Hackers are buzzing with ideas from Pi-powered arcade machines and drones to the home automation and low-cost tablets. 10 coolest uses for the Raspberry Pi article tells that TechRepublic has delved into the Raspbery Pi’s developer forums, and here’s our round-up of the best ideas so far, ranging from the eminently achievable to the massively ambitious. You can use your Raspberry Pi for example as media streamer, arcade machine, tablet computer, robot controller and home automation controller. Rasberry Pi homepage offers also some more interesting projects like Retro games and a retro joystick.
1,692 Comments
Tara says:
Thank you a bunch for sharing this with all people you actually recognise what you are
talking about! Bookmarked. Kindly also discuss with my
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Tomi Engdahl says:
POISON PI sniffs WiFi from your mail room, goes on rampage
Snail mail is preferred medium for hack attack pack
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/03/mail_this_hacker_board_to_attack_wifi_networks_across_the_globe/
Security bod Larry Pesce has developed a chopping board-sized hacker package as an inexpensive weapon for hacking wireless networks through the post.
The device is designed for so-called “war shipping” attacks described (vid) last year in which hacking hardware is posted to a target organisation with the aim of attacking wireless networks from a mail room or absent staff member’s desk.
Pesce’s board is low-cost, fits in a standard USPS postal box, and provides sniffing and attack capabilities with location tracking.
The Raspberry Pi hack board overcame a variety of capability and power issues granting it up to 300 hours of power and the ability to report location without GPS, which would drain batteries and be ineffective most of the time.
The board can be used to target specific organisations, shipping companies, or any entity along the shipping route, provided the truck either stopped or moved slowly on last mile trips.
Pesce got around the location issue by calling Apple’s WiFi location mapping through an undocumented API used in the iSniff project.
He published the software to GitHub for users to build the system which was still being improve continually upgraded.
https://github.com/haxorthematrix/loc-nogps
Tomi Engdahl says:
Feed That Shoulder Boom Box with a Wrist Tune Transmitter
http://hackaday.com/2014/10/05/feed-that-shoulder-boom-box-with-a-wrist-tune-transmitter/
. Pack your tunes on your wrist and beam them directly with this wearable FM transmitter. No wires… it’s like the future is now!
The Raspberry Pi has proven itself to be a dependable FM transmitter.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Supercapacitors for the Raspberry Pi
http://hackaday.com/2014/10/04/supercapacitors-for-the-raspberry-pi/
As versatile as the Raspberry Pi is, it has a weakness when it needs to be able to shut down properly during a power outage, especially when handling data-sensitive or industrial applications. To solve this problem, [Pavol Sedlacek] has created a supercapacitor-based UPS specifically for the Raspberry Pi that gives it enough time to properly halt its processes and shut down if it detects a power failure.
http://juice4halt.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
120 Node Rasperry Pi Cluster for Website Testing
http://hackaday.com/2014/10/07/120-node-rasperry-pi-cluster-for-website-testing/
[alexandros] works for resin.io, a website which plans to allow users to update firmware on embedded devices with a simple git push command. The first target devices will be Raspberry Pis running node.js applications. How does one perform alpha testing while standing up such a service? Apparently by building a monster tower of 120 Raspberry Pi computers with Adafruit 2.8″ PiTFT displays.
http://signup.resin.io/
Resin.io gives developers a new superpower, the power to program the real world.
Resin.io can deploy to as many devices as you want, no matter where they are, as long as they’re on the internet. All this so developers can focus on what users see: An amazing application running on the right hardware.
We’re starting with node.js applications running on the Raspberry Pi, but we’ll soon support any language and device that supports Linux.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Simple LED Project to Spice Up Your Halloween Party
http://hackaday.com/2014/10/26/simple-led-project-to-spice-up-your-halloween-party/
[Paul's] project is a great example of how you can take a simple project and turn it into something more interesting. He built himself a jack-o-lantern with an Internet controlled RGB LED embedded inside.
RGB Internet Pumpkin
http://www.paulschow.com/2014/10/rgb-internet-pumpkin.html
Just in time for Halloween, I modified my previous Raspberry Pi Internet LED Control project to control an RGB LED, and stuck it inside a fake pumpkin. Now I have an internet controlled RGB pumpkin!
The code is basically the same as the old Raspberry Pi Internet LED Control, but instead of using four links to turn four LEDs on or off, it uses a form to control the levels of the three legs of the RGB LED.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mozilla hopes to challenge Raspbian as RPi OS of choice
Project to port Firefox OS to Raspberry Pi is under way
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/10/27/mozilla_hopes_to_challenge_raspbian_as_rpi_os_of_choice/
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Full IP Webcam With a Raspberry Pi
http://hackaday.com/2014/11/03/a-full-ip-webcam-with-a-raspberry-pi/
A Dropcam will run you about $150. Price out a Raspberry Pi, camera sensor, and a CCTV camera housing found on eBay, and it starts to look like there may be a cheaper replacement for a Dropcam sitting around on workbenches, if only someone can figure out the software. [Antoine] did just that, giving any Raspberry Pi the ability to stream H.264 video over a network.
[Antoine]‘s software is based on the raspivid tool distributed from the foundation, but that only takes care of capturing and encoding H.264 video from the camera sensor. To add IP camera support, the Live555 RTSP library was mixed in and combined to stream video over the Raspi’s network connection.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Delicious Dash Pi Driving Data
http://hackaday.com/2014/11/01/delicious-dash-pi-driving-data/
It’s based on a model B, which he’s enclosed in a beefy Pi camera case that sits on the dash of his Honda S2000. The screen is a $17 internet special with composite in, which keeps the BOM way down. A 3A switch wired into the ignition ensures that power to the Pi is not rudely interrupted.
A script takes the Pi directly into desktop mode when [sentdex] starts the car.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Turning the Raspberry into a CAD Workstation
http://hackaday.com/2014/11/02/turning-the-raspberry-into-a-cad-workstation/
Inventables has been working hard on a successor to the extremely popular Shapeoko CNC milling machine, and to bring digital fabrication to the masses, they’ve created Easel, possibly the easiest 3D design software you’ll ever use.
Easel is a web app, but since the graphics, design, and g-code generation are handled locally, even the most rudimentary CAD suite would choke the decidedly low power Raspi. Instead, [Sacha] is using the Raspberry to grab 2D and 3D files, turn that into g-code for a machine, and send it off to a Shapeoko router.
http://www.easel.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Finding Meteors, Satellites, and Star Trails with a Raspberry Pi
http://hackaday.com/2014/11/01/finding-meteors-satellites-and-star-trails-with-a-raspberry-pi/
The Raspberry Pi is an incredibly popular, cheap, and low power computer that also has a nifty camera add-on that is completely programmable. This opens up a log of possibilities for long-exposure photography, and [Jippo] has found the best use so far: long exposure astrophotography for capturing meteors, satellites, and star trails.
[Jippo] is using a stock Raspi and camera module with a little bit of custom software written by his friend [Jani Lappalainen] that grabs image data from the camera and saves it either as a time-lapse, or only when something significantly changes.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Stereo Vision and Depth Mapping with Two Raspi Camera Modules
http://hackaday.com/2014/11/03/stereo-vision-and-depth-mapping-with-two-raspi-camera-modules/
The Raspberry Pi has a port for a camera connector, allowing it to capture 1080p video and stream it to a network without having to deal with the craziness of webcams and the improbability of capturing 1080p video over USB. The Raspberry Pi compute module is a little more advanced; it breaks out two camera connectors, theoretically giving the Raspberry Pi stereo vision and depth mapping. [David Barker] put a compute module and two cameras together making this build a reality.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Tiny Arcade Machine With Tinier Buttons
http://hackaday.com/2014/11/04/a-tiny-arcade-machine-with-tinier-buttons/
Building a MAME machine around a Raspberry Pi has been the standard build for years now, and tiny versions of full-sized arcade machines have gone from curiosity to commonplace. [diygizmo] just built one of these tiny arcades, but the fit and finish of this one puts it above all others. There’s a real, miniature joystick in there, along with 3D printed adapters for tact switches to make this one look like a lilliputian version of a full size standup MAME cabinet.
The entire enclosure is 3D printed, and most of the electronics are exactly what you would expect: A Raspberry Pi, 2.5″ LCD, and a battery-powered speaker takes up most of the BOM.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Micro-Raspberry-Pi-arcade-cabinet/?ALLSTEPS
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fox Hunting with a Raspberry Pi
http://hackaday.com/2014/11/06/fox-hunting-with-a-raspberry-pi/
No, not a real fox! [KM4EFP] is a ham radio operator with a passion for fox hunting, which is an event where several radio operators attempt to find a broadcasting beacon (a “fox”) using radio direction finding techniques. [KM4EFP] has just built his own portable fox using a Raspberry Pi in a very well-built enclosure.
A mount for an antenna was attached to the side, and it is hooked up to a GPIO pin on the Raspberry Pi.
The software running on the Raspberry Pi is very similar to the Pi FM transmitter program but it is specially made for ham radio broadcasting instead. Almost no extra hardware is needed to get the Pi broadcasting radio, as these software packages can drive the antenna directly from the GPIO pin.
PiFox
Raspberry pi powered fox hunt transmitter
http://hackaday.io/project/3325-pifox
Tomi Engdahl says:
Deck the Halls with a Raspberry Pi Controlled Christmas Tree
http://hackaday.com/2014/11/09/deck-the-halls-with-a-raspberry-pi-controlled-christmas-tree/
You know the holiday season is getting close when the Christmas light projects start rolling in! [Osprey22] is getting a jump on his holiday decorations with his Christmas Tree light show controlled by a Raspberry Pi. Yes, we know he could have done it with an Arduino, or a 555, but the Raspi makes for a convenient platform. With a WiFi module, code changes can be made remotely. The Raspberry Pi’s built-in audio interface also makes it easy to sync music to flashing lights, though we’d probably drop in a higher quality USB audio interface.
Raspberry Pi Christmas Tree Light Show
http://www.instructables.com/id/Raspberry-Pi-Christmas-Tree-Light-Show/
Tomi Engdahl says:
“Stomach Shot” Halloween Costume
http://hackaday.com/2014/11/11/stomach-shot-halloween-costume/
Halloween may have come and gone, but [Luis] sent us this build that you’ll want to check out. An avid Walking Dead fan, he put in some serious effort to an otherwise simple bloody t-shirt and created this see-through “stomach shot” gunshot wound.
The project uses a Raspi running the Pi Camera script to feed video from a webcam on the back of his costume to a 7″ screen on the front.
Stomach shot – Halloween costume 2014
http://www.instructables.com/id/Stomach-shot-Halloween-costume-2014/
Tomi Engdahl says:
$2 FM Transmitter for Raspberry Pi
http://hackaday.com/2014/11/12/2-fm-transmitter-for-rasberry-pi/
The Sony-Ericsson MMR-70 radio transmitter apparently used to connect to a cell phone and broadcast music. But the Walkman cellphones in question are a little bit old in the tooth, so one can buy the transmitter units for cheap on the resale market.
It turns out (link in German) that the radios have an AVR ATMega32 microcontroller and a NS73 radio transmitter module, which can be entirely controlled over I2C.
And that’s where [Tobias] stepped in. He wrote an I2C daemon for the Raspberry Pi that lets you control the FM transmitter via simple commands.
Other Pi FM transmitting hack:
Turning the Raspberry Pi Into an FM Transmitte
http://www.icrobotics.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Turning_the_Raspberry_Pi_Into_an_FM_Transmitter
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Raspberry Pi in a Game Boy Advance SP
http://hackaday.com/2014/11/19/a-raspberry-pi-in-a-game-boy-advance-sp/
It’s not the biggest use of a Raspberry Pi, but running emulators for old game systems is by far the most visible use of the Pi. In fact, putting Pis inside old game systems has led to a resurgence of case modding not seen since the heyday of the Mini-ITX craze of the early ‘aughts.
You’d think every possible Pi casemod had been done by now, but [frostedfires] is still raising the bar with a Pi casemod that stuffs a clone of everyone’s favorite credit card sized computer into a Game Boy Advance SP.
[frostedfires] isn’t using a real Raspi from The Foundataion. Instead, he found the Odroid W, a raspi compatible board that’s about half the size of a model B.
Pi SP – Worlds smallest portable pi?
http://www.bacman.co.uk/bacforum/viewtopic.php?f=243&t=4990
Tomi Engdahl says:
Weekend Project: POVStick
http://maniacallabs.com/2014/11/19/weekend-project-povstick/
To showcase how much the AllPixel and BiblioPixel can simplify your projects, we wanted to put together a fun project that really highlighted their versatility. So we decided to build a persistence of vision light painter, or POVStick as we keep calling it.
The POVStick consists of 2 meters of 48 LED/m LPD8806 strips, for a total of 96 pixels vertical resolution. This is controlled by an AllPixel connected to a Raspberry Pi B+ with a USB WiFi module. Finally, this is all powered by a 16Ah lithium-ion battery pack. It’s 2.1A per port output was more than enough to run the LEDs and Pi for quite some time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Web security everywhere
http://hackaday.io/project/2040-web-security-everywhere
Secure your Internet, control your data, fight censorship. Bring your autonomous all in one privacy device everywhere.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi-Powered Body Illusion Lets You Experience Parkinson’s
http://science.slashdot.org/story/14/11/25/0018244/raspberry-pi-powered-body-illusion-lets-you-experience-parkinsons
Analogue, a theater/art group, has developed an interactive installation called “Transports,” powered by the Raspberry Pi, that lets you experience symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. In the illusion, a person’s mind is tricked into believing that his/her hand is the hand shown in a point-of-view video, and the motorized glove worn by the user gives the feeling of tremors associated with Parkinson’s.
What it’s like to have Parkinson’s for 15 minutes
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26589-what-its-like-to-have-parkinsons-for-15-minutes.html#.VHPJPIvF9tV
To create the sensations, you wear a glove fitted with a motorised device, while looking at a screen you hold in the other hand (see video). The device recreates tremors running at 6 hertz, which is the upper limit of those experienced by people with Parkinson’s disease.
You follow instructions fed through headphones, and use your kitted-up arm to mimic the movements of a man on the screen, manipulating real cutlery as he does. This creates the illusion that the virtual limb is your own.
The “story” unfolds through the eyes of Andrew, a man in his thirties with symptoms of Parkinson’s. While the disease is more common in older people, younger adults are also susceptible.
“If someone is in their thirties, the symptoms may be interpreted in a different way in a public context,” says Jarvis. In the installation, for example, a waiter thinks the character is drunk. “We’re hoping to challenge these expectations,” adds Jarvis.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Custom Raspberry Pi Thermostat Controller
http://hackaday.com/2014/11/26/custom-raspberry-pi-thermostat-controller/
Thermostats can be a pain. They often only look at one sensor in a multi-room home and then set the temperature based on that. The result is one room that’s comfortable and other rooms that are not. Plus, you generally have to get up off the couch to change the temperature. In this day and age, who wants to do that? You could buy an off-the-shelf solution, but sometimes hacking up your own custom hardware is just so much more fun.
[redditseph] did exactly that by modifying his home thermostat to be controlled by a Raspberry Pi. The temperature is controlled by a simple web interface that runs on the Pi. This way, [redditseph] can change the temperature from any room in his home using a computer or smart phone.
My homemade Raspberry Pi smart thermostat
http://imgur.com/gallery/YxElS
The web interface allows me to change the settings on my thermostat remotely, such as the set temperature range compressor and fan modes, as well as view any warning messages that may be reported.
The Raspberry Pi is in the middle, white power cable running down and a GPIO rainbow ribbon cord heading up to the relay module under the real thermostat.
It completes the circuits to the various components in the HVAC depending on what the Raspberry Pi instructs.
Using the relay module is probably overkill, but given that the HVAC panel here runs off 24V and the Raspberry Pi GPIO runs off 3.3V, it just seemed like the simplest option, albeit not the most efficient or cheapest.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi Connects Oscilloscope to Tablets
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1320309
Not long ago, if you wanted to connect an instrument to a computer, you connected to a PC. Early instrument connections use serial ports, parallel ports, and GPIB. Then, USB, Ethernet, and wireless came along. For the most part, the computer controller was almost always a Windows-based PC.
In many applications, the PC is still the system controller and will be for some time. The prospect of using a tablet or a phone as an instrument interface may, over time, become the normal way of controlling measurement instruments. Because of that, instrument makers are faced with having to support more than one platform or operating system. It’s not exclusively a Windows world anymore.
In an effort to develop a universal, browser-based interface between tablet computers and their MSOs, the engineers at Link Instruments turned to open-source hardware and software. The engineers set out to develop a driver stack that a microcontroller can use to control the MSO-28 over USB, then use a wireless interface to the outside world, ending at a tablet computer’s browser. The result: PiMSO, which uses a Raspberry Pi module as an interface between the tablet and the MSO-28. I spoke to Link Instruments engineer John Yeh late one night about the project. (Apparently, writing code and running a DesignLine are both all-the-time jobs.)
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://linkinstruments.com/appnotes/pimso/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Keep Tabs on Passing Jets with Pi and SDR
http://hackaday.com/2014/11/27/keep-tabs-on-passing-jets-with-pi-and-sdr/
[Simon Aubury] has been using a Raspberry Pi and SDR to record video of planes passing overhead.
Simon used two hobby servos and some brackets to gimbal his Pi camera board. A DVB dongle allows the rig to listen in on the Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) coming from the planes. This system is mandated for most commercial aircraft
The Pi Plane Project
http://simonaubury.com/the-pi-plane-project1-introduction/
The Pi Plane Project tracks planes the fly over my house; records a short video – and uploads the clips onto the web.
Using some inexpensive components, we can build a receiver to listen to these ADS-B signals to track these aircraft as they fly overhead.
To create your own (or if you plan to rob me; you can score) …
Raspberry Pi – a very inexpensive credit-card sized computer
Powered USB hub – allows the peripheral parts to connect and be fed
DVB-T & RTL-SDR Receiver, RTL2832U – helps receive and decode aircraft transmissions
GPIO Kit for Raspberry Pi, T-Cobbler – connects the Raspberry Pi to outputs such as the servo motors
PT Pan/Tilt Camera Platform Camera Mount w/ 2 Servo – a pre-assembled platform to allow 2-axis of movement for the camera
Raspberry Pi Camera Board – a CMOS camera suitable for the Raspberry Pi
LCD Display: lcd1602 – an LCD display panel
I used a RTL2832U as a software defined radio (SDR). This is a USB stick (a TV “dongle”), designed for digital TV on a computer.
On the Pi I installed Dump1090 – which does a fine job of understanding the data packets transmitter by a planes transponders. The Dump1090 suite of programs can also display the locations and track of aircraft on a map, but all of this visual trickery was unnecessary for my project
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hacklet 24 – Raspberry Pi Projects
http://hackaday.com/2014/11/28/hacklet-24-raspberry-pi-projects/
Experimenting with embedded Linux used to mean reformatting an old PC, or buying an expensive dev board. In February of 2012, the Raspberry Pi was released, and it has proven to be a game changing platform. According to the Raspberry Pi Foundation, over 3.8 million boards have been sold. 3.8 million translates into a lot of great projects. This week’s Hacklet focuses on some of the best Raspberry Pi projects on Hackaday.io!
Tomi Engdahl says:
RpiFPV
Wifi or 4g FPV with the Raspberry pi and the camera board
http://hackaday.io/project/1007-rpifpv
FPV flying is an upcoming technology. Today deticated video transmitters and recievers are used to send composite quality video from the plane or multicopter to the pilot. There are some alternatives for higher quality fpv but they are incredibly expensive(dji lightbridge and blackmagic modules). How cool would it be to use the raspberry pi with its fast video chip to send high quality video to the pilot?
On the receiving end we want to view the feed in the field. A mobile ground station would be nice. Because our feed comes over an IP network it is logical to use a laptop or tablet to view the feed. For the coming experiments VLC or a similar app will be sufficient.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi Camera Case – from a Holga
http://kimondo.co.uk/raspberry-pi-camera-case-from-a-holga/
Here’s version 1 of the Holga Raspberry Pi Camera – a hackable, programable camera with a 5 megapixel sensor and HD video capabilities, in retro camera form.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Build Your Own Raytracing Minion
http://hackaday.com/2014/11/30/build-your-own-raytracing-minion/
A canceled project left [Craig] with six Raspberry Pi based devices he calls “Minions”. A minion is a Raspberry Pi model A in a small enclosure with an Adafruit 2.2″ 320×240 SPI LCD. The LCD lives in a lollipop style circular housing above the base. [Craig] has found a use for one of his minions as a desktop raytracer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry PiPhone Thermostat Monitors Your Entire House — Or At Least That’s The Plan
http://hackaday.com/2014/12/06/raspberry-piphone-thermostat-monitors-your-entire-house-or-at-least-thats-the-plan/
[Jeff McGehee] or how he likes to be known, [The Nooganeer] just finished his first big tech project after finishing grad school. It’s a connected thermostat that makes use of his old iPhone 4, and a Raspberry Pi.
Now most thermostats just use a single thermosensor in order to determine the temperature — since he’s got a Raspberry Pi, he figured he’d add temperature sensors in a few rooms using a Spark Core kit! The software he’s using is written in Python for visualizations, and he’s using a MySQL database in order to collect analytics.
Raspberry Pi Thermostat Part 1: System Overview
http://www.nooganeer.com/his/?p=112
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi computers are heading into space
Papers will want to know which case they wear
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2386168/raspberry-pi-computers-are-heading-into-space
TWO RASPBERRY PI computers are to be sent into space thanks to a competition aimed at school children and big data.
Coders at primary and secondary schools, who are regularly tackled by the Pi Foundation, are invited to take part in a competition that will kick off, or take off, in the middle of January.
The project is called Astro Pi, naturally, and the computers will be sent up to the International Space Station (ISS) by the UK Space Agency and will run child-created code, according to the Raspberry Pi Foundation blog.
Raspberry Pi Foundation founder Eben Upton suggested that the ISS was just one step of many for the home-grown computer, adding – perhaps jokingly – that Mars is next on the agenda.
http://astro-pi.org/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi Powered Super Digital Photo Frame
http://hackaday.com/2014/12/11/raspberry-pi-powered-super-digital-photo-frame/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspi-Sump
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/raspi-sump
In June 2013, we had the unfortunate luck of a basement flood, caused by a tripped electrical breaker connected to our sump pump.
Audible alarms are fairly cheap and are great when you are physically in the house. They fail miserably when you are ten miles away at work.
I decided to try to put the Pi to work as a dedicated sump pit monitoring device. Hopefully, the Pi could send me SMS alerts if a problem arose while I was away.
There are other projects that can monitor sump pump activity; however, it seemed that everything I came across looked overly complicated or didn’t have the features I required.
Raspi-Sump is a sump pit water-level monitoring system written in Python. It uses a Raspberry Pi and an HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor to monitor the water level in a sump pit, log the readings and send SMS e-mail alerts if the water rises above a predefined level.
In this article, I show the methodology I used to create Raspi-Sump.
Total cost for materials, including a couple spare sensors, was $80.
The ultrasonic sensor I chose is the HC-SR04, which has four connections that are wired to the GPIO pins of the Raspberry Pi. With the help of a Python script, the sensor, which is mounted inside the sump pit facing the water, sends a sound pulse that reflects off the water and back to the sensor.
The Raspi-Sump program currently consists of three Python scripts.
The main script is raspisump.py.
The key Python module used to communicate between the Pi and the sensor is called RPi.GPIO. This module can be used to control so many different types of equipment with your Pi. Without delving into the “nuts and bolts” of RPi.GPIO, the module helps you take control of the pins by turning them on and off. This allows you to control all sorts of equipment, like sensors and LEDs, for example.
The third and final script is checkpid.py. Its purpose is to monitor the health of the raspisump.py process and restart it if it is stopped. Cron runs the script at regular intervals and looks for one of three outcomes.
A sump pit monitor is just one tool you can use to help avoid a flooded basement. It’s not a replacement for a complete strategy that includes a backup pump on a separate electrical breaker. A gas-powered electrical generator is also essential for extended power outages. Also, I kept my cheap Home Depot audible alarm. A text alert at two in the morning is useless if I am sound asleep. I want a “full-out” screech to wake me up.
Tomi Engdahl says:
10 amazing Raspberry Pi-based Kickstarter projects
http://www.edn.com/design/diy/4422918/10-amazing-Raspberry-Pi-based-Kickstarter-projects?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20141231&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20141231&elq=1f7f0ca6222045dbb9321017521c3115&elqCampaignId=20843
If there’s any doubt about the fever surrounding the Raspberry Pi, consider this: more than $680,000 has been pledged for Raspberry Pi-based Kickstarter projects to date, with new projects popping up daily.
The following Kickstarter-funded projects all involve an adaptation of the popular and cheap Raspberry Pi, possibly inspiring you to think of your own new application.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Handheld Linux Terminal Gets an A+
http://hackaday.com/2015/01/17/handheld-linux-terminal-gets-an-a/
follow [Chris]’s guide to building a handheld Linux terminal
[Chris]’s creation is built around a Raspberry Pi A+
It’s housed in a pair of plastic 2.5″ hard drive enclosures connected with a piano hinge, making it about the size of a Nintendo DS. The display is an Adafruit PiTFT touch screen and in order to save space, he soldered it directly to the Pi.
The 2.4GHz wireless thumb keyboard has all the special characters necessary for Linuxing
HOW TO CREATE A HANDHELD LINUX TERMINAL
http://n-o-d-e.net/post/107977286006/how-to-create-a-handheld-linux-terminal
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tracking Power Usage With A Raspi
http://hackaday.com/2015/01/18/tracking-power-usage-with-a-raspi/
With tiny, Internet-connected computers everywhere these days, home automation is finally hitting it big. [Jelora] was looking for a few more home automation projects and realized his electric meter had a pair of ‘digital information outputs’. With a Raspberry Pi and a few bits of wire, he figured out how to read this digital output and put a log of his electricity consumption up on the web.
The digital output on [Jelora]’s meter is a bit odd; it’s 1200 bps, 7 bits per character, parity, with one stop bit. It’s also a 50 kHz AC signal for a binary ‘0’ and nothing for a binary ‘1’. To read this signal, [Jelora] is using a diode to throw out half the signal, a 6N138 optoisolator so the Pi isn’t connected directly to the meter, and a small cap to smooth out the signal. Simple, and it works.
This cleaned up signal is then connected to serial to USB chip and a PHP script scrapes the data every minute.
Récupération consommation EDF via Raspberry Pi
http://www.jlr-blog.com/?menu=afficher_projet&id_projet=62
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Raspberry Pi as a Stratum-1 NTP Server
http://www.satsignal.eu/ntp/Raspberry-Pi-NTP.html
As an experiment, I purchased one of the low-cost credit-card-size Raspberry Pi computers, and have configured it to run NTP (Network Time Protocol). I have also used this board with a GPS receiver with pulse per second (PPS) output to make a stratum-1 NTP server, but as I know little of Linux, it has taken some time to achieve this aim!
Offset using Internet servers alone – millisecond scale
Offset using local LAN servers polled at 32s intervals – microsecond scale
Offset using Trimble Resolution-SMT timing GPS module
Offset while changing to a u-blox NEO-6M GPS module
Many folk have asked about adding a GPS to the Raspberry Pi without needing soldering, and now that has become a reality thanks to the NTPI GPS Addon Board produced by Nevis Computers Ltd in the UK. I used the rpi_gpio_ntp program was developed by Folkert van Heusden and announced in the Time-Nuts mailing list, which allows user-mode working with the PPS signal, thus not requiring a special version of the operating system.
How well does this user-mode work, you may ask. Well it’s pretty good, although not quite as good as kernel-mode, but more than adequate for the precision offered by the Raspberry Pi.
Quick start NTP on the Raspberry Pi
http://www.satsignal.eu/ntp/Raspberry-Pi-quickstart.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Browser-Controlled Tracked Robot
A tracked vehicle for playing around with. Controlled from laptop for ubiqutousness, educational value and … uh… data.
http://hackaday.io/project/2610-browser-controlled-tracked-robot
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi Learns how to Control a Combustion Engine
http://hackaday.com/2015/01/28/raspberry-pi-learns-how-to-control-a-combustion-engine/
For his PhD at the University of Michigan, [Adam] designed a Raspberry Pi-based system that controls an HCCI engine, a type of engine which combines the merits of both diesel and gasoline engines. These engines exhibit near-chaotic behavior and are very challenging to model, so he developed a machine learning algorithm on a Raspberry Pi that adaptively learns how to control the engine.
Adam]’s algorithm calculates engine control parameters in real-time on the Pi based on the pressure readings and crankshaft position. The control values are sent over CAN to the low-level engine controller.
An Extreme Learning Machine Approach to Predicting Near Chaotic HCCI Combustion Phasing in Real-Time
http://arxiv.org/abs/1310.3567
Tomi Engdahl says:
Interesting Internet controlled backpack stereo project:
SnoTunes Lets You Rock Out in the Winter
http://hackaday.com/2015/02/03/snotunes-lets-you-rock-out-in-the-winter/
It’s a whopping 160 watt stereo, has 7-8 hours of battery life, is somewhat water resistant, and can be controlled wirelessly. Its brain is a Raspberry Pi B+ running Kodi (which was formerly XBMC).
It fetches and downloads YouTube music videos and can create a playlist that can be manipulated by text message. You can share YouTube links to have it download and queue the songs, you can skip the songs (but only if four people make the request), and it even automatically parses the music video titles to extract the song name and band.
SnoTunes
http://mattbilsky.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=SnoTunes
One of my jobs for USCSA (United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association) is to bring music to the start of our races. Every day I would get request for racers to play specific songs when they were getting ready to start. This was a real pain. So I though wouldn’t it be nice if listeners can text message in their song requests?
The Raspberry Pi itself is running the RaspBMC distribution and uses the Kodi (formerly XBMC) for media playback.
I purchased a USB wireless microphone
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Minecraft Server
A self hosting LAN party Minecraft server that doesnt require an internet connection.
http://hackaday.io/project/4224-raspberry-minecraft-server
Tomi Engdahl says:
Use Ruby to Make Any Window A Blinken Window
http://hackaday.com/2015/02/09/use-ruby-to-make-any-window-a-blinken-window/
[Akhil Stanislavose] wanted to spice up his window decorations for the holidays. Inspired by blinkenlights, he decided to make his front window interactive. The Blinken Window is a grid of 6 x 10 programmable LEDs running on a Raspberry Pi. Since a RasPi doesn’t have enough GPIO pins for 60 LEDs, [Akhil] built an expander board using 8 daisy chained standard 74HC595 shift registers to accommodate them.
[Akhil] demonstrates how you can use the Blinken Window to play a version of Pong using your smartphone as the controller. [Akhil] has also provided a few basic animation examples that can be expanded upon. We’d enjoy seeing an implementation of Tetris.
https://github.com/akhilstanislavose/blinken-window/blob/master/README.md
Tomi Engdahl says:
Real-Time Rogue Wireless Access Point Detection with the Raspberry Pi
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/real-time-rogue-wireless-access-point-detection-raspberry-pi
Years ago, I worked for an automotive IT provider, and occasionally we went out to the plants to search for rogue Wireless Access Points (WAPs). A rogue WAP is one that the company hasn’t approved to be there. So if someone were to go and buy a wireless router, and plug it in to the network, that would be a rogue WAP. A rogue WAP also could be someone using a cell phone or MiFi as a Wi-Fi hotspot.
The tools we used were laptops with Fluke Networks’ AirMagnet, at the time a proprietary external Wi-Fi card and the software dashboard.
The payment card industry, with its data security standard (PCI-DSS), is the only one I could find that requires companies to do quarterly scans for rogue WAPs.
Later, when I was a network engineer at a publishing company, I found it was good to know what was on my employer’s network. The company wanted to know if employees followed policy. The company also was worried about data loss, especially around a couple projects.
One thing I always wanted was a passive real-time wireless sensor network to watch for changes in Wi-Fi. A passive system, like Kismet and Airodump-NG, collects all the packets in the radio frequency (RF) that the card can detect and displays them. This finds hidden WAPs too, by looking at the clients talking to them. In contrast, active systems, like the old Netsumbler, try to connect WAPs by broadcasting null SSID probes and displaying the WAPs that reply back. This misses hidden networks.
Today lots of wireless intrusion detection systems exist on the market, but as listed in the Hardware sidebar, mine cost me little more than $400.00 USD to make. Based on numbers I could get, via Google Shopping, using Cisco Network’s Wireless IDS data sheet from 2014, a similar set up would have cost about $11,500 USD.
Cost of parts: $69.95 per sensor; I used six Raspberry Pis in the project.
Raspberry Pi Wireless Sensor Drone:
Wireless Survey
A wireless survey is usually a map of a building or location showing the signal strengths associated with wireless access points. Surveys are usually the first step when a new wireless network is installed. Surveys give the installers how many WAPs are needed, where they should be spaced, and what channels would be best to use in those areas.
Surveys normally are done with a WAP and a Wi-Fi-enabled device. The WAP is placed in a location, and signal strength is recorded as the client is moved around the area.
A rogue WAP or a survey WAP can be built from a Raspberry Pi with a wireless card and Hostapd.
Kali Linux:
Kali Linux is the new version of Backtrack Linux—one of the specialized Linux distributions for penetration testing and security. It is currently based off Debian Linux, with security-focused tools preinstalled.
Airodump-NG
Airodump is a raw 802.11 packet capture device. It is part of the Aircrack-NG suite.
What Is Kismet?
Kismet is an 802.11 wireless network detector, sniffer and intrusion detection system. Kismet will work with any wireless card that supports raw monitoring mode, and it can sniff 802.11b, 802.11a, 802.11g and 802.11n traffic (devices and drivers permitting).
Configuring the Raspberry Pi with Kali
Configure the Kismet Drone
Configure the Kismet Server on a PC or Server for the Drone Sensors
Tomi Engdahl says:
WiFi Controlled Power Outlets with Raspberry Pi
http://hackaday.com/2015/02/11/wifi-controlled-power-outlets-with-raspberry-pi/
[Tim] was looking for a way to control his power outlets using WiFi. He looked into purchasing a WeMo but he realized that he could build something even better with more bang for his buck. He started out by purchasing a five pack of Etekcity wireless remote control outlet switches.
[Tim] just needed to find a way to bridge the gap between the RF remote and WiFi.
[Tim] decided to use a Raspberry Pi as the brains of the controller.
[Tim] began with a fresh installation of Raspbian. He then installed Wiring Pi, which gives you the ability to interface with the GPIO pins in a way that is similar to Arduino. He also installed Apache and PHP to create a web interface for switching the outlets.
a script that allowed [Tim] to sniff out the controls of his RF remote
Wireless Power Outlets RF from Raspberry Pi
http://timleland.com/wireless-power-outlets/
Have you ever wanted to wirelessly control power outlets from your phone? You could buy a Belkin WeMo Switch for over $40 for 1 outlet or build your own with 5 outlets for under $35 if you already own a Raspberry Pi. Hopefully this post will guide you in the right direction.
Tomi Engdahl says:
More informations about the protocol used by the outlets (what does these codes means) ? There is already a lot of stuff like this. See https://hackaday.io/project/465-raspbox-home-automation-cloud for example of outlets using “Home easy” protocol.
RaspBox – Home Automation & Cloud
Voice controlled home automation and personal cloud using a Raspberry Pi
https://hackaday.io/project/465-raspbox-home-automation-cloud
This project uses a Raspberry Pi and a 433Mhz transmitter in order to control objects that uses “Home Easy” protocol.
These can be controlled over a web interface
There is also a Windows and an Android client for some sort of “personal assistant” like Siri with Home Automation features.
The Raspberry Pi is also used as a cloud server using different softwares :
- Bittorrent Sync (to keep files synchronised)
- Pydio (to manage and publish files)
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Full Size Wireless Redstone Lamp
A “full size” wirelessly controlled redstone lamp. Full sized == 1m cubed
http://hackaday.io/project/1965-full-size-wireless-redstone-lamp
works using a switch within minecraft
Tomi Engdahl says:
Raspberry Pi Doorbell is Fully Featured
http://hackaday.com/2015/02/22/raspberry-pi-doorbell-is-fully-featured/
When the doorbell button is pressed, many different events can be triggered.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Real-Time Rogue Wireless Access Point Detection with the Raspberry Pi
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/real-time-rogue-wireless-access-point-detection-raspberry-pi?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+linuxjournalcom+%28Linux+Journal+-+The+Original+Magazine+of+the+Linux+Community%29
Tomi Engdahl says:
Another Garage Door Opener, This Time With Security
http://hackaday.com/2015/02/23/another-garage-door-opener-this-time-with-security/
The core of the project is a Raspberry Pi hardwired to a universal garage door remote. The Pi also handles a small webcam and runs a program called motion, which is a Linux program that allows for all kinds of webcam fun including motion detection