This is an introductory presentation given at the Bainbridge BARN on the Raspberry Pi: what it is, how to set it up, what you can do with it, and where to learn more.

1. Introduction To Raspberry Pi
A Presentation For The Bainbridge BARN
May 15, 2016

2. About Me
Tech enthusiast; hardware and software
hacker; particular interest in machine learning
Pros:
This presentation is free of charge!
Cons:
No training in computer science, embedded
systems design, electrical engineering,
software development

3. What Is A Raspberry Pi?
A cheap, tiny, open-source
computer

4. What Is A Raspberry Pi?
Most of us think of
computers as this:
Or this:

5. What Is A Raspberry Pi?
But computers can be much
more!
...wait...I mean less!

6. What Is A Raspberry Pi?

7. What Is A Raspberry Pi?
• Costs about $35
• Runs linux as its operating system
• Basic ports for USB, monitor, and internet
• Wifi and BlueTooth
• GPIO pins you can use to connect to other
devices

8. Why Are People So Excited About
The Raspberry Pi?
• Cheap and Simple – Enables you to easily add a
brain to your project
• Powerful – You can run surprisingly demanding
applications on a Pi
• Open Source – Get all source code, schematics, and
data sheets for free
• Learning Tool – Learn hardware, linux, and
programming all at once

9. What Can You Make With A Pi?
FishPi: An Autonomous Boat

10. What Can You Make With A Pi?
Pandora's Box: An Internet
Radio Player

11. What Can You Make With A Pi?
RasPiLapse: A Time-Lapse
Photo Dolly

12. What Can You Make With A Pi?
WeatherPi: A Solar-Powered
Weather Station

13. What Can You Make With A Pi?
Dumb Wired Printer → Wifi
Printer

14. What Can You Make With A Pi?
Smart Garage Door Manager

15. What Can You Make With A Pi?
A Minecraft Server

16. What Can You Make With A Pi?
A Weather Balloon

17. What Can You Make With A Pi?
An Automated Pet Feeder

18. Communicating With Your Pi

19. Communicating With Your Pi
Two basic methods:
• Directly plug in a keyboard and monitor
• Good for initial setup, but inconvenient
• Over the network via ssh
• Much better, but...
• You need to know how to use ssh

20. Communicating With Your Pi
Don't fear the command line!
• Fast
• Powerful
• Robust (minimal system
resources or bandwidth)
• Impress your geek friends

21. Connecting Your Pi To The
Outside World

22. Connecting Your Pi To The
Outside World
• The simplest way is
using wifi, BlueTooth or
USB – your Pi already
has these built in
• But for devices that
can't communicate this
way, use the GPIO
(General Purpose Input
and Output) pins

23. Connecting Your Pi To The
Outside World
Connect a LED light...
<yawn>...

24. Connecting Your Pi To The
Outside World
Connect a button...

25. Connecting Your Pi To The
Outside World
Switch other hardware on or off...

26. Connecting Your Pi To The
Outside World
Control motors, servos, and steppers...

27. Connecting Your Pi To The
Outside World
Yeah, that’s right – now we’re talking
robotics!!!
* Important Disclaimer: Raspberry Pis were probably not used to make these robots...

28. Connecting Your Pi To The
Outside World
Best of all, control other hardware through the I2C or
SPI interfaces

29. Connecting Your Pi To The
Outside World
• Thermometers
• Pressure sensors
• Ultrasonic sensors
• Accelerometers
• RFID Readers
• Gyroscopes
• Photocells
• Magnetometers
• Altimeters
• Etc, etc...
Stuff you can control via I2C and SPI:

30. I Have My Pi Working...Now
What?
• The hardest part: learning linux
• But once you know the basics, you'll discover
how insanely powerful it is
• Start here and here!
• You can always get help from your friends at
the BARN

31. I Have My Pi Working...Now
What?
• To make your Pi do useful stuff, you'll probably
want to know some programming
• Python is an excellent place to start, since it is
widely used, easy to learn, and powerful
• Start here!

32. I Have My Pi Working...Now
What?
• If you want to use the GPIO pins, you'll need to
know a little about hardware
• Start here!

33. I Have My Pi Working...Now
What?
• Finally, for some neat tutorials on how to use
your Raspberry Pi
• Get these here!

34. OK Let's Get It Working!
1. Boot your Pi and get logged in
a. Plug in your keyboard, mouse, and monitor - we’ll use the GUI for now...
b. Your default credentials are username: pi password: raspberry
c. Open the terminal and enter `passwd` to change the password!!
1. Connect to the internet
a. Connect to the BARN wifi.
b. In the terminal enter `ping google.com` to configm we’re on the net
c. Hit CTRL-C when confirmed
1. Update your entire system
a. In the shell, execute `sudo aptitude update` to get the list of the latest software
b. `sudo aptitude full-upgrade` to actually perform the update
1. Americanize your Pi
a. Run `sudo raspi-config`
b. In Internationalization Options, change Locale to en_US.UTF-8,, Keyboard-Layout,
Timezone, and Wi-Fi country to the US
1. Set up SSH so you can log in without hooking up a keyboard and monitor
a. Get your IP address with `hostname -I` and make a note of this
b. From another computer, try to log in to your pi with `ssh pi@<your-pi’s-IP-address>`
1. When ready, shutdown your pi with `sudo shutdown -h now`
1. [Note to self - fill in Step 7 when time permits.]
1. Massive profit!!!!