Introducing the Joey Raspberry Pi Display

Gooligum Electronics (could they be more Australian?) recently sent me a Joey board to play with.

These boards are incredibly good value at $8 (the American sort of dollar) and a neat design that uses offset holes in the PCB so that it will slide over your Raspberry Pi's GPIO connector while leaving you access to the pins for other uses. This works well, with just the right amount of offset to ensure a good connection without bending the pins.

To make use of the Joey, you'll need to go and get the Python library for it.

Install it using the command:

git clone https://github.com/gooligumelec/Joey-support-Python-code.git

The Joey board also uses I2C so you will need to enable I2C which you can do from the Preferences->Raspberyy Pi Configuration menu option.

You'll also need to install smbus using the commands:

sudo apt-get install python-smbus

I tried out one of the example programs inside the folder joey_clock.py

cd Joey-support-Python-code

sudo python joey_clock.py

The Joey also has a row of three jumpers on the front that you can attach buttons to. Just the job for a Squid Button!

I added the Squid Button so that the clock could switch between showing the hours:mins or seconds. The modified program is listen below:

import time
import datetime
from joey_support import joeyBoard

display = joeyBoard()

show_seconds = False

# Continually update the time on the "Joey" 4 char, 7-segment display
while(True):
  if display.getJumpers() == 7:
      show_seconds = not show_seconds
  now = datetime.datetime.now()
  hour = now.hour
  minute = now.minute
  second = now.second
  if show_seconds:
      display.writeInt(0)
      display.writeDigit(3, int(second / 10))   # Tens
      display.writeDigit(4, second % 10)        # Ones
  else:
      # Set hours
      display.writeDigit(1, int(hour / 10))     # Tens
      display.writeDigit(2, hour % 10)          # Ones
      # Set minutes
      display.writeDigit(3, int(minute / 10))   # Tens
      display.writeDigit(4, minute % 10)        # Ones
  # Toggle colon
  display.setColon(second % 2)              # Toggle colon at 1 Hz
  # Wait one second
  time.sleep(0.5)

Use a Raspberry Squid with a Micro:bit

The Raspberry Squid is an RGB LED with built-in resistors originally designed for the Raspberry Pi. But you can also use it with a BBC Micro:bit.

You can find instructions for making a Squid from https://github.com/simonmonk/squid or buy a ready-made one by MonkMakes.

You will also need a Micro:bit and a breakout board such as this one from Kitronik.

Connect up the Squid with the black lead to 0V, red to pin0, green to pin1 and blue to pin2.

Here's the script!

A Simple LED Clock using Spark Core or Particle Photon

Having a spare Spark Core doing nothing, it struck me that it would be very easy to pair it up with a large 4 digit 7 segment I2C Adafruit display that I had and make a clock. What's more, because the Spark Core is connected to the Internet via my home network it can get its time from a time server and always be accurate.

Hardware

To make this build, you will need:

• A Particle Photon or Spark Core
• I2C backpack LED display (Adafruit product ID 878 or 1270)
• Half breadboard
• 2 x 4.7k resistors
• 5 x male to male jumper wires

I used Adafruit's large display (1270) which has an extra pin to the left of the + pin that supplies power for the control logic, separate to the LED power. The breadboard layout below will work for the large display and the smaller display, just make sure that whichever display you use, the yellow lead goes to the C connection of the display.

The displays are also available in other colors if you check Adafruit's website

Software

Go to http://particle.io and select the BUILD option to open the web IDE. 

Create a new 'App' and call it Clock.

This project requires the SPARKTIME and ADAFRUIT-LED-BACKPACK LIBRARIES, so click on the libraries button, find each of these libraries in turn and click USE THIS LIBRARY selecting your new Clock app when asked to select the app.

Now you can paste the following code into your App. Note that the includes should already be there if the libraries have been imported correctly.

You will need to change your time zone offset on the last line of setup.

That's it - the display should start as soon as the Photon or Core resets. 

#include "SparkTime/SparkTime.h"

#include "adafruit-led-backpack/adafruit-led-backpack.h"

Adafruit_7segment matrix = Adafruit_7segment();

UDP UDPClient;

SparkTime rtc;

unsigned long currentTime;

unsigned long lastTime = 0UL;

String timeStr;

int colon = false;

void setup() {

  matrix.begin(0x70);

  matrix.setBrightness(15);

  rtc.begin(&UDPClient, "north-america.pool.ntp.org");

  rtc.setTimeZone(0); // gmt offset

}

void loop() {

    

  currentTime = rtc.now();

  int min = rtc.minute(currentTime);  

  int hour = rtc.hour(currentTime);

  matrix.print(hour * 100 + min, DEC);

  colon = ! colon;

  matrix.drawColon(colon);

  matrix.writeDisplay();

  delay(500);

}

If you enjoyed making this project, and want to learn more about programming and using the Photon, check out my book on the Photon.

Introducing the Raspberry Squid

Sometimes its just really handy to be able to plug something into your GPIO pins without having to get out breadboard and jumper wires.

The Raspberry Squid from MonkMakes.com makes does just that.

The Common Cathode RGB LED squid is terminated in female jumper wires and includes series resistors for the LEDs inside the shrink wrap. So, you can just plug it straight onto the GPIO connector.

Its not so hard making your own Raspberry Squid and you can read just how to do that here where you will find a library that makes it easy to use the Squid.

You can also buy ready-made Squids from Monk Makes in various sets, available on Amazon in the UK and US.

So as well as RGB and Button squids MonkMakes also have a DS18B20, light sensor and buzzers in the pipeline.

The Phobot board and Stepper Motors

The MonkMakes Phobot motor controller board is designed primarily to control a pair of DC motors, to make roving robots that can be controlled over the Internet using the Particle Photon Arduino-ish IoT module. However, you can also use it to drive a bipolar stepper motor.

The stepper motor I used was this 12V motor from Adafruit.

Wire one coil of the stepper (yellow and read wires for my motor) to the M4 screw terminals and the other coil (gray and green) to M3. You will also need a 12V DC power supply wires to screw terminals GND and Vin on the Phobot board.

The Phobot will provide 12V to the stepper motor, but also provide a regulated 5V supply to the Photon, so your Photon's USB port does not need to be connected.

All that remains is to write some code. So log into particle.io and then start a new App. Paste the following code into it:

#include "PhoBot/PhoBot.h"

PhoBot p = PhoBot(12.0, 12.0);

void setup() {
}

void loop() {
    forward(100, 5);
    reverse(100, 5);
}

void forward(int numSteps, int period) {
    for (int i = 0; i < numSteps; i++) {
        p.setMotors("M3-F-100");
        p.setMotors("M4-B-100");
        delay(period);
        p.setMotors("M3-F-100");
        p.setMotors("M4-F-100");
        delay(period);
        p.setMotors("M3-B-50");
        p.setMotors("M4-F-50");
        delay(period);
        p.setMotors("M3-B-50");
        p.setMotors("M4-B-50");
        delay(period);
    }
}

void reverse(int numSteps, int period) {
    for (int i = 0; i < numSteps; i++) {
        p.setMotors("M3-B-100");
        p.setMotors("M4-B-100");
        delay(period);
        p.setMotors("M3-B-100");
        p.setMotors("M4-F-100");
        delay(period);
        p.setMotors("M3-F-50");
        p.setMotors("M4-F-50");
        delay(period);
        p.setMotors("M3-F-50");
        p.setMotors("M4-B-50");
        delay(period);
    }
}

You will also need to add the PhoBot library to the app, by selecting the Libraries button on the Particle IDE and then search for Phobot. Click on the INCLUDE IN APP button to add the library to your new app.

Click on the lightening bolt to deploy the app to your Photon. As soon as the app has finished installing, the motor should start turning, first in one direction and then the other.

Try changing the value of the second parameter to forward and reverse in loop from 5 to 10 and the motor will turn at half the speed. You can also try altering the number of steps (the first parameter).

Note that a period of 5ms is a little fast for this motor, so if you want to avoid steps being missed, it probably needs to be 10ms or more.

You can buy the Phobot board from Seeedstudio Adafruit and also find it on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Accurate and Reliable Readings from a TMP36

I have been using the TMP36 for years, with Arduino, BeagleBone and now the Spark Core/Photon. It has often been reported in the Arduino forums that this chip is inaccurate and unreliable. Indeed a quick glance at the datasheet tells you accurate to 2 degrees C (which seems pretty poor).

I'm working on a Spark Core project for a book and tried out a TMP36. The results seemed totally mad, -25C when it should have been 17C. I checked the maths which was all fine. Then, thinking I had a duff TMP36, I connected my multimeter to measure the output of the TMP36. Suddenly the readings started to be accurate and stable! My magic multimeter was making things work right!

So, going back to the datasheet for the TMP36, the equivalent schematic looks like this:

To add a load resistor (I used 1k, but looking at the spec, the load should not really exceed 50uA so a 20k or 47k resistor would be better) to any microcontroller analog input, connect your resistor between Vout and GND on the TMP36.

So, if we have all been using the TMP36 incorrectly for years, then how has it ever worked?

Well, the Arduino has a relatively low input impedance to the analog inputs, so enough current flowed to ground to make it usable, if not terribly good. However the Spark Core has analog inputs that are biased to roughly 1.65V, which totally screws the TMP36 output, without any kind of load resistor. Even my high impedance multimeter voltage range was enough of a pull-down for it all to work.

So, the lesson is:

*** If your TMP36 is misbehaving, put a 47kΩ resistor between Vout and GND on your TMP36. ***

Raspberry Pi Model B+ Review

CPC very kindly sent me a Raspberry Pi model B+ to try out.

As you can see, there are a few changes when you compare it to the Raspberry Pi Model B in the middle and the model A on the right. This board is a pretty serious upgrade to the Model B while still being very affordable at just £22.87 + VAT (about $40).

Raspberry Pi, models B+, B and A

The most obvious change is that there are now four USB ports rather than the two of the Model B. This is a great improvement and removes the need to have a USB hub connected to the Pi. It means you can have a keyboard, mouse, USB WiFi dongle connected and still have a spare slot for a USB pen drive.

I think that the provision of four USB ports is extremely significant, because it marks out the Raspberry Pi firmly as a real computer and not just another tiny Linux board designed to be used as an embedded controller.

This brings me on to another obvious change. The GPIO port has grown from 2 rows of 13 pins to 2 rows of 20 pins. Many people will never use the GPIO port on a Raspberry Pi, content to just use it as a computer. But if you want to use your Raspberry Pi to control electronics, you now have some more pins to do it with. The additional pins are at one end of the board to maintain compatibility with existing add-on boards.

Another change is the removal of the little-used composite video socket. This allowed you to attach AV monitors of the type used in CCTV to the Raspberry Pi. This connection is still available but supplied as an extra connection on the Audio jack, which is now an AV jack, combining both audio and video.

There are other changes, both cosmetic and improvements to the design.

• The corners of the PCB are rounded off, which makes it look a bit sleeker and more professional. Not that that makes a blind bit of difference really.
• Of more significance are new mounting holes arranged in a rectangle, rather than at random locations on the board.
• The sockets aren't all in the same place (so you'll need a new case)
• The power supply is now reverse polarity protected and the linear voltage regulators (which get hot) have been replaced by switching regulators (which don't).

Does it Work?

All in all, all these improvements are very welcome. I think that the Raspberry Pi foundation have hit the nail firmly on the head with this update. But of course the million dollar question for all of us who have model B boards is 'will our stuff work?'

Since I was using a full-sized SD card in my model B, I obviously could not just use the same SD card. Even if you are using a micro SD card in an adapter on a model B, you will still need to upgrade Raspbian to the latest version using a model B before moving the SD card over to to the B+. This is because the B+ uses a different Ethernet controller chip.

When setting up a Pi, I prefer to create a full Raspbian iso disk image using Pi Filler rather than use Noobs. This is because I generally use my Pi through SSH and VNC rather than attach keyboard, mouse and monitor. Noobs needs a keyboard mouse and monitor.

So, I created a micro SD card using the 2014-06-20 distribution of Raspbian. The Pi looked happy until I tried to ssh to it. No response. So, I plugged keyboard, mouse and monitor in, and rebooted. It did boot, but with a load of errors and then failed to run raspi-config.

Now that I had the Pi all accessorised, I thought I might as well try the latest Noobs and this worked perfectly, first time.

Lesson - if upgrading from a B, copy the stuff you need off to a flash drive, then run Noobs on a new micro SD card.

Next, I though I should try out the GPIO connector, so I put together the Charlieplex LED project from the Raspberry Pi Cookbook.

This all worked fine.

I also thought I had better check out the RasPiRobotBoard V2 and make sure that all was well with that. It was, so all in all no compatibility problems so far.

Next, I thought I had better test out I2C, so I plugged an Adafruit LED Backpack into the I2C socket of the RasPiRobotBoard, loaded up the Adafruit example code and everything worked just fine.

I didn't try out any of the new GPIO pins, but I have no reason to doubt them. You can find a pinout for them here. My next job is to update the Raspberry Leaf and make a B+ version.

Conclusion
I love this board. There's nothing wrong with the plain model B, but this positions the Raspberry Pi as the undisputed ruler of the Single Board Computer.


Books.
You may be interested in the books I have written about the Raspberry Pi.