The Raspberry Pi is a single board computer no bigger than a credit card. All its ports and components are compactly stacked, the computer can be powered by USB, it can be carried in your pocket, plus it costs much cheaper than any monoblock computer.
On the downside, it doesn’t have its own monitor (you have to plug in an external one), its storage is limited to a memory card or USB drive, and it doesn’t have the fastest processor. Nevertheless, you can do a lot of great things on this Raspberry. Here are a few examples.
A real desktop computer
Difficulty: 5/5.
Time: 5/5.
You can insert a card with the Raspbian operating system pre-installed into the Raspberry Pi and boot it up as an ordinary computer. You will hardly be able to play toys on it, but you will be able to work with documents, surf the Internet, listen to music and watch movies – no problem. Also the basic distribution includes a package of office programs. And all this on a board for 35 dollars!
Besides the board itself you will need a memory card, a power supply, a monitor with HDMI cable and a mouse and keyboard. Everything else is on the board itself: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, network port and headphone jack.
Your own cloud storage
Difficulty: 3/5.
Time: 2/5.
Why pay for cloud storage services when you can make your own? If you’re paranoid and don’t want to store your personal photos on someone else’s server, this is quite the option for you. Especially since the size of storage and download speed depend only on yourself.
Setting up such a service is done in two steps: first, we install Linux, such as the same Debian, and then set up remote access. As a result, your cloud can be used for anything: to store mail, files, photos from vacations, work projects for the team or movies that you are sorry to delete after viewing.
The only downside is that for uninterrupted access to your files, the service must work around the clock.
Music player
Difficulty: 2/5.
Time: 3/5.
If you have a few hours of free time, good speakers and internet, here’s what you can get:
- music streaming from Spotify, SoundCloud, Google Music, Apple Podcast;
- Internet radio from TuneIn, Dirble, AudioAddict, Soma FM;
- you can listen to music of any format from a flash drive and home network and distribute it via Bluetooth.
Such a player is suitable for background music. For music lovers and audiophiles it won’t be suitable, because the built-in audio chip on Raspberry doesn’t give the cleanest sound. But you can connect an external card!
Turning an old TV into a home media center
Difficulty: 1/5.
Time: 2/5.
Continuation of the previous topic about entertainment. Using the same software, you can turn any TV, even the oldest one, into a full-fledged home media center – just connect it via HDMI. If the TV is so old that there are only ancient “tulpans”, an adapter will help.
Install Kodi, customize the picture, connect to the network and you can watch TV series and streams even on tube TVs. And if you add a keyboard, the TV turns into a media monster that works with any video content in the world.
Heating stove with wireless control
Difficulty: 4/5.
Time: 5/5.
A smart home isn’t just about weather sensors and colored lights around the rooms. How about smart heating and a real fire? One fellow took an old stove, made missing parts and got fully automatic temperature control with remote control via the internet.
Official warning: this all really works, but requires an engineering degree and knowledge of physics and thermodynamics. You don’t want to assemble such a system and control an open fire from a gas cylinder if this is the first time you’ve ever held a low-pressure gas valve.
Bird house with video surveillance
Difficulty: 1/5.
Time: 2/5.
Ornithologists will be delighted: you can watch birds at any time and even stream them. All you need is a cardboard box, duct tape, infrared LEDs and an external camera module. The birds don’t really care what the birdhouse looks like, and you get cool shots anytime you want.
Lamp table clock on gas discharge indicators
Difficulty: 3/5.
Time: 4/5.
A cool project that combines high-tech and steampunk. The Raspberry Pi is responsible for the first part, which controls all the lamps and synchronizes the time via the internet, and the Nixie lamps are responsible for the second part. It looks expensive and vintage, just like a real geek product should.
If you don’t like the orange light, there are the same lamps but with a purple glow. If you want to impress someone who’s into technology, build a watch like this for them.
Robot manipulator
Difficulty: 4/5.
Time: 4/5.
It’s still a long way from Skynet, but anyone can make a robotic arm. The only difficulty is that almost all parts will have to be printed on a 3D printer. Once assembled, you can move this arm in all planes, grab small objects and move them from place to place.
If you add one more manipulator, you will have a second arm, and if you add two more, you will have legs. It is better not to make a head yet.
Quadrocopter
Difficulty: 4/5.
Time: 5/5.
In essence, a copter is a flying server. The original idea was to make a quadrocopter in the form of Santa Claus’s sleigh, which would deliver presents to employees around the office by itself and to music.
Inside it is Raspbian – a variant of Linux adapted for this hardware. You can put other software, but it will not work as stable. There’s a camera, too.
Bird feeder with a bot for photos
Difficulty: 3/5.
Time: 3/5.
The main idea is for the system to automatically detect all the birds coming to the feeder, determine what kind of bird it is, take and select the best photo, and then post it somewhere and keep attendance statistics.