Raspberry pi

[Joelbanks5]

So I've always wanted to get into projects with a raspberry pi, but I never really wanted to just copy someone else and just make something from instructables or something. How would I be original and make something useful and what not. 

[BloodyWaters]

Look around the house and see what would be cool to do with the Raspberry Pi. 

[Aleks NE]

19 minutes ago, Joelbanks5 said:

So I've always wanted to get into projects with a raspberry pi, but I never really wanted to just copy someone else and just make something from instructables or something. How would I be original and make something useful and what not. 

 

Just look around your house and you'll come up with something.

[Thunderpup]

In addition to the above suggestions you could look at a device you already have, or a device you'd like to own but cant afford, and see if you can re-create it or something better with a pi.

 

I.e. making your own tablet, router, alexa etc...

[Joelbanks5]

4 hours ago, BloodyWaters said:

Look around the house and see what would be cool to do with the Raspberry Pi. 

 

4 hours ago, <Aleks> said:

Just look around your house and you'll come up with something.

That would kinda be hard as I don't necisarilly know all the capabilities of the raspberry pi.

3 hours ago, Thunderpup said:

In addition to the above suggestions you could look at a device you already have, or a device you'd like to own but cant afford, and see if you can re-create it or something better with a pi.

 

I.e. making your own tablet, router, alexa etc...

Thanks for the tips, what language is used for the code? And how would I know to use the code to do something?

[beanhubbleday]

Python I believe..

[Thunderpup]

21 minutes ago, Joelbanks5 said:

 

That would kinda be hard as I don't necisarilly know all the capabilities of the raspberry pi.

Thanks for the tips, what language is used for the code? And how would I know to use the code to do something?

So it looks like you are more of a beginner than your initial post lead me on to believe.  Which is ok because i'm a beginner too, sort of. 

 

Since you aren't familiar with the Pi at all, and you don't have a full grasp of when to program vs. when not to i am going to suggest you find a project that someone else has done and then do that.

 

my rationale is that your first project, even if you are following someone else's instructions, will give you a hands on introduction to the raspberry pi.  

after that you can start getting creative with other projects.

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, Thunderpup said:

So it looks like you are more of a beginner than your initial post lead me on to believe.  Which is ok because i'm a beginner too, sort of. 

 

Since you aren't familiar with the Pi at all, and you don't have a full grasp of when to program vs. when not to i am going to suggest you find a project that someone else has done and then do that.

 

my rationale is that your first project, even if you are following someone else's instructions, will give you a hands on introduction to the raspberry pi.  

after that you can start getting creative with other projects.

I don't think mindlessly copying and pasting code is going to help me learn anything though.

[Mira Yurizaki]

Just now, Joelbanks5 said:

I don't think mindlessly copying and pasting code is going to help me learn anything though.

Mindlessly copying and pasting won't get you to learn, but copying, pasting, and analyzing code will.

 

In fact, that's pretty much how most people learn how to program: copy someone else's code and learn from it.

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, M.Yurizaki said:

Mindlessly copying and pasting won't get you to learn, but copying, pasting, and analyzing code will.

 

In fact, that's pretty much how most people learn how to program: copy someone else's code and learn from it.

I was just going to use codecademy

[Mira Yurizaki]

Just now, Joelbanks5 said:

I was just going to use codecademy

Well, I am also going to burst your bubble a little. Simply knowing how to write a program in a Raspberry Pi doesn't make it immediately useful. You can do that on a VM with Linux (or just Linux on the machine). If you want the Raspberry Pi to be something like an IoT device or whatnot, you're going to have to get cozy with learning how to manipulate IO and whatnot on it. That part of the Raspberry Pi is not for beginners.

[Joelbanks5]

14 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Well, I am also going to burst your bubble a little. Simply knowing how to write a program in a Raspberry Pi doesn't make it immediately useful. You can do that on a VM with Linux (or just Linux on the machine). If you want the Raspberry Pi to be something like an IoT device or whatnot, you're going to have to get cozy with learning how to manipulate IO and whatnot on it. That part of the Raspberry Pi is not for beginners.

My bubble has not been burst as I didn't expect this to be easy.

[Mira Yurizaki]

3 minutes ago, Joelbanks5 said:

My bubble has not been burst as I didn't expect this to be easy.

Well some things I don't know about you:

• Programming level
• Familiarity with embedded systems level programming
• Familiarity with Linux and its programming tools

And if you're just looking for ideas... well... I don't know what to tell you. What would you like to do with it? I could throw down a bunch of projects I would like to do, but they may not apply to what you want. So what I'm saying is, think of something first before jumping into getting a tinkering board.

 

Like I didn't get my RasPi 3, which I was interested in getting for a bit, until I got fed up with the lack of Nintendo Classics everywhere and used the RasPi to roll out my own emulation box.

[KuJoe]

The biggest problem I see with people who buy Raspberry Pi's is that they buy it before they know what they're going to use it for. This is probably the most common phrase in the RPi world: "I just got my Raspberry Pi, now what should I do with it?"

 

I think the majority of the popular software for the RPis are written in Python so that's a good place to start (although I personally don't like Python and write all of my RPi scripts in PHP or Bash).

 

Also, it's not a bad idea to check out other software that's available and re-writing it or using some of it to fit your own needs. I've done that to plenty of scripts over the years. And if you need advice on how to learn to start coding then the best advice I can give is to find a project you are interested and learn that way. That's how I started and I'm glad I did. I was required to take programming courses in college and had those "intro" classes been my first exposure to programming I probably wouldn't be doing it now. And don't think any project is too hard, it might take longer than you'd like but you'll be much happier with the end result. In my case, I wanted to write an online forum from scratch with no knowledge of CSS, PHP, or MySQL and once I was done with it in a few weeks I was super excited with how it turned out and couldn't wait to start the next project.

[Joelbanks5]

17 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Well some things I don't know about you:

• Programming level
• Familiarity with embedded systems level programming
• Familiarity with Linux and its programming tools

And if you're just looking for ideas... well... I don't know what to tell you. What would you like to do with it? I could throw down a bunch of projects I would like to do, but they may not apply to what you want. So what I'm saying is, think of something first before jumping into getting a tinkering board.

 

Like I didn't get my RasPi 3, which I was interested in getting for a bit, until I got fed up with the lack of Nintendo Classics everywhere and used the RasPi to roll out my own emulation box.

I know html5 lol that's all

 

the other 2 I'm at 0 familiarity. 

 

And thats at s why I'm asking on how to come up with my own ideas.

[Mira Yurizaki]

4 minutes ago, Joelbanks5 said:

I know html5 lol that's all

 

the other 2 I'm at 0 familiarity. 

 

And thats at s why I'm asking on how to come up with my own ideas.

HTML isn't a programming language.

 

I would suggest you get cozy with learning how to program and develop software before you attempt to tackle a Raspberry Pi project. If you lack the foundations of building software, it doesn't matter what sort of idea you come up with. It's like asking how do you build something like the Burj Khalifa when you have no knowledge in structural engineering.

[Joelbanks5]

2 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

HTML isn't a programming language.

 

I would suggest you get cozy with learning how to program and develop software before you attempt to tackle a Raspberry Pi project. If you lack the foundations of building software, it doesn't matter what sort of idea you come up with. It's like asking how do you build something like the Burj Khalifa when you have no knowledge in structural engineering.

That's why I said I would learn it on codecademy.

[Mira Yurizaki]

4 minutes ago, Joelbanks5 said:

That's why I said I would learn it on codecademy.

So go learn how to program and develop software and see if you want to revisit this.

 

Also on another note, don't dream up of grand projects. Start small.

[Joelbanks5]

Just now, M.Yurizaki said:

So go learn how to program and develop software and see if you want to revisit this.

 

Also on another note, don't dream up of grand projects. Start small.

Wasn't planning on a large project, I don't really know what would be considered large for a raspberry pi

[TheRandomness]

-Thread moved to Hobby Electronics.

[Joelbanks5]

20 minutes ago, TheRandomness said:

-Thread moved to Hobby Electronics.

Didn't know that was a subforum.

[kasugatei]

To get the basics of programming (especially for Raspberry Pi) I would suggest to to the following:
1. Download and install VirtualBox (free)
2. Download Debian Linux ISO and install it in VirtualBox virtual machine
3. Use your imagination

With this setup you will be as close as possible to Raspbery Pi since Raspbian is based on Debian. Also, you will not be able to make programs which use GPIO but since your programming skills are more or less non existent, leave GPIO for later (that is more of a hardware programming stuff).
Python is the most popular for programming in Raspberry Pi environment so you can start with it but there are lots of other options (C, C++, C#, Java ...). I think that you can also use Node.JS for all sorts of stuff (including accessing GPIO) and if you know JavaScript you can give it a try as well.

[Biggerboot]

I have been writing a RPi beginner's guide for my college's computer club that tackles this sort of thing.  A 'successful' raspberry pi IOT project really requires bringing a combination of talents together (engineering, art, design, network/shell/object oriented programming, etc).  But ultimately, it takes motivation and an idea.  It may sound a bit rudimentary but it's not the easiest thing for people to pick up on.  No 'one' tutorial or class is going to teach you this sort of thing.

 

If I ever finish the darn thing I'll share it on this subform sometime.  It's a learn-as-I-go kind of thing for me.  It doesn't hurt to look at some step-by-step projects or instructables.  I know it may go against the OP's philosophy, but I think it's a great way to learn if you're actually absorbing info from it.

 

PS: I would recommend learning about circuits, linux, and computer networking protocols before tackling the coding.