Adafruit LCD and Keypad Kit

I purchased one of these this week and having played with it for a few days I have to say it is a great addition to the Raspberry Pi. It is the "Adafruit RGB Negative 16x2 LCD+Keypad Kit for Raspberry Pi" available from the Adafruit website here for $25 plus postage.  Which compared to the price of the Pi seems expensive, but this seems to be an issue with all accessories, as the Pi is just so cheap. For me the extra functionality this add on brings seemed well worth the money.

As its name implies it comes in a kit form which you have to solder together yourself.  I had not done any soldering before, but the Adafruit website claims "Assembly is easy, even if you've never soldered before and the kit can be completed in 30 minutes." and I can attest that I assembled it with no problems although I think it took me more like two to three hours than the 30 minutes (I assume that is the estimated time for someone more experienced at soldering).  The kit basically consists of a circuit board which is identical in size to the Pi and assembly involves soldering all of the components onto that board.

Once completed you have a unit which sits on top of your Pi connecting to the GPIO pins on the top left corner and resting on the ethernet port on the bottom right corner.  (When the model A is released early next year I guess that Adafruit will have to add some more parts to the kit to make up the height difference for the missing ethernet port).  You get a two row text display with sixteen characters on each line and a back light which you can change the color of for the whole display via code.  There are also five input buttons in the bottom left arranged in a directional pad configuration with a select button to the one side.

 

These look like they will be great for all sorts of projects, removing the need for a full keyboard, but in combination with the screen offering a full range of interaction with your projects.  My only slight criticism (and indeed my only criticism about the whole product at all) is I think these would have been better in the bottom right corner where the board is supported by the ethernet port.  Where they are, it feels if you pressed the buttons too hard it could dislodge the board from the Pi.  But to be fair I know nothing about circuit board design and me saying "can't you just move that bit over there?" about something which might be in fact quite difficult, could well be a rather unhelpful comment.  Maybe this could be a 3D printing project for someone to build some sort of support for that corner?

 

In the bottom right of the board is a small potentiometer which once you have your board assembled and running you use to adjust the contrast (using a small screwdriver) to get the display nice and clear (apparently each LCD screen is slightly different, hence the need to manually set this.)

 

Once you have the board assembled and connected to your Pi it is time to get some code running on it.  There is some sample code to get you started on the Adafruit website here.  I found it did not work for me first time and I had a panicked moment of thinking my soldering job was not up to scratch.  But after a quick Google of the error message I found it was in fact something I could fix from the software side of things.  In fact just re-reading the instructions as I write this, I realise I missed the very first instruction:  "edit /etc/modules (sudo nano /etc/modules) and add: i2c-bcm2708 i2c-dev to the end of the file. Then save and reboot to enable the hardware I2C driver.". So if it doesn't work first try for you, try what I did not bother to do and recheck that you followed all of the instructions!  After that try a Google search on your error message and then an inspection of your solder work.

 

My first actual useful project with it was to get my Pi to display its IP address when it boots up.  Great for being able to remotely connect into it without connecting a keyboard or monitor.  When I have time I will write up a full step by step guide on how to get this working.



Back To The Pi

Wow! It's October already.  I'm not entirely sure what happened to the summer, but I do know I haven't looked at my Pi in two months...

In starting up again I wanted to look at the reasons why I hadn't done more.  I am still very excited about the project and the device, so it is not lack of interest.   I feel like saying it was a lack of time and although work has been busy these last two months (with a major release now only days away) it's not fair to say I have not had time for other interests.

So what I am putting it down to is location.  I have read the debate that the cost of a Pi is actually significantly more than $35 as you need a number of accessories before it is a usable computer.  The counter to this argument (which I am generally in agreement with) is that many of the extra accessories you will need, people will find they already own.  Very specifically in this area and the most expensive accessory you will need is a display device.  But here is where I am beginning see a flaw in the argument and why I've not played with my Pi more.

I agree that most households (mine included) will have a HMDI enabled display in the home.  The problem I have, is this display is the television sitting in the living room.  Which has a number of intrinsic problems.  Firstly it is on a television stand, so when the Pi is connected to it you have to sit on the floor in front of it, which is not the most comfortable of positions.  Secondly when the Pi is all wired up in the middle of said living room with wires sticking out from it in all directions it doesn't really add to the ambiance of the room.  This meant I was packing it away between uses, which had the knock-on effect of I couldn't just play with it for 15 minutes as it took about that long to get it set up and put away again.  And the last problem of using the television is that it is actually used to watch television on!  So it was not like I could play with the Pi while watching some mindless TV show.

But I am all about solutions to problems and in starting again with my Pi this seems like the biggest one to address.  And my solution?  Remote Desktop.

I got it successively installed last night and can now remote from any of my other machines to the Pi.  This has already paid dividends with me getting further with my GPS project than I had before all from the comfort of my bed.

Look out for a blog post on how to set up Remote Desktop for your Pi coming soon.

My Pi has Arrived!

My Pi is here!  Very exciting.  So looks like I did everything right with the SD card, as it all booted up without issues.  Pictures of my board are here.

My two initial observations were just how small the thing actually is (I know I knew it was the size of a credit card, but it still seems amazingly small when you actually have it in your hand) and the second was how strangely satisfying it is to have a machine which boots to a command prompt.  Though I must admit I did spend a few minutes staring at said command prompt wondering: now what?

A little bit of digging in the wiki found the startx command and I booted into the GUI in no time.  So in terms of the accessories that I had, they all worked with no problems at all, just plugged them in and I was away.  I think I need to change the local to recognise it is a US keyboard, but thankfully I still remember where all the keys are supposed to be so didn't bother changing it at this point.

I didn't have loads of time to play with it this evening, so had a quick go with scratch before calling it a night. Didn't seem to be able to get any sound going, so that is probably the next thing I need to look at.  And for some reason I couldn't work out how to clear the stage in scratch.  But anyway I will leave you with my very first scratch program output:

Cases

OK so with the essential accessories ordered and on their way, time to think about cases.  Not entirely necessary, but I think probably worthwhile to protect my Pi and for the cool factor.

So I thought I would take a look at what's out there.  Obviously I haven't tried any of these out, so no guarantees on quality or functionality, just my thoughts from browsing the websites.

The Lego Case

I had to start with this one because it is so awesome.  Designed by a 12 year old from the UK; open source design from readily available parts: pure embodiment of what the whole Raspberry Pi project is about.  You can get the build instructions from the official Raspberry Pi website here and buy a kit with all the parts (£13.95 ~ $21.72) from the Daily Brick website here.  Although at time of writing they are listing an approximate wait of 1 week.

Downsides - there is no slot for a ribbon cable off the GPIO pins and it doesn't look particularly dust proof from the pictures.  But for sheer cool factor this has got to be a strong contender.

The Metal  Case

Looking for a seriously cool looking, seriously tough aerospace grade aluminum case which actually costs $10 more than the Pi itself?  Then look no further, the Billet Aluminum is the case for you.  Available for sale on eBay at $44.99 or for extra bling you can get it custom engraved with your own design!

Downsides - Cost! and again no slot for the GPIO ribbon cable.  But if you want to show you are not buying a RasPi because it is cheap, but because it is cool, then this could be the case for you.

The Shapeways Options

For anyone who hasn't seen shapeways before it is a site which allows users to upload 3D designs which they will print with a 3D printer and send out to you.  Further more you can then sell these to others.

So there are a number of Shapeways RaspPi cases:

Raspberry Pi : Design Case V2 - $33.85

Raspberry Pi CASE 1.0 - $38.60

Raspberry Pi : Standard Case - $26.37

This is just a quick selection of what is available.  My thoughts on them as a whole are:

1. They seem a little expensive.
2. I'm not entirely sure what the finish of a 3D printed object will be. (Mainly because I have never held one in the flesh.

The Plexiglass Case

Available on Amazon.com* at $18.50 this case allows you to protect your Pi while still basking in the glory of its beautiful design.  Hinged lid gives you access to your Pi plus we have a slot for the GPIO ribbon cable.

(* - Affiliated link - I will make a commission if you buy through this link.  If you don't like, don't click.)

The Adafruit Case

Similar in design and style to the Plexiglass case, the Adafruit case comes with the pedigree of a well established makers site.  This looks like a well built quality product and coming in at $14.95 one of the cheapest cases we have seen so far.  Again we have a slot for the ribbon  cable and we also have labelled ports.

At the time of writing there is a 1-2 week lead time on this case.

The Built To Spec Case

Another laser cut case, but this time in a sleek looking jet black.  This case come in at the cheapest of the bunch at $12.50 from the BuiltToSpec website.  It's a nice solid looking case, again with labelled ports and the ribbon cable slot. It appears perhaps slightly taller than some of the other cases,but has some definite style and at a price which seems right at home with the Raspberry Pi project.

Again looks like a popular product and at time of writing has a 5-7 business days lead time.

So what am I going to buy?

Right now?  I can't decide.  It seems like there is a lot of choice out there and I'm not quite sure what is going to work best for me.  I think I will wait until I have my Pi in hand and revisit the options at that point.  Maybe I should make my own custom case?

Preparations

Well my Pi has made it to Kansas, so time to start thinking about what else I am going to need.  I have already assembled the below collection:

Which is a mini mouse which I picked up for $5 somewhere (not the best mouse to use, but it's Red!); a USB pen drive I got for free from a work conference and a USB cable which came from a old Nokia phone I used to own.  I need to check my USB power converters to make sure I have one which will delivery enough current.

My plan for the Pi is to use the USB pen drive to store all my work and files on then have a number of SD cards which I can try different O/Ss on.  That way all my actual "work" will be safe on the pen drive and I can reflash the SD cards as often as I want.

Additionally I think I need the following:

• A keyboard.  I have a wireless one on my mac, but figured I'd pick a basic wired one to avoid any driver issues and to save having to keep switching the dongle over.
• A SD card. One will be enough to get me going then I can buy more once I am sure they work.  I can't quite find what the minimum size needed is but I think a 2 Gig one will do me.
• A USB hub.  With my above USB drive plan I am going to need one more USB port than the standard two that are on the B model.

Time to make use of my Amazon Prime two day shipping!

I ordered the below:

AmazonBasics Keyboard $10.77	AmazonBasics Class 10 4 GB SD Card $5.49	Belkin USB Hub $6.94

(Please not that the above prices are what I paid and not necessarily what they cost now.  If you click the above links and buy anything then I will get a commission which will promptly be used to buy more Raspberry Pi accessories.  If you don't like that then please don't click the links!)

So another $22.75 on top of the $35 I paid for the Pi.  Still looking like a cheap computer to me!

A couple of things to mention:

• It seemed much more economical to get a 4 Gig SD card than a 2 Gig one.  So I upgraded.
• After I ordered this lot I saw some comments on the RasPi forum which suggested buying a powered USB hub as the Pi can only supply so much power.  I think I will be OK with my initial setup, but maybe I'll need to upgrade at a later date if I want to start adding extra USB devices.

This lot should be with me tomorrow, look out for a full compatibility report when my Pi reaches me on Monday.