Make a Mac ‘Task Done’ NeoPixel notification light

Update There’s now a new post containing revised, working instructions for this project.

Note This article was written some time ago, and the libraries used do not work with recent versions of macOS.

I regularly back-up my Raspberry Pi storage card because it’s so easy to damage the card with an improper shutdown or some such. I back up to a Mac, and you can read how I do it here. This wasn’t much of a chore in the early days when I was working with 4GB cards, but now I use 16GB Micro SDs and I know of folks who have much, much larger storage capacities thanks to never-cheaper cards. All this means the back-up takes a long time. So I wondered if I could create a gadget to tell me the task was done, allowing me to get on with other jobs in the meantime.

Continue reading →

Review: Circuitbeard PiZero Hub Case

The Raspberry Pi Zero may have been out for a while, but it’s proving perishingly hard to get hold off. Unless, of course, you’re right at the head of the virtual queue when the online retailers put their latest batches on sale. Still, the little micro’s scarcity isn’t stopping hackers from coming up with ingenious solutions to its other limitations — too few USB ports, primarily — and accessory suppliers from issuing add-ons.

Continue reading →

How to toughen up your Pi’s SSH access

I access all of my Raspberry Pis remotely using SSH. While reading about a server operator’s experience of being hacked, I decided to explore ways to make my Pis more secure.

Continue reading →

Review: Google Chromecast 2

OK, so we all know what Google’s Chromecast is, yes? Someone at the back — why are they always at the back? — seems unsure. In a sentence, then, Chromecast is a small WiFi-connected slug that you slip into a spare HDMI port on your TV, and which plays video and audio under the direction of a remote control app.

Continue reading →

Alias is Your Friend

I regularly use ls -la to list directory contents on my Raspberry Pi. I often use ls -lah to also display hidden files. This week I wondered if there was a way to use either of these ls options by default. Well, there is.

Continue reading →

Review: Slice, the Pi Compute Module-based media player

Updated My original idea was to review the Raspberry Pi Compute Module. But the thing about the Compute Module is that it’s not an end-user product: it was designed for manufacturers looking for an ARM-based platform on which they can build devices they can sell. Unlike the Raspberry Pi itself, the Compute Module is not intended for makers or for computing hobbyists. To evaluate the Compute Module what I really needed to look at was a product based upon it.

So I waited for one…

Continue reading →

Review: Imagination Technologies’ MIPS Creator CI20

Time was when chip makers’ processor evaluation boards were well beyond the reach of ordinary mortals. That didn’t matter, of course: ordinary mortals weren’t interested in small, nude motherboards designed to help designers of embedded systems judge a microprocessor’s suitability for the application they were working on.

Continue reading →

Review: the PiFace Real-Time Clock

Unhook a Raspberry Pi from the mains and it forgets the time and date. It’ll only get them back again if you re-connect it to the Internet or enter the data manually. As a Pi user who doesn’t keep his kit connected – I usually wire and power it up when I need it – and doesn’t always bother with the Ethernet cable when he does, I’ve been after a decent real-time clock (RTC) add-on for quite a while. An RTC allows your Pi to keep time, even when the Pi’s power is cut.

Continue reading →

Review: the GrovePi+ Starter Kit

When it comes to hacking hardware there’s an easy way and there’s a hard way.

The hard way involves connecting peripherals direct to one of the standard buses supported by your Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Beaglebone or whatever. Buses like I²C, SPI, UART and 1-Wire. You’ll need to take care with your wiring: have you got the right pull-up or pull-down resistor? Is there too much capacitance in the line?

Continue reading →

Review: Withings Activité Pop

One problem with wearable fitness trackers: you may not want to wear one when you’ve also got a watch on. This may be especially the case if, like me, you have a tracker not to monitor an aggressive fitness regime, but simply to ensure you don’t spend the entire working day parked on your rear-end. And you’d like it to be discrete.

I wear a watch; I wear a Fitbit Flex. I’d rather like to combine the two. Withings – the well-known purveyor of Wi-Fi bathroom scales – launched just such a gadget last Autumn, the Activité. It drew some interest, but presumably didn’t sell so well, on account of its high price. So here comes the Consumer Electronics Show-announced Activité Pop, a much cheaper version that lacks the original’s Swiss mechanism and posher materials, but is in all other respects the same device.

Continue reading →