Innehållsförteckning för #149 från Raspberry Pi Official Magazine

One of the joys of editing The MagPi is seeing behind the curtain and watching all the amazing products come to life. I've had a Raspberry Pi 500 for a while now, and it's been a joy to watch it get launched to market. Raspberry Pi 500 takes all the power of Raspberry Pi 5 and turns it into a keyboard-style computer of the type most of us grew up with. Meanwhile, the brand new official Raspberry Pi Monitor is a companion screen that turns Raspberry Pi into a full desktop computer kit. In some ways, the bigger news is Compute Module 5, which is also out this month. This completely different product takes Raspberry Pi 5's form factor and puts it into a stripped-back modular format that is perfect…

MAKER Although you can compute on the go using a smartphone or a tablet, sometimes you crave a small device which feels and works more like a traditional desktop or laptop computer. With the Hackberry Pi Zero – a cool handheld cyberdeck – you gain the ability to engage in a spot of hacking on the move or, at the very least, get to carry around a pocket device that can run Raspberry Pi OS or, for the gamers among us, the ever splendid RetroPie. Created by Zitao Dai, this project uses three main components: a 4-inch 720×720 TFT display, an original keyboard from a BlackBerry smartphone, and a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W computer. But while it would appear to be a simple enough build housed in a smart 3D…

MAKER Allie Katz is a maker and designer of incredible cosplay outfits and other fun wearables whose tech-enabled work was featured in the National Archives' Spirit of Invention exhibition (magpi.cc/seesawallie). Allie was keen to create a prop for their Marceline cosplay from the cartoon Adventure Time for the DragonCon convention. Marceline is a 1000-year-old vampire who plays an electric bass she made from her family's heirloom battle axe, and Allie “thought it would be the coolest thing ever if I could make it so I could put on instant live performances as the character.” Raspberry Pi 5 became “the beating heart” of the impressive Adventure Time Self-Playing Guitar which features programmable buttons, custom speakers, a touchscreen, “and the ability to be a complete entertainment system on the go whilst also looking…

MAKER You'll Need ▶ Wireless keyboard/trackpad (optional)▶ Wireless controller Following on from last month's tutorial on building your own streaming audio and video server using Jellyfin, we're now going to look at receiving those streams beyond the web interface, with particular focus on building a streaming media receiver box for your TV. As with the Jellyfin server that we built last month, you'll ideally want to use a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 with at least 4GB RAM. Depending on how convenient your AV system is to get at, you might want to do all your configuration on a spare monitor and then just plug the Kodi box into your TV or AV receiver once it's configured. 01 Install LibreELEC on an SD card LibreELEC is a minimalist distro that exists to…

Telescopic gauges are a great way to start an argument between professional machinists. They're a tool for measuring interior diameters, so you'll mostly use them when you're trying to measure the diameter of a bore or slot. In this article you'll see what the fuss is all about, and learn how to properly use a telescopic gauge. The cause of the contention between machinists over telescopic gauges is that they are indirect measuring devices, and the measuring process has several steps. Using a telescopic gauge is a learned technique, and until you can reproduce the technique reliably, it's likely that inaccuracies will creep in to your measurements. Whether this matters depends on whether you care about the odd micron or two creeping in or out of your measurement. Telescopic gauges…

@holtonhandmade Nicola King is a freelance writer and sub-editor. Heads up: everyone she knows is likely to get something engraved this holiday season! YOU'LL NEED ➔ An engraving tool/pen ➔ An item of your choice to engrave ➔ Stencils/pattern you've designed ➔ Mat to protect the work surface ➔ Goggles/dust mask ➔ Damp cloth Sandpaper (if engraving wood) ➔ Paint/wood stain/oil (if engraving wood) Engraving is the process of marking a surface, usually flat and hard, in order to create a textural and visual effect. In other words, material is removed in order to make a structural surface where the background stands out. The types of base materials that can be engraved include metals (we are, of course, familiar with how items of jewellery can be engraved), plastics and acrylics,…

If we take a look back at the long history of engraving, hand engraving is the traditional and oldest form of the art and it was born many centuries ago. In fact, it's thought that some of the first engravings took the form of chiselled shells, after one such example – estimated to be between 540,000 and 430,000 years old – was found during an archaeological dig in Java, Indonesia. Experts suspect that whoever made the engraving probably used something like a shark's tooth to engrave a simple zig-zag pattern on the now fossilised object. In addition, the art of the Upper Palaeolithic era saw engraving on bone and ivory, while petroglyphs, or 'rock art', were chiselled into rocks around the world in many prehistoric cultures. Moving forward, the Romans…

▶ PiFi ▶ pifi.org ▶ £35 / $35 SPECS WIRELESS: 802.11ac, dual-band, 1300Mbps RASPBERRY PI COMPATIBILITY: Raspberry Pi 4 and Raspberry Pi 5 KIT CONTENTS: Preloaded 32GB SD card, Cat 6 cable, PiFi USB 3.0 wireless adapter Wi-Fi is just about everywhere now. Classic locations for complimentary Wi-Fi such as hotels and coffee shops have been joined by pubs, restaurants, theme parks, coaches, and aircraft. Back in the day, though, even hotels would just have an Ethernet port for connectivity. When Raspberry Pi first launched in 2012, creating mobile access points and/or Tor routers to take to hotels was quite popular, and you can see similar technology utilised today with the popular Pi-hole system protecting home networks. Quantity doesn't always make up for quality, though. A lot of these wireless…

Every Monday we ask the question: have you made something with a Raspberry Pi over the weekend? Every Monday, our followers send us amazing photos and videos of the things they've made. Here's a selection of some of the awesome things we got sent this month – and remember to follow along at the hashtag #MagPiMonday!…

01. Southend Raspberry Jam Maker Meetup Thursday 19 December The Board Game Hut, Southend on Sea, UK magpi.cc/srjmm149 Southend Raspberry Jam Maker Meetup is a monthly meetup for those who are interested in building hardware and software projects using Raspberry Pi hardware and want to join a friendly group of enthusiasts and makers. We welcome beginners to professionals. If you have any ideas for projects, talks or demos, we're especially keen to hear from you. 02. Raspberry Pint Tuesday 28 January Online magpi.cc/pint149 This is Raspberry Pint, where we share our digital making experiences. Most of our presentations are about building personal or professional projects with Raspberry Pi boards, Arduinos, ESP32s, micro:bits, etc. We also welcome presentations about skills and techniques such as website design, PCB design, SW development, 3D…

Raspberry Pi has introduced its latest desktop computer setup: Raspberry Pi 500 and Raspberry Pi Monitor. Raspberry Pi 500 is easy to understand although packed with hidden details. It takes the power of Raspberry Pi 5 and places it into a high-quality keyboard. Featuring a quad-core 64-bit processor, wireless networking, dual display output, and 4K video playback, it's described by Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton as “a capable desktop PC that's ideal for home computing.” It is available as a standalone device for $90 or as part of a Desktop Kit (including a mouse, power supply, micro HDMI to HDMI cable, and Raspberry Pi SD card preloaded with Raspberry Pi OS). Raspberry Pi 500 monitor? Raspberry Pi Monitor is a thoughtful hardware addition to the Raspberry Pi stable. It's been…

MAKER Guitarist and keen coder Gary Rigg says he always thought floor-based controllers - particularly expression pedals – should have a more prominent role. They are usually operated by pressing your foot down for a subtle or more obvious wah-wah or delay effect, but only in a single direction, also known as one degree of freedom (DOF). You use your foot to “control the pitch of the pedal and the pitch determines the parameter value.” Gary reasoned that adding degrees of freedom such as yaw (rotation around an axis) and roll to an expression pedal could extend its pitch parameters. He began pondering what new sounds could be achieved by redesigning how the humble foot pedal was operated. The result is the MIDI Gesture Controller, a Raspberry Pi Pico-based expression pedal…

Raspberry Pi 500 & 400 magpi.cc/raspberrypi500 | magpi.cc/rpi400 These models are built into a compact portable keyboard. So, you can just connect a mouse and display to get started with desktop computing, using the built-in wireless capability to connect to the internet. All the connections are found on the rear, including a microSD card slot, three USB ports, two micro-HDMI video out ports, and a Gigabit Ethernet port. In addition, there's a 40-pin GPIO header for connecting your own electronic circuits and HATs (via a ribbon cable) for projects. Raspberry Pi 400 is based around the same quad-core 64-bit processor as Raspberry Pi 4, with 4GB of RAM. Raspberry Pi 500 features a higherspeed Broadcom BCM2712 processor for even better performance, along with a VideoCore VII GPU and 8GB of…

Raspberry Pi makes for a great desktop computer, but it's a lot more versatile than that. For one, it's an ideal platform for learning how to code. The standard version of Raspberry Pi OS has the Thonny IDE (integrated development environment) pre-installed for Python programming. You can also install Scratch 3 – via the Recommended Software tool – if you want to do some block-based coding. Let's try some basic Python programming. Open the Thonny IDE from the Programming category of the applications menu. The large blank pane is the script area where you will write your program. On line 1, enter the following: Here, a print statement is followed by brackets that enclose the output (just as for other functions in Python 3); the double quotes enclose a text…

hsmag.cc/MicroJournal The internet is a giant distraction machine. How does anyone get any work done when they're constantly plugged into the mental churn of social media, 24-hour news, and an endless supply of cute cat videos? It takes an iron will to ignore such distractions. Or if you're smarter than that, you could simply cut the distractions out of your life, with something like the Micro Journal: a distraction-free writing device. Described by the maker as a “modern solution with a nostalgic twist, designed specifically for writers who crave focus and mobility”, this foldable device has all the charm of a vintage typewriter. Not only does it have delicious clicky Cherry MX keys, it also uses some of the controls of vintage typewriters. Rather than changing line spacing via a…

Jon Dawson's Raspberry Pi Pico-based software-defined radio can be built using fairly standard through-hole electronic components and a couple of chips on a PCB protoboard or solderless breadboard. We covered creating the main circuit in the first part of this guide; now to install the firmware on Raspberry Pi Pico and connect it up to an antenna – via an optional band pass filter – and some headphones or speaker to try it out. Based around a Raspberry Pi Pico, an analogue switch (aka multiplexer/demultiplexer), and an op-amp, this SDR receiver enables you to listen in to radio signals with a frequency of up to 30 MHz – in the long wave, medium wave, short wave, and amateur HT bands – from halfway around the globe. QUICK TIP We've used the…

So, you're keen to give engraving a go, but you may not be sure what to actually engrave. Here are a few material pointers that will mean your imprints impress: • Firstly, it is advisable to use a 'soft' material for your first project, primarily because this will be easier to control. So, something made of leather, plastic, or even wood is a good option. Leather belts, wallets, phone cases or bags would be suitable, but have a scrap piece handy to try your new skill out on first. Blank plastic coasters are often available online and are a great choice. Wood is a really popular engraving material and a softer wood, such as pine, would make a great starter project. How about purchasing an inexpensive, plain wooden cheese board…

HOZO £55 ➔ [£47 now] / $59 [was $69 at launch] hozodesign.com Measuring straight lines and regular shapes is easy. Undulating curves, awkward insides of boxes and cupboards, and hard-to-reach corners and coves can be a pain to size up accurately. Tiny devices such as our very own Pico and Pi Zero present challenges too, should you be inclined to design a case or enclosure as part of a Raspberry Pi project. With home refurbishment, craft, and project design ideas on our minds, we were only too happy to test Hozo's NeoRulerGO – a tiny 45 g digital rolling ruler that clips onto a belt or slips into a pocket. The lightweight gadget has a month-long standby battery life and recharges via its USB-C connector in two or three hours.…

The MagPi: What's changed between CM4 and CM5? Dominic Plunkett: CM5 takes all of the goodness of Raspberry Pi 5 and puts it on the Compute Module. So we've got the BCM2712 Broadcom processor used on Raspberry Pi 5. We've got our IO processor, the RP1. That's a whole extra chip on the board compared with CM4, and so that required a lot of effort to get it on there. I'd set myself the challenge that the central processor wouldn't move, so that anyone who has used a CM4 with any sort of heatsinking would be able to use the same setup with CM5. That gave me a huge challenge to try and get the RP1 on the board – for weeks it was hanging off the edge of the…

Next month will be the 150th issue of The MagPi. Starting from humble beginnings as a fanzine (which I didn't work on but I did read), to this 119-issue long stint (as of this issue) as the official Raspberry Pi magazine, I feel like the mag has come a very long way in the last twelve or so years. There's even been change in the last year with the addition of the excellent HackSpace section to the magazine. Like Raspberry Pi itself, the magazine has just been going from strength to strength – although we'd have not got anywhere without the wonderful community we get to highlight, and the readers who pick up a copy at the shops or get it delivered to their door every month. Thank you all!…

MAKER Technology has long had the power to make a big difference to people's lives and, for those who are visually impaired, the changes can be revolutionary. Over the years, there has been a noticeable growth in the number of assistive apps. As well as JAWS, a popular computer screen reader for Windows, and software that enables users to navigate phones and tablets, there are audio-descriptive apps that use smart device cameras to read physical documents and recognise items in someone's immediate environment. Understanding the challenges facing people living with a visual impairment, maker and developer Md. Khairul Alam has sought to create an inexpensive, wearable navigation tool that will free up the user's hands and describe what someone should be seeing from their own eyes' perspective. Based around a pair…

MAKER You'll Need ▶ Any Raspberry Pi 1/2/3/4/5 computer (not Raspberry Pi Zero/Zero 2 W)▶ Touch Display 2 magpi.cc/touchdisplay2 The Touch Display 2 connects to a Raspberry Pi using a DSI connector and GPIO connector. Raspberry Pi OS provides touchscreen drivers with support for five-finger multitouch and an on-screen keyboard, providing full functionality without the need to connect a keyboard or mouse. Specifications • 1280×720px resolution, 24-bit RGB display • 155×88 mm active area • 7-inch diagonal display • Powered directly by the host Raspberry Pi, requiring no separate power supply • Supports up to five points of simultaneous multi-touch The Touch Display 2 is compatible with all models of Raspberry Pi from Raspberry Pi 1B+ onwards, except Raspberry Pi Zero and Zero 2 W, which lack a DSI connector.…

Thepetpiano.com The Pet Piano is a brilliant device that teaches your pets to play the piano. Seriously! It includes a keyboard and a food dispenser, and it releases food when a key is pressed on the piano keyboard. What's more, it releases more food if the pet plays an ascending series of notes. The piano can add harmonised notes, so your little Meow-zart will always sound good no matter what it plays, and you can control various parameters from a phone app. In creating this piano, Aaron built an MDF case, used 3D printing to build the food dispenser (even though he designed it with injection moulding in mind), and printed the keys of the keyboard – he recommends using a springy material such as PETG or nylon rather than…

@Concretedog It's no secret we are fans of FreeCAD here at Raspberry Pi Press and it's an exciting time for the free and open-source project with the recent release of the landmark version 1.0. There's a huge number of tweaks and updates with some completely overhauled areas looking very different and other subtler small changes. Let's dive in and take a look. One of the larger headlines surrounding version 1.0 is about the topological naming problem mitigation. Otherwise known as 'TNP' or 'topo naming' the problem is when you have a complex part or an assembly of parts, making a change to a section may reorder the names of the edges, vertices, and faces in your project and this might break your geometry. As a simple example, imagine you have…

@robmiles Last issue, we saw how we can make an interpreter by using C switch statements to select behaviours based on the content of program code. This time, we are going to make a compiler which takes Python-Ish statements and produces low-level code. A compiler takes high-level code and produces lower-level instructions for use later. Some produce 'machine code' – instructions that can be executed by hardware in a computer. Others produce 'intermediate code' which is run by an interpreter program. Figure 1 shows what we're building. We'd like to write 'move 100' to tell the robot to move – far easier to remember than the 'MF' low-level command. The compiler's job is to recognise the command and then output the relevant low-level code to move the robot. A LITTLE…

If this low-cost pen does not appeal, there are other ways to engrave your materials, but you might need a slightly bigger budget, so let's take a look at other engraving options: • Cutting machine add-ons – if you own a cutting machine like a Cricut Maker or a Maker 3, you can get an engraving tip that will allow you to engrave thin acrylic, aluminium, stainless steel, wood, and things like thin leather too. So, this is a very easy way to start engraving. You do need to make sure that anything you want to engrave fits under the roller bar, though. Also, bear in mind that this is only going to work on flat items. • Rotary tools, or something like a Dremel Multi-Tool, can also be used…

▶ Name Amélie, Caleb, and Ziva ▶ Occupation Students ▶ Community role YouTuber ▶ URL gurgleapps.com | youtube.com/gurgleapps We've been covering projects from the team of siblings that make up GurgleApps for a long time – most recently their Colour Word Clock (magpi.cc/colwordclock) – and they themselves have been using a Raspberry Pi since the year it came out. In fact, it helped turn them into the makers they are today. “Making became a part of our lives largely due to the influence of our parents, who filled our home with electronics, science, and coding projects,” the GurgleApps trio tell us. “Funnily enough, we weren't hooked immediately – we had all this amazing equipment and knowledge at home, but took it for granted. The real spark came when Caleb received his first…

Errata 1 – AI in issue 141 I tried to get the image creator working. Is it correct that the end of step 7 is the same as step 8? When starting step 9, 'python mitsua_app.py', I only get the ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'diffusers'. I had a look in the following MagPi issues but didn't find a correction of step 8 at all. Jürgen via emai Yes, there was unfortunately an error with that tutorial - we put errata on the website for each issue (magpi.cc/issues). In this case, it reads: On page 39 as part of the 'Build an artist-respecting image diffuser' tutorial, the last code block on step 07 should read: If you try step 09 again, it should now work fine. #MagPiMonday via email I don't have…