Maker bliss

We’re sure this Christmas many people will be finding Santa has delivered packages of Pi-based happiness to young and old the globe over. Often the first question to pass people’s lips when they contemplate the Pi in their hands is, “What can I do with this thing?” Well, we’re here to help (for once)…

While we’re sure our Les (and now Tom’s Hardware’s Les) would have a few suggestions on how to start out with a Pi involving LEDs and motors, we’re aiming for something a bit more entertaining. The modern Pi is a media miracle and combined with the amazing open source Kodi – in the form of LibreElec – you can be quickly bouncing all your media around your local network from 4K HDR video to enjoying multi-room audio and laughing at photos of Uncle Bob on holiday. Oh and Jonni’s going to throw in some adaptive LED lighting just for giggles.

If you’d prefer to do more with your desktop PC we have a ton of projects to keep you busy over the festive period, too. From creating a full studio-quality audio workstation to reliving those eight-bit Oric days of old, to running a handy home RSS feed scraper, and optimising and monitoring your Linux systems with Stacer.

Finally a mixed Christmas blessing: we’ve dropped the free DVD that has been accompanying each issue. We’ve had steadily more calls to enable readers to opt out of these, but a combination of a sharp increase in production costs (linked to energy and oil prices) and transport charges means it’s not viable to continue producing. I know some will miss it, but I suspect there’s a larger majority that won’t, considering the plastic waste it produced. So enjoy!