BUILD A $50 COMPUTER
Push your Raspberry Pi to the limit with this essential guide to enhancing and expanding the best tiny PC known to humanity.
LEARN HOW TO HACK, CODE AND MAKE WITH THE INCREDIBLE RASPBERRY PI.
The Raspberry Pi has transformed the way we look at computers and computing. Thanks to its ridiculously low cost of ownership, you can build a fully functional computer for under a tenner and put it to all kinds of uses. But sometimes that choice can be overwhelming – this is a computer that has gone into space for goodness sake – but that shouldn’t stop you finding new ways to use it.
The Pi’s versatility makes it the perfect tool for just about any task you could think for it to do. Looking for a replacement desktop for your PC? The Pi 3 has just about enough oomph – with the right support – to do that.
How about using it as a portable device? A laptop maybe? Or at the very least as a portable touch-friendly unit? No problem.
In this feature, we explore how to build the ultimate Pi for use in a number of essential and common roles. We’ll show you how to set it up as a desktop replacement or portable computer, capable of being powered by batteries. Then we’ll reveal two great ways in which it can be put to more specific uses. First, as a media centre or server the Pi’s low-power demands coupled with its new quad-core processor make it a great tool for serving your music, video and other media wherever you are in the home (or even further afield). But who needs a quad-core Pi when the Pi Zero can perform sterling service as an audiophile-friendly music player or full-blown streaming stick?
And last, but not least, the Internet of Things is all the rage, but there are so many gaps and shortcomings in existing ecosystems that the Pi is an almost obligatory addition to your IoT setup. We’ll show you the key hardware considerations you need to follow, reveal a clever way of powering your Pi from up to 100 metres away and deliver you a software-building solution that will put you on the road to developing your own IoT applications. Enough preamble, let’s get stuck in…
“The Pi’s versatility makes it the perfect tool for just about any task you could think for it to do. Looking for a replacement desktop for your PC? The Pi 3 has just about enough oomph – with the right support – to do that. ”