Hacking with a Raspberry Pi: An Introduction

I've recently been playing around with Raspberry Pi and some hardware - seeing what else can be done with the tiny computer.

I previously wrote about using the pi as a media centre, but I wanted to try something else (after seeing a friend using his for house temperature readings).

I've always wanted a basic weather station, one that just told me the temperature outside so that I knew what to wear for cycling, and this is what I set out to create.

This will be the first in a series of blogs posts detailing the steps i've been through. I've made a prototype, but I'm about to embark on making something proper and so I will be making a note of what I'm doing (for my sake as well as yours!)

Getting Started

I already had my raspberry pi, but if you don't have one I would recommend getting (at time of writing) the B+ or (if you can spare the extra cash) a Raspberry Pi B 2 (the 2 being the important bit!)

I also picked up a starter kit - although the documentation you get with it is appalling, it's good to have some starting hardware to use and call upon - then pick up the extra bits as when you need them.

I'm also keeping track of the code i'm using

  • pypi-lcdscreen is my pip (python package manager) module for using an LCD screen (like the one found in the starter kit)
  • WeatherStation - The code which runs and powers the weather station

Blog Posts in the Series

View this post on Github

You might also enjoy…

Mike Street

Written by Mike Street

Mike is a CTO and Lead Developer from Brighton, UK. He spends his time writing, cycling and coding. You can find Mike on Mastodon.