I had two bits of unused hardware knocking around – a Raspberry Pi that used to run my Go Free Range weather printer (the thermal printer broke – another story), and an old Samsung ML-1510 black and white laser printer that was pretty useless to me as you can’t get up-to-date Mac OS X drivers for it. The laser printer only cost me about £40 when new, but I hate seeing things go to waste.
I wondered if it was possible to glue them together – turn the Raspberry Pi into a print server that I could leave on all the time plugged into the laser printer. And, dear reader, it is possible. And incredibly easy. Using this guide: http://www.bartbania.com/index.php/cups-raspberry-printer/ I had it working in about 30 minutes.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!