Innehållsförteckning för #148 från Raspberry Pi Official Magazine

Now is the best time to be an engineer, maker, or hobbyist interested in Raspberry Pi. There’s an absolute cornucopia of Raspberry Pi riches to discover. Last month, we got the new AI Camera and the small (but surprisingly crowd-pleasing) Bumper. This month we’ve got an AI HAT+, an official SSD kit, USB 3.0 Hub, and a new version of Raspberry Pi OS. All of this alongside the Raspberry Pi 5 and Pico 2 boards that make it all work. We’re big on making your own entertainment, but having so many maker options to choose from can be daunting: our Gear Guide 2025 feature shines a light on new Raspberry Pi products and equipment to use in your creative projects. With this exceptional range of kit you’ll boost your engineering…

MAKER Nate is a retrofuturist and writes documentation for Raspberry Pi. lambdalatitudinarians.org You'll Need > Raspberry Pi > Raspberry Pi OS Raspberry Pi OS comes with Python 3 pre-installed. Interfering with the system Python installation can cause problems for your operating system. When you install third-party Python libraries, always use the correct package-management tools. On Linux, you can install python dependencies in two ways: • use apt to install pre-configured system packages • use pip to install libraries using Python’s dependency manager in a virtual environment Install Python packages using apt Packages installed via apt are packaged specifically for Raspberry Pi OS. These packages usually come pre-compiled, so they install faster. Because apt manages dependencies for all packages, installing with this method includes all of the sub-dependencies needed to run…

hsmag.cc/BakeliteBluetooth This Bluetooth headset is built into the body of a Dutch phone from 1950, simply called a ‘type 1950’. It’s powered by an ESP32 development board, and it works well enough that its creator, Jouke Waleson, can use it in a professional setting. Lifting the horn picks up a call; putting it down disconnects the call. If there’s no incoming call when you pick it up the phone connect to Siri. There’s a 1500mAh battery that lasts for about a day; that’s not huge for something like this, but there is a USB-C charging port, and the nature of this device means that it stays on your desk. What else? The rotary dial works for calling phone numbers, and there are buttons to connect/disconnect to Bluetooth on the creator’s…

hsmag.cc/OuijaRobot This spooky build reached our attention too late for Halloween, but there are always opportunities to contact the spirit realm. Or maybe just hook it up to ChatGPT and ask it for recipes. Either way, this Ouija Robot by Ronald McCollam is an unusual build, in that it uses both a Raspberry Pi and an Adafruit Crickit board. The reason for this is pretty standard: he had a Crickit to hand, wanted to do something with it, then later realised that it would be good to add the Raspberry Pi to provide a screen to display the messages displayed by the ouija board. The Ouija Robot takes input from the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, and reads out messages via a robotic hand that moves a piece…

A long-time Raspberry Pi user and tinkerer, Phil is a freelance writer and editor with a focus on technology. QUICK TIP For the connecting wires, cut them to about the correct length, stripping the ends with a wire stripper. If using stranded (rather than solid-core) wire, you may want to tin the ends with some solder for a more reliable connection. Take a look around you… no, you can’t see them, but there are radio waves moving at the speed of light wherever you go. They’re even being beamed well beyond our world, into outer space – maybe an alien civilisation will pick them up one day? Of course, you can use standard radio receiver hardware – analogue or digital – to turn some of those invisible broadcast signals into…

You might not think you could have much fun with variable names, but the author thinks that you can. When Python-Ish is looking for a variable in the variable list it searches for a variable with a matching name. Shorter variable names are quicker to work through, so you could speed up a Python-Ish program by shortening the names of your variables. The author once wrote a program that scanned through code replacing variable names with shorter ones to maximise speed and minimise size. The BBC Microcomputer from the 1980s (created when memory and computer power were in very short supply) contained an interpreter for the BASIC programming language that used 26 lists of variables, one for each letter. Programmers wanting to get the most out of the machine would…

Mary Everest Boole (1832 – 1916) was the wife of English mathematician George Boole, himself a pioneer in the application of mathematical ideas to logic, and the man who had Boolean algebra named after him. Mary was an accomplished mathematician in her own right and one who particularly enjoyed algebra. She actually laid the foundations of modern string art with her ‘curve stitching’ or ‘string geometry’ technique, and is regarded by many as the inventor of string art. Mary was somewhat ahead of her time when it came to teaching children mathematics, and favoured a progressive, direct, hands-on learning approach. In order to convey mathematical ideas and patterns to young people so that they could grasp them better, specifically algebraic curves and the geometry of angles and spaces, she used…

Sometimes the perfect gift doesn’t exist. Sometimes that means you have to make it. Sometimes the person better suited to the job of making this perfect gift is the person who will receive it. For makers, constructing their own gift can be very exciting. Normally it’s just pre-packaged kit but giving them a big project to put together is even better. We thought we’d highlight a range of great projects for different interests that are also fun to build. On a budget? We’re breaking down the prices so that you can make a more informed decision too. Let’s get gifting. By gift elf Rob Zwetsloot Buyer's guide Want a one-box gift? Check out our Gear Guide on page 38 for cool gifts for any skill level or age!…

Gadget types I’m after copies of your magazine, numbers 139 and 140, which are sold out! Are these both available as paid-for downloads, or even reprints? Chris via email While the PDFs for the magazines are currently only available to print subscribers and contributors, that is only for the first three weeks! MagPi issues 139 and 140 are therefore available for free from our website, as well as all our other back issues. You can find them all at magpi.cc/issues, and you can print them for yourself as well if you’d prefer them to be physical. Raspberry Pi overload You seem to be releasing a lot of new products at the moment! My wallet can’t quite keep up, although at least it means I have plenty of things to put…

MAKER An engineer and researcher interested in human-robot and -computer interaction, machine learning, and creative programming. michaelsuguitan.com/catbot If you like cats, and you want to be alerted whenever a cat wanders into your garden, then we have the project for you. CatBot is a notification system for stray cat sightings. It’s a brilliant example of a project that takes a minimal amount of hardware, adds open-source services, and just works. CatBot is built using two Raspberry Pi boards: the first, a Raspberry Pi Zero, hosts a Raspberry Pi Camera Module 2 and a Flask server, which sends images to a Raspberry Pi 5 for processing. The Raspberry Pi 5 is a much more powerful machine, and so that’s where the clever stuff happens: it runs a computer vision model, which…

MAKER A trainer, maker, university lecturer, and consultant in electro-mechanical prototyping, located in the Netherlands. He’s the owner of BotBerg magpi.cc/autotrex For those who have used Google Chrome (which is apparently most people: gs.statcounter.com), you may have seen the screen that pops up when your internet connection fails. It’s of a pixelated T-Rex, and if you press the space bar, you can kill time before your internet connection is restored by playing a little cactus-jumping game. If your internet goes down for a really long time, then maybe you can automate playing it. Maker Bas op ten Berg presented us his project, the full name of which is ‘Automatic Jumping in the T-Rex Game: Detecting Cacti with a Raspberry Pi Pico CircuitPython HID Controller’, that does just that. “Using a…

Whether, like our very own Features Ed Rob, you regard Christmas as the most wonderful time of the year, or it’s simply a period when you get a well-earned break and can finally focus on favourite hobbies, there’s lots to love about the tail end of the year. Festivities over, you can clear the decks and spend some quality time with shiny new tech treats, perhaps including some new Raspberry Pi gems that will make your life run that much more smoothly and your leisure hours much more fun. There is a lot going on with Raspberry Pi in 2025. Here’s our official guide to what you should put into your shopping basket for next year. Buy a Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi is really spoiling you with a choice of…

MAKER KG has been hoarding media since the late 1990s and sees no reason to stop now, just because everything’s gone digital. twoot.space/@owlbear Warning! Copyright UK law does not allow you to copy CDs, DVDs, or other media discs. This feature includes recommendations for numerous services that will sell you downloadable music and movies. magpi.cc/copyright If you have a large media library, having it trapped on a single computer is increasingly frustrating if your family uses multiple devices, and this is part of why online streaming is convenient. The Jellyfin media server brings this convenience to your home media collection. It’s not legal to rip CDs and DVDs in the UK, but you can buy digital music online from places like Bandcamp, HDTracks, Steam, Mirlo, Apple Music and even Amazon.…

hsmag.cc/GimbalClock We’ve seen the brilliant creations of physicist, electronics enthusiast and maker Mosivers before, but never anything as intriguing as this clock, which plays with motion and perspective to display the time on a constantly moving set of 3D-printed rotating characters. These characters use the dual letter illusion, which is an effect created by extruding different numbers from a solid block after rotation. It’s simple, and it’s clever, which makes it a perfect basis for an unusual clock. The project uses an ESP8266 development board, 13 MG90 servos and a PCA9685 PWM driver board; everything else in this build is 3D-printed. Of the four digits the clock displays, the simplest is the first one, which needs to be either a 0, a 1 or a 2 to display every time…

hsmag.cc/RotatingMuseum As wonderful as our local art gallery is, it doesn’t compare to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA, the Prado in Madrid, or any of the other major collections in Europe. But while we have a 3D printer, a laser cutter, and access to some free online resources, we can make our own version – at least, you can if you follow the example set by sanforlu in this superb rotating art museum. They’ve made 3D prints of four classical artworks and mounted them in a small rotating gallery, complete with a self-recorded audio description that plays at a touch of a button. “It’s like having a museum curator right in front of you,” according to its creator. Rather than fly round the world with a scanner,…

Since the 74CBTLV3253 4:2 analogue multiplexer is only available as a surface-mount package, you’ll need to solder this to a through-hole adapter. Make sure the latter has a 0.65mm pitch for the pads on the top, to match that of the multiplexer pins. Naturally, the adapter’s pins on the bottom should have a 2.54mm (0.1in) pitch to fit a standard breadboard. Your author had never attempted surface-mount soldering before, so this was new territory. A hands-free magnifying glass with a light proved very helpful for getting a closer look at the tiny components. Branchus Creations’ YouTube tutorial (hsmag.cc/SMDsolderYT) was also a great help. To start, cover the adapter’s pads generously with a tacky liquid solder flux. Following this, use anti-static tweezers to position the IC on top of them, making…

This might be the cheapest, easiest, and most accessible new hobby idea that we’ve ever written about – you only need a board, some nails, and something to wind around them. It could also prove to be an interesting side hustle, as a quick search of Etsy found plenty of examples of people making string art and selling it… just saying! So, if you are now keen to give string art a go, here are some ideas for useful resources that might help you tie up your new hobby: • Buy a kit – if you don’t own all of the items required, an inexpensive craft store kit will suffice, although you will probably need to find your own hammer. We had no idea that so many kits actually existed…

Touch Cam link: magpi.cc/touchcam tools required: 3D printer, soldering iron There are fewer full-body Raspberry Pi camera projects out there than you’d think, especially when it comes to a traditional camera using the excellent Raspberry Pi HQ Camera Module. This very elegant design allows you to build a portable point-and-shoot camera with a preview screen, rechargeable battery, and even a tripod adapter. Maker Mukesh Sankhla goes into detail on how he designed the case on the Instructables page, giving an insight into the 3D-print design process that may be useful for future projects. The use of the HQ Camera allows for multiple lenses, and the touchscreen allows you to edit camera settings such as ISO, exposure and more, thanks to a graphical interface. Shopping List…

THE WORLD OF RASPBERRY PI Raspberry Pi is releasing a new version of Raspberry Pi OS. This version includes a significant change, albeit one that we hope most people won’t even notice. So we thought we’d better tell you about it to make sure you do. First, a brief history lesson. Linux desktops – like their Unix predecessors – have for many years used the X Window system. This is the underlying technology that displays the desktop, handles windows, moves the mouse, and all that other stuff that you don’t really think about because it (usually) just works. X is prehistoric in computing terms, serving us well since the early ’80s. But after 40 years, cracks are beginning to show in the design of X. As a result, many Linux…

MAKER Electronics engineer Stefano says his “heart is in hardware”. Raspberry Pi deeply resonates with him, thanks to its focus on hardware, openness and the tinkering spirit magpi.cc/fablygit Once upon a time, there was a father called Stefano whose daughter hung on every word of his inventive night-time tales. She loved the characters he conjured up and remembered each one with fondness. After a few years, Stefano found himself running out of new storylines with which to entertain his beloved child. He decided to look around for someone – or something – to rescue them both from having to go back over the same old stories. Having exhausted the big book of fabulous fables, Stefano invented a new way of creating tales, using AI and Raspberry Pi. The project took…

MAKER Guy is a software developer, audio engineer, and hardware hacker from Cambridge, MA. He likes to build things that make people say: “That’s ridiculous, but I would buy one anyways!” magpi.cc/bumpinstick Bumper stickers have been around since 1946 when an American silkscreen printer called Forest P Gill spotted the popularity of attaching advertising messages to the rear of vehicles and combined adhesive-backed paper with fluorescent paint – significantly upgrading the old practice of printing messages on a piece of cardboard or metal and attaching them with wire. They weren’t great – they’d often become soggy in wet weather – but they became widely used, particularly in the US. Still popular today, they enable drivers to promote goods and services, express humour, highlight political and religious affiliations, and share their…

MAKER Jeffrey is a retired music lover and fan of Python, with high standards for audio systems magpi.cc/waxmusic There are many ways to organise – and play - your music with Raspberry Pi, and we’ve told you how to use a few in the pages of this very magazine over the last decade or so. Maker Jeffrey Barish has created a way to simplify the process using only a Python script, with classical music in mind. “[It’s] designed for music lovers, not programming wizards,” Jeffrey explains. “By taking a novel approach to the challenge of cataloguing a music collection, Wax avoids frustrations associated with other music management systems, especially when handling classical music. Other programs force users to think about tags, file names and layout, style guidelines, compilations, parents, and…

PicoZX Handheld → magpi.cc/picozxhandheld A tiny gaming device inspired by Sinclair’s ZX Spectrum could be the perfect project for those of a certain age who grew up learning computing on the home computing visionary’s original. The PicoZX Handheld consists of several custom circuit boards soldered on to a Pico, plus a retro faceplate that conceals the charger, battery and connectors, USB ports and SD card slot. Air Hockey table/ games emulator → magpi.cc/minihockey Maker Chris Downing and his @BitBuilt gaming site co-owner CreshBash spent more than two years designing, 3D-printing and perfecting this 1:5 scale air hockey table. It offers either regular air hockey (first to seven points) or Doom mode for a fiery table lightshow complete with scream effects. Since it uses Retropie there’s also a games emulator mode.…

MAKER PJ is a writer, software engineer and homelab enthusiast. He likes to stop, collaborate, and listen (you might have to ask your parents). mastodon.social/@mrpjevans You'll Need > Private cloud server magpi.cc/144 magpi.cc/145 magpi.cc/146 > Domain name > Static IP (or DuckDNS setup) One of the great things about cloud services is the ability to collaborate with people all over the world. You can share documents and work on them together. You can have shared calendars, contact lists, and more. It was once true that this kind of power meant sharing your data with large companies. Now, open source tools mean you can have your very own groupware running on your device that can be accessed from anywhere. Now we have our cloud server up and running, it’s time to unleash its…

hsmag.cc/PelicanCyberdeck This 1150 case contains a Raspberry Pi 4 with 4GB RAM, and separate USB battery packs for the screen and the Raspberry Pi. There’s inbuilt cooling in the shape of a 30mm fan and two 18mm fans, waterresistant ports for HDMI, USB-C, and Ethernet, as well as an SD card reader. All together, it’s a nice build, and one that really fits the aesthetic of a cybersecurity professional working away on Kali Linux. Of course, you can’t just chuck a load of components together and hope that everything will fit. Jake has had to design and build some 3D-printed elements to hold everything in place, namely a screen holder and a base for the keyboard.…

@robmiles Rob Miles has been playing with hardware and software since almost before there was hardware and software. You can find out more about his so-called life at robmiles.com. We use programming languages to tell computers what to do. There are lots of different ones and most programmers know a few. But how does a programming language work? And how do you make one? Let’s find out by looking at Python-Ish, a language created by the author that runs on any computer that supports C++. It works on Arduino devices and on ESP-8266, ESP-32 and Raspberry Pi Pico. In this part we're going to focus on how programs run on a robot. In the next part we’ll work with higher level Python-ish statements. You can find all the source code…

We’ve alluded to the fact that the high point of string art’s popularity occurred some decades ago. A company that was central to the rise of stringing up a piece of art for the wall was Open Door Enterprises, an American business that really saw the potential for a string art craze in the 1970s, and was a leading distributor of hobby craft-type kits to the masses. John Eichinger, a US artist, created some geometric string designs in the late 1960s, labelling them ‘string mandalas’, and some of these were marketed by Open Door Enterprises. A huge number of such kits were sold around the world during that decade, although many are now probably in people’s garages or lofts, or languishing in a charity shop. A lot of those vintage…

The chip that powers Raspberry Pi Pico 2, the RP2350 microcontroller, has also been used in an array of thirdparty boards, while even more are in the works. The RP2350 itself offers a considerable upgrade over the original Pico’s RP2040, featuring dual Arm Cortex-M33 processor cores running at 150MHz (vs 133MHz), 520KB of on-chip SRAM (vs 264KB), and 12 PIO state machines (vs eight). So it offers a performance boost and is better at handling more complex computational tasks. Not only that, but there’s the bonus feature of two open-hardware Hazard3 RISC-V cores which can be substituted at boot time for the Cortex-M33s, so you can switch between them depending on your needs. All of this means that RP2350 offers a whole lot of power and flexibility, resulting in a…

Burgerbot V2 link: magpi.cc/burgbotv2 tools required: 3D printer Kev’s low-cost Pico-powered robot is very compact and extremely functional. Version two lets it work like a turtle of old with a marker pen inserted inside, and you can even access it remotely thanks to its wireless capabilities. It uses a lot of off-the-shelf robot parts that are not only fairly cheap, but universal. They can always be used in future robot projects, and the Burgerbot itself is easily upgradeable. Many of the parts are 3D-printed, and they’re designed in such a way that everything slots or screws in, so there are no cutting, sticking, or soldering tools required to build it. Especially useful if the maker in mind to receive this gift is a bit younger than most. Shopping List Kit…

01. PLUG in the Pub Thursday 28 November Hygge Bar, Perth, Australia magpi.cc/plug148 Come eat, drink, chat, hack and socialise. We are easy going and it’s a very casual event. If you don’t drink alcohol, we would still love to have you there. You don’t have to be a member to come along. 02. Melbourne Raspberry Pi Meetup Sunday 1 December Docklands Makerspace and Library, Melbourne, Australia magpi.cc/mrpm148 This meetup is open to everyone with an interest in electronics, robotics, home automation, 3D printing, laser cutting, amateur radio, high altitude balloons, space tech, etc. Makers are invited to bring along their projects and project ideas, and come and connect with other makers. Get your questions answered, show offthe work you are doing, and get support to resolve nagging issues. 03.…

THE FINAL WORD Brace yourself, because I’m about to talk again about this year’s thrilling but worn-out topic: artificial intelligence. First of all: I’m not a fan of the term. It’s misleading, because people focus too much on the ‘intelligence’ part and not enough on the ‘artificial’ aspect. More than that: it’s vague. AI is used to describe everything from fictional sci-fi megabrains to barely functional chatbots and ‘ducking’ predictive text, leading people to dismiss the whole thing as bunk. It’s far better to discuss the underlying technologies that make it all work: machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, knowledge graphs, and especially computer vision. That last one means a lot to us, because Raspberry Pi has released its AI Camera and I for one can’t wait to start…