In my last article I introduced hobbyist veterans Parallax and their Propeller Microcontroller. The oft-overlooked multi-core gem is available in many form factors, but I got my hands on the Arduino-shield-compatible ASC+ to test. I imagined that this article would...

Parallax are the embodiment of the classic underdog tale, and their commitment to doing things differently and keeping close to the makers and enthusiasts who made them what they are today is really what makes them special. Founded in the...

It's been a while since I reviewed anything Pi-related, or rather a while since I took the time to actually write about it rather than simply Tweeting my adventures. I have a few bits and bobs in my pipeline, but...

I've got some great news, and a little update incoming to let you know why this blog has been, frankly, neglected for so long. It's for a good reason, honest! Watch this space. I've been busy with all manner of...

Some time ago I talked about the Papilio Pro. This amazing FPGA-based board is still one of my favourite and least understood boards. The reconfigurable "fabric" of an FPGA can be moulded, by means of a hardware description language, into...

Warning! Google Coder currently changes the password of the "pi" user account to the one you enter in the web interface. If you find yourself unable to SSH or otherwise log into your Pi after following this guide, then use...

If you haven't read my guide to assembling your very own ultra-minimalist Breadboard Arduino specifically for your Raspberry Pi, or created your own variant, then you should give it a whirl. The Pico PiDuino is the cheapest way to dip...

There's little doubt that you've at least heard of Arduino if you're interested in hacking around with hardware on the Raspberry Pi. Arduino have brought a whole variety of Atmel-based boards to the market, coupled with the easy to use...

One of the first things that excited me about the Arduino Due was the possibility of VGA output with nothing more than a few resistors, a VGA connector and a bundle of wires. Arduino Forum member Stimmer has produced a...

Continuing on from the PiGlow, I got my hands on another piece of Pimoroni goodness; the PiBow Timber. I picked up a plastic PiBow for my first Pi months and months ago. It has remained my favourite and, in fact,...

A week or so ago I discovered the Pimoroni PiGlow via Twitter. Not so long after, it arrived in the post and I excitedly set about discovering its ins-and-outs. First up, the PiGlow is small. Really small. It shouldn't come...

Having had a couple of run-ins with CNC machines myself, albeit only one of them involving harm to me, I'm inherently aware of the dangers involved when operating large, complicated collections of semi-autonomous machinery. Granted, the time I accidentally picked...

Before launching into this brief review of the Arduino Due, it's important to note that this beefy complement to the ATMega based Arduino boards is absolutely not Arduino's answer to the Raspberry Pi. It may feature an ARM-based processor, but...

After attending the local Norwich Ruby user group meeting and enjoying some healthy discussion about hosting-on-Heroku and the Amazon Elastic Beanstalk, I was inspired by the phrase "turn down the dynos." Since TechWeek Europe are still calling for your office...

In the course of developing my Serial TFT Python driver library for the Hobbytronics Serial TFT board. I conducted a suite of "load" tests which I used to determine just how fast I could draw text, pixels, lines, boxes, filled...

A great opportunity has cropped up for Arduino fans, Raspberry Pi fans or hobby electronics enthusiasts in general. TechWeek Europe are calling for your office gadget ideas with an easy to enter competition. All you need to do is write...

Over the last few days I have been engrossed in tinkering with both the software to drive, and the Arduino-based firmware that lives on, the Hobbytronics Serial-TFT Board. Following on from their great little Serial-VGA, the Serial-TFT board is a...

With text displaying on the Clockatoo, albeit poorly, there was one thing I couldn't resist doing; grabbing the latest tweets and displaying them on the 4-digit, 7-segment display as a sort of Raspberry-Pi-Buzz-Eye-Catchy-Notification-Thing. After putting together a hacky abomination involving...

When I first set up this blog, I happened upon Thin and assumed it to be the best solution for serving it up to the web. I was wrong. Thin is great, and has its place, but it has a...

If you've not heard of the Geekroo Clockatoo, and tend to use your Pi for network related things (website hosting, IRC bouncers, DNS/mail server), then I'd like to introduce the Clockatoo as the one thing you should have permenantly seated...

I've never been the biggest fan of programming books, or educational books in general for that matter. But I accept they have their place as an ambient, screen-free, easy to pick up and leaf through reference to various subjects of...

There are no shortage of Raspberry Pi IO board manufacturers out there. An entire cottage industry has sprung up around the low cost device to cater for any interface demands the tinkerer or professional might ever have. AB electronics are...

Rubyists fear not, I am not neglecting my language of choice, merely leading the charge with Python which, frankly, nets me a lot more feedback than its under-utilised cousin. Many fixes and inclusions that have gone into the Python version...

After work I took a trip to the postal depot to hand some more import duty over to "the man" for my clearly labelled review samples. But I didn't mind. I walked another mile and a bit to pick up...

Since setting up my Pi as an IRC bouncer, I've been using Shroud BNC. Much chatter on the subject of IRC bouncers, however, has convinced me that this may not be the best of the bunch. And with the name...