Why I Love Raspberry Pi - and You Should Too
I think Raspberry Pi is an amazing device that has the potential to change how a new generation of creative thinkers gains technical fluency at a very low cost. If you’re unfamiliar with the Raspberry Pi, it’s not a delicious baked treat, but rather a fantastic development board that can do just about anything your old computer can—and more. At a unit cost of $35 per Raspberry Pi, it aims to dramatically reduce a barrier to the future of the Internet of Things—knowledge. It allows a whole new generation of creatives to learn basic computer science and explore new product ideas by making prototypes built on these low-cost devices. Raspberry Pi gives us an essential tool to build anything, from Instagram printers to low-cost home automation systems. The Raspberry Pi gives us a glimpse of the future in which we can all be makers.
What follows is a short list of projects that have caught my eye and are making the Internet of Things an accessible reality to many individuals who are—for the first time—playing with hardware and software. These projects span the gamut from small pet projects to large collaborative efforts, from companies as big as Google.
Coder
Without access to hardware, programming is an exponentially difficult challenge. The Raspberry Pi makes it affordable for anyone to have his or her own Web server at home. To that end, Google has provided an amazing set of tools you can use on your Raspberry Pi to become a stellar Web programmer. It’s called Coder and it’s a very simple platform to help teach responsive Web coding. JavaScript, HTML, CSS… all in one simple interface that runs in a browser, served off a Raspberry Pi.
http://googlecreativelab.github.io/coder/
Siri Proxy
Siri is a great concept for an intelligent agent, but she tends to fall short of our expectations. She knows how to do the things Apple taught her well, but lacks an ability to learn new things. That’s where Siri Proxy comes in handy. Siri Proxy allows you to teach Siri to interact with more objects/systems around you. You can teach Siri new tricks, like opening your garage door or turning on your lights at home. Who knows… she just may become that indispensable tool you never knew you needed.
http://sourceforge.net/p/siriproxyrpi/wiki/Home/
Node-RED
Making devices talk to each other is an important aspect of the [Internet of things], but it can get complex to make the connections work. There are plenty of APIs available, but sometimes you just need something simpler. That’s where IBM steps in with Node-RED. It’s a browser-based solution for making devices share information and it can happily live on a Raspberry Pi server. It’s kind of like IFTTT but more modular.
Setup: Node-RED Raspberry Pi server. http://nodered.org/docs/hardware/raspberrypi.html
Home Automation
We all want to live in the future, but getting all of our futuristic devices to pleasantly communicate with one another may be more of a utopian dream than a current-day reality. Most system providers have built some great, very intelligent devices, but they tend to be walled gardens. In steps the Raspberry Pi and the open source community to save the day.
http://ni-c.github.io/heimcontrol.js/
RPI Cluster
A personal supercomputer. As a nerdy child, I always dreamed of having my one HAL 9000 at home, a supercomputer to do my bidding. Thanks to the low cost of Raspberry Pi and the intrepid work of several individuals, I can now build my own Beowulf Cluster at home. Ok… so maybe it’s not exactly HAL or a supercomputer… but it makes for a cool project.
http://coen.boisestate.edu/ece/raspberry-pi/
Rey Peralta is SVP, Director of Creative Technology Deutsch NY
