NERP

Overview

Not Exclusively Raspberry Pi (NERP) is an interest group focused on demonstrations and open discussion of embedded systems. There is currently an emphasis on the Raspberry Pi, but all embedded platforms are within the scope (BeagleBone/Board, ARM Cortex M series, MSP430, Arduino, etc).

Participants

• Ed Bennett
• Jay Hopkins
• Drew Fustini
• Add yourself

Meetings

• Bi-weekly, Monday, 7pm-9pm
• Meetup.com group

Past

• Meeting #0: July 30, 2012
• Meeting #1: August 13, 2012
• Meeting #2: August 27, 2012

Upcoming

• Signup on Meetup.com (recurs every other Monday)

Reference

Raspberry Pi

Hardware

• Raspberry Pi (Model B)
  • Newark element14: NERP attendees who've ordered recently from Newark element14 report the lead time is now week or less (2012-Aug-17)
  • MCM Electronics: report on PS1 mailing list that currently in stock (2012-Aug-17)
  • Note: Model A not been released yet, only Model B exists
• Gertboard: I/O expansion board
• Pi Box by Adafruit: clear acrylic case that Drew has shown at meeting
  • design files are open source and could be made with the PS1 laser cutter.
• Adafruit's full line-up of Raspberry Pi accessories
• Sanoxy HDMI to VGA converter $27 converter Drew bought on Amazon works well
• 3.5" TFT LCD: $20 composite-input display Drew has
• RCA male-male coupler: very handy for connecting composite LCDs to the Pi
• Atrix Lapdock: Cheapest way to get a portable HDMI display for the Pi

Software

Linux

• Raspberry Pi Foundation downloads page has instructions on flashing the SD card
• Raspbian "Wheezy": recommended for general purpose
• Raspbmc: recommended for media center usage
• Adafruit Occidentalis: based on Raspbian "Wheezy" with improved hardware interfacing and wi-fi support

Applications

• Arduino IDE runs and uploads ok USB-connected Arduino with Raspbian "Wheezy"; just install via "apt-get install arduino".
• WiringPi is a Python library which aims to make electronics interfacing as high-level as Arduino
• GPIO examples in many languages
• Quake for the current Raspbian "Wheezy" image
• "hello world" programs in /opt/vc/src especially the 1080p HD playback demo: /opt/vc/src/hello_pi/hello_video/
  • More details in recorded webinar by Eben Upton

Support

• RaspberryPi.org Forum is a good resource
• Raspberry Pi group on element14 Community is quite active too and another place to ask questions
• The eLinux wiki troubleshooting guide
• Listing of verified equipment add your own once tested!
• WiFi adapter testing done by Drew

Tutorials

• Adafruit Learning System: excellent tutorials for the Pi by Adafruit
• element14 Raspberry Pi blog where Drew posts his tutorials
  • I2C interfacing: details of temperature sensor and real-time clock that Drew demo'd
• LED Clock: details of the LED 7-segment module clock that Drew demo'd
  • Adafruit has now made their own tutorial

Links

• Adafruit blog posts about Raspberry Pi
• Libraries, codecs, OSS: an informative post on the media playback architecture
• A Raspberry Pi, hosting a Raspberry Pi: for those wondering how well it would do as a low-power server