Practical Raspberry Pi (Paperback)

Practical Raspberry Pi takes you quickly through the hardware and software basics of the Raspberry Pi. Author Brendan Horan then gets you started on a series of fun and practical projects, including a simple temperature sensor, a media center, a real-time clock, and even a security monitoring device, all of which require minimal programming experience.



Along with these projects, you'll learn all about the Raspberry Pi hardware, including how it can be so powerful and still so small and inexpensive, why it's so suitable as a video player, and how you can customize it for different tasks, including running different operating systems on it, including Android and RISC OS.



The Raspberry Pi is an inexpensive but relatively powerful little computer. It was designed to get kids interested in computing and programming, but it's also a great platform for hardware hackery. The projects in this book will get you deep into the hardware to show you what the Raspberry Pi can really do.

What you’ll learn

• An overview of Raspberry Pi hardware
• How to get your Pi up and running with Linux
• How to use your Pi for sensing temperature and driving a simple character LCD
• How to create a media player with your Raspberry Pi
• How to use your Pi as a serial console server
• How to set up your Pi to be a security monitoring device 
• Other operating systems for your Pi, including Gentoo, Android, and RISC OS 

Who this book is for

Electronics enthusiasts who want to try out the Raspberry Pi, Linux fans who want to create useful projects with the Pi, or anyone interested in learning more about computing, electronics, and networking with this inexpensive and fun little computer.

Table of Contents

Introduction 

Power and power sources

Electronics overview

Tools you'll need



Chapter 1: Raspberry Pi Hardware

Inputs and Outputs

Overview of the ARM11 CPU

Overview of the Broadcom VideoCore IV GPU

Headers and pin out schematics

Notes on unusable headers



Chapter 2: Software Overview and Installing Linux

Why hard-float vs. soft-float is important

Installing Fedora

Optimizing Fedora to run from the SD



Chapter 3: Using GPIO: A Simple Temperature Sensor

Overview and warnings about Pi's GPIO

Connecting the sensor

Writing the code to read the temperature



Chapter 4: Driving a Simple Character LCD

Using an LCD controller and GPIO

Writing to and controlling the LCD



Chapter 5: Security Monitoring Device


Chapter 6: Cross-compiling Applications for the Pi

Why cross-compiling is a good idea

Setting up a cross-compile environment on your desktop

GCC tips and tricks




Chapter 7: Media Center with Raspberry Pi

Installing XBMC

Setting up HDMI audio and video



Chapter 8: Building a Real-time Clock

Add an independent RTC to your Raspberry Pi



Chapter 9: Embedded, IP-enabled Serial Console Server

Accessing the Pi's UART and building a line-level converter

Linux serial port server set-up



Chapter 10: Appliance Automation

Mains voltage warnings

Building the hardware

Writing the code to turn the appliance on and off



Chapter 11: Other Operating Systems for the Pi

Android

RISC OS

Plan9

Gentoo