So far I have looked at the Raspberry Pi NOOBS Linux distributions: Raspbian, Arch and Pidora; the XBMC focused Raspbmc and OpenELEC; and the non-Linux RISC OS. Then in the most recent post I discussed the Pi Camera and USB WiFi adapters. Speaking of the camera, there was a very interesting new post on the Raspberry Pi web site about a python interface and a web page for accessing the Pi camera.
Now I have a couple more add-on hardware bits to explore, the PiHub 4-port USB hub designed especially for the Raspberry Pi and a Bluetooth USB adapter.
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, or even use Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for MakeCode, CircuitPython, 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 with Google Hangouts On-Air is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
