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 WELCOME

WELCOME
to The MagPi 108

E
verybody likes to get a gold star. I remember hosting awards
and no matter how cool they try to play it, getting a shiny
gong always puts a smile on somebody's face.
And sometimes it feels right to say ‘well done!’ That’s why this
month we’ve gathered together the best Award-Winning Makes
(page 30). These are the projects that have won shiny statues,
Lucy

EDITOR
gathered plaudits, and impressed some judges. Hattersley
These builds are worth your time. They deliver ideas for your next
Lucy is editor of
make and stand as glittering examples of Raspberry Pi making the The MagPi and is
back on the train
world a better place. to Cambridge with
a smile behind
If you want something more down-to-earth and buildable ‘right the mask.

now’, then I suggest PJ’s new ‘Ultimate Home Server’ tutorial @LucyHattersley

(page 38). This is the first in a new series of using Raspberry Pi in the
home to manage all of the digital files in your life.
And if you’ve ever fancied yourself making visual entertainment,
then check Make Games with Raspberry Pi (page 71). In this article, GET A
Mark Vanstone reveals Raspberry RASPBERRY PI
Pi software designed to help your ZERO W KIT
digital dreams become reality.
There is a lot to discover in this
PAGE 28
month’s edition of The MagPi.
Dive in and discover the idea for
that project that will one day,
perhaps, win you an award.

Lucy Hattersley Editor

magpi.cc 03
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 CONTENTS

Contents
> Issue 108 > August 2021

Cover Feature

30 Award Winning Makes 30

Regulars
92 Your Letters
97 Next Month
98 The Final Word

Project Showcases
08 Callisto II
12 Humane Mousetrap
16 Bop It Minecraft Controller
18 PrivacyMic
20 Campervan LAN
24 Air Quality Traffic Light 26
26 Kenbak-2/5

08

Callisto II Kenbak-2/5

DISCLAIMER: Some of the tools and techniques shown in The MagPi magazine are dangerous unless used with skill, experience, and appropriate personal protection equipment. While
we attempt to guide the reader, ultimately you are responsible for your own safety and understanding the limits of yourself and your equipment. Children should be supervised. Raspberry
Pi (Trading) Ltd does not accept responsibility for any injuries, damage to equipment, or costs incurred from projects, tutorials or suggestions in The MagPi magazine. Laws and regulations
covering many of the topics in The MagPi magazine are different between countries, and are always subject to change. You are responsible for understanding the requirements in your
jurisdiction and ensuring that you comply with them. Some manufacturers place limits on the use of their hardware which some projects or suggestions in The MagPi magazine may go
beyond. It is your responsibility to understand the manufacturer’s limits.

magpi.cc 05
 CONTENTS

38 66
Tutorials
38 Ultimate home server - part 1
42 Build an arcade machine - part 5
48 Create GUIs in Python - part 8
Ultimate home server - part 1 Isomorphic keyboard
56 Custom Pico USB controllers
60 Raspberry Pi Pico data logger
66 Isomorphic keyboard
80

The Big Feature

71

pi-top Robotics Kit

86
Make games with Raspberry Pi

Reviews
80 pi-top Robotics Kit
82 10 Amazing: Wearables
84 Learn Visual Studio Code

Community
86 Zack Freedman interview
88 This Month in Raspberry Pi Zach Freedman interview

WIN
A MARTY THE 95

ROBOT V2
06 magpi.cc
Robotics & rapid prototyping
with your Raspberry Pi
Power your projects with computer vision and applied AI
pi-top [4] Robotics Kit comes with electronic components such as a wide-angle
camera, servos and motors, all of which plug and play with the pi-top [4]
Complete or pi-top [4] DIY Edition†.
pi-top Robotics Kit with Expansion Plate
£187.90 / $199.90

Gesture Obstacle Autonomous

Control Avoidance Driving

Object Emotion Line

Recognition Mapping Recognition

Integrated
with Microsoft

Face
Interaction
Tracking

pi-top.com/MagPi
Raspberry Pi is a trademark of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. †pi-top [4] and Robotics Kit with Expansion Plate sold separately. © CEED Ltd. 2021

Raspberry Pi made simple, robust and modular.

 PROJECT SHOWCASE

Callisto II
A retro gaming fan gave his Raspberry Pi a 1980s
makeover. Rosie Hattersley is on the case

I
n his spare time, games developer and maker
Kevin loves to tinker with all things retro: “I like
to design new NES games using 6502 Assembly”
he tells us, deftly setting the scene for how his
Callisto II retro computer design came about. A
hardware-based project, Callisto marries Kevin’s
enjoyment of 3D design and printing and his abiding
love of retro gaming.
Kevin Solar
MAKER

“It started in 2019 when I really wanted to 3D-print

a full-sized retro or a terminal style of computer,”
Game developer
and software says Kevin. “When I was looking all over the web, I
engineer Kevin was surprised that this sort of thing didn’t exist. I saw
loves designing lots of mini 3D printable retro computers and they
physical builds
and often uses
were really good, but I wanted a full-size one that I
the powerful could use for everyday tasks. Since this didn’t exist, I
capabilities of had to make one.”
Raspberry Pi in
Raspberry Pi was the obvious choice for the
his projects.
hardware to power his dream of recreating the look
magpi.cc/ and feel of a 1980s computer. “I needed a desktop
solarcomputers
OS to make my retro computer very functional,” he
explains, “[and] Raspberry Pi is an inexpensive and
very capable computer.”
Kevin has previously designed two retro computer
cases. The first, Callisto J-29, “was very rough around
the edges” while the second one, Europa, “was too
heavily inspired by the original Macintosh.” For
Callisto II he wanted to top these first designs and
“make something that was very easy to print and
assemble, but still looked great.” He wasn’t prepared
to compromise on computing power either - hence
his choice of Raspberry Pi.

Tricky curves
Despite his experience with 3D printing to date, Kevin
says the trickiest part of the design was modelling the
curves, as he’d not done this before. He persevered,
knowing the curves would set his design apart from
others. It was also a challenge to find a true 4:3 LCD
screen that was inexpensive and readily available,
he says, but rarer still to find a retro computer that
used the 16:9 aspect ratio of modern displays. He was
eventually able to source an 8-inch Pimoroni display
to give Callisto that all-important 1980s look.

08 magpi.cc Callisto II
 PROJECT SHOWCASE

The curved edges of Callisto II

mark an evolution in Kevin’s retro
computer designs – all available
to download and 3D-print from
Thingiverse (magpi.cc/callisto2)

Few 4:3 screens are available

(most are 16:9), but this Pimoroni
one provides a suitably retro look

Quick FACTS
> Kevin set up a
retro website
to accompany
Callisto’s launch

> He also wrote a

retro-style
user manual

> And an online OS

(magpi.cc/
pigeonos)

> He’s particularly

proud of Callisto’s
3D-printed hatch
The mechanical keyboard is
60% the size of a standard one
> “I love the way it
and has pleasingly tactile keys
integrates with the
case,” he beams

Callisto II magpi.cc 09
 PROJECT SHOWCASE

 evin has even

K
designed a retro
online operating
system for Callisto

Callisto’s design is inspired by several real retro

computers such as the ADM-3A, Zenith Z-89, and
Hazeltine 1500, but with no 3D-printable, full-size
retro computers available online for comparison,
Kevin was on his own when it came to working out
the dimensions and 3D design.

Easy ethos
Kevin tried to use readily available parts from
online retailers for most of the project. “Not only
did I want this to be super-easy to print and put
together, I wanted it to be easy to find the parts
[and be] something you could put together for an
easy weekend project (assuming you spent the
previous week printing all the parts),” he says.
You don’t even need glue as all the parts have
been designed to snap together, but you should
 allisto II is the third
C
ensure all the electronics have room to breathe,
3D-printed retro computer
Kevin has designed he cautions.

 trio of Callisto
A
II computers

10 magpi.cc Callisto II
 PROJECT SHOWCASE

Build a retro computer

Download and 3D-print the parts for your Callisto II
from magpi.cc/callisto2. The case is designed to
snap together with pins; glue is optional.

 D-printed parts ready

3
for assembly  omething you could
S
put together for an easy 01
Assemble the case and install the hardware.
The screen should easily slide into place

weekend project using the case’s built-in slots.

The project cost roughly $250 and involved

printing six parts on a Prusa Mini 3D printer that
each took a day to print. When sourcing a suitably
tactile 60% mechanical keyboard, Kevin suggests
choosing one that has blue switches. “These give
the loudest clicks,” he says.
Kevin stuck with Raspberry Pi OS, but part of
Raspberry Pi’s appeal is that you can load games
and emulators to make it look and run however
you want, he says. RetroPie is an obvious choice
here. For more ideas on mimicking Callisto’s retro
looks with retro programs, take a look at Retro
 s Callisto II is 3D-printed,
A
you can have it any colour Computing in The MagPi issue 88 (magpi.cc/88). Slot the keyboard in place, followed by the
02 USB hub and power supply. Secure them
using 3D-printed pins.

Insert and plug in Raspberry Pi near the PSU

03 and, optionally, secure it using Velcro, then
power up your retro computer.

Callisto II magpi.cc 11
 PROJECT SHOWCASE

 here’s one major

T
component to the setup,
which is the PIR sensor

Humane mousetrap
Safely catching mice is a better way of fixing a problem, and using
Raspberry Pi means it needs less supervision. Rob Zwetsloot takes a look

W
ith some IoT projects, it’s the little
things that help. For example, take
Andrew Taylor, who did the good thing
of setting up a humane mousetrap. However,
checking it to see if any mice had been caught in it,
while necessary, was getting a little boring.
“If a mouse had gone in and I did not check
it, the mouse would quickly run out of food and
Andrew Taylor
MAKER

water!” Andrew tells us. “Having been interested

in Raspberry Pi for a couple of years and having
A web developer
who inherited
recently begun learning Python using the Enviro+
a Raspberry Pi, environment sensors, I figured a Raspberry Pi with
allowing him to a motion sensor would be an ideal way to check.”
reconnect with the
It’s a fairly simple setup, one commonly used in
basics of computing
that got him CCTV builds and some fun ‘parent detectors’ on the
interested in the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s projects site.
first place.

ataylor.net Mouse motion

“I came across a couple of automated mousetraps
 n old coffee tub is used
A
that people had made from scratch, but wanting as a case for the sensor,
to keep it simple and cheap,” Andrew explains. “I a good way to recycle

12 magpi.cc Humane mousetrap

 A Raspberry Pi Zero is used to
check the motion sensor and
send data if it’s activated

Installed into an old coffee tub, the

standard PIR is something easy to find
and connect to GPIO

Quick FACTS
> The whole setup
costs roughly £28

> At the time of

writing, Andrew
has safely caught
three mice

> Camera modules

can detect motion

> The detection rate

is calibrated to
the environment

> Don’t fill your trap

with cheese

Humane mousetrap magpi.cc 13

 PROJECT SHOWCASE

 iring up the PIR to Raspberry

W
Pi is quite simple, and means the
project is easy to maintain

I came across a couple of automated mousetraps that people had made

from scratch, but wanted to keep it simple and cheap
wanted to use off-the-shelf parts where possible
and keep costs down. The Pi Hut had a tutorial for a
DIY burglar alarm utilising a PIR sensor, IFTTT, and
Pushbullet, which seemed like an ideal starting
point (magpi.cc/pihutifttt).”
IFTTT – If This Then That – is an online service
popular with IoT folks. It’s great for small things
like cross-posting images on social media services,
or sending a push notification when motion is
detected in a mousetrap.
“I have only had one mouse since, but it worked!”
Andrew says. “I was averaging about 800 detections
a day and suddenly got well over a 1000. Sure
enough, there was a mouse in the trap which I
released shortly afterwards. I do tend to notice
that the values fluctuate a bit, so it is always worth
checking over the previous day’s results to see if it
is notably higher.”
You might think that 800 push notifications a
day is far worse than just occasionally checking
your garage, and you’d be right, so Andrew tweaked It’s a simple design,
and was kept simple to
the code a bit: “The code examples I found sent a keep to a small budget

14 magpi.cc Humane mousetrap

 PROJECT SHOWCASE

Catching mice

The setup stays on 24/7, and monitors the

01 PIR sensor for movement. The PIR uses
infrared so it works just fine even in the dark.

Movement is tracked using a Python script

notification for each movement detection – which  he first successful capture
T 02 which checks, and logs, every 30 seconds. This
was released back outside
I knew would be rather annoying, considering how the garage allows for more accurate long-term readings.
randomly PIR sensors sometimes seem to trigger.
My script instead logs any hits at a max of 1 per 30
seconds and then triggers a notification once every
24 hours, meaning I just get one notification a day.”

Beat a path
There’s always room for improvement, as
Andrew explains: “I intend to improve the code
so that it can record running averages and give
an indication as to whether it believes there has
been a significant spike that might necessitate me
checking it out.”
“After 24 hours, it triggers a message containing
Whilst the aim of the project was to keep costs 03 the number of hits over that period by sending
down, Andrew is tempted to experiment by adding a HTTP request to IFTTT which is hooked up to
a camera, and possibly a light, so he can have a Pushbullet,” says Andrew. “This then sends this
peek remotely when there has been a spike in the message as a notification to my phone. The counter is
readings and to see if it is a false alarm. Which, as then reset ready for the next day.”
he admits, is “a new height in laziness!”

Humane mousetrap magpi.cc 15

 PROJECT SHOWCASE

Bop It
Minecraft
Controller
Why play Minecraft with a keyboard and mouse when
you can use an electronic toy modified with Raspberry
Pi Pico? Nicola King appreciates the twist
Minecraft is a little
trickier, but perfectly

O
ne of the world’s favourite electronic playable using the
toys, Bop It has been around for 25 years. customised Bop It
Normally, you press, pull, flick, spin,
and twist its buttons and knobs according to the
spoken instructions given. Great fun, if noisy and
annoying for parents. Seth Altobelli, however,
opted to refit his Bop It with a Raspberry Pi Pico to
turn it into a USB controller for Minecraft.
Seth Altobelli
MAKER

He was inspired to create the project by two

prominent YouTubers. “Michael Reeves made a
Seth is a student
video using a Bop It as an alternative interface to over I2C. “[Pico] reads the acceleration vector,
studying robotics
engineering who Hawaii’s nuclear alert system. This inspired me does some simple vector math, and uses that to
enjoys making videos to use a Bop It, or similar device, as an input for send mouse commands over USB,” explains Seth.
on projects that
something it was not designed for,” he says. “The fact that Pico can so easily be programmed
combine electronics,
software, and “Another creator, Technoblade, has an old to act as a keyboard and mouse at the same time
mechanical elements. video where he beat Minecraft hardcore, the most made this project possible.”
magpi.cc/ challenging difficulty, with a steering wheel. I was
sethaltobelli watching this a while back and then the idea of Develop and debounce
playing Minecraft with a Bop It just came to me.” The project took Seth two days to develop. “The first
day I opened the Bop It, analysed how the inputs
Buttons to Pico to USB interface with the control board, wired the circuit,
To turn his Bop It XT into a controller, Seth first and wrote a basic program to make sure my wiring
took the case apart and removed the existing PCB, was correct,” he recalls.
replacing it with a Raspberry Pi Pico. All of the “The next day, I wrote the main control program.
Bop It’s controls link to simple momentary push- I then played Minecraft with it and made minor
buttons, which meant he could simply wire these changes over the next few days when I had a few
to digital GPIO inputs on Pico. hours free.”
When an internal push-button is pressed, it The most challenging element for Seth was
triggers Pico to send the corresponding keyboard the programming as, although an accomplished
command over USB. “Pico can act as a USB device, Python coder, he was using CircuitPython for the
meaning, as far as the computer running Minecraft first time. “That said, it made the USB functionality
knows, it is a normal keyboard,” he tells us. surprisingly easy.”
In addition to the button inputs, he installed an The trickiest part of the program was the
accelerometer in the Bop It. This connects to Pico debounce timers he had to code for each button,

16 magpi.cc Bop It Minecraft Controller

 The main button is used
to switch between camera
and walk modes, with tilt
control for movement

Quick FACTS
> Seth has offered
to send his
custom Bop It to
Technoblade to
try out

> This is Seth’s debut

project using any
Raspberry Pi device

> Combinations of
buttons are used
for some actions in
the game

By replacing its PCB > A small MPU6050

with a Pico, the Bop It accelerometer/
can be programmed to gyroscope board
work as USB controller enables tilt control

> Seth cut a hole

in the speaker
grille to fit Pico’s
micro USB port

 ico can be programmed

P
to act as a keyboard and
mouse at the same time
to ensure they only trigger once each time they’re
pressed. “This was especially important for the
buttons that moved in the hotbar and the right-
click button that is used for eating and placing
blocks,” he notes. “The Bop It made this difficult
as some of the buttons are challenging to quickly
press, meaning the code would toggle them
multiple times as though they were being held
down. If I increased the timer too much, it would
limit the frequency I could press them. I was
able to get all the timers to work, but it did take
some fiddling.”
The end result works surprisingly well for
playing Minecraft, as demonstrated in his YouTube
video (magpi.cc/bopityt) – particularly the tilt
control for movement, Wii Remote style. Not bad
for a project he describes as being “made as a joke
Each of the Bop It’s internal push-buttons is connected to a digital
from the start.” input on Pico, which is held in place using a small 3D-printed mount

Bop It Minecraft Controller magpi.cc 17

 PROJECT SHOWCASE

PrivacyMic
A device that listens to noises in your home but
doesn’t hear your conversations? David Crookes tunes in

M
ore than 320 million smart speakers above the range of human hearing, the system
have been sold across the world, filters out speech and audible sound, yet can still
allowing us to use our voices to play understand what’s happening in our environment.
music, ask questions, and discover information.
A growing number of Internet of Things Sound of silence
(IoT) devices are also being embedded with PrivacyMic is built around Raspberry Pi and it
microphones, but there are concerns they’re works with ultrasonic sounds – that is, those
capable of eavesdropping on our conversations with a frequency of 20 kilohertz or higher. Many
Yasha “It’s hard to tell what an IoT device is doing objects and actions emit ultrasound waves,
MAKER

Iravantchi with its microphone beyond an LED signifying including compact fluorescent bulbs, dishwashers,
its microphone is in a muted or unmuted state,” computer monitors, flushing toilets, and electric
Yasha Iravantchi is
a PhD candidate says Yasha Iravantchi, a graduate student at the toothbrushes. “It’s a frequency that’s inoffensive to
at the University University of Michigan. “In the future, these humans, but can be annoying to dogs,” says Yasha.
of Michigan. He devices are going to perform more tasks than just Most traditional audio equipment won’t capture
researches novel
listening for speech commands and there is the ultrasonic sounds. “Devices are tuned to focus on
sensors that
operate in a privacy- possibility that a lot of audio will be captured, the range of human speech or hearing and they
preserving way. recorded, and stored.” often actively remove the sounds outside of these
magpi.cc/ For this reason, Yasha has been leading a team ranges as ‘noise’ from the environment,” Yasha
privacymic developing PrivacyMic, a research project ensuring explains. By creating a HAT for Raspberry Pi Zero W
private conversations cannot be recorded and using an analogue ultrasonic microphone and a
stored. By only gathering sound at frequencies filter to remove speech and audible frequencies,
however, PrivacyMic can do the opposite.
“The ‘noise’ that these systems throw away
is a valuable signal we can use to recognise
and classify daily-use objects,” Yasha says. It
means PrivacyMic can hear when a light bulb
or microwave is turned on, determine when a
toothbrush is being used, or when a toilet is
flushed, without capturing any conversations.
“We’ve also been using Raspberry Pi 3 to explore
ways of performing all tasks – from capture to
classification – on the computer itself to ensure no
data ever leaves Raspberry Pi.”

Listen up
So how does it work? “Analogue filters remove
the audible frequencies and only allow ultrasonic
frequencies to pass through to the analogue-to-
This laptop is running the team’s own open- digital converter (ADC),” Yasha explains. “These
source app T4Train which can connect to
signals are passed to a machine learning model
PrivacyMic and train a model on the spot using
incoming data, or load a pre-trained model to recognise these daily-use objects in ultrasound

18 magpi.cc PrivacyMic
 In a demo, PrivacyMic was shown to
recognise finger snaps and use the
ultrasonic component of the sound to
unmute an Echo’s speech microphone
using a small servo that physically
presses the button, allowing for
normal verbal commands

Quick FACTS
> PrivacyMic
only listens for
frequencies
of 16kHz+

> Sound has been

collected from
Extra sound waves are inaudible to human 127 objects
ears but encode lots of information. There are
potential medical benefits. PrivacyMic could > The device can
monitor lung function or help hard-of-hearing identify activities
people know when a vehicle is approaching with 95% accuracy

> The HAT can

move between
An audio filter removes all audible
It’s a frequency that’s speech. Incoming sound is analysed
Raspberry Pi
computers
by machine learning software to
inoffensive to humans, but determine what device is being used > The team has

can be annoying to dogs applied for

patent protection

only, and the model then records an entry,

including a time stamp and the name of the thing
that turned on.”
In doing so, the filtered ultrasound is not
kept. “The idea is that there are multiple layers
of safeguards in place that allow us to minimise
the privacy exposure to users while keeping the
artefacts that matter. In the case of activities of
daily living tracking, it’s the activity log, not the
sounds themselves that are of value,” Yasha says.
Accomplishing this has entailed a lot of coding.
C is used to efficiently send samples from the
ADC to a laptop via TCP, and a new framework for
interactive machine learning has been developed
in Python. “It’s called T4Train (magpi.cc/t4train)
and it’s a work-in-progress, but it’s already
compatible with Raspberry Pi,” Yasha says.
Even so, work is far from complete. “One of the
hardest challenges is trying to train PrivacyMic to
learn to recognise sounds that you yourself cannot
hear,” Yasha laments. It means the device won’t
likely be out of the proof-of-concept stage for a
The PrivacyMic HAT connected to Raspberry Pi Zero.
few years yet, but we’ll keep our ears to the ground
A 250kHz low-pass filter is needed by the 500kHz
for more news as the project progresses. ADC to remove high-frequency interference

PrivacyMic magpi.cc 19
 PROJECT SHOWCASE

Campervan LAN
Needing to travel to several countries for work, one
maker chose to kit out his campervan as a mobile office.
Rosie Hattersley was intrigued

C
ampervans are all the rage right now, since
they offer a chance to escape the home in
favour of fresh air and a change of scene.
Enrico Miglino’s job often needs him to pitch up
in Germany, Spain, or Belgium where his software
development architect consultancy is in demand,
so it made sense for him to take the digital nomad
concept literally, and adapt a campervan to create a
Enrico Miglino
MAKER

mobile office.
Although most campsites and caravan parks
Enrico designs and
develops multi- offer WiFi to guests, such connections are often
platform software unsecured, limited to only a couple of hours’ free
projects for clients use, and require each device to log in separately.
across Europe
Enrico needed a setup that was far more robust.
(and occasionally
India). He’s been His vehicle, Jan The Van, sports a secure mobile
using and helping LAN, is powered by three Raspberry Pi computers,
road-test Raspberry
and allows Enrico to use a single login to provide
Pi since its first
Linux prototype. internet access to any devices on his network. The
whole setup cost less than 500 euros, meaning he
we-are-borg.
com could also afford to add a solar panel.

Hack The Van

Enrico bought his van specifically for use as
a mobile office. “The project aims to create a
modular set of technological improvements in From the driving seat, Enrico can
a standard vehicle to convert it to a secured and get live updates about on-board
efficient mobile unit for living, working, and essentials such as water and fuel,
travelling,” he explains. as well as alerts about intruders
It’s named after Enrico’s friend Jan Cumps who
helped him work out the electronics that would be
needed to successfully hack the van. The pair spent
many evenings working together studying how
to develop projects, debug hardware circuits, and
teaching workshops at the Ingegno Makerspace in
Ghent in Belgium (ingegno.be).

20 magpi.cc Campervan LAN

 PROJECT SHOWCASE

Jan The Van doubles

as a mobile office and
panel van conversion

Quick FACTS

Two Raspberry Pi 4 boards control

> Enrico has an
the on-board LAN and provide
original Raspberry
wireless logins for passenger’s
Pi prototype
smartphones, laptops, and tablets

> He participated in

the design of its
first Linux distro

> He loves Raspberry

Pi for its flexibility
and adaptability

> A modular

approach means
project components
are readily reusable

> The biggest Jan

The Van challenge:
space, of course

Campervan LAN magpi.cc 21

 PROJECT SHOWCASE

J an The Van – a mobile

office with a constantly
changing landscape

 quick glance inside

A The duo took a modular approach to the build,
and Jan seems like
a relatively normal starting with an 8GB Raspberry Pi 4B mounted
luxurious campervan
in a case with a 7-inch touchscreen. Developed
with Node-RED, the display shows the state of the
network, firewall status, and the local weather.
It also has screens monitoring any physical
intrusions around Jan The Van.
DHCP features and the wireless LAN to Ethernet
router make it safe for Enrico to connect his
shielded network to insecure public WiFi networks.
He’s currently adding sensors to monitor gas and
smoke levels from the van’s kitchen, and to show
how much water he’s storing on board, providing
reassurance there are plenty of provisions on
lengthier, more remote journeys.
Enrico found lots of ideas online for how to
create his vision, building and testing each
element before installing it. “I tried to design it to
be as modular as possible so it’s easy to replicate it
and adapt the modules to similar but not identical
environments,” he says.

More Raspberry Pi
Internal devices on Jan The Van’s network could
only be connected to the Ethernet port, which
wouldn’t work for iPads, iPhones, and other mobile
devices that lack the necessary port. To overcome
this, Enrico added an Ethernet switch and a second
Raspberry Pi 4B configured as a bridge to which

22 magpi.cc Campervan LAN

 PROJECT SHOWCASE

Hack your van

To create your own campervan network, you’ll

01 need two Raspberry Pi 4 computers for the
LAN, one of which acts as a wireless bridge to provide
ad hoc access, and a 300 W or less power inverter.
Laptops can also connect via Ethernet.

J an The Van’s third

passenger reportedly
enjoys the ride

I tried to design it to be as modular as

possible so it’s easy to replicate it and 02
The main interface uses Node-RED software to
manage the hardware, with C/C++ to program

adapt the modules the ESP3266 modules attached to the sensors. The
screen orientation is corrected in configuration.

these mobile devices can connect wirelessly. A

third Raspberry Pi connected to a full HD webcam
provides live visuals of the rear of the vehicle while
he’s driving, and acts as a motion sensor security
camera when the campervan is parked. It “detects
motion around the camera field of view and records
video just in case,” Enrico says. Warning!
Jan The Van’s first big trip was a ten-day journey
Electric hookup
from Belgium to a “nice campsite” in Spain –
Be careful when adding
some 2800 km – where Enrico easily hooked up a power inverter to a van
his campervan LAN and was able to work as a for electric hookup and
seek professional advice.
consultant each morning and tinker with his mobile
Enrico used Python bash scripting to manage
office setup each evening. Planned improvements magpi.cc/ 03 the network, execute timed tasks, and
powerinverter
include adding a third Raspberry Pi 4 with a display automate image saving from the on-board camera.
to stream images from the van’s rear camera and This can be either a webcam or a Raspberry Pi
other information to the dashboard or cockpit. Camera Module. Full details of Enrico’s hack the van
Most important, says Enrico, “is travelling to nice project are at magpi.cc/janthevan.
places to test the prototype in the real world.”

Campervan LAN magpi.cc 23

 PROJECT SHOWCASE

Air Quality
Traffic Light
Worried about the effects of poor air in his home city, Dmytro Panin
has created a unique alert system, as David Crookes explains

K
yiv in Ukraine is one of Europe’s most of code to account for inaccuracies which varied
polluted cities. It has high smog levels, drastically based on the environment temperature.”
which can cause health problems. “It also
occurred to me that, in summer, the air quality Good to go
in our area can deteriorate due to peat deposits Instead, he turned to an MH-Z19B carbon dioxide
igniting and smouldering somewhere in the sensor. “It was way more accurate and it worked,
province,” says Dmytro Panin. but only temporarily, as the elements in my area
For that reason, he decided to take a break from can be on the extreme side,” Dmytro says.
Dmytro Panin
MAKER

a project he was working on – a device which The solution, therefore, was to write a short
monitors currency prices using Raspberry Pi Zero W program using the open-source programming
Dmytro Panin is a
– to create an air quality reporting system. Having language Go (golang.org). It fetches Air Quality
programmer based
in Kyiv, Ukraine, and found a battery-operated toy traffic light, he came Index data from the website IQAir (iqair.com),
he wrote his first up with a plan that was both practical and fun. which uses information from consumer devices
line of code aged “If the wind blows in the direction of the
eight. He works for
a large provider of
city, you can smell the smoke, which some say
nearshore software resembles whiskey, and it means you don’t want to
engineering services. have the windows open for too long,” Dmytro says.
magpi.cc/ “So, I came up with the idea of having the red light
airquality of a traffic light illuminate if this was to happen.”

Capturing air quality

Dmytro chose a traffic light made by German toy
manufacturer Dickie. “It’s compact, has a button
on top, and two additional LEDs accompanying
the standard three,” he explains. But before he
could connect it to a Raspberry Pi 3B+ computer, he
needed to open the toy.
“I had to get rid of the traffic light’s internal
components without damaging the LEDs or the
internal structure of the toy,” he continues. “I also
had to change the resistors so that it would work
with Raspberry Pi’s GPIO pins, which produce 3.3 V.”
From there, it was a matter of working out
the best way of capturing air quality, starting
by experimenting with the MQ-135 gas sensor
The traffic light is only which monitors benzene, alcohol, and smoke. “I
used during the day. got it working after a few hours by connecting an
It’s been coded to turn
itself off at night, but additional analogue-to-digital chip to the serial port
can be activated for
of Raspberry Pi,” he says. “But the measurements
a minute by pressing
the button on top were not that precise and I had to write quite a bit

24 magpi.cc Air Quality Traffic Light

 A Raspberry Pi 3B+ has been used. “This would
usually be overkill for a project like this, but it
runs the Samba server, the tracker-blocking
Pi-hole, and MariaDB 24/7,” Dmytro says

Quick FACTS
> The traffic light
can be bought for
about £10

When the Air Quality Index figure > It’s 12 centimetres tall
registers between 50 and 100, the light
is amber. Anything below that lights > The project uses
green, while above 100 shows red a Raspberry Pi
3B+ computer
Dmytro has placed Raspberry Pi in a
LEGO-compatible case. A 3D-printed > Raspberry Pi Zero
LEGO minifigure sits on top, boasting would also work
the AWS Lambda symbol. Dmytro says: perfectly well
“It used to be our team’s mascot”
> All the files are
on GitHub

T he aggregated data
is quite accurate, but it
covers the entire city
located across Kyiv. It also grabs current data from
OpenWeather (openweathermap.org) in parallel.
By storing the data on Raspberry Pi, Dmytro’s
script – written in Python – can determine which
light to illuminate, controlling the LEDs using the
Python library GPIO Zero. Red obviously shows
that the air quality is poor, prompting Dmytro
to close the windows and take precautions when
venturing outside.
Even so, there is room for improvement. “The
aggregated data is quite accurate but it covers the
entire city,” he laments. “Sometimes it would
make more sense for measurements to be more
local. Collecting data myself and combining it with
the information I get from the API should be the
next step.” Data from IQAir is used to help determine which LED should illuminate on the traffic light

Air Quality Traffic Light magpi.cc 25

 PROJECT SHOWCASE

Kenbak-2/5
Reproducing a personal computer that was first created way back in 1971
has been, for Michael Gardi, a labour of love. Nicola King turns back the years

Raspberry Pi 4 is connected to the lights and LEDs A close-up of the wiring from the
on the front panel via a 32-channel I/O expansion HAT HAT; most of the channels were used

R
egular readers of The MagPi may recall that in microprocessors that were to follow years
in issue 102 (magpi.cc/102), we covered a later, like the Motorola 6800 (1974) and the MOS
fantastic Turing machine reproduction by Technology 6502 (1975).”
Canadian retro enthusiast Michael Gardi. Well,
Michael is back with another blast from the past – A contemporary take
this time with his take on the Kenbak-1 which, as Michael has a YouTube video (magpi.cc/kenbakyt)
he shares, was “considered by many to be the first that explains in detail how the original computer
commercial personal computer, despite its failure worked, as he enters a program through the model’s
Michael Gardi
MAKER

in the marketplace.” front panel buttons. He then details how the

The Kenbak-1 was created by John Blankenbaker, Kenbak-2/5 supplements the original by allowing
A retired software
a computer engineer and inventor, and Michael the user to enter a program by typing in assembly
developer, living in
Waterloo, Ontario, was drawn to the idea of reproducing it in the language instructions. In Michael’s words, his
Canada with his wife, form of the Kenbak-2/5 (a 2:5 scale model of the version of this computer “allows one to have a
who appreciates
original) for a key reason. “For me, the thing ‘classic’ Kenbak-1 experience, then enhances that
having the time to
make whatever the that attracted me to this project, aside from the experience by allowing the user to use more modern
heck he damn well historical significance, was the sophisticated tools like an assembler and a debugger.” He also has
feels like! instruction set that the Kenbak-1 supported,” a detailed Hackaday page (magpi.cc/kenbak), if you
magpi.cc/mgardi he explains. “This was surprising because the feel like having a go yourself.
computer was implemented with discrete logic Using photographs of the original machine as
chips and did not contain a microprocessor. a guide, because finding an original Kenbak-1
The instructions were on a par with those used would have been difficult and hugely expensive,

26 magpi.cc Kenbak-2/5
 PROJECT SHOWCASE

3D-printed in two
parts, the case is
held together by two
slotted side pieces

A 3D-printed front panel has

holes for buttons and LEDs; it
is overlaid with a clear acetate
The user can enter programs
sheet featuring button labels
line by line using the front panel
buttons or the remote IDE, with
output shown by the LEDs

I think that the devices themselves, and their designers, Quick FACTS
deserve to be remembered and honoured > Only 50 of the
original Kenbak-1
Michael 3D-printed the frame of the project. glitches. “Fortunately, there is a pretty active
computers were
“One of the reasons that I chose to make this Kenbak-1 community out there and some people ever sold
reproduction at 2/5 (40%) scale was so that all actually tried out my software and found a few bugs
the 3D-printed parts (of which there were only and misunderstandings.” > As they are so rare,
five) would fit onto my printer. So, this simplified the last one sold
the assembly,” he says. “Aside from the screws Architect’s approval at auction went
used to mount the Raspberry Pi to the frame, The icing on the cake is that Michael’s make has for $40,000
everything just snaps together.” received praise from the original inventor. “I sent
> Michael’s version
A built-in Raspberry Pi 4 is connected to the John Blankenbaker (91 years young) an email with
took one month
front panel via a 32-channel expansion HAT. It pictures of my reproduction and a few questions,
to create
also runs an IDE that can be accessed on a remote and he was gracious enough to answer. The first
machine via SSH or VNC; the source code is on thing he said in his reply was ‘Your email was the > Most of his
GitHub (along with the STL files for 3D printing the most interesting thing I have received today. I was projects are based
case): magpi.cc/kenbakide. very impressed!’. That sure made my day too!” on very retro
Michael created the Kenbak-1 Assembler and Praise indeed, and this underlines one of the reproductions…
Emulator using Python and it’s all based on John reasons why Michael undertook the challenge:
Blankenbaker’s Programming Reference Manual. “I think that the devices themselves, and their > …like this impressive
Any qualms he had about his understanding of designers, deserve to be remembered and replica of a
1968 computer:
the documentation were laid to rest by fellow honoured.” Many enthusiasts would certainly
magpi.cc/vt100
enthusiasts who helped him out with potential agree with that sentiment.

Kenbak-2/5 magpi.cc 27
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magpi.cc 29
 FEATURE

Incredible builds that have won competitions

and prestigious honours

W
e like to hope that at least some of
the projects we publish in The MagPi
inspire people to make more. When
it comes to inspiration, though, nothing beats
projects that are changing the world for the
better, and have won awards for doing so.
There are many kinds of awards, and even more
kinds of winners, but here is just a selection of
these prestigious projects that will make you go
‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ in appreciation, and hopefully be
the spark of inspiration for your next build.

30 magpi.cc Award Winning Makes

 FEATURE

Nemo-Pi Space Vegetables

Save Nemo feiticeir0
magpi.cc/nemopi magpi.cc/spacevegetables

This underwater ‘weather station’ from the Save Our friends over at element14 regularly have
Nemo Foundation is being used to protect coral community design challenges that involve
reefs from climate change and divers. Raspberry Pi. A recent one, 1 Meter of Pi,
They work by attaching to a concrete block was to create a 1 m3 area that could grow food
that has been placed on the sea floor – these on a hypothetical trip to Mars. The winner
blocks are attached to a buoy that boats can moor was feiticeir0 with their Space Vegetables, a
up to, rather than randomly dropping anchors hydroponic garden that had a time-lapse camera
that can damage the reefs. The Nemo-Pi can and the ability to post to Twitter.
detect temperature, visibility, pH levels, and Like a lot of the element14 competitions, you
concentration of certain gasses in the water. can read a detailed, regular analysis of how the
As well as monitoring the ocean, it will allow build and growing went. To summarise, the
holidaymakers to know if the conditions for water, nutrient, and air pumps, along with grow
diving are good. lights, were all Raspberry Pi controlled using a
Nemo-Pi won the Google.org Impact Challenge mixture of sensors and code. The results of this
2018 competition. cosmic produce has even been sampled.

Ecosystem monitoring
Sarab Sethi
magpi.cc/ecosystem “ They record and
transmit the
“The health of a forest ecosystem can often be
noise 24/7 for
”
attributed to how much noise it creates,” says
Professor Rob Ewers of Imperial College London,
the university where this project that listens to the
scientific study
rainforest was created.
These solar-powered audio recorders using
Raspberry Pi were the creation of a small team
at ICL, including Dr Sarab Sethi and Dr Lorenzo
Picinali, and are placed around the rainforest in
Borneo. They record and transmit the noise 24/7
for scientific study or for you to just chill out to via
the SAFE Acoustics live stream: magpi.cc/SAFE.
This system won a prestigious NETEXPLO
Innovation Forum Award 2018, an award scheme
from UNESCO that looks at university projects.

Award Winning Makes magpi.cc 31

 FEATURE

Coolest Projects Online 2021

I
f you’ve read much of The MagPi, you’ll had to go online, and this has meant not only
know we love Coolest Projects. It’s an more entrants but also more winners. For 2021,
event run by CoderDojo that showcases several judges chose their favourite projects out
incredible projects from younger makers. For of over a thousand entries – here are the ones
the last couple of years, Coolest Projects has that used Raspberry Pi.

Cap For The Blind MediBuddy

Archit Garg and Omkar Prasad Rout Jayanth Ramganesh from the UAE
from India magpi.cc/medibuddy
magpi.cc/capforblind
A system to remotely dispense medicine to
This cap has an ultrasonic distance sensor a patient, as decided by a doctor. A custom
attached to the brim, making a warning noise interface is given to the caregiver, with patient
if any objects are within 60 cm off the person info and a button to dispense the medication,
wearing it. It’s supposed to complement a cane which is then pushed out of a hole in the
for blind people which is used to detect objects MediBuddy case with a sound alert.
lower down the user’s body.
JAMES WHELTON’S FAVOURITE
BROADCOM CODING WITH COMMITMENT HARDWARE PROJECT

Backyard Squirrel Detection System

Friction experiments made easy Arvin Zhang from the USA
Artur Panek from Poland magpi.cc/backyardsquirrel
magpi.cc/frictionexp
This project’s full name is ‘A Deep Learning
School physics lessons like to do practical Based Backyard Squirrel Detection System
experiments to determine friction on an object. Utilizing Raspberry Pi’, and it does exactly that.
Artur created a Raspberry Pi 3B+ box that you Using Google’s Coral Edge TPU, and a squirrel-
can place on the object, which not only aids in trained deep learning model, Arvin was able to
calculating the coefficient of friction, it provides warn his grandma of invading squirrels so she
a much more accurate measurement. could protect their peach tree.

JAMES WHELTON’S FAVOURITE MELISSA PICKERING’S FAVOURITE

ADVANCED PROGRAMMING PROJECT ADVANCED PROGRAMMING PROJECT

32 magpi.cc Award Winning Makes

 FEATURE

“ This consumer grade (under

$100/£72) box can accurately

Playable LEGO
detect earthquakes
”
Steinway Piano
Lavie from the USA Earthquake Early Warning
magpi.cc/legopiano Vivien He from the USA
magpi.cc/earthquakewarn
This clever hack takes a LEGO piano
that is fully mechanically functional, This consumer grade (under
and uses a mixture of handmade $100/£72) box can accurately detect
paper PCBs with conductive ink earthquakes over a magnitude of 3.0,
and a Raspberry Pi to translate the and filter out footsteps, jumping, and
mechanical functions to the notes it other nearby human activity. It then
should play. Lavie had to debug her sends a warning to the user’s phone.
code to account for the way multiple Vivien hopes this kind of tech can be
keys are pressed in a smart way. used to save lives and reduce damage.

MELISSA PICKERING’S FAVOURITE COLIN FURZE’S FAVOURITE

HARDWARE PROJECT HARDWARE PROJECT

Past
winner
highlights
Vital Signs Monitor
AZ-Tech Teddy Door Pi Plus Adarsh Ambati
Andrei, Ioana, David Daniel and Freddie magpi.cc/vitalsigns
Bianca Laura from Romania magpi.cc/doorpiplus
Adarsh’s project is a system for
This smart teddy bear helps track A door security system for elderly users monitoring vital signs to diagnose
eating habits in younger people, and that makes use of facial recognition illness without touching the patient.
helps them pay closer attention to what software. This project has won more It also provides limitless possibilities,
they’re eating. It connects to various awards as well from other UK and from preventing sudden infant death
apps via Raspberry Pi. global competitions. syndrome to diagnosing viruses.

BEST INTERNATIONAL PRIZE 2018 COOLEST PROJECTS UK 2019 OVERALL WINNER OF COOLEST
HARDWARE WINNER PROJECTS USA 2020

Award Winning Makes magpi.cc 33

 FEATURE

Astro Pi
Y
ou can find Raspberry Pi everywhere, International Space Station orbiting 408 km
even in space! There are yearly above the Earth.
competitions to upload and run science Here we present some of the past winners,
experiments aboard two special Raspberry along with highlights from the entrants for
Pi computers, called Astro Pi, aboard the Mission Space Lab 2021.

2018/2019 Mission Space Lab 2019/2020 Mission Space Lab

TheHappy.Pi Pardubice Pi
I Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Bolesława SPŠE a VOŠ Pardubice, Czech Republic
Krzywoustego w Słupsku, Poland
Using NDVI (Normalised Difference Vegetation
One of the winners from this Mission Space Index) analysis on photos of vegetation, the
Lab were able to process images to measure team was able to analyse loss of vegetation
concentrations of chlorophyll concentrations in compared to historic images of the same
Earth vegetation. You can read about the full list locations. You can read about all the winners
of winners here: magpi.cc/msl2019. here: magpi.cc/msl2020.

Astro Pi in numbers
426 total team
submissions 232 experiments
run on the ISS

1695 participants
From
23 countries

489 (28.8%)
female participants
149 teams
eligible to win

34 magpi.cc Award Winning Makes

 FEATURE

Astro Pi Mission Space Lab

2020/2021 highlights
T
he winning teams of the latest Astro Pi
mission have not been announced at “ This team is looking to
study the evolution of
”
the time of writing, but here are some

vegetation around the world

amazing highlights. Look forward to next issue
to read about the winning teams!

Wan
learn t to
abou more
t
Pi? H Astro
ead t
astro o
pi.or
g

Team HamCloud Team Blue-3A

This English team captured lightning in the clouds Italian team Blue-3A captured Turks and Caicos.
during a night-time storm over South America – The blue filter really accentuates the blueness of
the first time this has ever happened during Astro the barrier reef. Images are being taken to analyse
Pi. Their experiment is to test cloud density to see how vegetation and inland waters (rivers, lakes,
if it’s been affected by climate change. etc.) influence local climates.

Team Imposter Team BetVeg

A team from Ireland, they captured a great photo Team BetVeg from Spain got this amazing photo
of the Maldives. Their experiment hopes to be able of the southern part of Great Britain. This team is
to compare historial data for regions that have looking to study the evolution of vegetation around
had wildfires, to help predict what areas may be in the world, comparing images to photos from
danger of future fires. previous Astro Pi missions.

Award Winning Makes magpi.cc 35

 FEATURE

Tech4Good
Young Pioneers

T
he Tech4Good awards are an annual
event that celebrate many aspects of
technology. One accolade is the BT Young
Pioneers Award, given to young folks that are
using tech to support climate action and other
social good projects. Several winners have all
done so with Raspberry Pi projects, showing
how versatile Raspberry Pi is.

Kiera McKillop and

Sinead McKeown – 2017 Arnav Sharma – 2016
Dyslexic Aid AsthmaPi
magpi.cc/dyslexicaid magpi.cc/asthmapi

Dyslexia effects a significant portion of the Arnav is one of the youngest award winners
population, and results in people having some in this article at only nine years old. After
difficulties with reading and writing. The studying the intricacies of the respiratory
Dyslexic Aid creates a multi-sensory learning condition asthma, he hooked up a suite of
environment that stimulates different senses, sensors to a Raspberry Pi to monitor the
aimed specifically at helping dyslexic pupils. quality of the air in an asthma sufferer’s home
With a very limited budget, they were able to and send messages with reminders, alerts,
do research and build the device with just a and even warnings to their phone. It can also
Raspberry Pi and a Sense HAT, and make use of help figure out any unknown triggers that can
its full suite of functions. result in an asthma attack.

“ The
Mihika Sharma – 2019
Smart Stick Smart Stick
is surprisingly,
magpi.cc/smartstick

well, smart
”
Mihika is also nine years old, and made the
Smart Stick for blind people after witnessing
her mother helping a blind person across the
road. The Smart Stick is surprisingly, well,
smart. As well as the visible ultrasonic distance
sensors to detect obstacles, it can detect
puddles, it has motors that guide the user left
or right depending on smartphone satnav
directions, LED lights for night-time, and
Braille writing to let users know where to place
a left or right hand. It’s won other awards as
well, and for good reason.

36 magpi.cc Award Winning Makes

 FEATURE

Awards from The MagPi

As well as favourites, there have been winners…

Issue 50 Issue 75
community award community award
To celebrate our 50th issue, In the two years
we decided to count down between issues 50
50 incredible projects, with and 75, we were able
the top 20 voted for by to collate 75 brand
our community. The top new and amazing
five included incredible projects to once again
creations, such as the show off in The MagPi.
SeeMore cluster computer Instead of just voting
art project and the BrewPi for 20 of them, this
beer brewing system that a time we had a top 50,
lot of adult makers love. as voted for by you.

Magic Mirror PiSwitch

magicmirror.builders magpi.cc/piswitch

A classic project. The concept, popularised by Michael The design of the Nintendo Switch is an all-timer,
Teeuw, has exploded in popularity, with people and many folks have been inspired by its removable
creating straight smart mirrors, smart vanity mirrors, controllers. PiSwitch went a step further and had
and even recycling a broken iPad to act as a mirror. It’s them connect to a 3D-printed case that also had
deceptively easy to make one, and installing useful a big display for a Raspberry Pi running RetroPie,
code for it is a doddle. It’s very extendible as well, and with the Joy-Cons connected via Bluetooth and
we’ve seen folk add seasonal extras and voice control. completely detachable like its inspiration machine.

Raspberry Pi awards timeline

A lot of people love Raspberry Pi, and over the last few years
it’s won plenty of awards itself. Here are just some of them...

Software Inquirer Tech

T3 Award for Satisfaction Awards Hero Awards – MacRobert Award Time’s The 10
Innovation of the – BASDA Theo von Best Product for innovation and Best Gadgets of
Year Dort award (Raspberry Pi 2) engineering the 2010s

2012 2012 2015 2017 2019

Award Winning Makes magpi.cc 37

 TUTORIAL

Build the ultimate

Part 01

home server with

Raspberry Pi
Revolutionise your home network with shared storage, media serving,
network management, home automation and more. All in one tiny box!

PJ Evans
MAKER

PJ is a writer,
software engineer
and tinkerer. His
server has just told
him it’s time for
another coffee.

twitter.com/
mrpjevans

T
 he rear of the case
organises all the
ports neatly and the
bridge connects the
M.2 drive to your
Raspberry Pi 4

R
aspberry Pi also makes a great home protecting your data, you’ll need at least 4GB for
server. Why do you need a home server? it to work effectively. Then consider what the
Well, there’s all kinds of uses: file sharing, server will be doing. Serving files doesn’t require
protecting your network from dodgy advertisers, much effort and is well within the capabilities of
controlling your smart devices; the list goes on. In Raspberry Pi Zero, and we strongly recommend a
this new series, we’ll build a home server with all wired network connection.
You’ll Need the bells and whistles to inspire you to create your
own ultimate build, with plenty of ideas and tips
>  Raspberry Pi 4
along the way.
magpi.cc/
Choose a case
raspberrypi4
02 Our Raspberry Pi 4 needs a good home
> A
 rgon One M.2 case
Choose the right model
magpi.cc/
argononem2
01 It’s probably no surprise that we’re using
if it’s going to be a server. There’s no shortage
of cases available and if you’re lucky enough
a Raspberry Pi 4 with 8GB RAM model for our to have a 3D printer, many more designs are
> 1 TB M.2 SATA
ultimate server. It’s the most powerful Raspberry available for download. Have a think about storage
SSD drive
magpi.cc/ Pi. However, you can go for lower memory sizes requirements such as additional disks or access to
wdbluem2 and get similar performance. If you’re interested USB or GPIO connectors. We’ve chosen the Argon
in using advanced file systems like ZFS for One case. Not only is it beautiful, it also features

38 magpi.cc Build the ultimate home server with Raspberry Pi

 TUTORIAL

The Argon One is an attractive

and practical case for a server

Wired Ethernet reduces load

on your wireless network
helping speed and reliability

passive cooling (as well as a fan) and support for 3B, and Compute Modules 3+ and 4. However, you
M.2 storage devices. As a server is intended to be will need to update the bootloader on these devices.
running 24/7, make sure your choice of case is well See magpi.cc/bootloader for info and instructions.
ventilated and will be placed where it can ‘breathe’.

Argon assemble!
Top Tip
Choose storage 05
03 The standard application for a server is file
Now we have the computer, case and storage,
it’s time to put them together. The Argon One
USB drives
sharing: the ability for anyone in your household to comes with a comprehensive installation guide. Add If you’re going for
access a library of files. If you’re thinking of a media the expansion board to bring all the connections mass storage and
server, consider carefully what type of storage to use to the rear of the case, then mount in the case as fancy adding an
array of drives,
and how much you need. Movies, especially in high- instructed, using the supplied thermal pads to
don’t forget a
definition formats, eat up a lot of space but don’t get a good connection between the board and the powered USB
require fast storage to play back reliably. We’re heatsink. Install your M.2 SSD drive in the lower hub to avoid
making use of the Argon One’s M.2 interface to add part of the case, then screw the two halves together. undervolting –
1TB of fast SSD-based storage, but you may prefer The M.2 SSD device is connected to Raspberry Pi 4 this can damage
one or more USB SSD drives. Using a microSD card using an external USB-to-USB bridge. your data
and hardware.
is still an option, but slower and less reliable.

Prepare the operating systems

Update your bootloader 06
04 By default, a Raspberry Pi 4 and Raspberry
Preparing an M.2 SSD device is identical to
preparing an SD card, but connecting the M.2 device
Pi 400 will try to boot from the microSD card and may be tricky. Either purchase an inexpensive M.2
then from a USB attached drive. So you will not need to USB device or start with an existing Raspberry
to do any additional tweaks to get the M.2 drive Pi build and use Argon One M.2’s USB bridge to
working. USB boot is also available on most other connect it. Then use Raspberry Pi Imager to ‘burn’
Raspberry Pi models, including Raspberry Pi 2, 3A, a Raspberry Pi OS disk image onto the SSD device so

Build the ultimate home server with Raspberry Pi magpi.cc 39

 TUTORIAL

T
 he aluminium case connects to the CPU and memory
using thermal paste to act as a giant heatsink

T
 he Argon One’s it’s ready to boot. As this is a server, we don’t need network. If you didn’t do this, set up your hostname
clever expansion
board brings all the a graphical user interface, so we can keep things by running sudo raspi-config from a Terminal.
connectors to the lightweight. Using Raspberry Pi Imager, select You can also set up networking here if you need to.
back and converts the
HDMI ports to full-size Raspberry Pi OS Lite and check out the advanced Update everything with:
menu (CTRL/CMD+SHIFT+X) to set things like
hostname and networking before burning the sudo apt update && sudo apt -y full-upgrade
image to the card. We are naming our hostname
‘ultimate’ so it is easy to find on the network.

Boot from microSD

Top Tip 09 There is an argument to be made for still
Networking choices
07 Full-time servers are not normally connected
using a microSD card as the primary boot device.
This dedicates your M.2 SSD to data only. In the
Which M.2?
to your network over wireless LAN. Whilst wireless event of an operating system failure, your data
Be careful when is a great technology for end-users, servers crave can still be accessed by removing the SSD drive.
selecting your M.2 reliability and the best way of delivering that is a Likewise, if you need to increase your storage
SSD. The Argon wired Ethernet connection. We recommend placing capability, you avoid having to rebuild your
One supports your server close to your home broadband router operating system from scratch. If you want to take
SATA devices,
(or whichever device handles your network traffic). this approach, make sure your bootloader prioritises
not newer
NVMe types.
That way, the network is not trying to handle two the SD card (you can check in raspi-config >
wireless conversations: one between you and the Advanced Options > Bootloader Version). You will
router and another between the router and the you’ll need to partition and format the second USB
server. Wired will be much faster and reliable. If drive with an ext4 file system.
this isn’t an option, don’t worry: it’ll still work, but
larger files may be slow to transfer.

Fan and power button support

10 The Argon One case incorporates not only
Boot time
08 Let your server boot for the first time,
passive cooling but also has a fan for keeping our
Raspberry Pi 4B nice and cool. It’s not the quietest
making sure no microSD card is inserted. Even if but does support active control. To install this, enter
you configured it as headless, it’s worth plugging the following command in a Terminal:
a monitor in so you can check everything is OK. It
will quickly reboot to resize the file system and then curl https://download.argon40.com/argon1.
start up. We used the Advanced menu in Raspberry sh | bash
Pi Imager to set the hostname to ‘ultimate’, so with
a wired connection we can ping ‘ultimate.local’ This will download the drivers and install them
from another computer to confirm it’s on the automatically. The fan will now adjust its speed

40 magpi.cc Build the ultimate home server with Raspberry Pi

 TUTORIAL

 e recommend placing
W
your server close to your
home broadband router
based on temperature. It will also allow the power
button to cleanly shut down after being pressed
for three seconds. To change these settings, run
argonone-config from the command line.

sudo usermod -a -G adm, dialout, cdrom, T

 he lower part of the

Access from other devices case accepts an M.2

11 Let’s go back to networking. Our server’s

sudo, audio, video, plugdev, games, users,
input, netdev, gpio, i2c, spi <name>
SSD for large
storage needs

hostname is ‘ultimate’, so using the ZeroConf DNS

system (aka mDNS), it should be on the network as You should now be able to log in as your new user.
‘ultimate.local’. To test this from another machine, You can create as many of these as you need.
run ping ultimate.local from the command line
and see if you get a response from the server. If
you get no response, check your network settings
Create and exchange SSH keys
on Raspberry Pi using sudo raspi-config. If using
wireless LAN, try a wired connection instead. You
13 A fast and secure way to log into your new
can also use utilities like Fing (fing.com) to see if server is SSH key exchange. If you anticipate lots
your server has acquired an IP address. (Note that of logging into your new server with SSH, this is an
versions of Windows prior to 10 do not natively essential step. If you’re using Windows, start by
support .local addresses.) installing the free OpenSSH client from Microsoft’s
instructions (magpi.cc/msopenssh).
From a command line, first generate your keypair
(if you don’t already have one):
Create a user
12 All Raspberry Pi operating systems start with ssh-keygen
a pre-installed user called ‘pi’. So we can share files
and manage permissions, it makes sense to create This stores a public and private key in your home
our own user accounts. To do this, open a Terminal directory under ~/.ssh.
as the ‘pi’ user and run this command: Copy your public key over to your server:

sudo adduser <name> ssh-copy-id <name>@ultimate.local

...where <name> is the username you would like ...where <name> is the username you created
(avoid spaces and special characters). It will ask previously. Now you can log into your server
you a few optional questions about your full name without a password using SSH:
and location. Finally, you can set a password
(be sensible!). ssh <name>@ultimate.local

To give the user ‘super user’ or ‘sudo’ rights: If your local username matches the server’s, you
don’t even need to include it or the ‘@’.
sudo adduser <name> sudo

To give the new user all the same permissions as the

‘pi’ user: Next time
You’ve now got the basis for building a powerful
sudo usermod -a -G home server. Next month we’ll move on to the most
useful aspect of any home server: file sharing.

Build the ultimate home server with Raspberry Pi magpi.cc 41

 TUTORIAL

Build an arcade machine:

Part 05

RetroPie and stream

from Steam
Use RetroPie as your arcade operating system and add extra emulators with
support for Steam Link. Stream games from a powerful PC to Rasbperry Pi

L
ast month, we used Recalbox for our As with our DB9 joystick project in issue 101
main arcade cabinet operating system, (magpi.cc/101), we have to tell the GPIO to treat
but it’s not your only choice. In this final the controls as pull-up switches. Recalbox, by
K.G. instalment of the ‘Build an arcade machine’ comparison, implements this by default.
MAKER

Orphanides series, we’ll use the RetroPie distribution, Create the pullup.sh file we’ve supplied
currently at version 4.7, to provide extra (magpi.cc/pullupfix). You can put it anywhere you
K.G. is a writer, maker
features such as Steam Link support, as well like – we stuck ours in /home/pi/. Now open /etc/
of odd games, and
software preservation as taking a longer look at where to buy arcade rc.local on the SD card and, above the exit line, add:
enthusiast. Their games and how to get them onto your system.
household can
This tutorial assumes that you already have a /home/pi/pullup.sh
now hold very retro
Street Fighter II fully assembled and wired arcade cabinet.
tournaments, and This will load your pull-up settings on boot. If you’re
that’s beautiful setting up your disk on a Linux system, you can set
@KGOrphanides pullup.sh as executable now. Otherwise, we’ll do that
Install and prepare RetroPie
M
 ore button
01 Fire up Raspberry Pi Imager, connect your
on first boot.

assignments are microSD card writer, and install RetroPie from its
available on RetroPie
than you have arcade Choose OS menu. Re-mount the microSD card
First boot
02
controls. You can skip once you’ve finished flashing it, because we’ve
the ones that don’t
match up got some changes to make. Make sure you have a keyboard plugged
into your cabinet for this bit. We left ours
propped up against the marquee acrylic during
setup for easy access. A Bluetooth keyboard is a
viable alternative, but it’s easier to start with a
wired connection.
Plug in Raspberry Pi’s power. It should boot to the
EmulationStation interface, but we can’t configure
the controls until we’ve set our pull-up script
executable. Press F4 to exit to the command line
and type:

chmod /home/pi/pullup.sh +x

While we’re here, let’s enable SSH:

sudo raspi-config
1 system option
s3 password

42 magpi.cc Build an arcade machine: RetroPie and stream from Steam

 TUTORIAL

DOWNLOAD
THE FULL CODE:
magpi.cc/rpipullupfix

enter a new password

3 interface options
enable ssh
yes

You can now SSH into Raspberry Pi from another

PC using a client such as Remmina or PuTTY.

Add hotkey button support

03 If, like ours, your arcade cabinet’s GPIO
controller setup has either one or two extra hotkey
buttons for easy access to save, load, and exit
shortcuts while playing, then the standard version
of the mk_arcade_joystick_rpi driver available from
RetroPie’s package manager won’t support them.
We’ll have to manually add an updated version from
Raspberry Pi is powerful
maintainer Recalbox’s GitLab repo.
enough to run most games, At the command line, type:
and you can stream classic and
modern arcade titles from a git clone --branch v0.1.9 https://gitlab.
separate PC on your network com/recalbox/mk_arcade_joystick_rpi.git
via Steam Link sudo mkdir /usr/src/mk_arcade_joystick_rpi-
0.1.9/
cd mk_arcade_joystick_rpi/
sudo cp -a * /usr/src/mk_arcade_joystick_
Steam Link lets you create rpi-0.1.9/
a dedicated control map. nano /usr/src/mk_arcade_joystick_rpi-0.1.9/
Remember to map your hotkey dkms.conf
button to its guide button
In this file, change PACKAGE_VERSION="$MKVERSION"
to PACKAGE_VERSION="0.1.9". Press CTRL+X to exit,
then Y to save.
Back at the command line, enter:

sudo dkms build -m mk_arcade_joystick_rpi

-v 0.1.9
sudo dkms install -m mk_arcade_joystick_rpi
-v 0.1.9

reboot

 e’ll use the RetroPie

W
distribution to provide extra
features such as Steam
Link support

Build an arcade machine: RetroPie and stream from Steam magpi.cc 43

 TUTORIAL

sudo ~/RetroPie-Setup/retropie_setup.sh

…to open the ncurses configuration menu.

If you did not manually install a hotkey version
of the mk_arcade_joystick driver in the previous
steps and do not need one, go to:

P manage packages
driver
819 mkarcadejoystick

…and install it.

If you need to connect any Bluetooth keyboards
or controllers, go to:

B
 utton and joystick Optional: Load your hotkey driver
correspondences
for player controls;
04 When Raspberry Pi has rebooted, SSH back
C Configuration / tools
804 bluetooth
we recommend this
configuration for use
in and type:
with RetroPie. L and R Press R to register a device and follow the
map to the right and
left shoulder buttons sudo modprobe mk_arcade_joystick_rpi map=1,2 pairing instructions.
832 samba in the configuration menu sets up
Go over to the arcade machine and press F4 to get Samba shares so you can easily transfer ROMs and
to the command line and test your controllers: BIOS images over your local network
You can add extra emulators here, but we’ll
jstest /dev/input/js0 come to that later. For now, select the R Perform
jstest /dev/input/js1 reboot option from the main menu.

If that works, it’s time to load that module on

boot. At the command line:
Input configuration
sudo nano /etc/modules
06 When RetroPie reboots, it should inform
you that it can detect two GPIO controllers. Press
In this file, add the following on a new line, then and hold any button on the left-hand button
save and exit. bank to configure controls for player 1. Because
arcade controls don’t map perfectly to a gamepad,
mk_arcade_joystick_rpi you’ll have to skip some buttons by pressing and
holding any key.
Next, at the command line:

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/mk_arcade_  hen RetroPie reboots, it

W
joystick.conf
should inform you that it can
In this file, add the following:
detect two GPIO controllers
options mk_arcade_joystick_rpi map=1,2
Map up, down, left, and right on the arcade
Now save, exit and reboot. stick to the D-pad. Follow our button assignment
diagram to map the top row to button Y, X, and
L(eft shoulder), and the button below to buttons
B, A, R(ight shoulder).
Configure RetroPie
05 There’s a bit more configuration to do
Map Start to player 1’s left-hand front function
button and Select to their right-hand front
before RetroPie is ready to go. SSH in and type: function button – this will be their ‘insert coin’

44 magpi.cc Build an arcade machine: RetroPie and stream from Steam

 TUTORIAL

You’ll probably want

to reconfigure your
controls in Steam
Link to better match
its Steam Controller-
based expectations

button. In our wiring configuration, our single such as the Sega Mega Drive, used in some
hotkey button – the last we set – is associated arcade systems and for which original games are Top Tip
with player 1. legally available.
Approve your configuration, then set up Some emulators require system BIOS images. Steam Link
player 2’s controls in the same way. Sadly, very few of these have been made smoothly
legally available to emulation enthusiasts. SNK
Use a wired
distributes a UniBIOS compatible BIOS set in its
Ethernet
40th Anniversary Collection. We recommend
connection for
Getting to know RetroPie
07 With your controllers configured, RetroPie’s
adding the following: optimal Steam
Link game
main interface will open. Press A to select menus opt > 327 opentyrian – arcade-like DOS shoot- streaming.
and items and B to go back. Press Start to open the ’em-up Tyrian 2.1 is now freeware.
main menu and Select to open the options menu.
Press the same button again to close each of these. exp > 241 lr-mame – a more up-to-date
As you have yet to put any games on the system, version of MAME that supports a wider range of
only the RetroPie menu will be available. Here, ROMs. Install from source for bleeding edge.
you’ll find easy access links to configuration
tools, including some we used earlier. Install exp > 307 digger – a sanctioned remaster of
new emulators and drivers from the RetroPie Windmill Software’s Dig-Dug.
Setup menu.
You’ll probably need to disable overscan to get exp > 334 steamlink – this allows you to stream
rid of a black border around the screen. In the less emulation-friendly titles directly from a
ReotroPie menu, select Raspi-config > Display Steam installation on a Windows or Linux PC.
options > Underscan > No and then reboot to solve
the problem. Note that button B is mapped to the
ENTER key in this set of menus.
Configure your emulator
When you add any new games, ROMs or
emulators, you’ll have to restart EmulationStation
09 Once you’ve installed a new emulator, such
by pressing Select, going to Quit, and then as lr-mame, you’ll have to configure the libretro
Restart EmulationStation. back end to use it by default for either all games
or selected titles. The easiest way to do this is
to browse to the game you want to play in the
EmulationStation front end.
Install more emulators
08 Although this is an arcade machine,
Go to the Arcade menu, press B to start any
game – it doesn’t matter if it currently works or
you can play what you like on it. The core not – and then press B again when you’re briefly
lr‑mame2003 and lr-fbneo emulators are prompted to ‘press a button to configure’. Select
included, along with those for popular consoles option 1 to set the default emulator for arcade

Build an arcade machine: RetroPie and stream from Steam magpi.cc 45

 TUTORIAL

R
 etroPie is
significantly more
configurable than
Recalbox, although its
interface doesn’t look
quite as slick

games and choose lr-mame. Option 2 allows you an Xbox or Steam Controller, which swaps the
Top Tip to select a different emulator for anything that
doesn’t work well with this.
position of the B and A buttons.
To set these, launch Steam Link, press up to
A screw loose highlight the gear icon, press A (per our button
assignment diagram), go right to highlight
If the ball on your Controller and press A. Select the controller you
Connect Steam Link
joystick is loose,
use a screwdriver 10 Linking Steam to your arcade cabinet lets
wish to configure, then press down and right
twice, and select Setup Controller.
in the slot on the
you stream a wealth of modern and classic arcade Hit the button you want to associate with each
underside of the
games to Raspberry Pi from a more powerful PC, Steam Controller-style button as it’s displayed
stick or cloth-
wrapped pliers to like Melty Blood, Guilty Gear, Horizon Chase Turbo, on screen. Use a keyboard or your second set of
hold the shaft still and Street Fighter V. After you’ve installed it and controls to use the skip button at the bottom to
while you tighten restarted EmulationStation, go to the Ports menu bypass extraneous buttons.
the ball. and select Steam Link.
It’ll download updates – you will need a keyboard
plugged in to approve these – and then run.
Why use Steam Link?
Make sure Steam is running on a PC on your local
network and that Enable Remote Play is ticked
12 Steam Link is an invaluable tool for arcade
under Settings > Remote Play. emulation enthusiasts, not only because you can
On the arcade machine, select the computer you play more CPU-intensive games, but also because
want to link to. Steam Link will show a code. Enter it’s the best way of ensuring copyright compliance
this in your PC’s Steam client when prompted. To for a number of re-released arcade games.
avoid a resolution mismatch, run Steam with a We’ve been playing Ghouls ’N Ghosts from the
monitor that matches the resolution of your arcade Capcom Arcade Stadium on our cabinet via Steam
machine set as your primary display. Link. Unlike some SNK and Sega re-releases,
Capcom doesn’t supply emulator-ready ROM files
and the EULA for that compilation doesn’t allow
you to extract its PAK files.
Configure Steam Link
11 You may want to reconfigure your controls,
Neil Brown of decoded.legal opines (magpi.cc/
romextractionlegal) that “when even a legitimate
as Steam Link doesn’t inherit the control layout Steam purchaser extracts the ROMs and runs them
from RetroPie’s EmulationStation, and some on their own Raspberry Pi, they infringe Capcom’s
games do better with alternative button copyright”, making streaming these titles your
assignments – for example, to more closely match best option for fully legal home arcade action.

46 magpi.cc Build an arcade machine: RetroPie and stream from Steam

 Design

Code

Configure

Analyze

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 TUTORIAL

Create GUIs with Python:

Part 08

Emoji Match
Create a fun picture-matching game

Y
ou are going to build an emoji picture- import os
matching game (Figure 1). The object of from random import shuffle
the game is to spot the one emoji that
appears in two different sets. You get a point Then, under variables, enter this code which
for each correct match and lose a point for an creates a shuffled list of emojis, each in the form
Laura Sach
MAKER

incorrect match. path/emoji_file_name.

Laura leads the
A Level team at Loading emojis # set the path to the emoji folder on your
the Raspberry
To create the game, you will need some emojis. computer
Pi Foundation,
creating resources You can use the emojis created for Twitter emojis_dir = "emojis"
for students (twemoji.twitter.com). Download the emojis.zip emojis = [os.path.join(emojis_dir, f) for f
to learn about file from magpi.cc/guizeroemojis, open the zip file, in os.listdir(emojis_dir)]
Computer Science.
and copy the emojis folder to the folder where you shuffle(emojis)
@CodeBoom save your code.
The game will need to choose nine emojis at The emojis_dir variable is the path of the emojis
random and arrange them into a grid. A simple way on your computer; it will tell the code that loads
to do this is to put all of the emojis into a list and the emojis where to find them.
randomly shuffle them. Test your program. Try printing the emojis list
Create a new program with the usual commented to the screen with print(emojis). You should see
lines for different sections (Imports, Variables, a long list of file names. The list should be in a
Functions, App), as we’ve done in previous different order each time you run it.
instalments. Under imports, add:
Martin Displaying the emojis
MAKER

O’Hanlon Figure 1 Next, the code needs to create two 3×3 grids of
Picture and PushButton widgets which will show
Martin works in the emojis.
the learning team Modify your program to create a guizero app and
at the Raspberry
Pi Foundation, a Box to hold the picture widgets using a "grid"
where he creates layout. In the imports section, add this line to
online courses, import the required widgets:
projects, and
learning resources.
from guizero import App, Box
@martinohanlon
In the app section, add the following code:

app = App("emoji match")

pictures_box = Box(app, layout="grid")

The Box widget is really useful for laying out your

GUI. It’s an invisible area of your GUI where you
Figure 1 The finished game can group widgets together. A Box can have its own

48 magpi.cc Create GUIs with Python: Emoji Match

 TUTORIAL

layout, size, and bg (background). They can also be

hidden or shown, meaning you can easily make a
T he widgets are appended to a list so they
collection of widgets invisible.
If you wish to see the Box, you can add a border
can be referenced later in the game
by setting the parameter to True.

pictures_box = Box(app, layout="grid",

emoji1.py DOWNLOAD
border=True) THE FULL CODE:
Now, add the Picture widget to your imports: > Language: Python 3 magpi.cc/guizerocode

from guizero import App, Box, Picture 001. # ------------------------------

002. # Imports
003. # ------------------------------
In the app section, add in the code to create the 004.
Picture widgets and add them to a list. 005. import os
006. from random import shuffle
007. from guizero import App, Box, Picture, PushButton
pictures = []
008.
009. # ------------------------------
for x in range(0,3): 010. # Variables
for y in range(0,3): 011. # ------------------------------
picture = Picture(pictures_box, 012.
013. # set the path to the emoji folder on your computer
grid=[x,y])
014. emojis_dir = "emojis"
pictures.append(picture) 015. emojis = [os.path.join(emojis_dir, f) for f in os.listdir(
emojis_dir)]
To assign co-ordinates to each Picture widget, 016. shuffle(emojis)
017.
two for loops are used. They both run through the
018. # ------------------------------
range 0–2; one assigns its value to the variable x 019. # Functions
and the other to the variable y. The grid position 020. # ------------------------------
of each widget is set using the x and y values. 021.
The widgets are appended to a list so they can be 022. def setup_round():
023. for picture in pictures:
referenced later in the game.
024. picture.image = emojis.pop()
Do the same for PushButton widgets to create 025.
the second 3×3 grid. First, add the widget to 026. for button in buttons:
your imports: 027. button.image = emojis.pop()
028.
029. # ------------------------------
from guizero import App, Box, Picture, 030. # App
PushButton 031. # ------------------------------
032.
In the app section, add lines so it looks like this: 033. app = App("emoji match")
034.
035. pictures_box = Box(app, layout="grid")
app = App("emoji match") 036. buttons_box = Box(app, layout="grid")
037.
pictures_box = Box(app, layout="grid") 038. pictures = []
039. buttons = []
buttons_box = Box(app, layout="grid")
040.
041. for x in range(0,3):
pictures = [] 042. for y in range(0,3):
buttons = [] 043. picture = Picture(pictures_box, grid=[x,y])
044. pictures.append(picture)
045.
for x in range(0,3):
046. button = PushButton(buttons_box, grid=[x,y])
for y in range(0,3): 047. buttons.append(button)
picture = Picture(pictures_box, 048.
grid=[x,y]) 049. setup_round()
050.
pictures.append(picture)
051. app.display()

Create GUIs with Python: Emoji Match magpi.cc 49

 TUTORIAL

Figure 2

emoji2.py
> Language: Python 3
001. # ------------------------------
002. # Imports
003. # ------------------------------
004.
005. import os
006. from random import shuffle, randint
007. from guizero import App, Box, Picture, PushButton
008.
009. # ------------------------------
010. # Variables
011. # ------------------------------
012.
013. # set the path to the emoji folder on your computer Figure 2 No matching emojis
014. emojis_dir = "emojis"
015. emojis = [os.path.join(emojis_dir, f) for f in os.listdir(emojis_dir)]
016. shuffle(emojis) button = PushButton(buttons_box,
017. grid=[x,y])
018. # ------------------------------ buttons.append(button)
019. # Functions
020. # ------------------------------
021. In the functions section, create a function to set up
022. def setup_round(): each round of the game.
023. for picture in pictures:
024. picture.image = emojis.pop() def setup_round():
025.
for picture in pictures:
026. for button in buttons:
027. button.image = emojis.pop() picture.image = emojis.pop()
028.
029. matched_emoji = emojis.pop() for button in buttons:
030.
button.image = emojis.pop()
031. random_picture = randint(0,8)
032. pictures[random_picture].image = matched_emoji
033. To assign each picture and button widget an emoji,
034. random_button = randint(0,8) the image property is set to an item from the emojis
035. buttons[random_button].image = matched_emoji list. Emojis are selected using pop(), which chooses
036.
the last item in a list and then removes it from the
037. # ------------------------------
038. # App list. We’ve used this function because it will prevent
039. # ------------------------------ any emoji appearing in the game more than once.
040. At the bottom of your program, call the
041. app = App("emoji match")
setup_round function and display the app.
042.
043. pictures_box = Box(app, layout="grid")
044. buttons_box = Box(app, layout="grid") setup_round()
045.
046. pictures = [] app.display()
047. buttons = []
048.
049. for x in range(0,3): Your program should now resemble emoji1.py (see
050. for y in range(0,3): previous page). Test it and you should see two grids
051. picture = Picture(pictures_box, grid=[x,y]) of nine emojis.
052. pictures.append(picture)
053.
054. button = PushButton(buttons_box, grid=[x,y]) Matching emojis
055. buttons.append(button) At the moment, all of the emojis in your app will
056. be different (Figure 2). In the next step, you will
057. setup_round() pick another emoji to match, and update one
058.
picture and one button so they have the same
059. app.display()
matching emoji.

50 magpi.cc Create GUIs with Python: Emoji Match

 TUTORIAL

emoji3.py
> Language: Python 3

001. # ------------------------------ 038. buttons[random_button].image = matched_emoji

002. # Imports 039.
003. # ------------------------------ 040. buttons[random_button].update_command(
004. match_emoji, [True])
005. import os 041.
006. from random import shuffle, randint 042. def match_emoji(matched):
007. from guizero import App, Box, Picture, PushButton, 043. if matched:
008. Text 044. result.value = "correct"
009. 045. else:
010. # ------------------------------ 046. result.value = "incorrect"
011. # Variables 047.
012. # ------------------------------ 048. setup_round()
013. 049.
014. # set the path to the emoji folder on your computer 050. # ------------------------------
015. emojis_dir = "emojis" 051. # App
016. emojis = [os.path.join(emojis_dir, f) for f in 052. # ------------------------------
017. os.listdir(emojis_dir)] 053.
018. shuffle(emojis) 054. app = App("emoji match")
019. 055.
020. # ------------------------------ 056. pictures_box = Box(app, layout="grid")
021. # Functions 057. buttons_box = Box(app, layout="grid")
022. # ------------------------------ 058.
023. 059. pictures = []
024. def setup_round(): 060. buttons = []
025. for picture in pictures: 061.
026. picture.image = emojis.pop() 062. for x in range(0,3):
027. 063. for y in range(0,3):
028. for button in buttons: 064. picture = Picture(pictures_box, grid=[x,y])
029. button.image = emojis.pop() 065. pictures.append(picture)
030. button.update_command( 066.
match_emoji, args=[False]) 067. button = PushButton(buttons_box, grid=[x,y])
031. 068. buttons.append(button)
032. matched_emoji = emojis.pop() 069.
033. 070. result = Text(app)
034. random_picture = randint(0,8) 071.
035. pictures[random_picture].image = matched_emoji 072. setup_round()
036. 073.
037. random_button = randint(0,8) 074. app.display()

Add randint to your random import line. This Your code should now look like emoji2.py. Run
is used to obtain a number from 0 to 8 for each your program now; one of the emojis should
picture and button. match. Look carefully – the matching emoji can be
hard to spot.
from random import shuffle, randint
Check the guess
Then add this code (indented) to the bottom of Each time one of the PushButtons is pressed, it will
the setup_round function to pop another emoji need to check if this is the matching emoji and put
from the list and set it to be the image of a random the result ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ on the screen.
picture and button. After the player’s guess, a new round will be set up
and different set of emojis displayed.
matched_emoji = emojis.pop() Your app will need a Text widget display the
result. Add it to your imports:
random_picture = randint(0,8)
pictures[random_picture].image = matched_ from guizero import App, Box, Picture,
emoji PushButton, Text

random_button = randint(0,8) Add this line in your app section:

buttons[random_button].image = matched_
emoji result = Text(app)

Create GUIs with Python: Emoji Match magpi.cc 51

 TUTORIAL

emoji4.py
> Language: Python 3

001. # ------------------------------ 046. result.value = "incorrect"

002. # Imports 047. score.value = int(score.value) - 1
003. # ------------------------------ 048.
004. 049. setup_round()
005. import os 050.
006. from random import shuffle, randint 051. def reduce_time():
007. from guizero import App, Box, Picture, PushButton, Text 052. timer.value = int(timer.value) - 1
008. 053. # is it game over?
009. # ------------------------------ 054. if int(timer.value) < 0:
010. # Variables 055. result.value = "Game over! Score = " + score.value
011. # ------------------------------ 056. # hide the game
012. 057. pictures_box.hide()
013. # set the path to the emoji folder on your computer 058. buttons_box.hide()
014. emojis_dir = "emojis" 059. timer.hide()
015. emojis = [os.path.join(emojis_dir, f) for f in 060. score.hide()
016. os.listdir(emojis_dir)] 061.
017. shuffle(emojis) 062. # ------------------------------
018. 063. # App
019. # ------------------------------ 064. # ------------------------------
020. # Functions 065.
021. # ------------------------------ 066. app = App("emoji match")
022. 067.
023. def setup_round(): 068. score = Text(app, text="0")
024. for picture in pictures: 069. timer = Text(app, text="30")
025. picture.image = emojis.pop() 070.
026. 071. pictures_box = Box(app, layout="grid")
027. for button in buttons: 072. buttons_box = Box(app, layout="grid")
028. button.image = emojis.pop() 073.
029. button.update_command(match_emoji, args=[False]) 074. pictures = []
030. 075. buttons = []
031. matched_emoji = emojis.pop() 076.
032. 077. for x in range(0,3):
033. random_picture = randint(0,8) 078. for y in range(0,3):
034. pictures[random_picture].image = matched_emoji 079. picture = Picture(pictures_box, grid=[x,y])
035. 080. pictures.append(picture)
036. random_button = randint(0,8) 081.
037. buttons[random_button].image = matched_emoji 082. button = PushButton(buttons_box, grid=[x,y])
038. 083. buttons.append(button)
039. buttons[random_button].update_command( 084.
match_emoji, [True]) 085. result = Text(app)
040. 086.
041. def match_emoji(matched): 087. setup_round()
042. if matched: 088.
043. result.value = "correct" 089. app.repeat(1000, reduce_time)
044. score.value = int(score.value) + 1 090.
045. else: 091. app.display()

Create a new function which will be called when

Create Graphical User
one of the emoji buttons is pressed. It will display
Interfaces with Python
‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ and call setup_round to
For further tutorials on how create the next set of emojis.
to make your own GUIs with
guizero, take a look at our def match_emoji(matched):
book, Create Graphical User if matched:
Interfaces with Python. Its result.value = "correct"
156 pages are packed with
else:
essential info and a range of
exciting projects. result.value = "incorrect"
magpi.cc/pythongui
setup_round()

52 magpi.cc Create GUIs with Python: Emoji Match

 TUTORIAL

Figure 3
Using other images
The emoji match game uses picture buttons to allow
the user to pick which emoji matches. You can make
any PushButton widget into a picture button by
setting the image parameter; for example:

button = PushButton(app, image="my_picture.gif")

The button will scale to fit the size of your image.

The type of image you can use is determined
by your operating system and how you installed
guizero, although any setup will support GIF images.
To find the image file types supported by your
setup, you can run:

Figure 3 With box

from guizero import system_config for score and timer
print(system_config.supported_image_types)

You can find out more about image support in score = Text(app, text="0")
guizero at lawsie.github.io/guizero/images. timer = Text(app, text="30")

The timer is set to "30", which will be the number

The incorrect emoji buttons will pass False to the of seconds in each round.
match_emoji function; the matching emoji will Modify the match_emoji function to either add or
pass True. subtract 1 to/from the player’s score.
Update the setup_round function so that all the
‘incorrect’ buttons call the match_emoji function. def match_emoji(matched):
if matched:
for button in buttons: result.value = "correct"
button.image = emojis.pop() score.value = int(score.value) + 1
button.update_command(match_emoji, else:
args=[False]) result.value = "incorrect"
score.value = int(score.value) - 1
The update_command method sets the function
which will be called when the button is pressed. To create the timer, you will use a feature of
The args list [False] will be used as the parameters guizero which allows you to ask the application to
to the match_emoji function. continuously call a function every 1 second.
Finally, update the command for the matching Create a function which will reduce the value of
button so it calls match_emoji, but this time passes the timer by 1.
True as the argument.
def reduce_time():
buttons[random_button].update_ timer.value = int(timer.value) - 1
command(match_emoji, [True])
Before the app is displayed, use the app.repeat()
Your code should now resemble emoji3.py function to call the reduce_time function every
(previous page). Play the game. In each round there second (1000 milliseconds).
will be a matching emoji – press the matching
picture button. Did you get it right? app.repeat(1000, reduce_time)

Adding a score and timer app.display()

At the moment, the game continues forever (or
until you run out of emojis in the list). Add a score Running your game now, you will notice that the
and a timer which counts down to the end of the timer counts down from 30. Unfortunately, it will
game to give a challenge. continue counting down past 0 and never stop.
In the app section, create two Text widgets to Update the reduce_time function to check if the
show the score and the timer. timer is less than zero and then stop the game.

Create GUIs with Python: Emoji Match magpi.cc 53

 TUTORIAL

09-emoji-match.py
> Language: Python 3

001. # ------------------------------ 047. score.value = int(score.value) - 1

002. # Imports 048.
003. # ------------------------------ 049. setup_round()
004. 050.
005. import os 051. def reduce_time():
006. from random import shuffle, randint 052. timer.value = int(timer.value) - 1
007. from guizero import App, Box, Picture, PushButton, Text 053. # is it game over?
008. 054. if int(timer.value) < 0:
009. # ------------------------------ 055. result.value = "Game over! Score = " + score.value
010. # Variables 056. # hide the game
011. # ------------------------------ 057. game_box.hide()
012. 058.
013. # set the path to the emoji folder on your computer 059. # ------------------------------
014. emojis_dir = "emojis" 060. # App
015. emojis = [os.path.join(emojis_dir, f) for f in 061. # ------------------------------
016. os.listdir(emojis_dir)] 062.
017. shuffle(emojis) 063. app = App("emoji match")
018. 064.
019. # ------------------------------ 065. game_box = Box(app, align="top")
020. # Functions 066.
021. # ------------------------------ 067. top_box = Box(game_box, align="top", width="fill")
022. 068. Text(top_box, align="left", text="Score ")
023. def setup_round(): 069. score = Text(top_box, text="4", align="left")
024. for picture in pictures: 070. timer = Text(top_box, text="30", align="right")
025. picture.image = emojis.pop() 071. Text(top_box, text="Time", align="right")
026. 072.
027. for button in buttons: 073. pictures_box = Box(game_box, layout="grid")
028. button.image = emojis.pop() 074. buttons_box = Box(game_box, layout="grid")
029. button.update_command(match_emoji, args=[False]) 075.
030. 076. pictures = []
031. matched_emoji = emojis.pop() 077. buttons = []
032. 078.
033. random_picture = randint(0,8) 079. for x in range(0,3):
034. pictures[random_picture].image = matched_emoji 080. for y in range(0,3):
035. 081. picture = Picture(pictures_box, grid=[x,y])
036. random_button = randint(0,8) 082. pictures.append(picture)
037. buttons[random_button].image = matched_emoji 083.
038. 084. button = PushButton(buttons_box, grid=[x,y])
039. buttons[random_button].update_command( 085. buttons.append(button)
match_emoji, [True]) 086.
040. 087. result = Text(app)
041. def match_emoji(matched): 088.
042. if matched: 089. setup_round()
043. result.value = "correct" 090.
044. score.value = int(score.value) + 1 091. app.repeat(1000, reduce_time)
045. else: 092.
046. result.value = "incorrect" 093. app.display()

def reduce_time(): When the timer is less than 0, the message ‘game
timer.value = int(timer.value) - 1 over’ is displayed and the game's widgets are
# is it game over? hidden so the user can no longer play.
if int(timer.value) < 0: See emoji4.py to get an idea of how your code
result.value = "Game over! Score = should now look. Run it and play the emoji match
" + score.value game. Challenge a friend or family member to
# hide the game a game.
pictures_box.hide() You may want to put the score and timer
buttons_box.hide() widgets into a Box so they can be laid out better
timer.hide() (Figure 3, previous page) – see the complete
score.hide() 09-emoji-match.py listing for how to do this.

54 magpi.cc Create GUIs with Python: Emoji Match

 TUTORIAL

Custom USB games

controllers with Pico
Play games the way you want to

G
ames controllers – like keyboards games and take a look at the available input devices
– are very personal things. What and build what you want.
works for one person may not work The first setup we’re creating is an Arcade box.
for another. Why, then, should we This author would really like an arcade machine in
all use almost identical off-the-shelf his house. However, space limitations mean that this
controllers? Let’s take a look at how isn’t going to be possible in the near future. The first
Ben Everard to use Raspberry Pi Pico to create a controller that’s setup, then, is an attempt to recreate the control
just right for you. setup of an arcade machine, but use it to play games
@ben_everard We’ll use CircuitPython for this as it has excellent on a laptop rather than a full-sized cabinet.
support for USB interfaces. The sort of USB devices Arcade controls are quite standard, and you can
Ben's house is slowly that we interact with are called human interface get them from a range of sources. We used one
being taken over by 3D
printers. He plans to devices (HIDs), and there are standard protocols for of Pimoroni’s Arcade Parts sets, which includes a
solve this by printing an common HIDs, including keyboards and mice. This joystick and ten buttons (we only used four of these).
extension, once he gets
enough printers.
is why, for example, you can plug almost any USB The important thing about the joystick you pick is that
keyboard into almost any computer and it will just it’s a button-based joystick and not an analogue one
work, with no need to install drivers. (sometimes called a dual-axis joystick), as the latter
We’ll be using the Keyboard type, as that works won’t work with a keyboard interface. If you want
best with the sorts of games that this author likes to to use an analogue joystick, you’ll need to switch
play, but you can use exactly the same technique to the code around to use a mouse or gamepad as an
simulate a mouse or a gamepad. input device.
Before we get onto this, though, let’s take a look at As well as the electronics, you’ll need some way of
the buttons and how to wire them up. mounting them. We used a wooden craft box. These
We’re going to use eight buttons: four for direction, are available for about £10 from a range of online or
and four as additional ‘action’ buttons. We’ll connect bricks and mortar stores. You can use anything that is
these between an I/O pin and ground. You can use strong enough to hold the components.
any I/O pin you like. We’re going to use slightly The second setup we’re using is a much simpler
different ones in two different setups, just because button-based system on breadboard-compatible
they made sense with the physical layout of the tactile buttons and protoboard. It’s smaller, cheaper,
hardware. Let’s take a look at the hardware we’re and quicker to put together. The protoboard holds
using. Remember, this is just the hardware we want everything together, so there’s nothing extra to
to use. The whole idea of this is to create a setup add unless you want to. You can personalise it by
that’s right for you, so there’s no need to use the selecting different-sized buttons, changing the layout,
same. Think about how you want to interact with your or building a larger chassis around this.

56 magpi.cc Custom USB games controllers with Pico

 TUTORIAL

This tutorial is from

HackSpace magazine.
INSERT COIN TO CONTINUE adjacent pins. Since Pico has eight grounds available, Each issue includes a
huge variety of maker
Let’s take a look at the arcade setup first. The joystick there are enough that each button can have its own
projects inside and
has five pins. One is a common ground and the others ground, and you don’t have to mess around joining outside of the sphere
are up, down, left, and right. When you push the cables together. of Raspberry Pi, and
joystick up, a switch closes, linking ground to the up Once all the cables are soldered together, it’s just a also has amazing
pin. On our joystick the outermost pin is ground, but case of building the chassis. For this, you need five tutorials. Find out
it’s worth checking on your joystick which pin is which large holes (one for the joystick and four for the more at hsmag.cc.
by using a multimeter. Select continuity mode and, if buttons). We didn’t have an appropriately sized drill bit
you push the joystick up, you should find a continuous and, given how soft the wood on these boxes is, a
large drill bit may have split the wood anyway. Above

”
Instead, we drilled a 20 mm hole and then used a Gaming like it’s 1989

rotary tool with sanding attachment to enlarge the Below

The joystick has five pins. The connectors should
hole until it was the right size. You have to go quite
just push onto the
One is a common ground easy with both the drill and the sanding tool to avoid buttons and joysticks

and the others are up,

”
down, left, and right

connection between the up pin and ground. A bit of

experimentation should confirm which pin is which.
In order to read the pins, we just need to connect
the directional output from the joystick to an I/O pin
on Pico. We can use one of Pico’s internal pull-up
resistors to pull the pin high when the button isn’t
pressed. Then, when the button is pressed, it will
connect to ground and read low. The joystick should
come with a cable that slots onto the joystick. This
should have five outputs, and this conveniently slots
into the I/O outputs of Pico with a ground on one end.
The buttons, similarly, just need to be connected
between ground and an I/O pin. These came with
cables that pushed onto the button and plugged into

Custom USB games controllers with Pico magpi.cc 57

 TUTORIAL

well if the points are more than a couple of holes

apart. For holes that are next to each other, or very
close, you can bridge them. On some protoboard
(which doesn’t have a solder mask), you might
simply be able to drag a blob of solder across with
your soldering iron so that it joins both holes. On
protoboard with solder mask, this doesn’t work quite
so well, so you need to add a little strand of wire in a
surface-mount position between the two points and
solder it in. If you’ve got a pair of tweezers to hold the
wire in place while you solder it, it will be much easier.
For longer connections, you’ll need to use jumper
wire. Sometimes you’ll be able to poke it through

Above
You can solder the
pin headers straight
turning everything into shards of broken wood. Four
small holes then allow bolts to keep the joystick in
place (we used M5 bolts). The buttons just push
” We placed the buttons in
the protoboard in positions
onto Pico into place. we liked before worrying

”
Right The only remaining thing was a 12 mm hole for a
A little games micro USB cable to pass through to Pico. If you don’t about the wiring
controller that you can
fit in your pocket have a 12 mm drill bit, two overlapping smaller holes
may work if you’re careful.
The buttons just push-fit into place, and that’s the protoboard and use the leg to join. Other times
everything ready to go. you’ll have to surface-mount it. This all sounds a bit
complicated, but while it can be a bit fiddly, it’s all
A SMALLER APPROACH fairly straightforward once you put solder to iron.
Our smaller option used protoboard over the back of
Pico. Since we didn’t want to block the BOOTSEL PROGRAM IT UP
Warning! button, we only soldered it over part of Pico. Now that we’ve got the hardware ready, let’s code
Soldering iron However, before soldering it on at all, we soldered the it up. You’ll first need to load CircuitPython onto
buttons in place. your Pico. You can download the latest release from
Be careful when using
a hot soldering iron Tactile switches typically have four connections. circuitpython.org. Press the BOOTSEL button as
and read Raspberry Well, really they have two connections, but each you plug Pico into your USB port, and then drag and
Pi’s Getting started with
soldering guide. connection has two tabs that fit into the protoboard. drop the downloaded UF2 file onto the RP2 USB drive
This means that you have to orientate them correctly. that should appear.
magpi.cc/soldering
Again, your multimeter’s continuity function will
confirm which pins are connected and which
are switched.
Protoboard is a PCB that contains lots and lots of
holes and nothing else. You solder your components
into the holes and then you have to create
connections between them.
We placed the buttons in the protoboard in
positions we liked before worrying about the
wiring. First, we looked to connect one side of each
switch to ground. To minimise the wiring, we did
this in two groups. We connected one side of each
of the direction buttons together and then linked
them to ground. Then we did the same to all the
action buttons.
There are two ways of connecting things on
protoboard. One is to use jumper wire. This works

58 magpi.cc Custom USB games controllers with Pico

 TUTORIAL

We’ll use Mu to program Pico. If you’ve not used

CircuitPython before, it’s probably worth having a
quick look through the ’getting started’ guide here:
hsmag.cc/CircuitPythonGuide.
The code to run our games controller is:

import board DOWNLOAD

import digitalio THE FULL CODE:
import gamepad
import time magpi.cc/picocontroller
import usb_hid
from adafruit_hid.keyboard import Keyboard
from adafruit_hid.keycode import Keycode

kbd = Keyboard(usb_hid.devices)

keycodes = [Keycode.UP_ARROW, Keycode.DOWN_ARROW,

Keycode.LEFT_ARROW, Keycode.RIGHT_ARROW, you call get_pressed(), it will return a byte of data
Keycode.X, Keycode.Z, Keycode.SPACE, Keycode. where each digit corresponds to an I/O pin. So, the Above
With a combination
ENTER] following number (in binary) means that the first and of small sections of
third buttons have been pressed: 00000101. This is wire and jumpers, you
can create whatever
pad = gamepad.GamePad( a little confusing, because this is the opposite order pattern of wiring you
digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.GP12), to how the I/Os are passed when you initialise the like on protoboard

digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.GP14), GamePad object.
digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.GP9), The while loop may look a little unusual as it’s
digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.GP15), not particularly common to use this sort of binary
digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.GP16), comparison in Python code, but in essence, it’s just
digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.GP17), looking at one bit at a time and seeing either: it’s now
digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.GP18), pressed but wasn’t last time the loop ran (in which
digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.GP20), case, it’s a new button press and we should send it to
) the computer), or it isn’t pressed this loop but was the
last_pressed = 0 previous loop (in which case, it’s newly released so we
while True: can call the release method).
this_pressed = pad.get_pressed() The << operator shifts a value by a number of
if (this_pressed != last_pressed): bits to the left. So, 1<<2 is 100, and 1<<3 is 1000.
for i in range(8): The & operator is bitwise and so it looks at a binary
if (this_pressed & 1<<i) and not number and does a logical AND on each bit in turn.
(last_pressed & 1<<i): Since the right-hand side of the & is all zeros apart
kbd.press(keycodes[i]) from one bit (at a different position depending on the
if (last_pressed & 1<<i) and not value of i), the result will be dependent on whether
(this_pressed & 1<<i): the value of this_pressed or last_pressed is 1 or 0 at
kbd.release(keycodes[i]) the position i. When you have an if condition that’s
last_pressed = this_pressed a number, it’s true if the number is anything other
time.sleep(0.01) than 0. So, (this_pressed & 1<<2) will evaluate to
true if there’s a 1 at position 2 in the binary form of
This uses the HID keyboard object (called kbd) to this_pressed.  In our case, that means if the joystick is
send key press and release events for different key pushed left.
codes depending on what buttons are pressed or You can grab this code from the following link –
released. We’ve used the gamepad module that hsmag.cc/USBKeyboard. Obviously, you will need to
is for keeping track of up to eight buttons. When update the GPIO values to the correct ones for your
you initialise it, it will automatically add pull-up setup when you initialise GamePad.
resistors and set the I/O pins to input. Then, it will We’ve taken a look at two ways to build a gamepad,
keep track of what buttons are pressed. When but it’s up to you how you want to design yours.

Custom USB games controllers with Pico magpi.cc 59

 TUTORIAL

Raspberry Pi Pico
data logger
Turn Raspberry Pi Pico into a temperature data-logging device
and untether it from the computer to make it fully portable

laptop or desktop computer: it’s a form of non-

Figure 1
volatile storage, which means that whatever you
save there stays in place even when you unplug
your Pico’s micro USB cable.
Connect your Pico to your Raspberry Pi and load
Thonny, if you don’t already have it open. Click
the Open icon, and click ‘Raspberry Pi Pico’ in the
pop-up which appears. You’ll see a list of all the
programs you’ve been writing so far, stored on
your Pico’s file system. You’re not going to open
one right now, so click Cancel.
Click at the bottom of the Shell area to start
working with your Pico in interactive mode. Type:

Figure 1 The size of the file = open("test.txt", "w")

data you’ve written is
printed to the Shell area
This tells MicroPython to open a file called test.txt

T
hroughout our Raspberry Pi Pico tutorials, for writing – the "w" part of the instruction. You
you’ve been using your Pico connected to a won’t see anything print to the Shell area when
Raspberry Pi or other computer via its micro you press ENTER at the end of the line, because
USB port. Like all microcontrollers, though, there’s although you’ve opened the file, you haven’t done
no reason your Pico has to be tethered in this way: anything with it yet. Type:
it’s a fully functional self-contained system, with
processing capabilities, memory, and everything it file.write("Hello, File!")
needs to work on its own.
Gareth
MAKER

In this guide you’ll learn how to use the file When you press ENTER at the end of this line,
Halfacree
system to create, write to, and read from files, you’ll see the number 12 appear (Figure 1). That’s
With a passion allowing you to put your Pico anywhere you like MicroPython confirming to you that it has written
for open-source and have it record data for later access – turning it 12 bytes to the file you opened. Count the number of
software and into what is known as a data logger. For this you’ll characters in the message you wrote: including the
hardware, Gareth
was an early adopter only need your Pico and, if you want to use it away letters, comma, space, and exclamation mark, there
of the Raspberry from your Raspberry Pi, a micro USB charger or are twelve – each of which takes up a single byte.
Pi platform and battery pack; once you have finished the tutorial, When you’ve written to a file, you need to
has written several
you can connect additional analogue sensors if close it – this ensures that the data you’ve told
publications on
its capabilities you want to expand your project. MicroPython to write is actually written to the
and flexibility. file system. If you don’t close the file, the data
@ghalfacree The file system might not have been written yet – a bit like writing
The file system is where your Pico stores all the a letter in LibreOffice Writer or another word
programs you’ve been writing. It’s equivalent in processor and forgetting to save it. Type:
function to the microSD card in your Raspberry
Pi, or the hard drive or solid-state drive in your file.close()

60 magpi.cc Raspberry Pi Pico data logger

 TUTORIAL

Your file is now safely stored on your Pico’s file from your Pico’s on-board temperature sensor. The
system. Click the Open icon on Thonny’s toolbar, readings from the sensor are the data you’re going You’ll Need
click ‘Raspberry Pi Pico’, and scroll through the list to be logging to the file system, so you don’t want to
> Raspberry Pi Pico
of files until you find test.txt. Click on it, then click simply print them out as you did before.
OK to open it: you’ll see your message pop up in a Start by opening a file for writing by adding the > Battery Pack
(optional)
new Thonny tab. following line at the bottom:
You don’t have to use the Open icon to
read files, though: you can do it directly in file = open("temps.txt", "w")
MicroPython itself. Click back into the bottom of
the Shell area and type: If the file doesn’t already exist on the file system,
this creates it; if it does, it overwrites it – emptying
file = open("test.txt") its contents ready for you to write new data.
Now you need to write something to the file – the
You’ll notice that this time around there’s no "w": reading from the temperature sensor:
that’s because instead of writing to the file, you’re
going to be reading it. You could replace the "w" file.write(str(temperature))
with an "r", but MicroPython defaults to opening a
file in read mode – so it’s fine to simply leave that Rather than writing a fixed string in quotes, as you
part of the instruction off. did before, this time you’re converting the variable
Next, type: temperature – which is a floating-point number, Warning!
in other words one with a decimal point in it – to a
Opening a file for
file.read() string, then writing that to the file. writing in MicroPython
As before, to make sure the data is written you will delete anything
you’ve already stored
You’ll see the message you wrote to the file print to need to close the file: in it. Always make sure
the Shell area (Figure 2). Congratulations: you can you’ve opened the file
for reading and saved
read and write files on your Pico’s file system!
Before you finish, remember to close the file –
 ow write something to
N the contents somewhere
if you want to keep it!

it’s not as important to properly close a file after

reading it as it is when writing to it, but it’s a good
the file – the reading from Figure 2 Printing the
habit to get into anyway: the temperature sensor stored message to
the Shell area

file.close()
Figure 2
Logging temperatures
Now you know how to open, write to, and read
from files, you have everything you need to build a
data logger on your Pico. Click the New icon to start
a new program in Thonny, and start your program
by typing:

import machine
import utime

sensor_temp = machine.ADC(machine.ADC.
CORE_TEMP)

conversion_factor = 3.3 / (65535)

reading = sensor_temp.read_u16() *
conversion_factor
temperature = 27 - (reading -
0.706)/0.001721
Figure 1 A
potentiometer
You might recognise this code: it’s the same as wired with two
you used in The MagPi #107 (magpi.cc/107) to read pins connected

Raspberry Pi Pico data logger magpi.cc 61

 TUTORIAL

Figure 3 file.close()

Click the Run icon and save your program to the

Raspberry Pi Pico as Datalogger.py. The program
will only take a few seconds to run; when the >>>
prompt reappears at the bottom of the Shell area,
click into it and type the following to open and read
your new file:

file = open("temps.txt")
file.read()
file.close()

You’ll see the temperature reading your

program took appear in the Shell (Figure 3).
Congratulations: your data logger works!
A data logger that only logs a single reading – a
datum – isn’t that useful, though. To make your
data logger more powerful, you need to modify it
so it takes lots of readings. Click Run again, and
read the file again:.

file = open("temps.txt")
file.read()
Figure 3 Your Figure 4 All the file.close()
file records the measurements
temperature at the are there, but the
time the measurement formatting makes it Notice how there’s still only one reading in the
was taken difficult to read file. When your program opened the file for writing
again, it automatically wiped its previous contents
Figure 4 – meaning that each time your program runs, it
will wipe the file and store a single reading.
To fix that, you need to modify your program.
Start by clicking and dragging your mouse cursor
to highlight the lines:
Figure 2 How a
potentiometer works
reading = sensor_temp.read_u16() *
conversion_factor
temperature = 27 - (reading -
0.706)/0.001721

When you’ve highlighted both lines – making sure

not to miss any parts – let go of the mouse button
and press CTRL+X on your keyboard to cut the
lines; you’ll see them disappear from the program.
Next, go to the bottom of your program and
delete everything after:

file = open("temps.txt", "w")

T o make your data logger

more powerful, you need to
Figure 2
modify it
62 magpi.cc Raspberry Pi Pico data logger
 TUTORIAL

Now type: while True:

reading = sensor_temp.read_u16() * Top Tip
while True: conversion_factor
temperature = 27 - (reading - File Storage
After pressing ENTER at the end of that line, hold 0.706)/0.001721
down the CTRL key and press the V key to paste the file.write(str(temperature)) Your Pico’s file
two lines you cut earlier. You’ll see them appear, file.flush() system is 1.375MiB
in size. How long
which saves you having to type them in – but only utime.sleep(10)
it takes to fill this
the first line will be properly indented so it’s nested will depend on
as part of the infinite loop you just opened. Put your Click the Run icon and count to 60, then click how many other
cursor at the start of the line below by clicking and the Stop icon. Now open and read your file in the files you have
press the SPACE bar four times to indent the line script area: and how often
properly, then move your cursor to the end of the your data logger
saves a reading:
line and press ENTER. file = open("temps.txt")
at nine bytes per
Type the following line, making sure it’s file.read() reading every ten
properly indented: file.close() seconds, you’ll fill
1.375MiB in around
file.write(str(temperature) The good news is that your program has worked, 18.5 days; if you
and you’ve recorded multiple readings in a single took a reading
every minute, your
Now, though, you’re going to need to do something file – around six, give or take a few depending
data logger could
new. If you close the file as you did before, you on how quickly you counted. The bad news is
run for around 111
won’t be able to write to it again without reopening that they’re all mushed together on a single line days; if you only
it and wiping its contents. If you don’t close the (Figure 4) – making it difficult to read. read once an hour,
file, the data will never actually get written to the To fix that problem, you need to format the data as your data logger
file system. it’s written to the file. Go back to the file.write() could run for more
The solution: flush the file, rather than close line in your program, and modify it so it looks like: than 18 years!

it. Type: file.write(str(temperature) + "\n").

The plus symbol (+) tells MicroPython that you Figure 5 You’re
getting closer
file.flush() want to append what follows, concatenating the to an easy-to-
two strings together; "\n" is a special string known read printout here

When you’re writing to a file but the data isn’t

actually being written to the file system, it’s stored
Figure 5
in what’s known as a buffer – a temporary storage
area. When you close the file, the buffer is written
to the file in a process known as flushing. Using
file.flush() is equivalent to file.close(), in that
it flushes the contents of the buffer into the file –
but unlike file.close(), the file remains open for
you to write more data to it later.
Now you just need to pause your program
between readings:

utime.sleep(10)

Your finished program will look like this:

import machine
import utime

sensor_temp = machine.ADC(machine.ADC.
CORE_TEMP)

conversion_factor = 3.3 / (65535)

file = open("temps.txt", "w")

Raspberry Pi Pico data logger magpi.cc 63

 TUTORIAL

as a control character – it acts as the equivalent of

pressing the ENTER key, meaning that each line in
Y ou can take your data
your data log should be on its own separate line. logger to any room and
Click the Run icon, count to 60 again, and click
Get Started with
MicroPython
Stop. Open and read your file: have it run by itself
on Raspberry file = open("temps.txt") mains charger or a USB battery pack with a micro
Pi Pico file.read() USB cable, you can take your data logger to any
For more physical file.close() room in your house and have it run by itself – but
computing you’ll need a way to get your program running
projects to try on You’ve made progress, but it’s still not right: the \n without having to click the Run icon in Thonny.
your Raspberry Pi control character isn’t acting like a press of ENTER, For use without a connected computer –
Pico, grab a copy but printing as two visible characters (Figure 5, known as headless operation – you can save your
of the new book,
previous page). That’s because file.read() is program under a special file name: main.py.
Get Started with
MicroPython on
bringing in the raw contents of the file, and making When MicroPython finds a file called main.py in
Raspberry Pi Pico. no attempt at formatting it for the screen. its file system, it runs that automatically every
As well as learning To fix the formatting problem, you need to wrap time it’s powered on or reset – without you having
how to use the file read in a print() function: to click Run.
Raspberry Pi Pico’s In Thonny, after stopping the program if
pins as inputs and
file = open("temps.txt") running, click the File menu then Save As.
outputs, you’ll
print(file.read()) Click ‘Raspberry Pi Pico’ in the pop-up that
Figure 4
build a simple
game, measure file.close() appears, then type ‘main.py’ as the file name
temperatures,
Figure 4 The pulse- before clicking Save. At first, nothing will seem
width and
save modulation
load pins This time you’ll see each reading print out to happen: that’s because Thonny puts your
data to your on its own line, neatly formatted and easy to Pico into interactive mode, which stops it from
Pico’s file system, read (Figure 6). automatically running the program you just saved.
and even make
Congratulations: you’ve built a data logger To force the program to run, click into the
a burglar alarm
for your room. which can take multiple readings and store them bottom of the Shell area and hold down the CTRL
Get Started with on your Pico’s file system! key, press the D key, then let go of the CTRL key.
MicroPython on Your Pico’s file system works regardless of This sends your Pico a soft reset command, which
Raspberry Pi Pico whether or not it’s connected to your Raspberry will break it out of interactive mode and start the
is available now Pi or another computer. If you have a micro USB program running. Find something else to do for
from magpi.cc/
five minutes or so, then press the Stop icon and
picobook. Figure 6 Now you can read all the temperatures your data logger
has captured
open your data log:

file = open("temps.txt")
Figure 6 print(file.read())
file.close()

You’ll see a list of temperature readings, even

though you didn’t click the Run icon – because your
program ran automatically when your Pico reset.
If you have a micro USB charger or USB battery
pack, disconnect your Pico from your Raspberry
Pi, take it to another room, and connect it to the
charger or battery pack. Leave it there for ten
minutes, then come back and unplug it. Take it back
to your Raspberry Pi, plug it back in, and read your
file again: you’ll see the readings from the other
room, proving that your Pico can run perfectly well
without your Raspberry Pi helping it along.
Congratulations: your data logger is now fully
functional and wholly portable, ready to go with you
wherever you need to record data!

64 magpi.cc Raspberry Pi Pico data logger

 TUTORIAL

Isomorphic
Part 01

keyboard: hex keys

Use Raspberry Pi Pico to make an isomorphic music keyboard with hexagons

O
The enclosure
ne alternative layout to a conventional
piano keyboard is an isomorphic
02 We came up with the concept of a two-layer
keyboard. Here, the notes are laid out so box – this is shown in Figure 1. The top surface
that adjacent keys differ by only a semitone. It is where the keys are. They are cut out and press
is said that such a keyboard is easier to learn to down on the tack switches underneath. To stop
Mike Cook
MAKER

play in any key. This month, we show you how them falling out when the box is turned upside
to make a USB interfaced MIDI keyboard with an down, each key has an oversize version of itself
Veteran magazine
author from the old isomorphic layout. glued to it. The tack switches are mounted on
days, writer of the a large piece of stripboard, supported by 3 mm
Body Build series, spacers screwed to the middle level. Underneath
plus co-author of
Raspberry Pi for this is a Raspberry Pi Pico board, supported on five
Isomorphic keyboards
Dummies, Raspberry
Pi Projects, and 01 While the principle of adjacent keys
30 mm pillars between the base and middle level.

Raspberry Pi Projects
differing only by a semitone is simple enough,
for Dummies.
there is considerable variety in exactly how they
magpi.cc/mikecook
Scan the Matrix
are laid out. The arrangement of keys can be on a
square grid, or an offset grid; the keys themselves
03 A scanning switch matrix is a way of reading
can be square, round, or, our favourite, hexagonal. a lot of switches from a few inputs/outputs. Figure 2
There are a number of different layouts that shows the schematic of a small 3×4 matrix. There
detail exactly what keys are where; these have are many variations on this, but we have chosen
names like Gerhard, Park, Maupin, Wicki-Hayden, to use a column drive with a row input. A walking
Harmonic, Janko, C-system, and B-system. We zero signal is applied to the columns, and pressing
You’ll Need are going to use the Harmonic type that was used a key connects a column to an input. As you know
by the now defunct C-Thru Music company. what column was low when an input was low, you
> Stripboard
magpi.cc/
stripboard Figure 1
> 102 tack switches
4‑pin 6×6×5 mm
magpi.cc/
tackswitch
> Hex Keys CAD
diagrams
magpi.cc/
pibakery
> Access to
laser cutter

Figure 1 Our double

box concept

66 magpi.cc Isomorphic keyboard: hex keys

 TUTORIAL

The switch under

a key, which is
hooked up to a Pico

A hexagonal key with its

corresponding note written on

Painting
know what key was pressed. We will be making a 15
column by 7 row matrix for this project.
06 We have come up with a new way to paint Top Tip
plywood boxes that doesn’t show brush marks, by
using a half-inch foam brush and normal emulsion Box assembly
paint. This allows us to use paint from the wide
The laser files We marked the
04 We have started using the software
range of match-pot colours, and gives a nice flat
finish. To keep things clean from finger marks, we
sides and middle
layer of the inside
LightBurn to produce our laser cutter artwork, add three coats of a water-based clear matt varnish. of the box so
and all the files can be found on our GitHub page. We used yellow for the top and base, and matt black that we always
If you use another system, then you can get a full for the sides and visible edges of the box. assembled it
version of this software on a 30-day free trial to consistently.
use or convert the files. Alternatively, we have also
supplied SVG files for each sheet you have to cut.
Painting the keys
The top panel also includes vector engraving on the
keys – this has to be done first at a lower setting so
07 Figure 5 shows the colours we used to paint
as not to burn all the way through. the keys. They keys can be painted any colours
you like, but keep the groups consistent for the

Figure 2
Enclosure construction
05 Figure 3 shows the construction of the two- Figure 2 A 3×4
layer box. Note how the side with only a 1.5 mm tab switch matrix

sticking out goes to the middle layer of the box,

and the 3 mm tabs on the other side go to the top
and the base. We assembled and glued the sides
into two rings, and then we reinforced each corner
with a small length of half round dowel fixed
with superglue. Then we plugged up the bottom
end with Blu Tack (tack putty) and dribbled some
Gorilla clear glue down the joint for added rigidity.
See Figure 4.

Isomorphic keyboard: hex keys magpi.cc 67

 TUTORIAL

Figure 3

 nce painted, you can glue

O
the keys to the oversized
key blanks
best playing experience. Again, three coats of matt
varnish are applied to each key. Once painted, you
can glue the keys to the oversized key blanks. We
used a small drop of superglue in the middle of
each and pressed down for ten seconds. Try to get
them centralised; if not, this can be corrected with
a disc sander. The top and bottom flat of each key
blank should be about 1 mm from the edge of the
actual key.

Figure 3 The
The stripboard
assembled double box Figure 4 08 We need a piece of stripboard 101 holes long
by 58 strips high. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find
one, so we had to make one out of three pieces of
board. Fortunately, this could be done by buying
just one 119 by 455 mm sheet of stripboard. The
maximum height of this board is 46 strips, so we
Figure 4 Reinforcing cut out a 101 hole by 46 strip high main piece, a 71
the corners of the
two rings formed hole by 12 strip, and a 30 hole by 12 strip piece. We
from the sides
also got a 58 hole by 8 strip piece for the triangular
control button board from the same piece of
stripboard. See our GitHub page for more notes
about joining these together.

Figure 5 The colours

we used for the keys The Matrix
– magenta and sky
blue are the white
09 Figure 6 shows the first five columns. There
keys on a piano
are two additional diagrams showing the rest of the
Figure 5 wiring on our GitHub page, but the basic pattern
is the same. The even and odd numbered columns
both have identical patterns of key placement and
track breaks round them. We fitted the switch
first and then, before soldering it, cut the tracks
between the switch pins and surrounding the
tracks. To make sure you have picked up the correct
place to make the break, insert a wire through the
place indicated, then turn the board over and make
the break where you see the wire.

The Matrix 2
10 Make sure the tack switches are flat to the
board when you solder them. They have a habit of
pushing themselves out once the board is turned
over for soldering. To make sure they are OK, solder

68 magpi.cc Isomorphic keyboard: hex keys

 TUTORIAL

Figure 7

one of the four pins and check. If it is not flat then

hold down the corner of the key with your finger
nail and reapply the soldering iron and push it into
place. Do the same for the opposite corner. Once
two corners are in place, simply solder up the other
two. Then fit the 1N4148 diode next to each switch;
get it the right way round.

The Matrix 3
11 The long tracks of tinned copper wire with
a black dot on them denote a joint where one wire
enters the hole and another leaves it. Here, push
all the wires in place before soldering them. We
found this easier if these holes were enlarged
slightly with a 1.2 mm drill. When fitting the keys, one or two securing holes were turned round so Figure 7 Use
masking tape to stop
turn the top over and insert from the back; we that a screw pushed up on the board, correcting the keys falling out
numbered the columns and rows on the board and the warping. We used a 20 cm pan-head M3 when fitting the top
to the switches
wrote the column and row number, along with its screw with a 3 mm spacing and three 0.5 mm
name, on the back of each key. We then placed a solder tags on the underside of the board –
Figure 6 Physical
blank board over the top and inverted it. Finally, see Figure 8. The solder tags allowed for fine wiring of a third of
we attached each key to the top with masking tape adjustment, making the switch tops flush with the switch matrix

so they would not drop out when we fitted the top the board. We had to cut away at the oversize
– see Figure 7. key mount on surrounding keys to ensure the
push-up screw was not fouled.

12 Warp one, Mr Sulu

Part 2
Top Tip
One problem we encountered was that the
top board had an inwards warp. This meant that
13 Next issue, we’ll look at the construction
Deburr the
when the top retaining screws were tightened, the of Raspberry Pi Pico, control switches, OLED
stripboard
top was pressing some switches. To counter this, display, and rotary encoder, as well as how to
holes
wire it all together. We will also look at the
software we need to test what we have built, and When drilling
the final software bring it all to life. through the
stripboard, you’ll
notice that there
Figure 8 will be bits of
copper that could
make contact with
the screw. Deburr
the holes by lightly
applying a larger
drill bit by hand
to remove the
copper at the very
edge of the hole.

Figure 8 Two push-

up support screws
Figure 6 and the central
base support

Isomorphic keyboard: hex keys magpi.cc 69

Join us as we lift the lid
on video games

Visit wfmag.cc to learn more

 FEATURE

MAK E GAMES WITH

RASPBERRY PI
Did you know that Raspberry Pi is a game-creation machine? There are many
ways to write games and Mark Vanstone will show you a few to get you started

T
he UK computer games industry has grown
and grown since its origin in the eighties;
grown so much that it’s on a par with the
UK film industry. This trend is true in many other
areas of the world. If you are learning how to write
games, then Raspberry Pi is a great way to get your
teeth into the subject. There are many ways to write
Mark Vanstone
games and get started quickly.
MAKER

Educational games If you are just starting out and not ready for text-
author from the based coding, don’t worry. There are block-based
1990s, author of the
ArcVenture series, systems like Scratch where you can lay out your
disappeared into the game graphics on the screen. You can code games
corporate software using blocks that you drag and drop into place to
wasteland. Rescued
create your program. Once you have mastered that,
by Raspberry Pi!
you may want to move on to text-based coding like
magpi.cc/
Python and Pygame. If you aim to start a career in
technovisual
the games industry, you will find that these days
game designers use both methods: visual block
editing and text-based programming. One of the
most popular game engines, Unreal Engine uses a
block editor called Blueprint that is underpinned by
libraries of C++ code.
Game programming is a great way to learn a
wide range of techniques that are useful for other
areas of programming. You don’t need to start
with advanced scripting but can easily get quick
results with the tools in this article. Let’s make
some games!

Make games with Raspberry Pi magpi.cc 71

 FEATURE

MAKE GAMES WITH SCRATCH

Scratch is an ideal place to start making games, with a great online community
of creators who share their games so that you can see how they were made

The Stage Area.

You can see
the effects your
program has in
the stage area
while you are
programming

The Sprite Info Pane.

The Block Palette. Scratch The Script Area. Blocks are
Sprites are the characters
programming is done by dragged to the area in the middle
and objects in your game.
dragging and dropping blocks to create scripts (programs) that
Manage them in this area
that join up to each other control the sprites

S
cratch is a block-based visual editing install of Raspberry Pi OS to your system card

Top Tip programming language. Instead of writing

commands in text, you click and drag
using the instructions at magpi.cc/imager or
from your Terminal window use the commands
objects (known as ‘sprites’) and control them sudo apt update and then sudo apt upgrade. It is
Using sounds with block commands. It’s designed to make wise to always go through this procedure before
object-oriented programming easy to understand, installing anything new on your Raspberry Pi to
If you want to use and is a great way to get to grips with coding make sure you have the latest version of all the
sound in your
concepts. Due to its visual nature, it’s ideal for system files. Of course, for any installs or updates,
project, you can
go to the Sounds
creating basic games and interactive stories. you will need a connection to the internet.
tab. You will find a There are several versions of Scratch that
cat meow sound are compatible with all versions of Raspberry
to start you off. Pi although the latest version, Scratch 3 is
Install Scratch
recommended for Raspberry Pi 3 and Raspberry Pi 4.
02 There are three versions of Scratch and an
online editor. You can install Scratch 3 by clicking
on Menu > Preferences > Recommended Software.
Get Raspberry Pi ready
01 It’s always a good idea to keep your system
In the Programming section, you will see Scratch 3.
Place a tick in the Install checkbox to the right and
files up-to-date. You can either download a fresh click Apply.

72 magpi.cc Make games with Raspberry Pi

 FEATURE

Your first Scratch

03 Top Tip
If you have not used Scratch before, you
Or you can try PICO-8
probably want to jump straight in and make
something happen. With Scratch, you can do just PICO-8 is a fantasy console for making, sharing, and
Loading
that. You’ll find Scratch in Menu > Programming > playing tiny games and other computer programs. It
and saving
feels like a regular console and runs on a variety of
Scratch 3. You will see a cartoon cat on the right-
platforms. It has a suite of cartridge creation tools
hand side and a set of blue boxes on the left. Drag You can load/save
and an online cartridge browser called SPLORE. The
the turn 15 degrees block into the Script area Scratch projects to
programs are distributed in the form of a PNG file
your Raspberry Pi.
in the middle (this is where you assemble your and each program has a memory limit of 32kB, so
The online version
program). Click the turn 15 degrees block and the it is like programming a retro-style, 8-bit computer.
can save projects
cat will rotate. The PICO-8 development system costs £11 / $15
to the Scratch
and can be downloaded from magpi.cc/pico8.
server if you log in.

The green flag

04 Our rotation block is good, but what if you
what it looks like by loading in your graphics or
editing the image. Select the Costumes tab at
want something more? We can build a program of the top of the screen. From there you can use the
blocks by joining them together. Click Control in painting tools to make a new image or alter the
the sidebar and then drag and drop the repeat 10 one that is already there. Try drawing some lines or
block into the Script area. Then move your turn 15 filling in some shapes to see how it works. You can
degrees block so that it’s inside the repeat block. also write text. If you select items with the arrow
Then click Events in the Blocks palette and drag tool, you can also change their colour.
the when (green flag) clicked block to sit on top of
the repeat block. Now if you click the green flag at
the top of the window, the program will run.
Exploring the Scratch community
06 You will probably want to find out lots more
about how to use Scratch, and there are lots of
Customising your sprites
05 In Scratch, a sprite is a graphic on the
tutorials if you select the Tutorials section in the
top menu bar of the desktop or online version. You
screen that you are controlling. You can change can also get lots more help from the main Scratch
web page at scratch.mit.edu/ideas. If you look at
the Explore section on the website, you will be able
RASPBERRY PI to find lots of projects that other people have made

SCRATCH PROJECTS and if you find one you like, you can see how they
did it by selecting the ‘See inside’ button at the
Go to the projects section of Raspberry Pi’s website, top-right corner.
magpi.cc/projects. In the ‘Find a Project’ section,
select Games from the Topic drop-down, and

The costume editor allows
Scratch from the Software drop-down. You will be you to edit and design
shown a selection of game projects for Scratch. graphics for your games
Each of these projects is laid out as a step-by-
step tutorial to help you build the game. There are
lots of different game projects available, so you
shouldn’t run out!

Make games with Raspberry Pi magpi.cc 73

 FEATURE

To run your Pygame or

Pygame Zero programs just
press the green Run button

Type your Python code into the

Thonny editor. Pygame Zero
uses the two default functions
draw() to display screen
elements and update() to
update variables and data

CODE PYTHON GAMES WITH PYGAME

Raspberry Pi can be used to make some super games and Pygame gives you a great head start

O
More than zero
ne of the best ways to get started with text-
02
Top Tip based programming on your Raspberry Pi
is to jump straight into Pygame or Pygame
Let’s get a graphic moving on the screen.
You will need to find a suitable image to use,
Zero. These are both available with the Python perhaps a spaceship or little green man. Have
Mix and Match programming language and all three are already a look at the ‘Graphics Resources’ section near
installed by default with Raspberry Pi OS. If you are the end of this feature about where to find
Even if you start
not familiar with Python, you can get it running graphics. A PNG is best; you can find our rocket
your program with
Pygame Zero, if you
from the Programming menu by selecting the at magpi.cc/rocketart. Now make a subdirectory
need a function Thonny Python IDE. This will open up an editor to in the same place as you saved your Python file
from Pygame you use Python 3. Python is easy -to learn and read, and and call it images and put your graphic file inside
can include parts this article will show you how to use it with Pygame that directory. Now load that graphic into an
of the Pygame and Pygame Zero. Actor object in your code. Name your graphic file
module too!
rocket.png (you must keep to lower-case letters)
and load it by typing myrocket = Actor('rocket',
center=(400, 500)).
First Pygame Zero
01 Pygame Zero was designed to require as
little code as possible to get a game running. If you
Seeing the rocket
launch the Thonny Editor (IDE) and type import
pgzrun to load the Pygame Zero module and then
03 Now to get our rocket to display on the
after that, write pgzrun.go() to start the game, you screen, we need to add some code to draw it. We do
can then save the file and run it (with the green this with a draw() function, so type def draw(): and
play button). If you have typed the code correctly, press RETURN, then type myrocket.draw(). Then, to
you will see a black window appear titled ‘Pygame make the rocket move up the screen, we need to add
Zero Game’. You have written your first Pygame an update() function by typing def update(): and
Zero game! It’s not a great game yet but that’s all underneath type myrocket.y -=1. If we save and run
you need to get the game engine running. this program, we should see the rocket moving up

74 magpi.cc Make games with Raspberry Pi

 FEATURE


Lots of Pygame game
the screen. If you don’t, check the rocket.py code developers share their
to see what you have done differently. It may have creations online like this
game called Dynamite
some drawing left behind, so add screen.clear() at
the beginning of the draw() function. If all is well,
you have the start of your Pygame Zero game.

ROCKET.PY
Language: Python
PGTEST.PY Top Tip
import pgzrun
Language: Python
myrocket = Actor('rocket', center=(400, 500)) Watch your
import pygame
naming
def draw(): pygame.init()
When you save
screen.clear() your code, don’t
myrocket.draw() screen = pygame.display.set_mode([400, 400]) call it ‘pygame’
running = True or Python will
def update(): think that you are
referring to the
myrocket.y -= 1 while running:
pygame module.
# Get events from the user
pgzrun.go() for event in pygame.event.get():
if event.type == pygame.QUIT:
running = False
# Fill the screen
screen.fill((0, 0, 0))
Moving on to Pygame
04 Pygame Zero makes it very quick and easy to
# Draw a red circle at 200,200 with
radius of 50
get games working on your Raspberry Pi, but if you pygame.draw.circle(screen, (255, 0, 0),
want more flexibility you may find that Pygame is (200, 200), 50)
what you require. You will need to write a bit more # Switch from buffered screen to visible
code, but you will be able to access some functions pygame.display.flip()
like using game controllers. To start a Pygame
WHERE TO
GET IDEAS
program, you will need to import the pygame module # Quit the program
using import pygame and then after that, make a call pygame.quit()
to pygame.init(). This starts the game engine off, Did you know that
but we won’t see anything happen if we run it. The MagPi’s sister
magazine, Wireframe,
features a section
Taking it further called Source Code

Making a screen 06 every month with

05 We make a screen for our game by calling
Both of these examples are very simple, just
to get you started, but there are lots of amazing
Pygame Zero game
examples? wfmag.cc
a function called pygame.display.set_mode() and games that can be made with Pygame and Pygame
give it the width and height that we want the Zero. Over the years, The MagPi magazine has
screen to be. Once that is set up, we will need to featured many tutorials about making games in
start a loop (in this case a while loop) to check Python and has even produced three books dedicated
that the program is still running – and in the loop to teaching Python Games by example: Retro Gaming
we blank the screen, draw our graphics on an with Raspberry Pi (magpi.cc/retrogaming) and
invisible buffered screen, and then flip the screen Code the Classics – Volume 1 (magpi.cc/ctc1) which
from the buffer to the visible screen. All this have many Pygame Zero example games, and the
keeps happening until the user exits the program other is called Essentials - Make Games with Python
by using the window close icon. Have a look at (magpi.cc/essentialgames) which takes you through
pgtest.py to see how all this is done with Pygame. game creation with Pygame.

Make games with Raspberry Pi magpi.cc 75

 FEATURE

MAKE GREAT GAMES WITH APPGAMEKIT

With AppGameKit you can develop professional-looking games, not just for Raspberry Pi
but also for desktop and even mobile devices

AppGameKit code is a form

of BASIC, so very easy for
beginners to understand

AppGameKit includes
a full code editor to
develop and run games

A
Get the download
ppGameKit provides a cross-platform
01
Top Tip development system that was originally
for PC desktops, but recently it has become
First, we need to get the AppGameKit files.
You’ll need to go to the website appgamekit.com
available to download free for Raspberry Pi. You and sign up for an account. When that’s done, go
GPIO pins can use the same system on other platforms too, to the ‘AppGameKit For Raspberry Pi’ section in
and develop on one system to run on a different the ‘Classic’ menu item and download the editor
If you are feeling
adventurous, you one. You can even publish your games and earn files (they are free). Double-click the gzip file to
could try out the money without paying any royalties. The engine open it and extract the files to somewhere suitable
AGK features that has many tools to help you build your game, like 2D like your home directory. When it’s unpacked,
allow you to read sprites, 3D, physics, sound, and even virtual reality. you will see a directory called AGKPi. Inside that,
and write to and This guide will get you started with AppGameKit so you will find the AGK launcher. Double-click to
from the GPIO pins.
that you can explore all the features. open the editor. If you want to see an error log
when it’s running, select ‘Execute in Terminal’
Compatibility alert when prompted.
Until recently, AppGameKit was compatible
with all Raspberry Pi computers, but at the
time of writing, it is difficult to get running on
Doing the update
Raspberry Pi 4. Some system updates are needed
for other Raspberry Pi computers, even with the
02 If you try to run any of the samples
latest version of Raspberry Pi OS. Make sure you provided with AGK, you may find that you get
have backed up any data from your Raspberry Pi some errors. This may only be an issue at the time
microSD card before you start. of writing as there are regular updates available.

76 magpi.cc Make games with Raspberry Pi

 FEATURE


With the AppGameKit
From a Terminal window, enter sudo apt update, samples, you can quickly
followed by sudo apt upgrade, just to make sure see how to build many
types of games
we have everything up to date. Then, if you are
getting errors about libgles2 (graphics library),
type sudo apt install libgles2-mesa libsdl2-
dev, which will install the necessary libraries.
Then enter sudo rpi-update – this is a firmware
update, so a bit more extreme than the usual
updates, and the reason why you should make a Top Tip
backup of your memory card before issuing this
command. Now reboot your Raspberry Pi. Raspberry Pi 4
a listing of the base code you need to start your
game. Run it and you will see a black window open Feeling brave and
want to run AGK
with the title ‘test’.
on a Raspberry
Load a sample
03 A good sample to start with, to make
Pi 4? Check out
the forum post at:
sure everything is working, is the Space Shooter magpi.cc/agkpi4
The sky’s the limit
game. Select the Open icon on the toolbar of the
editor and then navigate to the SpaceShooter
06 Have a look through the samples to see the
for instructions.

directory, which is found in the Games folder range of what AGK can do. You will find a huge
inside Projects. Open the .agk file and you will range of tutorials at magpi.cc/agkyt and there is
see several files open in the editor. AGK uses a a full user guide at magpi.cc/agkguide. There is
language very much like BASIC, so if you have also an active and helpful community forum at
You’ll Need
used BASIC before you should be right at home. If magpi.cc/agkforum where you will find more hints  AppGameKit:
you haven’t learnt BASIC, then it’s quite easy as it and tips to help you on your way. If you are having a appgamekit.com
was designed for beginners. problem with something, you’ll find someone who  Raspberry Pi SDK:
has solved it and will tell you how. Don’t be afraid to appgamekit.com/
get stuck in and just start coding: the compiler will agk-pi
give you feedback on anything you get wrong.
Run the game
04 If everything has gone well with the install
and updates, when you press the green Run arrow
you should see a window open up titled AGK and a GRAPHICS RESOURCES
Start Game screen with spaceships floating about. If
you don’t see that, then check the Terminal window There are many graphics resources that are free to download. You can get
images, animations and programs. Here are a few places to visit:
that launched the editor to see if there are any
errors. You may see some warnings there anyway opengameart.org has a wide range of artwork for backgrounds and character
as some of the shader modes are not supported on images to include in your games free of charge.
Raspberry Pi, but the game should work fine. Start
the game by clicking the screen and move the player s● priters-resource.com specialises in sprites, which are the characters to include
ship up and down with cursor keys. in games. They are often available in sprite sheets which have all the frames in
one image file.

f● ree3d.com has many free (and paid-for) 3D models for you to download and
use. There are models for just about any situation, some of them specifically
Make your program
05 Now you have the editor building a game,
designed for games.

why not start your own? Start a new project by gimp.org is a great image manipulation program and should be all you need for
clicking the New icon on the toolbar. You will be creating 2D graphics for your games. It can be installed using sudo apt install
gimp in a Terminal window.
asked for a name for the new project and a base
path. Select the folder icon to the right of the blender.org is best for creating a game with 3D graphics. Install Blender free
base path input box, and navigate to somewhere from your Terminal with sudo apt install blender. Discover a range of
suitable inside your home directory. Select Create Blender projects on Raspberry Pi’s website (magpi.cc/blenderprojects).
and you will see a new file called main.agc open
in the editor. In that file, there will already be

Make games with Raspberry Pi magpi.cc 77

 FEATURE

MAKE ADVENTURE GAMES WITH REN’PY

This game engine is for storytelling. Use Raspberry Pi to combine words,
images, and sounds to create interactive visual novels and life simulation games

From the Ren’Py Launcher

you can access all the parts
of your project, edit scripts, Open your project
and build your game and see how it will
look when it runs

R
en’Py is open-source and free to download and extract it to a suitable place such as your

Top Tip and use. You can even share your creations
without paying a penny in royalties or
home directory. You will also need to download
and extract Raspberry Pi support files from the
licences. Ren’Py includes a simple scripting Additional Downloads section. Once this is all in
Embed Python language to control the flow of your story and add place, you will find a file in the directory you have
Ren’Py scripting
interactivity to the pages. The engine also includes a extracted called renpy.sh. Double-click this file
is quite similar to wide selection of animation and transition effects to and select ‘Execute’. After a few seconds, you will
Python, but if you bring your games and graphic novels to life without see the Ren’Py Launcher open.
need to embed a needing to learn complicated animation software
Python program and supports the most common graphics and sound
inside your Ren’Py
formats like JPG, PNG, MP3, and a whole lot more.
game, you can do
Tutorial time
that too. 02 Ren’Py includes a getting started tutorial,
which is probably the best place to begin. By
Get the files
01 First, download the install files from the
selecting the Tutorial project from the launcher,
you will be introduced to Ren’Py’s features by
Ren’Py website at renpy.org/latest.html. You will Eileen. She will show you how to start a new
need the .bz2 version for Raspberry Pi. When it project and the ways to set colours and screen
has downloaded, double-click to open the archive sizes. There are also sections in the tutorial to

78 magpi.cc Make games with Raspberry Pi

 FEATURE

cover adding your images, text, and sound to your the left of the window that opens. If you make 
Ren’Py includes a tutorial
where Eileen talks you
pages. It then goes on to creating interactions and changes to your script, you can then press through all the features of
transitions to make your game engaging for your SHIFT+R to reload your script and start the game the system

audience. Have a look at the Choices and Python again. If you need further help, select the
section to see how scripting is used to ask Documentation link at the bottom left of the
questions and branch to different options. Launcher window, or check out the forums
at magpi.cc/renpyforum.

Let’s make a game

03 Going back to the Ren’Py Launcher, start a SOUND RESOURCES
new project with the ‘Create New Project’ link on If you need to find sounds for your games, you can get a whole range of sound
the left-hand side. You will then be asked where effects and background soundtracks from freesound.org, zapsplat.com, or
you want to save your project and what it should musopen.org/music, all of which provide free downloads.
be named. Next, choose what screen resolution You may need to edit your sounds, in which case use Audacity – available for you
to install using sudo apt install audacity from your Terminal window.
you want your production to use and the colour
scheme that you would like. After a short pause

Audacity enables you to edit sound files in a variety of formats such as WAV and MP3
for processing, your project will be created and
listed with the tutorial in the Projects section in
the Launcher.

Let’s get scripting

04 Start scripting the game by selecting the
‘script.rpy’ option under Edit File in the Launcher.
It will ask you to select the editor you want to use
and then open the script. From there you can
make changes to the default script. When you
want to test your changes, select your project and
Launch Project, then select ‘Start’ from the list on

Make games with Raspberry Pi magpi.cc 79

 REVIEW

pi-top [4] Robotics Kit

and Expansion Plate
pi-top magpi.cc/pitoprobot From £187 / $200
SPECS

MOTORS: Build a range of robots with aluminium plates and reusable rivets,
2 × 12 V high-
torque geared then control them with Raspberry Pi and pi-top [4] DIY Edition case.
motors with
Hall effect This kit clicks with Lucy Hattersley
sensor
tachometers;

P
2 × modular
servo motors i-top [4] Robotics Kit is a long-awaited IP address and remaining battery level (we got
robot that complements the pi-top [4] around two hours of use). The kit tested comes
SENSORS: DIY Edition case. It promises to be a sturdy with an Expansion Plate that connects to the
HD 720p wide-
and versatile building platform, with competent bottom of the pi-top [4] DIY Edition case and
angle camera
module; 1 × software and good educational chops. breaks it out into several control ports.
ultrasonic And it delivers. Inside the box is a series of .
sensor aluminium plates and plastic rivets that act a Making robots
COMPONENTS: little like LEGO Bricks meet Meccano. Two rivet- Thanks to the rivet system, you can get creative
Chassis compatible servo motors and two encoder DC with your robots. Three designs are included:
interface motors, plus a webcam and ultrasonic distance Alex, a regular wheeled robot with a pan-tilt
plate; 25 mm sensor. Everything you need to build a wheeled mechanism for the camera and ultrasonic sensor;
Durable omni-
robot that can see and sense the world around it. Bobbie uses the servos to control two ping-pong
directional
castor wheel; ball grabbing pincers; Prax is angled in a vertical
2 × 74 mm A plan comes together position and the servos create a moving face for a
wheels with all- We reviewed the pi-top [4] DIY Edition desk-based interactive assistant. Instructions for
terrain tyres; (magpi.cc/pitop4review) back in The MagPi issue all three builds are available as a PDF download
50+ aluminium
plate
99 (magpi.cc/99). At the time, we were impressed from the pi-top Start website (pi-top.com/start)
construction with the build quality, but noted the oddity of the and it’s a good place to get an overview of how the
pieces; 200+ built-in battery and 128×64 OLED display. builds work.
nylon quick- Once clipped into the Expansion Plate on the
build rivets
robot, it all makes sense. The pi-top [4] case Going further
EXPANSION powers both Raspberry Pi and the motors in the Each build took us around an hour. When the build
PLATE: robot; the OLED display provides feedback on the is complete, you attach a pi-top [4] DIY Edition to
Accelerometer,
gyroscope, and The innovative rivet
system enables you to
magnetometer; connect aluminum plates
4 × 6P 12 V DC and build the robot
motor ports;
4 × 3P servo
motor ports; 2 ×
USB 2.0 ports;
camera (CSI)
and display
(DSI) ports;
8 × digital and
4 × analogue
sensor ports

80 magpi.cc
 REVIEW

The “Prax” design uses

the components to
build an interactive
desktop assistant

 uperbly designed with a clever rivet construction system

S The pi-top Robotics
Kit designs are sturdy. The
“Bobbie” design uses servo
and seamless integration with pi-topOS and Further courses motors as two pincer arms

the Expansion Plate and insert the cables to connect default; along with baked-in support for the
the electronic parts to the Expansion Plate. hardware components.
Here is where pi-top [4]’s on-board battery and The Further website has demonstration code to
OLED display spring into useful action, providing follow, and you can SSH directly to your robot from
network information that you can use to quickly the Further website and run the interactive code The pi-top [4] DIY
SSH into the robot. examples directly from the web. Students can log Edition sits on top of the
chassis as the brains and
Pi-top has clearly put a lot of elbow- in separately and collaborate on code and practise battery of the robot
grease into its pi-topOS and its Further 2.0 programming techniques together. We enjoyed
system (magpi.cc/further). The pi-topOS the coding courses and challenges, and integration
ensures elements like SSH are enabled by with OpenCV for object and face recognition.
Moving beyond the Further educational port,
Verdict
you can code pi-top [4] Robotics Kit directly with Very high-quality
the pi-top Python SDK (magpi.cc/pitopsdk) and robotic education
there is support for ROS (magpi.cc/pitopros) and kit, with an
innovative rivet
Microsoft’s .NET (magpi.cc/pitopnet).
construction
There’s a lot here. First of all, the whole kit is
mechanism and
not particularly cheap if you include the price of well-thought-out
the pi-top [4] DIY Edition and a Raspberry Pi 4. It software. It’s been
is, however, superbly designed with a clever rivet worth the wait.

10
construction system and seamless integration with
pi-topOS and Further courses. All in all, pi-top [4]

/ 10
Robotics Kit is plain nice to use, and will sit neatly
into an education environment. Good job.

pi-top [4] Robotics Kit and Expansion Plate magpi.cc 81

 REVIEW

10 Amazing:
Wearable
Raspberry Pi Smart Watch
Wrist computer

projects
With screens getting smaller and smaller, discreet and wrist-bound Raspberry Pi
builds are easier than ever to do. This Smart Watch build is a very fun example.

magpi.cc/smartwatch

 ocial media
S
Ways to wear your Raspberry Pi with pride without the
internet

A
s Raspberry Pi is so small and draws so little power,
it’s a perfect device for powering more complex Offline socialising
wearable projects. We’ve done cosplay stuff with it
This art piece made full use of
in the past, and here are some other incredible projects that
wearable tech by having interactive
let you wear your Raspberry Pi.
objects all over these coveralls.
This allowed for social media-style
interactions in real life.

magpi.cc/socialwear

Pip-Boy built
from scrap
Apocalyptic wrist computer
You can buy official Pip-Boy cases,
or 3D-print carefully crafted models.
However, the recycling nature of
this project makes it a firm favourite
of ours.

magpi.cc/pipboyscrap

PiGlass Wearable Tech Projects

Smart vision Want to see more wearables, and maybe
make some yourself? Check out Wearable
We maintain that Google Glass was cool, so seeing excellent DIY
versions using a Raspberry Pi is always a delight. This one packs Tech Projects by Sophy Wong and our
in a lot of extra features as well. sibling mag, HackSpace Magazine:

magpi.cc/piglass magpi.cc/wearableprojects

82 magpi.cc Wearable projects

 REVIEW

PiE-Ink Name Badge

Who are you?
This is sure to impress folks when you’re at an event (whenever they come
back) or when you’re the newbie in the (geeky) office.
 earable Time-Lapse
W
magpi.cc/pieink Camera
Taking a walk
This Raspberry Pi Zero project is simple yet cool, and we think it
would make for some great music video footage.

magpi.cc/timelapsecam

Smart Cap
Cyber eye
RaspWristRadio This more conspicuous take on a
pair of smart glasses can be used
Portable FM on multiple types of headwear. It’s
also completely open.
We like the very 1980s movie kid inventor look of this DIY radio that fits on your
wrist. Don’t be rude, though: bring headphones to listen!
magpi.cc/smartcap

magpi.cc/raspwristradio

Project Glass
Wearable Cyberpunk Gesture Pad
Real-life subtitles
Hacker wear Real-time translation, while not 100% accurate, is quite
impressive. Using this AR-like Raspberry Pi glasses system, you
Need a wrist-mounted touchpad with multi-touch gestures? Then look no
can use it to try to talk to real people.
further than Zack’s cyberpunk-inspired gesture pad.

magpi.cc/gesturepad magpi.cc/projectglass

Wearable projects magpi.cc 83

 RESOURCES

Learn Visual Studio

Code with Raspberry Pi
Discover the best tutorials and resources for Microsoft’s development environment.
By Lucy Hattersley

Getting started with

Visual Studio Code
Microsoft Microsoft’s Visual Studio Visual Studio Code is available
AUTHOR

Code is a modern text for Raspberry Pi and can be

Price: editor and IDE (integrated easily installed in Raspberry Pi
Free development environment). OS. Click on Menu > Preferences
magpi.cc/vsintro Back in 2019, StackOverflow > Recommended Software and
reported a massive leap in choose Programming from the In these videos, Ornella
popularity for Visual Studio sidebar. Scroll down and place a Altunyan walks you through
Code. It immediately took tick next to Visual Studio Code the user interface and settings,
the IDE number one spot with and click Apply. with tips and tricks. Once
over 50% of respondents to Open Visual Studio Code you’ve done that, click User
their annual survey using it (under Programming) and click Guide in the sidebar to start on
(magpi.cc/so2019). Help > Introductory Videos. the documentation.

Visual Studio Code resources

Bookmark these pages and
return to them while you code
KEYBOARD SHORT CUTS and resources, all placed into handy
FOR LINUX lists and sections.
Worth printing out if possible, but magpi.cc/awesomevscode
certainly keep these keyboard short
cuts bookmarked while you run and VS CODE CAN DO THAT?!
debug code. This website by Burke Holland and
magpi.cc/vscodeshortcuts Sarah Drasner is a list of interesting
things that VS Code can do.
AWESOME VSCODE Genuinely fascinating.
This GitHub page by Viatsko has a vscodecandothat.com
curated list of excellent packages

84 magpi.cc Learn Visual Studio Code with Raspberry Pi

 RESOURCES

Rough
guides
Three websites that
Set up your extensions get you up and
running with Visual
Studio Code
Microsoft Once you’ve installed Visual to add support for languages,
AUTHOR

Studio Code, you will want debuggers, editing assistants,

Price:
to investigate extensions. and general tools.
Free
A huge array of additions to Choose View > Extensions
magpi.cc/
vscextensions the base program enable you from the menu bar inside
Visual Studio Code (or press
CTRL+SHIFT+X) to see
the Extensions interface.
By default, it will show
some of the most popular
extensions. The Extension VISUAL STUDIO CODE ON
Marketplace Documentation RASPBERRY PI
has a great overview of how to Microsoft has created its own
search for, install, update, and guide to installing and running
remove the extensions. Visual Studio Code on Raspberry
Pi. A great place to start.
magpi.cc/
vscoderaspberrypi

VSCode Power VISUAL STUDIO CODE

AND HTML
Codecademy’s article on
Ahmad Awais In our experience, most of If you want to deep-dive using Visual Studio Code to
AUTHOR

what you need to know can be into Visual Studio Code with an build a basic HTML document
Price: found in the extensive Visual online course, then there is one walks you through setting
£35/$50
Studio Code documentation and that everybody recommends: up development folders and
vscode.pro introductory video tutorials. Ahmad Awais’s video tutorials adding files.
called ‘VSCode Power’. magpi.cc/vscodecademy
Ahmad is an entertaining
course leader and the video HOW TO USE VISUAL
tutorials are engaging and fun. STUDIO CODE
The course covers everything Flavio Copes has written a
from the basics, and setting great introduction to Visual
up Visual Studio Code, Studio Code that works
through version control with through installation, setting up
GitHub and a professional fonts and workspaces.
extension setup. magpi.cc/flaviovscode

Learn Visual Studio Code with Raspberry Pi magpi.cc 85

 INTERVIEW

Zack Freedman
Zack loves wearables, and now makes them
full-time on YouTube, among other things

> Name Zack Freedman > Occupation YouTuber

> Community role Maker > URL magpi.cc/zackfreedman

M
any people dream of away – people would spend more making videos about 3D printing
being a YouTuber or time online, substituting and DIY electronics, producing
online content creator streams for meetups and videos videos and streams to show
of some kind. Zack Freedman for talks. So, I started making different parts of the stuff-
basically stumbled into it. YouTube videos to promote making process.”
“I used to be a freelance myself, and people watched –
prototype developer in New York not many at first, but out of What is your history
City,” Zack tells us. “But when... nowhere, lots of people, way with making?
all the meetups and conferences more than I expected. The I tried and failed to build tech
[shutdown last year], the clients videos ended up doing better projects a number of times:
dried up. I knew that social than the prototyping contracts! websites as a kid, RC cars as a
interaction wouldn’t just go Now, I’m a full-time YouTuber, teen, a Nerf ammo counter in
college, and many more dead-
end ideas that my very generous
parents supported. I even got
into engineering school, only to
find that it was all math, and I
hate math. I’ve never been a
great student, even when I want
to learn the topic – I get

I’ve built a crazy

number of
projects for fun
Some of the amazing
and work, at least
projects that Zack has put
together over the years 200 in total

86 magpi.cc Zack Freedman

 INTERVIEW

obsessed with something like all going pretty well until people of my earliest wearable The Data Blaster is a very
funky cyberdeck using
Nerf blasters and plunge started coughing a lot and computers and Eben signed a a Raspberry Pi 400. We
hundreds of hours into the rabbit pretending it wasn’t dangerous, Raspberry Pi for me. I put it in a like the sporty handles for
when you need to run
hole, but I just can’t force myself and here we are! frame. It’s one of my most
to systematically learn anything prized possessions.
soup to nuts. I was spinning my When did you first learn of
wheels and felt like a moron. Raspberry Pi? What was your first
Everything changed during an I’m by no means an early Raspberry Pi project?
internship in the summer of 2011 adopter, but a MakerBar member My first Raspberry Pi project was
– I was working for an app store was. He pre-ordered a huge pile a wearable computer built out of
startup (’twas a different world) of original Raspberry Pi before a Vuzix AV230, an original
and got assigned to write for the the first release, so I got in on Raspberry Pi, and a USB battery
company blog. At the time, the ground floor. [As] I was pack. It wasn’t the most useful
‘appcessories’ – gizmos designed obsessed with wearable device... still, it was an authentic
to pair with cell phones – were computers, Raspberry Pi was the fully functional wearable
the Silicon Valley hotness, and only pocket-sized device below computer, the kind that took
my research brought me to $500 that output 480p composite MIT geniuses years of work and
Hackaday, where someone had video, so it instantly became a thousands of dollars only a
turned a $25 toy into a wearable critical part in my projects. One couple of decades earlier. It was
computer. I thought that was the of our members learned that the springboard that helped me
coolest thing ever, so I instantly Eben Upton himself was broaden my knowledge and build
got obsessed with turning myself travelling through the East more projects; as I printed better
into a cyborg. Coast, so we invited him to enclosures, designed better
Since then, I’ve built a crazy speak at our hackerspace and electronics, and experimented
number of projects for fun and somehow got a meet-and-greet with different control devices, I
work, at least 200 in total. It was with the team. I showed off one filled out my skills.

Zack Freedman magpi.cc 87

 THIS MONTH IN RASPBERRY PI

This Month in
Raspberry Pi
#MagPiMonday
Amazing projects direct from our Twitter!
01

E
very Monday we ask the question: have
you made something with a Raspberry
Pi over the weekend? Every Monday, our
followers send us amazing photos and videos of
the things they’ve made.
Here’s a selection of some of the awesome 02
things we got sent this month – and remember to
follow along at the hashtag #MagPiMonday!

01. 
This robot can be controlled over the
internet! Hopefully it doesn’t grab the
router’s power cable.
02. Astronomy and Raspberry Pi are two 03
great things that go great together.
03. Ravi has been doing some amazing
things with flying Pico projects!
04. 
This is proper science fiction stuff
– hopefully we can get portable
versions soon.
05. Pi Wars is still going, even if it is
currently a remote event.
06. This is a very cool project from one of
our regular writers, PJ.
07. CutiePi is a cool tablet project that we
love seeing.
08. The number of Pico applications is
continually rising.
09. This microscope is very cool and
powerful. Apparently, that is the stinger
on a stinging nettle!

88 magpi.cc MagPi Monday

 THIS MONTH IN RASPBERRY PI

04
05

07

06

08

09

MagPi Monday magpi.cc 89

 THIS MONTH IN RASPBERRY PI

Maple Syrup Pi
A Google Coral smart camera

S
mart camera tech is something that has
been around for a little while, although it is
very often under-utilised for many reasons.
Ricardo de Azambuja is making a fresh attempt to
use it in a practical and exciting manner.
“Maple Syrup Pi Camera is part of my research
project,” Ricardo tells us. “I’m one of the 25
TRAIN@Ed Research Fellows at University of
Edinburgh. I am working on a project focused on
helping local tourist attractions to better manage
tourist flow, still GDPR compliant by design. My
solution is to process information in the camera
without ever saving or transmitting personal data.
In addition to that, I wanted something open-
source that could be customised, and as low-power
as possible, allowing it to run a full day on an off-
the-shelf power bank. Raspberry Pi Zero W is my
go-to IoT device and, together with the Google Coral
USB Accelerator, it has become my powerhouse for
machine learning inference.”
The Coral USB Accelerator attached to Raspberry
Pi contains an Edge TPU processor which allows
for offline TensorFlow models to run. It has some
similar tech to the AIY Vision Kit that Google
T
 he finished device is
released a little while back.
fairly small
If you’re interested in reading about how it works
in more detail, you can head to Ricardo’s project The case holds a
Raspberry Pi Zero W
page at magpi.cc/maplesyrup. and a Camera Module

The Coral TPU is mounted

simply on the back

90 magpi.cc CoolestSyrup
Maple Projects
Pi online!
 THIS MONTH IN RASPBERRY PI

Crowdfund this!
Crowdfund this! Raspberry Pi projects you
Raspberry Pi projects you
can crowdfund this month
can crowdfund this month

CROWD
Lite Berry A PROFJUNDING
If you
ECT?
’ve launc
The design of the Nintendo Switch is very appealing for many folks who play games, Raspb hed a
erry P
projec i-relate
so this kit that helps you turn a Raspberry Pi CM4 into a handheld gaming powerhouse t, let u d
magp s know
using the same form factor looks quite cool. i@ raspb !
errypi.
c om
kck.st/3ivYCVY

PiRelay 8
This board, which is being made in association with SB Components, really expands
the IoT uses of a Raspberry Pi. As its name suggests, it adds eight relays and even has a
built-in touchscreen that controls each one.

kck.st/3qAzLCg

Crowdfund this! magpi.cc 91

 YOUR LETTERS

Your
Letters
Backwards compatibility, part two

I am the Chair of a small charity, The Thika Alumni Trust, a need for, to send them to us and we will transport them to
that helps build e-Learning Centres in schools in Kenya. Kenya for use by school children in Kenya. You will be
Typically a 50 desk environment consists of four Raspberry helping enormously in enhancing ICT skills of students in
Pi Internet-In-A-Box (IIAB) Servers and 50 Raspberry Pi the developing world.
Desktops. We also encourage schools, via Kenyan Raspberry
Pi Code Club champions, to hold local code clubs. We Harper via email
provide help and support with experimental kits and any
old IT equipment in our possession. If you missed Rob’s Final Word in the previous issue, he talked
Old Raspberry Pi computers are wonderful for Kenyan about how older Raspberry Pi still work just fine, and can be
school children to learn coding skills and also to build used for a variety of project types. Organisations like The
robots etc. Following on from the article by Rob Zwetsloot Thika Alumni Trust are able to do amazing things with an older
in The MagPi 107, in a similar vein I am appealing to any Raspberry Pi, so if you’re not sure what to do with one, you can
Raspberry Pi enthusiasts out there, who may have an old always check out their website here: thethikaalumnitrust.org.
Raspberry Pi in their possession which they no longer have You can also email them at: [email protected].

92 magpi.cc Your Letters

 YOUR LETTERS

More Raspberry Pi 400

I’ve been wanting to get a Raspberry Pi 400 for a while
now. However, with all the different keyboard types
that were being released, I was waiting for a Swedish
version. Is that on the cards, do you know? I’d be fine
with a QWERTY keyboard. How long should I hold out
for one?
The Martians Tuisku via Twitter

I read the article about Avra Saslow and her emulation of the Good news: there are now some new variants of
Mars 2020 helicopter with interest. Raspberry Pi 400 including a Swedish one. It's joined by
I’ve made a short video of my ‘homage’ to Perseverance and keyboard layouts for Portugal, Norway, and Denmark.
Ingenuity. It is far, far less sophisticated, but tries to emulate rover A Japanese version is coming soon for people looking
and drone: magpi.cc/legomars. forward to that as well.
Architecture is a Raspberry Pi 3B, LEGO Mindstorms, BrickPi, Check out more at the following blog post:
CrazyFlie, OpenCV, and Python. magpi.cc/new400layouts.
Raspberry Pi controls the rover and provides the video feed – the
OpenCV component currently runs on a laptop and communicates
with Raspberry Pi over 0MQ. Porting the OpenCV code to Raspberry
Pi is a future step. Contact us!
Nigel via email > Twitter @TheMagPi
> Facebook magpi.cc/facebook
This is an incredible build – Raspberry Pi is perfect for OpenCV as > Email [email protected]
well, so this should be an easy port. Keep us updated with what > Online raspberrypi.org/forums
you’re making as we’d love to cover it more in the magazine.

Your Letters magpi.cc 93

 SUBSCRIBE AND

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ISSUE #45

OUT NOW
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 COMPETITION

WIN
A MARTY
THE ROBOT V2!
IN ASSOCIATION
WITH ROBOTICAL
”Marty the Robot is the best-value
humanoid robot that can offer the
breadth of learning progression from
screen-free coding through to Scratch
and Python” – Robotical

We reviewed Marty last issue and

thought it was great, describing it as a
deceptively powerful robot with a cute
design. Here’s your chance to win one…

Head here to enter: magpi.cc/win Learn more: robotical.io

Terms & Conditions

Competition opens on 28 July 2021 and closes on 26 August 2021. Prize is offered to participants worldwide aged 13 or over, except employees of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the
prize supplier, their families, or friends. Winners will be notified by email no more than 30 days after the competition closes. By entering the competition, the winner consents to any
publicity generated from the competition, in print and online. Participants agree to receive occasional newsletters from The MagPi magazine. We don’t like spam: participants’ details
will remain strictly confidential and won’t be shared with third parties. Prizes are non-negotiable and no cash alternative will be offered. Winners will be contacted by email to arrange
delivery. Any winners who have not responded 60 days after the initial email is sent will have their prize revoked. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by,
or associated with, Instagram or Facebook.

Competition magpi.cc 95
 T H AT M A D E

OUT
“The Computers that Made Britain
is one of the best things I’ve read NOW
this year. It’s an incredible story of
eccentrics and oddballs, geniuses and
madmen, and one that will have you
pining for a future that could have been.
It’s utterly astonishing!”
- Stuart Turton, bestselling author
and journalist

Available on

Buy online: wfmag.cc/ctmb

 20
NEXT MONTH EDITORIAL
Editor
Lucy Hattersley
[email protected]

Features Editor
Rob Zwetsloot
[email protected]

Sub Editor
Nicola King

PICO
ADVERTISING
Charlotte Milligan
[email protected]
+44 (0)7725 368887

DESIGN
criticalmedia.co.uk

Head of Design
Lee Allen

PROJECTS
Designers
Lucy Cowan, Sam Ribbits

Illustrator
Sam Alder

CONTRIBUTORS
Mike Cook, David Crookes, PJ
Evans, Ben Everard, Gareth
Halfacree, Martin O’Hanlon,
Rosemary Hattersley, Nicola
MAKE INCREDIBLE King, KG Orphanides, Laura
Sach, Mark Vanstone

THINGS WITH YOUR PUBLISHING

MICROCONTROLLER Publishing Director
Russell Barnes
[email protected]

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Liz Upton

CEO
Eben Upton

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10 amazing game @TheMagPi

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content in this magazine is licensed under
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 THE FINAL WORD

Our place in history

Computers go back a long way. By Lucy Hattersley

I
was chatting to my in-laws name adorns the office building I technology is indistinguishable from
recently about early computing. often work in. magic”, and into the practical world
My mother-in-law was a They have parts and articles on where computing becomes a tool we
programmer (but has never LEO at The Centre for Computing can control.
really used a computer). This History (magpi.cc/tcch) in
was back when ‘computer’ was a
women’s job description.
Cambridge, which has now reopened
and I can’t recommend it highly
 ather oddly,
R
My father-in-law also used to run
simulations back in the 1970s on what
enough. I’ll be heading down there to we need to take
take a look.
turned out (after a long chat and some We tend to think of computing as the magic out of
online digging) to be an IBM
System/360 (magpi.cc/ibm360). He
ultra-modern and, obviously,
forward-thinking. Yet there is the
computing
didn’t personally program the weight of history behind our
machine; he wrote down instructions technological toys. We had just Raspberry Pi
for the simulation on a form, another visited Enderby’s Wharf and, It gave me great pride to show my
person punched the hole cards, and following a drink in Enderby House, in-laws Raspberry Pi and explain
then the programmer ran them there followed a chat about the what each constituent part was.
through the computer. The results history of underwater cabling. The They were amazed by how small it
typically came back a week or so later. first telegraph cable across the was, especially Raspberry Pi Zero.
There followed a surprisingly Atlantic was produced there, and Having this historical perspective
informative chat about the history of much of the world’s subsea helped me explain to them why
computing covering all the usual communication cables were made in Raspberry Pi was so important. It
bases: Charles Babbage, Ada the area. Alcatel Submarine Networks continues the UK’s long tradition of
Lovelace, Alan Turing, John von is still based around the corner. designing, and building, its own
Neumann, and early proto- It often comes as a surprise to computers. Raspberry Pi is vital to
computers like the Difference and folks that most of the internet traffic ensure the existence of a future
Analytic Engines, and orrery devices isn’t whizzing around in space, but generation of programmers, by
like the Antikythera Mechanism. bouncing along vast undersea cables. putting the power of physical
They talked with pride about You can take a look at all the wires computing into the hands of young
Lyons LEO (Lyons Electronic Office, in this interactive map: learners (of all ages).
magpi.cc/leo), a computer I hadn’t submarinecablemap.com.
heard of but intend to learn more Learning how the mystical world
Lucy Hattersley
AUTHOR

about. It was the first computer used of technology works helps us to

in a commercial business setting. ground (or even submerge, in this
Lucy is editor of The MagPi magazine
LEO was modelled closely on case) folks to reality. Rather oddly, and loves computers, but thinks we
Cambridge’s EDSAC, which I do know we need to take the magic out of should have gone with ‘difference
about – that was designed by Sir computing. To bring it away from the engine’ instead.

Maurice Wilkes, the person whose realm of “any sufficiently advanced magpi.cc

98 magpi.cc Our place in history