Simon Monk - Raspberry Pi Cookbook: Software and Hardware Problems and Solutions

by Simon Monk

Copyright 2016 Simon Monk. All rights reserved.

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978-1-491-93910-9

[LSI]

Launched in 2011, the Raspberry Pi has found a role both as a very low-cost Linux-based computer and as a platform for embedded computing. It has proven popular with educators and hobbyists alike.

Since the first edition of this book, several million more Raspberry Pis have been sold and a number of new models of Raspberry Pi have been produced. Some modelslike the models B+, A+, and Pi 2 model B+improve the specification of this device, culminating in the Raspberry Pi 2 with quad-core processor and the Raspberry Pi Compute model, which provide the Raspberry Pi as a plugin board that can become part of a larger system.

This edition has been thoroughly updated to encompass the new models of Raspberry Pi, as well as the many changes and improvements to its Raspbian operating system.

This edition contains a new chapter on computer vision and a chapter of recipes on making Internet of Things projects with your Raspberry Pi.

This book is designed in such a way that you can read it linearly as you would a regular book, or access recipes at random. You can search the table of contents or index for the recipe that you want and then jump right to it. If the recipe requires you to know about other things, it will refer you to other recipes, rather like a cookbook might refer you to base sauces before showing you how to cook something fancier.

The world of Raspberry Pi moves quickly. With a large, active community, new interface boards and software libraries are being developed all the time. In addition to examples that use specific interface boards or software, the book also covers basic principles so that you can have a better understanding of how to use new technologies that come along as the Raspberry Pi ecosystem develops.

As you would expect, a large body of code (mostly Python programs) accompanies the book. These programs are all open source and available on GitHub. Youll find a link to them at the Raspberry Pi Cookbook website.

For most of the software-based recipes, all you need is a Raspberry Pi. I recommend a Raspberry Pi 2 or 3. When it comes to recipes that involve making your own hardware to interface with the Raspberry Pi, I have tried to make good use of ready-made modules, as well as solderless breadboard and jumper wires to avoid the need for soldering .

For those wishing to make breadboard-based projects more durable, I suggest using prototyping boards with the same layout as a half-sized breadboard, such as those sold by Adafruit, so that the design can easily be transferred to a soldered solution.