New hobby: Playing with the cheapest computer-Raspberry Pi Zero W
Since I do not have a garage and a motorcycle anymore; I will suspend my plans on fixing and modifying motorcycle engine, and channel my energy to another interesting field: finding cheap and customized computational solutions. Thanks to Raspberry Pi, it has been a rapidly developing market with huge community support. Now, it is mature enough for me to explore.
This tech has been catching my eye ever since the emergence of Internet of things (IoT) phenomena, and I was remotely admiring the progress but not engaging. Now I feel like it can be my new hobby which in return may help me (indirectly) understand potential application in clinical informatics and mobile health (there is a professional benefit in it, so maybe it is a semi-hobby). Eventually, I could not have resisted to my urge to explore, and bought this $10 brand-new "computer" : Raspberry Pi zero W. Zero stands for starting point in Pi line-up with its affordability and low specs (1GHz & 512 RAM). W is for wireless access (bluetooth and WiFi)- That is the tempting part, which means you can control any connected device remotely! To-be clear, when I say computer, it is just a electronic board with I/O ports, circuits and chips sprinkles upon (But it is so mesmerizing thinking the ancestor of this piece was a room full of equipments!) It comes within a plastic bag with nothing else. So you need to find a way for the proper housing, having SD card and cables to connect PC and power. For me, I used existing cables and old SD card of my phone and PC. If you do not have these extras (will be mentioned below in detail), be prepared to pay extra $10-20 to get your Pi running.
I had a bit of experience with Linux and programming before, but not so extensive due to my job and research interests. So, I know where to look at while starting, but you may not. So with this post, as a beginner and enthusiast, I will try to briefly share my initial experience with you, and to help if you plan to start such a hobby/project and looking for answers to "how to do it?" and "what to do with it?"
How to do it?
Warning: Be ready for extensive web searching (and being patient) while dealing with this piece. For each of your problems, you will find yourself running among multiple tabs and reading lots of entries to get your Pi running.
First of all, when you got your Pi, check if you got necessary equipments to install operating system (OS) and connect to your PC. Fundamentally, this means you will need a micro SD card (+8 GB to install the OS), a micro USB to USB (male) cable for connecting to your PC and powering your Pi. There are two mini USB ports on Pi, one is for PC connection and the other is for power. The same cable for data connection can be used to power your Pi if you need to run it independently. Only thing is you need to use USB charger which has 5V output. Here are what I found at home that saved me from the trouble: old phones charger, cable and micro SD card (with SD card adaptor for connecting to Macbook).
After the equipments are ready to go, first thing is you will need to format your SD card and install OS. There are different options for OS, but I preferred Raspian Lite for a faster system (it has no user interface, just command line) and also I do not have a monitor connection cable yet, so I used SSH connection from my Macbook. Here is the link for Raspbian OS to download. There is one other popular OS called NOOBs that you may like to look at, but it may require extra processing power suiting better for stronger Pis.
For installing the OS, everything is operated from the Terminal. So, after formatting your micro SD card (help is here), open your terminal screen, and start installing your OS and creating SSH connection for you to be able to connect to your Pi from your PC. For this I found a great video instruction in this link.
Troubleshooting: If you are like me, eventually you will need to re-install the OS for various reasons. When you have that, simply re-formatting and re-installing may not work, and you need to reset SSH settings. So check this page for the solution. What I did was removing all defined SSHs from the computer (Command line: rm ~/.ssh/known_hosts).
Now you got a perfectly running Pi (you can see the green light is on), congrats! Seeing from the SSH screen connected to your Pi is priceless! (Bender is a custom mod you may add later, it is not the default interface)
It is time to give your Pi its independence: connecting to WiFi! Here is the ultimate help link for you (if you prefer Raspbian OS, WiFi adapter may have some identification troubles to solve). What I did was since my WiFi network is not visible:
Don't forget your bluetooth module! For setting up bluetooth connection, see the link.
Finally, your Pi is ready for any operation you like, except mining bitcoins :) With the right cables and/or commands, you can connect it to any devices, such as your TV, monitor or camera.
Just do not forget that, at the end of the day, you cannot plug it out but you need to shut down your Pi properly. Sorry it has no button on it, so you need to type: sudo shutdown -h now. After 5-10 secs, it will be ready to unplug (light is off)
For the housing, there are fancy products out there. For me, I just sticked it into a small box that was strengthened with duct tape. It does not look fancy but works well. It also gives the liberty to modify its position and to store cables inside the box.
What to do with the Pi?
There are lots of of potential projects shared on the net that you may get inspired. Some of mines are:
> To use with TV for streaming videos, photos. For that I am not planning to format my microSD card and Raspian lite OS, instead installing another OS with UI, running in USB flash drive (because I do not have another micro SD card). Having wireless keyboard and mouse suggested.
> Creating the cheapest surveillance or monitoring system with connecting a camera. (an example) I am planning to start with creating a baby monitor with using this $5 camera I had.
> Using as event detection or recognition system with assistance of AWS platform. (example) This can be used integrated to the doorbell, or home surveillance.
> Building a retro game console. Just for fun. Here are some examples. (For a simple starting point for this, you may also try terminal based games too)
> Creating own cloud server. I am planning to compete with Dropbox, within my own territory (instructions)
> Using as simple eduction platform for my kid to develop programming skills (such as). Just for being a good father.
Eventually, this hobby cost me $10 in total and re-use of some hardware lying around in my drawer. But for the sake of my exciting projects, I need TV and camera connections and bought these extra cables and bought them from eBay ($7) :
Micro usb to usb converter (connecting regular USB connectors to Pi) - careful to buy a cable not an adapter, because ports are so close, they may not fit together with the power cable.
HDMI to MINI HDMI converter (connecting to a monitor or TV)
Hope this post was helpful for you to see how it is when you go Raspberry Pi-way. The possibilities are vast with Pi, and community support helps a lot to find the right solutions.
Cheers.
