Les Pounder

hacking

Micro:bit

Last weekend, August 15 and 16, the BBC were in Blackpool as part of their Make it Digital roadshow. I was lucky enough to be asked along to help deliver a day long workshop, all about a new micro controller platform.... Micro:bit Micro:bit is small micro controller powered

Linux

Simple VNC connections

Creating a VNC connection Controlling a Raspberry Pi using VNC is a great way to remotely control a robot. But how can you do it? For this project you will need. * A Raspberry Pi * A WIFI dongle * Monitor * Keyboard * Mouse * Power Supply Pre-requisites Your Raspberry Pi will need a working

hacking

Micro Python

Python is my favourite language and it has been my favourite for around three years. Why? Well because I understand it and I can use it to make different projects. I also enjoy hacking micro controllers so what if there were a micro controller based on Python....well there is

Linux

Directly Connecting To a Raspberry Pi

At a recent Picademy Bytes CPD session I was asked by Monica "How can I connect my laptop to a Raspberry Pi?" Good question! Monica was keen to take her Pi on holiday and hack around with it, but she didn't fancy taking a large screen

hacking

CodeBug - First steps

I love the CodeBug, it is so accessible to children but yet it provides a platform for more advanced hacking. I was lucky to receive my CodeBug in person from Andrew Robinson and so I've been hacking on and off for a few days. The "Hello World&

Linux

Staying sane - Your guide to writing multiple Raspberry Pi SD cards

If you are like me then you probably host a lot of Raspberry Pi themed events. You've probably built up quite a stash of kit, including around 20 Raspberry Pi. So what do you do if you need to create a bunch of SD cards in a rush?

hacking

FT232H GPIO Breakout board

Recently I've received many different micro controller boards but one that has rally caught my eye is the Adafruit FT232H. But why? Well it enables any computer to have GPIO pins that can be controlled using Python similar to the Raspberry Pi. The board comes as a kit,

Raspberry Pi

Setting up a VNC server on your Raspberry Pi

Controlling your Raspberry Pi over a network is a really handy thing to do, but how can you do it? Well in this tutorial I show you how to setup a VNC server on your Raspberry Pi and connect to it via a laptop / tablet using a VNC client. What

review

Review: Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition

Ubuntu on a phone? I've been a Linux user since I discovered Corel Linux in 1999. Since then I have distro hopped, a term used to describe trying out yet never settling on one particular operating system, from Red Hat, Suse, and eventually ending up for a few

Raspberry Pi

Using Python to get weather data

Being British I have an unatural obsession with the weather. In a taxi my opening gambit is usually "Well, isn't the weather nice/wet/cold ?" to which the poor driver responds with a grunt or explains how weather systems works and then exceeds my level of

Raspberry Pi

Picademy@Google Leeds - Sneak Peek

Picademy, the Raspberry Pi Foundation's own brand of CPD training is a fantastic opportunity for teachers to learn more about the Raspberry Pi and how it can revolutionise their delivery of Computing in the classroom. Typically Picademy takes place at Pi Towers in Cambridge, but only very recently

codebug

Codebug

Codebug!!! tl;dr Get out your credit/debit card and back this great project on Kickstarter. It's a great way for children to get their hands dirty with physical computing and have a cheap platform that will grow with them. My good friend Andrew Robinson has recently launched

hacking

Apple A1048 - Almost there! #sysadminA1048

Last night I finished off installing all of the now bleached keys on the keyboard and I have to say that I am rather happy with the result. Sure the keys are not ice white, but they are considerably better than the yellow keys that I started with. So let&

Raspberry Pi

Smile - You're on Minecraft Camera

Minecraft Pi is considered to be one of the killer apps that ships with the Raspberry Pi. I do a lot of work for web and print magazines and they always want a nice clean way to get high quality screenshots, and this is where we have an issue. Typically

hacking

#sysadminA1048 - Bleaching the keys

Earlier this week I ordered a few key components for my Apple A1048 keyboard restoration / hack. I needed some Hydrogen Peroxide (9% strength) and a UV light source. So off to Amazon I went and picked up the Hydrogen Peroxide and for the UV source I found a cheap UV

arduino

Hacking Apple A1048 Keyboard

Confession - I love early 2000s Apple design asthetics. So when I had the chance to own an A1048 mechanical keyboard...I jumped at the chance. The keyboard itself was a little unloved, being left in a storage rooms for years. So I took it home and photographed it as

scratch

Wizarding Maths Quiz

I really do love Scratch... It's a nice gentle introduction to coding that does not scare children out of Computing. Each of the blocks can be built into a sequence that can make a game, an animation of be used as an instrument. I teach a lot of

android

Moto (G)od awful Lollipop update issues

I broke my phone :( I really do love my Motoroal Moto G. This budget smartphone has travelled the UK and become my go to piece of kit for any issues on the road. Seriously the other week I spent 8.5 hours travelling to Berkshire, only to be dumped in

Raspberry Pi

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes

I've had to keep a secret for a very long time! In January 2015, Russell Barnes of Raspi.today and formerly editor for Linux User contacted me to ask if I would like to contribute to a new official Raspbery Pi magazine. I jumped at the chance and

Raspberry Pi

Shortcrust Pis

I recently received two Short Crust cases for the Raspberry Pi B+ from Pi Supply I wanted to write a short review to look at these cases from a buyers point of view. So without further ado. Review Short Crust Plus for Raspberry Pi B+ Packaging The box that contains

Raspberry Pi

Toys Stories

New toys to play with. PiFace Relay + joined with a PiFace Motor Control EXTRA One of the perks of being a tech journo is that you get to play with some pretty amazing toys. Just recently I took delivery of two parcels, one from Element 14 for an upcoming blog

Linx

Linx 7 Windows 8 Tablet

It's been just over a week... Since I took ownership of the Linx 7 tablet and in this short amount of time, as well as eating my body weight in turkey, I have found the time to tinker with this little bargain. For those that missed my earlier

Raspberry Pi

Minecraft Teleporter using Pibrella

I've written this project up as a direct response to a query from my good friend Tom Sparrow, who will be running a demo of Raspberry Pi, Pibrella and Minecraft at his local school in 2015. Best of luck Tom. It's no secret that I really

Linux

Well it's almost Lin(u)x

As I write this it is Christmas Eve, a magical time of the year where children wonder what presents they will receive. In supermarkets across the land, enough bread and milk to feed a small army is being loaded in to cars ready for those "unexpected guests". Anyway

school

Coding Your School Play - In Scratch 2 and Sonic Pi

Scratch is a great introduction to computing. It uses a simple interface based on attaching blocks together to form a sequence. Scratch can be used on all manner of projects, from simple games all the way to interfacing with hardware components such as Raspberry Pi and Arduino One project that