Electronics-Lab.com Blog

With this post open-electronics.org compares the latest arrived boards in the world of hobbyists electronics. Here’s the list of platforms compared:

• Arduino Uno
• Arduino Due
• MBED
• Discovery
• Rasperry PI
• Android based Mini PCs based on MK802II/MK802III

The Ultimate Comparison of IOT Development Boards - [Link]

A smaller version of the Raspberry Pi computer built in the UK is driving the cost to under $25. [via]

element14 has announced the launch of the new credit card sized Raspberry Pi Model A board in Europe, selling at under $25. It uses the same 700MHz ARM1176 Broadcom BCM2835 processor but only 256MB of RAM is included as standard, there is no Ethernet connection and only one USB port, but it does use considerably less energy for battery-powered applications.

Smaller Raspberry Pi costs under $25 - [Link]

Plastic housings Tek-Berry series provide a professional look and a mechanical protection to your applications with well-known Raspberry-Pi microcomputers.

Company Teko launched on the market several versions of housings directly designed for Raspberry-Pi. It is unusual to have a possibility to buy a housing directly designed for a given PCB.

Tek-Berry housings represent such an optimized solution for a concrete type of a product, thus providing an ideal solution with minimal dimensions. Probably the biggest advantage is that all openings are already made. There is no need of laborious drilling or milling. TekBerry housings even contain a light-guide for better visibility of light from indication LEDs.

Tek-Berry housings can be found in our store in a transparent, grey and black version. Upon order, we´re able to provide you other versions too. Detailed information can be found in the Tek-Berry datasheet and the Tek-Berry press release. In case of interest, please contact us at  info@soselectronic.com.

Tek-Berry will make a coat for your Rasberry-Pi - [Link]

The circuit for this project is quite simple. Its purpose is to adapt the GPIO pins of the Raspberry Pi to the voltages expected by the PIC. It also provides LEDs for diagnostic purposes.

PIC Programmer for the Raspberry Pi - [Link]

APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) is an amateur-radio based system for realtime communication using digital packets sent over radio links. I present here, an implementation of an APRS iGate using the Raspberry-Pi. An APRS iGate is an Internet gateway that gates packets from the radio/RF side to the  APRS-IS on the Internet (and vice-versa). The APRS-IS is an Internet based network that connects APRS networks from all around the world and facilitates APRS applications (like realtime postion reporting of objects overlaid over google maps, see aprs.fi)

piGate – an APRS iGate implementation using the Raspberry-Pi - [Link]

Hot off the heels of last month’s Raspberry Pi manufacturing deal with Sony, element14 today announced its continued partnership with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, launching an upgraded 512 MB version of the credit card-sized development board. Featuring double the RAM, the higher performance mini-computer is suited to multimedia, high-memory and mobile applications. The additional memory is also an enabler to allow the Raspberry Pi to run a future version of an Android 4.0 operating system.

The $35 Raspberry PI 512MB board is available now at element14 on a first come first served basis through its brands Newark element14 in North America, Farnell element14 in Europe,  and element14 in Asia Pacific, as well as through subsidiaries CPC in the UK and MCM Electronics in the US.

Members of the element14 Community are invited to join the discussion online and share ideas and plans for the Raspberry Pi on the dedicated Raspberry Pi Group, bolstering more than 7,000 new members from across the globe. Plus, make sure to check out the revolutionary board and accompanying accessories on display at electronica in Munich, Germany on November 13-16, 2012.

The full press release is included below with additional details. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to speak with an element14 representative about the new Raspberry Pi development board and its impact on the programming revolution.

Element14 launches new Raspberry Pi Board; drives programming revolution forward  - [Link]

drcurzon writes:

This version is much more secure and could easily be used across the internet with very few security concerns. A brief outline:

• A server program that runs on the Raspberry Pi to read variables
• A MySQL database to store the variables in
• An Apache2 served webpage to allow control of the variables

Web Control of Raspberry Pi GPIO - [Link]

lightnin9 writes:

Now everybody knows it’s way smarter to just pay someone to host your website. But what not everybody knows is that it’s way more punk rock to Do it Yourself. So what follows are some tips / pointers / instructions for setting up your own home webserver (which will burn a scant 2 watts) using all free, open source software, a Raspberry Pi, and your home internet connection.

The emphasis here is on lightweight, which fits well with the Raspberry Pi. Sure, you can setup a blog with wordpress or Django, and they will run (I’ve tried it, at least with Django). But they probably will run rather slowly. Why? The rPi doesn’t have a lot of memory or processing power, and a database / front end model requires a decent amount of that. If your site / blog ever gets much traffic, it’ll likely buckle under the load. The answer? Just serve up plain old static HTML pages. It’s fast, secure, simple, and easy on the rPi’s limited resources. But rather than painstakingly handcodeing each new blog entry, you can use a static html generator like Pelican to make it easy

Host your own blog from a $25 Raspberry Pi computer - [Link]

drcurzon writes:

This is my first Instructable so all criticisms and comments are welcome. This will show you how to set up a simple wired web server on your Raspberry Pi, with PHP and MySql.

The Raspberry Pi is a good choice for a webserver that will not recieve too much traffic, such as a testing server, or small intranet, as it doesn;t get too hot (so is nice and quiet), and only uses around 5 Watts of power (costing £3.50 a year where I am if it’s running 24/7)

Raspberry Pi Web Server - [Link]

The Parallella project will make parallel computing accessible to everyone. Adapteva writes:

Making parallel computing easy to use has been described as “a problem as hard as any that computer science has faced”. With such a big challenge ahead, we need to make sure that every programmer has access to cheap and open parallel hardware and development tools. Inspired by great hardware communities like Raspberry Pi and Arduino, we see a critical need for a truly open, high-performance computing platform that will close the knowledge gap in parallel programing. The goal of the Parallella project is to democratize access to parallel computing. If we can pull this off, who knows what kind of breakthrough applications could arise. Maybe some of them will even change the world in some small but positive way.

Parallella: A Supercomputer For Everyone - [Link]