10 Best Raspberry Pi Projects for Beginners
Maybe you bought a Raspberry Pi for the holidays or sat on one of the palm-sized general purpose computers for a while. If you’ve been wondering how to get started with your own or what you can create that’s worth it, here are ten great ideas.
10. Meteorological station.
Of course, of course, you can always just look out the window to see what the weather is like, but what’s so interesting when you can have the exact temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed, and forecast along with it all? Look no further than your Raspberry Pi and a few additional components .
Of course, if you want something a little more flexible or a little more fun, consider creating this color-changing lamp that will show the weather forecast based on color and light pattern with your Pi, or this slightly simpler version that looks cute. good on the bookshelf, if I say so myself.
9. Photo booth.
What could be more fun than taking lots of great photos with your friends while you’re all hanging out and having a great time? Transform the Pi you’ve been sitting with for ages into a photo booth designed specifically to capture those awesome moments, then share them with your friends.
You have a choice too – the one above has a touchscreen and a little countdown timer, but if you don’t want to waste that much power, try this simpler version (you obviously don’t need a custom box) that automatically downloads photos as an animated GIF to the Tumblr account you create for an event or for your project.
8. Home video surveillance system.
The beauty of the Raspberry Pi is that it is a pocket computer. This means it can be taken almost anywhere, such as in the garage, near the front door, or wherever you need a pair of eyes and a socket. This beginner project will turn your Pi into a home security system in no time.
When you’re ready to shoot for the moon, you can build a multi-camera system with a Raspberry Pi if you need eyes all over your house or yard. This project uses Windows IoT to do the same with your Pi, if you’re looking for an alternative that might seem a little more familiar.
7. DIY arcade stick.
By far one of the most popular Pi projects is the arcade machine, and we’ll get to it. We’re putting the cart in front of the horse a bit and assuming you’re putting a retro game console inside an arcade stick, so you can play your favorite old school games on the perfect controller for those games all at once.
The above uses a classic arcade design paired with beautiful acrylic, but if you want something simpler for beginners – complete with step-by-step instructions showing how to make the case and the console itself, this one is perfect for you .
6. Fully portable digital e-book library
If you love e-books and carrying them around in huge quantities or even sharing them with others is your problem, this mobile digital library is perfect for storing, sharing and sharing books with friends. Best of all, it runs entirely on the Raspberry Pi. It’s portable and turns your Pi into a Wi-Fi hotspot that others can connect to, find something to read, and take with them. Isn’t it wonderful to share?
5. A wearable camera that you can take with you wherever you go.
Maybe you want to chronicle your life, or do one of those experimental day in the life videos where someone can walk a mile in your shoes. Maybe you’re just planning a cool hike or bike ride and want to film the entire ride. Well, if you have a Pi, you have the perfect project to capture the fun of it. Powered by a Pi and a battery, this wearable camera is small enough to tuck onto a shirt or drawstring neck.
If you want to go the extra mile, you can create this internet connected model that will stream live YouTube streams in real time, but you might want to save this model somewhere where your Pi has a signal or Wi-Fi. Fi.
4. Network-wide ad blocker or VPN with a call home.
If you are a little more tech savvy, consider this network-wide ad blocker that protects every device and system on your network from ads, malicious ads, and other annoying pop-up and pop-up ads, even on your computer. mobile devices. It’s a little work, but worth it.
For even more security and privacy, consider turning your Pi into a VPN and proxy that you can also use when you are away from home. After all, a VPN is perfect for keeping your data safe from prying eyes when you’re on the go, and connecting to your home network gives you the ability to keep that traffic and data safe wherever you are. Besides, this is not a very difficult project. Want a little more privacy? Add Tor to the mix .
3. Streaming internet radio.
Using a Raspberry Pi to stream Spotify, Pandora, Google Music, and other streaming internet radio and podcasts is another super popular project. And why not? It’s simple, and depending on how much energy you want to put into a project, you might have a touchscreen jukebox that anyone looking to manipulate a playlist can use , or you might have something beautiful that is worth it. on the shelf and looks like a vintage hi-fi .
Plus, there are tons of variations on the project, such as this one that looks modern and crisp , and this one that works like a Sonos multi-room clone , but they all start with this basic tutorial that will get you started on whatever project you choose.
2. Homemade Amazon echo.
Amazon practically wants you to turn your raspberry piss into echo dots. Seriously, they released official instructions on how to do this (after people started doing it themselves , of course), and then not too long ago, they unlocked the only thing they held back in the first place – activating it with the wake word .
Of course, you don’t have to go through all of this to do it yourself. We’ll provide you with a complete guide from start to finish – and once you’ve built it, you can use it for everything you normally use Echo for, from the little things to web searches and more.
1. Retro style game console
We’ve teased and covered this in the past, but we certainly prefer newbies to create their own retro Raspberry Pi based game console and play our favorite old school games.
Of course, the shape and style of your console is up to you, so you can get a fancy 3D printed case and give it an old-school Nintendo look , turn yours into a two-player arcade table with a little IKEA hack, build an entire closet. , or pack yours into a game cartridge , or even a broken controller .
When you start, however, you won’t be able to stop, so check out our advanced guide to your Pi powered console when you’re ready and check out our quick rundown of the best retro console software to play all of these games. …