Learn to Program with this Sweet Mini Computer, the Raspberry Pi
If you stayed even a little bit awake in geometry class, you can appreciate that March 14th is Pi Day. But if you’re really nerdy (like us), you know that Raspberry Pi—a cleverly-named hobbyist computer—just released the newest member of its family: The Raspberry Pi Zero W. In fact, we’re so excited that we stockpiled up on 314 of the suckers. No, we aren’t going to use them to build the world’s first sentient Zipcar Transformer (our engineers wouldn’t tell us how). Instead, we’re asking everyone (we’re looking at you, too, non-Zipcar members) to tweet at us with how you’d use a Raspberry Pi—and giving them away to the best 314 project ideas!
WHAT'S A RASPBERRY PI?
Cool. So…what’s a Raspberry Pi? It’s essentially an entry-level piece of hardware for anyone looking to try their hand at basic computer engineering or programming. Imagine a tiny circuit board just waiting for you to connect stuff to. The projects you can tackle using one of these pint-sized ‘puters can range from playing old-school video games to building a robotic arm (we weren’t kidding about the Transformers!). This new release is particularly exciting because it comes loaded with wireless LAN and Bluetooth capabilities, allowing users to fling their Pi well across the room. They also come equipped with HDMI and USB ports to make hooking up to screens and power supplies a total piece of…cake. Seriously, even if building a computer doesn’t sound like it’s for you, Raspberry Pi makes it so easy to get started with tons of curiosity-spiking projects that you just might surprise yourself.
To show you how easy it is (and inspire you to build something cool with the free Raspberry Pi Zero W you could win) we asked Zipcar employees about their personal experiences with the Raspberry Pi. Here’s what they had to say.
TEENIE'S PANDA CAM
Like so many things in life, my interest in Raspberry Pi arose out of a need. That need was for a constant video stream of the most magical, mystical fluff-nuggets in the world: pandas. You see, the greatest thing about the internet (and let’s be honest, technology in general) is its ability to provide us with endless hours of adorable animals just being unbelievably cute. Sadly, my second computer screen at work was constantly being used to pull up spreadsheets, schedules, emails, etc. This was severely cutting into my panda cam time. After consulting with a few coworkers, we decided it would be best to turn the extra TV on the floor into a constant Panda Cam viewing area. Enter: The Raspberry Pi.
This cute itty-bitty computer held the key to unlocking hours of panda cam footage. Now trust me, as someone with very little tech background, I was intimidated at first. But I just laced up my boots, printed out a picture of Ada Lovelace for inspiration, and got to work—giddy with the excitement of all the precious panda moments I would eventually be able to see!
JON'S RETRO GAMING CONSOLE
Electronics projects intimidated me for a long time. What do I know about circuits and switches? Where would I even begin if I wanted to build a bus stop alert system? What if I ruin something critical because I don't know how to solder correctly? Doubt can be a debilitating force, so I sat by admiring all the cool projects others were posting to the Internet. Robots, smart costumes, home automation systems; there were so many great ideas coming out of the DIY community. I finally saw one project that struck a chord—a custom arcade cabinet powered by something called a Raspberry Pi. This tiny little computer was capable of so much, and for a remarkably low price.
My goal was clear: Use the Pi to build the ultimate gaming console for road trips! No soldering required, and everything I needed was lying around the house. An hour of reading and setup later, and I was playing some of my favorite video games straight out of the ‘80s.
JAMES' RPI DOCKER
I’ve played with electronics since childhood, at a time when through-hole 74-series logic chips and the 555 timer ruled the landscape. My first embedded system was a Motorola 68HC11 board running a Forth interpreter, and if you wanted output devices, you learned how to bit-bang protocols on the GPIO pins. (Anyone follow that?)
Times have seriously changed. Embedded systems like Raspberry Pi make this sort of computing easily available to anyone with a little bit of curiosity. What’s more, there’s no reason to think of these devices as strictly embedded. There’s nothing stopping anybody from using a Raspberry Pi as a regular computer, and doing pretty much anything a regular computer can do.
The Raspberry Pi also brings back the thrill of being able to control other electronics, straight from a “regular” computer. You can learn to bit-bang if you want, straight from a Linux command line, and in almost any programming language you want. It’s an exciting time, and I’m excited to be a part of it.
HOW TO WIN YOUR OWN RASPBERRY PI
We think everyone deserves the opportunity to embrace their curiosity and make something cool. That’s why we’re so giddy about sharing these things with every different kind of builder out there. Take a look at what you can do, and (if you’re interested) tweet some project ideas at us with #zipPI for a chance to win a new Raspberry Pi Zero W of your own.
WHAT'S A RASPBERRY PI?
Cool. So…what’s a Raspberry Pi? It’s essentially an entry-level piece of hardware for anyone looking to try their hand at basic computer engineering or programming. Imagine a tiny circuit board just waiting for you to connect stuff to. The projects you can tackle using one of these pint-sized ‘puters can range from playing old-school video games to building a robotic arm (we weren’t kidding about the Transformers!). This new release is particularly exciting because it comes loaded with wireless LAN and Bluetooth capabilities, allowing users to fling their Pi well across the room. They also come equipped with HDMI and USB ports to make hooking up to screens and power supplies a total piece of…cake. Seriously, even if building a computer doesn’t sound like it’s for you, Raspberry Pi makes it so easy to get started with tons of curiosity-spiking projects that you just might surprise yourself.
To show you how easy it is (and inspire you to build something cool with the free Raspberry Pi Zero W you could win) we asked Zipcar employees about their personal experiences with the Raspberry Pi. Here’s what they had to say.
TEENIE'S PANDA CAM
Like so many things in life, my interest in Raspberry Pi arose out of a need. That need was for a constant video stream of the most magical, mystical fluff-nuggets in the world: pandas. You see, the greatest thing about the internet (and let’s be honest, technology in general) is its ability to provide us with endless hours of adorable animals just being unbelievably cute. Sadly, my second computer screen at work was constantly being used to pull up spreadsheets, schedules, emails, etc. This was severely cutting into my panda cam time. After consulting with a few coworkers, we decided it would be best to turn the extra TV on the floor into a constant Panda Cam viewing area. Enter: The Raspberry Pi.
This cute itty-bitty computer held the key to unlocking hours of panda cam footage. Now trust me, as someone with very little tech background, I was intimidated at first. But I just laced up my boots, printed out a picture of Ada Lovelace for inspiration, and got to work—giddy with the excitement of all the precious panda moments I would eventually be able to see!
JON'S RETRO GAMING CONSOLE
Electronics projects intimidated me for a long time. What do I know about circuits and switches? Where would I even begin if I wanted to build a bus stop alert system? What if I ruin something critical because I don't know how to solder correctly? Doubt can be a debilitating force, so I sat by admiring all the cool projects others were posting to the Internet. Robots, smart costumes, home automation systems; there were so many great ideas coming out of the DIY community. I finally saw one project that struck a chord—a custom arcade cabinet powered by something called a Raspberry Pi. This tiny little computer was capable of so much, and for a remarkably low price.
My goal was clear: Use the Pi to build the ultimate gaming console for road trips! No soldering required, and everything I needed was lying around the house. An hour of reading and setup later, and I was playing some of my favorite video games straight out of the ‘80s.
JAMES' RPI DOCKER
I’ve played with electronics since childhood, at a time when through-hole 74-series logic chips and the 555 timer ruled the landscape. My first embedded system was a Motorola 68HC11 board running a Forth interpreter, and if you wanted output devices, you learned how to bit-bang protocols on the GPIO pins. (Anyone follow that?)
Times have seriously changed. Embedded systems like Raspberry Pi make this sort of computing easily available to anyone with a little bit of curiosity. What’s more, there’s no reason to think of these devices as strictly embedded. There’s nothing stopping anybody from using a Raspberry Pi as a regular computer, and doing pretty much anything a regular computer can do.
The Raspberry Pi also brings back the thrill of being able to control other electronics, straight from a “regular” computer. You can learn to bit-bang if you want, straight from a Linux command line, and in almost any programming language you want. It’s an exciting time, and I’m excited to be a part of it.
HOW TO WIN YOUR OWN RASPBERRY PI
We think everyone deserves the opportunity to embrace their curiosity and make something cool. That’s why we’re so giddy about sharing these things with every different kind of builder out there. Take a look at what you can do, and (if you’re interested) tweet some project ideas at us with #zipPI for a chance to win a new Raspberry Pi Zero W of your own.
