Tag: Gert

RasPi.tv goes whackadoodle with a Gertboard and a Wiimote

Alex Eames from RasPi.tv has really outdone himself this time: he’s using a Wiimote and a Gertboard to make his Pi control a splendid array of motors and solenoids, complete with little flags and metal teacups that go ping. More flap-whizz-ding-vroom to your elbow, Alex. This is one of the best Gertboard demos I’ve seen so far. You can read more at RasPi.tv.

Gertboard is, of course, produced by Gert van Loo, one of the volunteer engineers who has given a huge amount of his spare time in doing Pi work over the last couple of years; he designed the large beta boards we used to develop the final Raspberry Pi that you’ve got on your desk right now, he works on the camera board, and he knows more about stepper motors than is strictly healthy. (Because Gert is not employed by the Foundation, you’ll occasionally find him in the comments and the forums here saying stuff like: “I am not part of the Foundation! I just help.” This is total nonsense; we wouldn’t have a Pi without Gert, and I’m pretty sure he knows it.)

The Gertboard is an expansion board for physical computing-types, making your Pi a powerful piece of kit in the real world: you can use it to detect and respond to external physical events, detect and output analogue voltages, drive powerful motors, detect switch presses, flash LEDs and drive relays.You can buy one from element14. (It also comes with a very fine manual which you can download for free from the product page.)

I’m hoping to meet Alex from Raspi.tv at Oxford Geek Night on March 13, when Eben and I will be dropping by for beers, a talk, and chat. The guys behind Manuel, the talking moose, and plenty of other Pi hackers will be there – I hope some more of you will join us!

Gertboard, ATmega

Gert sent me this. I thought you might enjoy it.

Hardware lesson with Gert: make your own ribbon cable connector

Someone in our forums was asking yesterday where he could buy some ribbon cable with a press connector for his Raspberry Pi, to attach to the GPIO pins. Pre-built cables like this are hard to find, and the options other people on the forums found were pricey, and also attracted large shipping costs. So Gert stepped in: here’s how to build your own using parts (which you should be able to buy from your local electronics store).

Camera module – first pictures!

I was sent this image this morning from Gert (not pictured), Naush (right eye and half-moustache) and JamesH (stripy shirt and chin). It’s not a terribly exciting photo – until you realise that it’s the first picture ever taken from the prototype camera add-on board we’re developing for release later in the year, which will plug into those CSI pins we expose in  the middle of the Raspberry Pi. I will ask Gert, Naush and JamesH, who have been working on this in their free evenings, to answer questions in the comments below – they are also very active on our forums, so please come over and have a chat.

We may downgrade the super-duperness of the camera to something with fewer than its current 14 megapixels before release; we need to keep things affordable, and a sensor of that size will end up pricey. Before you ask (I know it’ll be the first question most of you have), we don’t have a price for the camera module yet; we’ll need to finalise exactly what hardware is in it first, but we will, of course, be ensuring that it’s very affordable.

More pictures, including some of the camera module itself with the Raspberry Pi:

Gert (bottom left), JamesH (middle) and Naush (top right) are looking very pleased with themselves. Here's another picture from the camera module, which wishes it had something to photograph besides engineers.

The module is pretty small, which makes it ideal for some of the robotics and home automation applications people have been wanting to build.

The mechanical design still isn't complete, but the final version will attach to the Raspberry Pi with ribbon cable, like this prototype.

View from above.

JamesH now holds the record for the most random body parts (fingertip, chin) used as feature photos on this website. Congratulations James! (There is no prize.)