handson.dmt.fh-joanneum.at

© Carelse, Pauger, Pilz 1

RASPBERRY PI

Workpackage: Basics and Shields

Description: This worksheet is about some boards which we will maybe use in further worksheets.

A very important board is the Gertboard. Another board which will be explained is the PiFace.

Difficulty (1-10): 5

Overview: Raspberry Pi Basics

Raspberry Pi Components

Gertboard

PiFace

Useful Resources

Requirements: Hardware: Raspberry Pi and Standard Equipment Gertboard PiFace

Basics handson.dmt.fh-joanneum.at

© Carelse, Pauger, Pilz 2

DIGITAL INPUTS AND OUTPUTS

Basics The Raspberry Pi is a very cheap Single-Board-Computer which is as big as a credit card. Some parts of the hardware are very similar to the hardware of smartphones.

The price for the Model B you can see in the picture below incl. an 8 GB SD card is currently £32.88.

It was developed with the intention of promoting the teaching of basic computer science in schools.

The recommended programming language is python, but there are many other languages which enable programming on the Raspberry Pi. This very cheap computer does also have a GUI very similar to Ubuntu because the operation system Raspbian is based on Ubuntu.

PICTURE 1: RASPERRY PI - MODEL B

Components - CPU: Broadcom BCM2835 - LAN-Controller - GPIO Headers - Micro USB Power - RCA Video-Out - Stereo-Audio-Out 3,5 mm - 2x USB - HDMI - SD-Card-Slot - GPIO Headers (26 pins)

The Raspberry Pi has 26 pins which are all digital. So we need some extension boards which enable us to work with analogue inputs, handle motors or other things that could not be done with digital IOs.

Shields handson.dmt.fh-joanneum.at

© Carelse, Pauger, Pilz 3

Shields Gertboard This board extends the possibilities of the Raspberry Pi significantly.

Here the components of the board:

- 12 x buffered I/O pins - 3 x push-button switch - 6 x open collector driver (50 V; 0,5 A) - 48 V, 4A motor controller - 28-pin dual in line Atmega Microcontroller - 2-Channel 8/10/12 Bits Digital/Analogue Converter - 2-Channel 10 Bits Analogue/Digital Converter

Due to the fact that there is a Gertboard manual for all use-cases including C and python code, it is easier to develop in one of this languages. But we will also try to work with node.js.

To use this board we also need some straps (female connector) and jumpers. Straps connect two parts of Gertboard together, whilst jumpers conveniently connect two adjacent pins together.

PICTURE 2: GERTBOARD

PiFace Board The PiFace Board is smaller than the Gertboard. It can be directly plugged onto the top of the Raspberry Pi.

PICTURE 3: PIFACE BOARD

This board has the following in- and outputs:

- 8 digital inputs - 8 digital outputs - 4 switches - 4 LEDs - 2 electrical relays

Useful Resources handson.dmt.fh-joanneum.at

© Carelse, Pauger, Pilz 4

Useful Resources Raspberry Pi Expansion Boards:

http://elinux.org/RPi_Expansion_Boards

About Gertboard: http://elinux.org/RPi_Gertboard

Gertboard User Manual: http://dlnmh9ip6v2uc.cloudfront.net/datasheets/Dev/RPi/Gertboard_UM_with_python.pdf

Gertboard Projects: http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/tag/gertboard

About PiFace: http://www.piface.org.uk/products/piface_digital/

PiFace Getting started: http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1684425.pdf