is a multi page Touch GUi that is capable of reading data from a variety of sensors feasible on a RPi?

[Lego51]

Hello all. I am new to linux and the Pi platform. The last time I coded was in basic on my x86 . I would like to create a multi page Touch GUi that is capable of reading data from a variety of sensors, operate an assortment of lights depending on said data, display the sensor data io screen as animated bargraphs along with other types of data driven animations, and eventually also support wifi and gps... i know, its a lot for a beginner to take on but I think I'm up for the challenge. My question is does this sound feasable on this platform with maybe an Arduino or 3 controlling the lights and reading the sensors. And if so, what languages would be best? After a lot of reading and taking 2 beginner programming courses from lynda.com, i am thinking c++ and Java might get this done. Any ideas other than just start learning? I have already begun writing some sample code in c++ that went with the course I took and I have a solid grasp of what needs to be done. Just not sure I'm headed in the right direction. If you need more info in order to give any advice please let me know. Thanks

[B.Goode]

Welcome to the Raspberry Pi forums.

Most of what you need to know is documented on the Raspberry Pi Foundation website.

Dealing with a range of sensors is described here: https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/pro ... -computing

The freely downloadable MagPi magazine has many past articles that might provide inspiration and guidance: https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/issues/82/ (All previous editions are also available.)

[jahboater]

My question is does this sound feasable on this platform with maybe an Arduino or 3 controlling the lights and reading the sensors.

Yes. If in doubt, get the latest model, the 3B+ (with the plus) as its the most powerful and flexible Pi. You should not need a separate Arduino.

And if so, what languages would be best? After a lot of reading and taking 2 beginner programming courses from lynda.com, i am thinking c++ and Java might get this done.

Rasbian (the OS most people use) includes C, C++, and Python. I personally would start with C rather than C++ as it is much simpler (C++17 is a huge language to learn). You could always move on to C++ later as C is mostly a subset of C++. If you need a GUI for your project then perhaps use GTK - there is a handy little book recently published by the Pi foundation about GUI programming with C and GTK.

[Lego51]

Wow! Thanks for the quick replies and for the great info. Ill check out the book this week ive got lots of reading to do !