol which can be recognised by the drone’s
front-facing camera. Once recognised, flight data is sent back to the
drone and you can use these values to trigger an action or response
such as flying forward towards the tag or landing the drone.
106
 Use Raspberry Pi to take control of your drone Projects

Update Pi and install Test program – part 3

drone API
04 The last stage is to use the
time library to add a short
01 This project uses a Python API
which enables you to access
and control the drone directly with
delay between the drone taking off
and then landing. This can be used to
check the connections are working
Python code. To get started, update
by setting the delay to two seconds,
your Raspberry Pi using the standard
which is enough time to start the
update and upgrade commands
rotors and stop them without the
(sudo apt-get update, sudo apt-get
drone leaving the ground. To land
upgrade). Then, using the web
the drone, use drone.land(). Add the
browser on your Pi or other computer,
following two lines to your program
head over to www.playsheep.de/
and save it, ensuring that the file is
drone/downloads.html, right-click on
in the same folder as the PS-Drone
the PS-Drone API program and save it.
API file.
time.sleep(2)
drone.land()
Test program – part 1
Connect to the drone
via Wi-Fi
02 The PS-Drone API file
requires no installation, but
it must be placed into the same
folder as the Python files that you 05 Before the program will
interact with the drone, you
create to control your drone. Open need to connect to it via the wireless Hints and tips
the LXTerminal and type sudo idle network that it creates. Each drone has
to open the Python 2 programming an on-board router which creates and When connecting to the drone
environment. Begin by creating broadcasts an open network. Power via the Raspberry Pi, there are
a simple test program which will up the drone and wait for it to run possible errors. Many have
launch the drone and then land it. the preflight checks. Success is usually been resolved in the PS-Drone
Start a new file and import the time indicated by four green lights. Then API version two.
and PS-Drone module. use the network finder on your Pi to 1) Sometimes, running a
search for the drone. Double-click to program after a previous
import time
connect. Note that it requires no key or program has finished can result
import ps_drone in the error ‘address in use’.
password to connect. This is because the drone/Pi
has not disconnected from the
Run the program network socket. Simply reset
Test Program part 2 your Pi.

06 To run the program, you’ll 2) Always ensure that the

03 The next step is to initialise

the drone, setting up and
opening a communication connection
need to execute it from the
LXTerminal window. Open the Terminal
drone has completed its
startup checks and is online,
indicated by four green LEDs,
and use cd to navigate to the folder before you attempt to connect
between it and the Raspberry Pi. Begin where your test program is saved. To run to it.
by initialising the API, then connect the program, type sudo python name_ 3) When using the ‘tag’, it
to the drone via the software, starting of_the_file.py and press Enter. (In this is easier to recognise if the
the subprocesses. Next, add the tutorial, the file is named take_off_land). background is in contrast; for
command to launch the drone; this Ensure you have enough space to safely example, white paper against
uses the code drone.takeoff(). launch the drone. If not, then set the a white shirt does not aid
identification. Check out the
drone = ps_drone.Drone() time value to one.
tag hack in action at https://
drone.startup() sudo python name_of_the_file. youtu.be/gXKdUhz7zAw.
drone.takeoff() py

107
 Projects Use Raspberry Pi to take control of your drone

Automate the drone Fly backwards Tag detection

07 Now that you have a working

connection and program,
adapt it to move or fly the drone. Start
09 Once the drone has stopped,
it will hover until it receives
another command. On the next line
12 The drone software has the
capability to use the forward-
facing camera to identify and read
a new Python file and import the down, add the code to fly the drone a ‘tag’. Once detected, this can then
ps_drone. Then, as before, initialise backwards. Again, you will need to be used to trigger an event such as
the API and connect to the drone. Set add a short time delay, then stop the landing the drone or flying it towards
the drone to take off, but this time drone. Finally, set the code to land the tag. Begin the program by starting
set the time delay to 7.5 seconds. This the drone. a new Python file; import the time and
provides sufficient time for the drone drone.moveBackward() sys modules. Next, import ps_drone.
to take off, stabilise itself and wait for time.sleep(1.5) As before, add the startup and
the next commands. connect to the subprocesses.
drone.stop()
import time import time, sys
time.sleep(2)
import ps_drone import ps_drone
drone.land()
drone = ps_drone.Drone() drone = ps_drone.Drone()
drone.startup() Run the program drone.startup()
drone.takeoff()

10
time.sleep(7.5) Ensure that your Pi is
connected to the drone’s
network, as shown in Step 5. Tag settings – part 1
Fly forward Remember that the program needs

08 Add the code to fly the drone

forward; this is simply drone.
to be executed from the Terminal
window. As before, open it and use
cd to navigate to the folder where the
13 There are four configuration
settings to set. First, reset the
drone (line one) so that the status
moveForward(). Then add a pause program is saved. To run the program, is set to ‘good’, as indicated by four
which represents the duration that type sudo python name_of_the_file. green LEDs. Use the code drone.
you want the drone to fly forward py and press Enter. useDemoMode(True) to use a dataset
for. In this example, the drone flies of 15 when transferring the data from
forward for two seconds. Next, stop the camera. Now set which packets
the drone. Like a car, this requires a
Turning left or right will be decoded. Finally, set a small
stopping time, so add a short time time delay to enable the drone to fully
delay; you can match the delay value
used when flying forward. You can test 11 Modify the same program to
alter the flight direction of the
drone. This uses the code lines, drone.
awake after the reset.
drone.reset()
this program before moving onto the
turnLeft() and drone.turnRight(). drone.useDemoMode(True)
next steps.
After each call, remember to state the drone.
drone.moveForward()
duration or time that the action runs getNDpackage([“demo”,”vision_
time.sleep(2) detect”])
for. For example, using time.sleep(2)
drone.stop() will turn the drone left or right for two time.sleep(0.5)
time.sleep(2) seconds. After the required time, stop
the turning action using the code
drone.stop(). This returns the drone to
Tag settings – part 2
the hovering state. Add the relevant
“Ensure your Pi code to your program and then save
it. Connect and run as previously 14 In this second set of,
start by enabling the
is connected demonstrated in Steps 5 and 6. universal detection by setting
the detect type to a value of 3.
to the drone’s drone.turnLeft()
time.sleep(2)
This triggers the drone to look

network” drone.stop()
for the specific tag. Disable
detection from the ground
time.sleep(2) camera. Then set the drone

108
 Use Raspberry Pi to take control of your drone Projects

configuration count. time.sleep(0.01) : X= “+str(tagX[i])+” Y=

drone. if drone.getKey(): “+str(tagY[i])+” Dist=
setConfig(“detect:detect_type”, stop = True “+str(tagZ[i])+” Orientation=
“3”) # Loop ends when key was “+str(tagRot[i])
drone. pressed distance = int(tagZ[i])
setConfig(“detect:detections_ tagNum = drone. print (distance)
select_h”, “128”) NavData[“vision_detect”][0] if distance > 300:
drone. tagX = drone. print (“Moving Forward”)
setConfig(“detect:detections_ NavData[“vision_detect”][2] drone.moveForward()
select_v”, “0”) tagY = drone. time.sleep(2)
CDC = drone.ConfigDataCount NavData[“vision_detect”][3]
while CDC == drone.
ConfigDataCount:
tagZ = drone. Close enough
NavData[“vision_detect”][6]
time.sleep(0.01)
17
tagRot = drone. Once the drone is close enough
NavData[“vision_detect”][7] to the tag, (in this program less
Takeoff and taking than 300), then it stops flying forward,
a reading Responding to the data line one. Add a short time delay to
allow it to stop, line two. Add the two

15 The drone is now configured

to recognise and read the
tag; add a small time delay, line one.
16 Now set up a conditional, an
if statement to display the
other conditions; if the drone is already
less than a distance of 300 from the
tag then print ‘close enough’. Finally,
data and take action. Line three prints
This is useful if you need to move out the collected data; note that it is respond if the tag is not detected, lines
the drone outside before it launches. converted into a string as the original five and six. Save your program code
Add lines two and three to launch data format is returned as a float, and connect to the drone. (Ensure that
the drone; once deployed, it will ie a decimal. Create a new variable the indentation levels are correct; if not,
continue to hover. Next, create a called distance to store the physical this will cause errors when you run the
loop to continually check for the tag measurement of the distance of the code.) Execute the program as before,
and take the readings. On line nine, drone from the tag. This is stored as an following the method described in
tagNum returns the number of tags integer, line four. Check if this distance Steps 5 and 6.
found; tagX returns the horizontal is greater than 300, line six; if it is then drone.stop()
position of Drone in relation to the trigger an event. For example, set the #time.sleep(2)
tag. The vertical position of the drone drone to fly towards the tag for two else:
is collected with the code on line 11 seconds, lines seven and eight.
and stored in a variable called tagY. print (“close enough”)
if tagNum: else:
The distance of the drone from the
tag, tagZ, is on the penultimate line for i in range (0,tagNum): print “No tag detected”
and orientation of the drone is stored print “Tag no “+str(i)+” #drone.stop()
in tagRot. Remember to include the
indentations when adding the lines
of code.
time.sleep(10)
###take off###
drone.takeoff()
time.sleep(7.5)
# Get detections
stop = False
while not stop:
NDC = drone.NavDataCount
while NDC == drone.
NavDataCount:

109
 Projects Build a Raspberry Pi-powered car

What you’ll need…

A toy RC car with two
channels (steering and drive)
Build a
Adafruit PWM I2C
servo driver
Female-to-female
jumper cables
Raspberry
5V battery power bank
Estimated cost: £60 / $100
Components from
www.modmypi.com
Pi-powered car
Make use of cutting-edge web
technologies to take control of
a remote controlled car with a
smartphone or tablet…

110
 Build a Raspberry Pi-powered car Projects

Did you know…

You can make this project work
with just about any remote
controlled car. Follow the guide
for more details.

Web technologies are moving forward at a huge pace, cloud technologies are
bringing mass computing to individuals, and hardware has reached a perfect
moment in time where sensors, displays and wireless technology have all evolved
into efficient and affordable devices. We truly are at a point where nearly anyone can
take an idea from nothing to a working product in a week and at very little cost. Just
like this project, which is fun, quick and easy to build on and a fantastic way to learn.
We’re going to grab an old remote-control car, rip off its radio receiver and replace
it with the Raspberry Pi, hook it up on the network, fire up a bleeding-edge web
server and then get your smartphone or tablet to control it by tilting the device. By
the end of this, not only will you have a fun toy, you will have learnt about the basic
technologies that are starting to power the world’s newest and biggest economy for
the foreseeable future.
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 Projects Build a Raspberry Pi-powered car

Raspberry Pi-controlled car build process

To help our toy car come to life using the latest web technologies and our credit card-sized computer,
we’re going to need to make some pretty significant changes to its workings. Fortunately, the most
complex aspects of the build can be accomplished with a couple of affordable purchases, namely
a servo controller board to take care of the steering and throttle, and a 5V battery pack to keep the
Raspberry Pi running smoothly.

Identify and remove old radio

01 This project is effectively

replacing the car’s normal
transmitter and receiver. Notice the
battery for the electronics, but those
(especially with an electronic speed
controller with BEC) get their 5V
supply elsewhere. Many shops sell
5V battery power supplies – often as
mobile phone emergency top-ups.
three sockets on the original receiver: power supply directly from the speed www.modmypi.com sells a suitable
one goes to the motor controller controller, saving on components. 5V battery power bank for under £20
and one to the steering servo. Some If you don’t have a speed controller and you should get a couple of hours
remote-control cars also have separate with 5V BEC, you’ll need to get a 5V of use from your Raspberry Pi.

Power up
This 5V battery pack keeps
our Raspberry Pi running for a
good few hours
Servo control
Adafruit PWM I2C servo driver board
from www.modmypi.com

Pi-powered
The Raspberry Pi sits front
and centre to keep it as safe
as possible

Pick a car
You can use pretty much any
affordable car for this project

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 Build a Raspberry Pi-powered car Projects

Attach the servo cables to the new controller

02 We soldered our 16-channel

I2C servo controller board
from www.modmypi.com as per
its instructions and simply plugged
channel 0 (steering) and channel 1
(motor) headers onto it. There are six
cables in total: the bottom two are
ground, the middle two are the power
and the top two are the PWM (pulse-
width modulation) signals. This is a good
time to think of places to mount the
extra components and the best fixing
method seems to be sticky-back Velcro.

Connect the I2C bus to the Raspberry Pi Hook it up to the

Raspberry Pi
03 We’re using the Raspberry Pi’s
I2C bus to control the servo
interface board, which only needs 04 On a Rev 1 Raspberry Pi, the
cables look the same. Though
four cables – they all go between the the Rev boards have different labelling,
Raspberry Pi and the servo controller the physical pins are in the same
board as pictured. Visit http://bit.ly/ place. Bottom left (closest to the RasPi
N3nq4J for a tutorial on how to set up power connector) is the 3.3V power;
I2C on the Raspberry Pi. next to that is the SDA header, which
From top to bottom we need to is the data channel. Next to that in the
use the 1. GND, 2. SCL, 3. SDA and 4. bottom right is the SCL channel, which
VCC, which map directly to the same controls the clock of the I2C devices.
ports on the Raspberry Pi. Essentially And finally – on the top-right port – is
this is power, ground and two the Ground. We recommend printing
communication channels. a labelled image of the GPIO pins.

Overview of the main Find everything a home

components

05 You should now have the

servo board in the middle
06 We can now put it together. Use plenty of sticky-back Velcro, tie wraps
or elastic bands to keep everything secure and find spaces in the car’s
body to hide the wires where possible. While it is possible to stick or screw the
with the steering servo and speed Raspberry Pi directly to the car, we recommend to use at least the bottom half of
controller on one side and the a case for added protection and ease of access. Insert your SD card, network cable
Raspberry Pi on the other. The motor or Wi-Fi dongle and power supply. Sit back and admire your hacking skills.
is connected to the other end of the
speed controller (that end should
have much thicker wires); the speed
controller also has two thick wires
going to the main car’s battery – in
this case a 7.2V NiCad. We now have
two very separate power systems
with the high current motors on one
side and the low current electronics
on the other. Let’s make sure it stays
that way.

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 Projects Control your Raspberry Pi-powered car

Control your
What you’ll need…
A RasPi car, ready to go
An internet connection
A reasonably modern
smartphone/tablet
Raspberry
Pi car source code
github.com/shaunuk/picar
Pi-powered car
Control a toy car with a smartphone and
the latest web technologies
Now that we have our fantastic Raspberry Pi-powered car all wired,
charged and ready to go, it’s time to make it come alive. We’re
using the best web technologies that the JavaScript programming
language offers, to harness the natural movement of your hand and
Did you know… wirelessly drive the vehicle.
Our code will send instructions Each little movement of your hand will trigger an event that
to our car over twenty times calculates what the car should do and then sends it over a socket
per second. It will be very
responsive to drive! connection. If all goes to plan you should have complete control
over your vehicle.

Download and install the software Below All you need to finish off your
project is access to a smartphone or tablet

01 First of all, you will need to the I2C connectivity

working. Next we’ll need to find a home for our
new project code – how about /var/www/picar? Type
sudo mkdir /var/www/picar in the terminal to make the
directory and then change into that directory: cd /var/
www/picar
Now, to download the project using Git, type sudo git
clone http://github.com/shaunuk/picar. If you haven’t
got Git, install it with sudo apt-get install git.
This will download the custom software for
driving the car, but we still need the web
server and some other bits before we
can start burning rubber…

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 Control your Raspberry Pi-powered car Projects

Download and install Node.js Configure Node.js

02 Next we’re using Node.js and its package tool, the

Node package manager (npm). Type sudo wget
http://nodejs.org/dist/v0.10.21/node-v0.10.21-linux-
03 To make it easy to run from everywhere, we
will create symbolic links for Node and npm
binaries. Type sudo ln -s /var/www/node-v0.10.21-
arm-pi.tar.gz. This will download a fairly recent version of linux-arm-pi/bin/node /bin/node and then sudo
Node.js – the version Raspbian has in its repositories is way too ln -s /var/www/node-v0.10.21-linux-arm-pi/bin/
old and just doesn’t work with the new technologies we’re npm /bin/npm. Then, to get the extra modules, type
about to use. Extract the node package by typing: npm install socket.io node-static socket.io
sudo tar -xvzf node-v0.10.21-linux-arm-pi.tar.gz adafruit-i2c-pwm-driver sleep optimist

Below You need to adjust some of the variables to control

Get to know
your particular remote controlled car setup
the project

04 Now we have
everything, you
should see three files: the
server (app.js), the client
(socket.html) and the
jQuery JavaScript library
for the client. The server
not only drives the servos,
but it is a web server and
sends the socket.html
file and jQuery to the
browser when requested
– it’s a really neat and
simple setup and just
right for what we’re trying
to achieve.

Test the servos

05 Our handy little

program (app.js)
has a special mode just
for testing. We use two
keywords here: beta for
servo 0 (steering) and
gamma for servo 1 (motor
control). Type node app.
js beta=300. You should
see the front wheels turn.
Now the numbers need
experimenting with. On
our example, 340 was left,
400 was centre and 470
was right. Do the same for
the motor by typing node
app.js gamma=400 and
take note of the various
limits of your car.

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 Projects Control your Raspberry Pi-powered car

“We’re using the best web

technologies that the
JavaScript programming
language has to offer“
Configure sensible defaults

06 Now you know what your car is capable

of, we can set the defaults in app.js and
socket.html. Edit app.js and find the section that
says ‘function emergencyStop’. Adjust the two
numbers to your car’s rest values. Then open
socket.html and adjust the predefined values
under ‘Define your variables here’.

Going for a spin

07 We’re almost ready to try it out, but you need to know

the IP address of your Pi car, so type ifconfig at the
terminal. Then fire up the app by typing node app.js. Now grab
the nearest smartphone or tablet, making sure it’s on the same
network as your Pi. Open the web browser and go to http://
[your IP address]:8080/socket.html. You should get an alert
message saying ‘ready’ and as soon as you hit OK, the gyro data
from your phone will be sent to the car and you’re off.

Full code listing

var ajustmentgamma = 70; //what do we do to
socket.html the angle to get to 0?
var mingamma = 250; //backwards limit
<html> var maxgamma = 400; //forward limit
<head> var multgamma = 1; //factor to multiply the
<script src=”jquery-2.0.3.min.js” //raw gyro figure by to get the desired
language=”javascript”></script> //rate of acceleration
<script src=”/socket.io/socket.io.js”></ window.lastbeta=’0’;
script> window.lastgamma=’0’;
<meta name=”viewport” content=”user- $(function(){
scalable=no, initial-scale=1.0, maximum- window.gyro = ‘ready’;
scale=1.0;” /> alert(‘Ready -- Lets race !’);
<script> });
//------ Define your variables here window.ondeviceorientation = function(event)
var socket = io.connect(window.location. {
hostname+’:8080’); beta = centerbeta+(Math.round(
var centerbeta = 400; //where’s the middle? event.beta*-1)*multbeta);
var minbeta = ‘340’; //right limit if (beta >= maxbeta) {
var maxbeta = ‘470’; //left limit beta=maxbeta;
var multbeta = 3; //factor to multiply the }
// raw gyro figure if (beta <= minbeta) {
var centergamma = 330; beta=minbeta;

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 Control your Raspberry Pi-powered car Projects

} console.log(‘Pi Car we server listening

gamma = event.gamma; on port 8080 visit http://ipaddress:8080/
gamma = ((Math.round(event. socket.html’);
gamma)+ajustmentgamma)* multgamma)+
centergamma; lastAction = “”;
//stop sending the same command more than function emergencyStop(){
once //center front wheels
send = ‘N’; pwm.setPWM(0, 0, 400);
if (window.lastbeta != beta) { send = ‘Y’ } //stop motor
if (window.lastgamma != gamma) { send = ‘Y’ pwm.setPWM(1, 0, 330);
} console.log(‘###EMERGENCY STOP - signal
window.lastbeta=beta; lost or shutting down’);
window.lastgamma=gamma; }
if (window.gyro == ‘ready’ && send==’Y’) {
//don’t send another command until ready... if (argv.beta) {
window.gyro = ‘notready’; console.log(“\nPerforming one off servo
socket.emit(‘fromclient’, { beta: beta position move to: “+argv.beta);
gamma: gamma } ); pwm.setPWM(0, 0, argv.beta);
window.gyro = ‘ready’; }} //using direct i2c pwm module
pwm.stop();
return process.exit();
app.js }
if (argv.gamma) {
//declare required modules console.log(“\nPerforming one off servo
var app = require(‘http’). position move to: “+argv.gamma);
createServer(handler) pwm.setPWM(1, 0, argv.gamma); //using
, io = require(‘socket.io’).listen(app) direct i2c pwm module
, fs = require(‘fs’) pwm.stop();
, static = require(‘node-static’) return process.exit();
, sys = require(‘sys’) }
, PwmDriver = require(‘adafruit-i2c-pwm- //fire up a web socket server
driver’) io.sockets.on(‘connection’, function (socket)
, sleep = require(‘sleep’) {
, argv = require(‘optimist’).argv; socket.on(‘fromclient’, function (data) {
app.listen(8080); console.log(“Beta: “+data.beta+” Gamma:
//set the address and device name of the “+data.gamma);
breakout board //exec(“echo ‘sa “+data+”’ > /dev/
pwm = new PwmDriver(0x40,’/dev/i2c-0’); // ttyAMA0”, puts);
//set pulse widths //using http://electronics.chroma.se/rpisb.php
setServoPulse = function(channel, pulse) { //exec(“picar.py 0 “+data.beta, puts);
var pulseLength; //using python adafruit module
pulseLength = 1000000; pwm.setPWM(0, 0, data.beta);
pulseLength /= 60; //using direct i2c pwm module
print(“%d us per period” % pulseLength); pwm.setPWM(1, 0, data.gamma);
pulseLength /= 4096; //using direct i2c pwm module
print(“%d us per bit” % pulseLength); clearInterval(lastAction);
pulse *= 1000; //stop emergency stop timer
pulse /= pulseLength; lastAction = setInterval(emergencySt
return pwm.setPWM(channel, 0, pulse); op,1000);
}; //set emergency stop timer
//set pulse frequency });
pwm.setPWMFreq(60); });
//Make a web server on port 8080 process.on(‘SIGINT’, function() {
var file = new(static.Server)(); emergencyStop();
function handler(request, response) { console.log(“\nGracefully shutting down
console.log(‘serving file’,request.url) from SIGINT (Ctrl-C)”);
file.serve(request, response); pwm.stop();
}; return process.exit();
});

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 Projects Xbox Zero Arcade

Xbox Zero arcade

Let’s make a self-contained arcade machine out of old
bits of kit, a spare Xbox pad and a Pi Zero!
The Raspberry Pi Zero is tiny, ridiculously tiny. It’s also small enough
What you’ll need…
to be hidden in a variety of household objects in order to enhance
Raspberry Pi Zero their capabilities. Whatever you can find to fit it in, you can turn into
Original Xbox controller some kind of smart machine.
Wire cutters Take old game controllers. If you’re anything like us you’ve
Craft knife probably got a couple of boxes full of old computer equipment
Isopropyl alcohol swabs you just can’t bear to throw away – an Atari Jaguar that hasn’t been
Micro SD card touched since the 90s, a Sega Dreamcast which you’re sure you’ll
BluTak plug in again one day, an old Xbox that lies languishing since you
Micro USB OTG cable picked up something bigger and better. Turns out it actually was
Cross-head screwdriver useful to keep them around – it’s time to bring these old systems
Electrical tape back to life.
2A micro USB power supply We’re going to show you how to gut an old videogames
Mini HDMI cable/adapter controller, replace its innards with a Raspberry Pi Zero, and then
load it up with a treasure trove of retro games. From start to finish,
this project should take you under an hour to complete – and then
you’ll be able to load up the ROMs you legally own on your new
console and enjoy them from the comfort of your sofa.
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 Xbox Zero arcade Projects

Gather your equipment

01 While the Zero doesn’t take up much space, videogame controllers are
often stuffed full of delicate electronics. The trick here is to find a games
controller which has enough space inside for the Zero. We’re going to be using
the original Xbox controller, nicknamed The Duke. If you don’t have one to hand,
they can be picked up for a couple of quid from most second-hand electronics
shops, and they’re easily found online too.
If you can’t find one, you can use newer USB game pads that are designed to
look like controllers for classic systems like the SNES and Mega Drive. Make sure
you choose a controller that has enough buttons for the games you want to
play – some classic fighting games, for example, really can’t be played on a two-
button NES controller.

Warning!

02 Working with electrical items and sharp objects can be dangerous.

You risk damaging yourself or, worse, breaking your toys. Please ensure
everything is unplugged from electrical supplies before attempting this project.
As with any electronics projects, you should also take care to fully ground yourself
before playing around with sensitive components –the static electricity from your
body can ruin them. Anti-static wrist straps or a few taps on a radiator should do
the trick.

Above You can mod your controller

with just a few simple tools

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 Projects Xbox Zero arcade

Lots of little bits

When taking apart electronics,
keep a few small bowls or
containers nearby. Put each
type of screw in its own
separate container so you don’t
accidentally mix them up. With
the Xbox controllers, you’ll find
that the buttons especially
have a habit of rolling away
from you, so stash them
somewhere safe as well. Keep
track of any random bits of
plastic or rubber which may be
useful in re-assembling.

Right Be careful that you don’t lose

any small parts when opening up
the controller

The build Fitting

03 You should be now have

a reasonably good idea of
the controller that we’ll be working
04 If you’re using a different
controller, double-check that
the Pi is likely to fit inside before you
with. ‘The Duke’ has dual joysticks, six crack it open. As you’ll see here, the Pi
buttons, a D-Pad and two triggers – nestles neatly between the triggers
and it’s compatible with most retro of this controller – the original Xbox
games systems. controller is one of the largest.

Unscrewing

05 The controller is held together by half a dozen cross-head screws. Be

careful when opening the case as the buttons and rubber contacts
are loose within the controller – they will spill everywhere!

Opening

06 With the shell removed, you should be able to undo the screws holding
the main circuit board in place. There are also a couple of connectors
which power the vibration motors – gently unclip them in order to completely
remove the board. You might find it easier to use a pair of pliers for this – just be
very gentle as you pull!

Gently does it

07 You can see for yourself just how well the Pi fits here; it can be squeezed
under the memory card slot. If you want to hold it firmly in place, use
some BluTak as a temporary solution. Also, if you’re using an older controller, it’s
worth giving it a bit of a clean. Remove the rubber contacts and gently swab
under them using the isopropyl alcohol swabs.

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 Xbox Zero arcade Projects

Cut to fit

08 Depending on the model of controller, you may find that the Pi blocks
one of the internal plastic struts. The plastic is soft enough that a craft
knife will easily cut it down to size, though. Start with small strokes, shaving
off a tiny bit at a time until you have enough room. Make sure the plastic
dust is cleaned out before you reassemble the controller. If you have a can of
compressed air, you can use it to easily blow away the shavings.

Connecting it up

09 If you’re using a controller that has a regular USB port on it, you can just
plug it into the Pi via a USB OTG converter. If you’re using the original
Xbox Controller, it’s slightly tricky. Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, has decided
that the original Xbox should use USB – but with an incompatible plug design.
This means, in order to connect the controller to the Pi, we need to do some
wire stripping. Fun!
The wiring inside the Xbox controller’s cable uses bog-standard USB wiring
colours, so once you’ve chopped the plugs off the controller and the OTG
cable, it’s pretty straightforward to connect them together.

White
This wire is one of two used
for differential data signals.
This white wire is the positive
component and the green wire
is the negative one

Red
The red wire is one of two
handling power. This one is a
5V power line that provides
voltage to the circuit

Green
The circuit can get the differ-
ence between the two data
signals rather than between a
single wire and ground – it’s a
more effective transmission

Yellow
Black USB mini/micro cables
This is the other wire associated will also have an
with the power – the ground additional wire that Left The older USB 1.0 and 2.0
wire, which is the counterpart isn’t required for our cables have fewer wires than the
to the 5V wire particular project newer 3.0 – here’s a quick guide

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 Projects Xbox Zero arcade

Above You can solder the OTG cable

and controller together, but sticky-
tape will also do the trick

The right controller Wiring

Second-hand stores like CEX
or GAME often have some
older, obsolete consoles and
10 Strip the wires by a couple of centimetres and then connect them
together. You should have Red, Green, White, and Black. The Xbox cable
also has a Yellow wire which you can ignore. It is worth noting at this point that
accessories out of public view, you need to be sure that you have a USB data transfer cable and not just a plain
as they aren’t particularly high- old power cable – the former will look like the photo above, but power cables will
selling these days. It’s worth be missing the two data wires.
asking the staff what they have
With the wires stripped, we temporarily used regular sticky-tape to make the
if you can’t see what you need
on display. Some charity shops connections between the OTG cable and the controller – for a more permanent
also have old consoles for sale. installation, you can use electrical tape or simply solder the wires together.
Failing that, local car boot sales
or simply asking your gamer
friends are both excellent ways Insulation
to grab inexpensive controllers

11
for all sorts of consoles. One thing to note: you’ll need to insulate the bottom of the Pi against
all the contacts on the controller. For this quick hack, we’ve used some
of the cardboard packaging – but any non-conductive material will do.
From there, it’s as simple as screwing the case back together. Make sure
that the controller’s buttons and joysticks don’t slip out of alignment. Keep
track of which coloured buttons go where and you should be fine.

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 Xbox Zero arcade Projects

Wiring up

12 The Pi will need three wires connected to it in order to work. The

controller cable needs to be connected to the USB OTG port. An HDMI
cable goes from your TV to the mini HDMI port on the Pi. Finally, a 2A micro
USB power supply needs to be plugged into the Pi’s power socket. We’ve
used a standard mobile phone charger, but you can use a USB battery pack if
you want to reduce the number of wires trailing around your room.

A word about power

13 You might be wondering whether it’s possible to get the HDMI

cable to supply power from the TV to the controller. Sadly, the HDMI
specification doesn’t permit power to flow in that direction. If your TV has a
Let’s play!
USB socket on it, you could use that to supply the Pi with power – just make
sure the socket itself is powerful enough. The Pi needs at least 1 Amp, and
ideally 2 Amps. Many TVs will only output 500mA which isn’t enough to run
14 Okay, It’s looking good – you’re
nearly ready to play. The
next step is to get some emulation
the Pi. software on this thing.

“If your TV has a USB socket, you could

use that to supply the Pi with power –
just make sure it’s powerful enough”
 Projects Installing the RetroPie emulator

What’s an emulator? Installing the

RetroPie emulator
An emulator is software which
lets your computer pretend to
be a different sort of computer.
It will allow a Raspberry
Pi Zero to run software
originally designed for the It’s not as difficult as you might think to run retro
Sega Mega Drive, or Nintendo software through an emulator
N64, old DOS-based PCs, etc.
Emulators aren’t without their
problems, though – it’s nearly
Right, so you’ve managed to get your Pi safely ensconced in
impossible to perfectly recreate a controller and all wired up – all you need now are some
a games console in software.
Keep in mind that older games
videogames to play.
may have bugs ranging from For this section of the tutorial we’re going to be using the
minor sound and graphical
glitches to full-blown crashes.
RetroPie emulator. By the end of this tutorial, you’ll be able to play a
number of games directly from your Raspberry Pi, provided that you
legally own the ROM files, of course.
The whole process is as easy as installing the software onto your
SD card and then copying across any games that you want to play.
If you’ve already got Raspian installed on your Pi, you can install
RetroPie alongside it – or you can dedicate the whole disk to the
software if you’d rather.

Install RetroPie inside Raspbian

01 If you’ve already started using your Pi and want to add RetroPie to it, you’ll
need to install the software from GitHub. The latest instructions can be
found at github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup.
Open up a terminal on your Pi (for example, by SSHing into it from another
machine, or by logging in directly to the Pi). Update your repositories and make
sure the latest version of the Git software is installed:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install git

Download the latest version of the RetroPie setup script:

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup.

git

If you’re security-conscious, it’s a good idea to check what the script does before
running it. Once you’re ready, you can install it by changing into the correct
directory and executing the script:

cd RetroPie-Setup
sudo ./retropie_setup.sh

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 Installing the RetroPie emulator Projects

The script will take several minutes to run, depending on the speed of your Above If you see a splash screen like
this when you power on again, the
internet connection. It may also ask you for permission to install extra software installation worked!
that is needed – you should allow this. Once fully installed, you will need to
reboot your Pi:

sudo reboot

RetroPie can now be run by typing emulationstation. We’ll come on to

configuring your setup in just a moment.

Install RetroPie onto a blank SD card

02 If you want your Raspberry Pi Zero to be used solely as a RetroPie machine,

this is the choice for you. Be warned: it will completely wipe a micro
SD card, so if you’re using one you’ve used before, make sure you back up any
important data before starting.
Download the latest version of the software from http://blog.petrockblock.
com/retropie/retropie-downloads. Make sure you download the correct SD card
image for your machine – the image for the Raspberry Pi 2 is not compatible with
the Raspberry Pi Zero. Download the Standard version (not the BerryBoot version).
The download is an 800MB .gz file. Unzip it and extract the .img file, which will be
around 2.6GB.
You’ll now need to write this image file onto your micro SD card. This is done
in the same way that you would install a normal Raspberry Pi image onto a card.
There are slightly different instructions for Linux, Mac and Windows.

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 Projects Installing the RetroPie emulator

Linux
Where to get ROMs
Many older games have,
effectively, been abandoned.
03 Use the Disk Manager to select the image file and the micro SD card.
Follow the on-screen instructions until the image has been fully written to
the card.
The original publishers are
defunct and it’s not clear
legally who owns the rights. Mac Windows
There are several sites which
claim to have permission
from the original creators to
distribute their games – but
04 Download the ApplePi Baker
from www.tweaking4all.
com/hardware/raspberry-pi/
05 Download the Win32
DiskImager from http://
sourceforge.net/projects/
it’s not always easy to tell how macosx-apple-pi-baker. Once you win32diskimager. Once installed,
legitimate they are. You should have it installed, you can select the select the image file and the micro SD
ensure that you either buy
image file and the micro SD card. card. Follow the instructions until the
legitimate copies or download
from organisations with the Follow the on-screen instructions. image has been written to the card.
legal right to distribute them.
Configuring

06 Right – you’re almost ready to play. Put the micro SD card

into the Raspberry Pi Zero, hook up the controller USB
cable and the HDMI cable. Finally, plug the Pi into the power. It
should boot up automatically and, after a few seconds, you’ll be
greeted with a configuration screen.
RetroPie should automatically detect any connected USB game
pads and step you through setting up the buttons. Once you’ve
Below RetroPie can be restored
straight to SD if you don’t need finished, you’ll be presented with a screen showing all the choices
Raspbian as well you made.

126
 Installing the RetroPie emulator Projects

Set up the disk

07 Before we get to playing any games, we need to make sure that RetroPie
is able to use all the space on the micro SD card. This will allow you to store
ROMs and save your games. Select ‘RetroPie’ from the menu. You’ll be presented with
several configuration options. Select “Raspberry Pi Configuration Tool RASPI-CONFIG”
You can change the default username and password at a later date; for now
just use the controller to select ‘Expand Filesystem’. Next, highlight the ‘Select’
button and click on it. After a short delay, you will see a success screen – press
OK and you’ll be taken to the configuration screen. Press right until ‘Finish’ is
highlighted, then click on it. You should now reboot your Raspberry Pi.

Adding ROMs Playing

08 The final step is adding new ROMs. Once you’ve legally purchased and
downloaded ROMs from the internet, you’ll need to copy them onto
the micro SD card. ROMs are stored in a separate folder for each system. So, for
09 Once booted, you’ll see a menu
with all the available games
systems on it. Some emulators will only
example, you need to place your Sega Master System ROMs in ~/RetroPie/roms/ show up once game ROMs for that
mastersystem/. Once you’ve installed ROMs, you’re ready to play. system are installed. Scroll until you find
the game you want to play – then let rip!
You can always return back to
RetroPie if you want to change any of
the configuration options, or update
the software. And that’s all there is to it!
Time to sit back and play some games.
If you want to find out more about the
RetroPie software, visit http://blog.
petrockblock.com/retropie.

127
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