Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Many of these hobby shops sprang up in the wake of the Arduino, an open-source project to
create an educational-friendly microcontroller prototyping platform. With the Raspberry Pi
appealing to much the same audience as the Arduino—albeit for very different tasks—the
majority are investigating support for the Pi in addition to their existing product lines.
Buying from a hobby specialist has several advantages. If the products are sold as working
with the Pi, then they've been tested for that specific reason—taking much of the guesswork
out of the equation. Several companies also design their own add-on hardware for various
platforms, with the Pi being no exception. These devices, designed to address a need in the
community, may include additional ports and/or extra hardware, or can otherwise extend
the functionality of the target device.
In the UK, one of the most popular hobby specialists is oomlout. Founded by open-source
enthusiasts working with Arduino hardware, it's an excellent source of add-on kits as well as
common components including push-buttons, displays and transistors. Unlike the larger
retailers, oomlout equips its components with all necessary extras—such as pull-up resistors
for the push-buttons—and a circuit schematic for easy assembly. Where possible, sample
source code is also provided to get you up and running as quickly as possible.
In the US, Adafruit offers a similar service. Founded with the intention of making open-
source add-ons for the Arduino boards, Adafruit offers a wide selection of components and
kits—including one of the first add-on boards designed specifically for the Raspberry Pi (see
Chapter 16, “Add-on Boards”, for more details).
The websites for both retailers can be found here:
oomlout: http://oomlout.co.uk/
Adafruit: http://www.adafruit.com
Moving Up From the Breadboard
As the previous examples in this chapter have shown, breadboards are excellent for quickly
creating prototype circuits for experimentation. They're fast and reusable, and they don't
damage components.
However, breadboards also have some disadvantages. They're bulky, expensive, and prone to
loose connections—which can result in critical components falling out, especially while the
breadboard is being transported from place to place. Figure 13-2 demonstrates this perfectly:
despite best efforts, the push-button component is only loosely secured in the breadboard,
and is likely to fall out if the circuit is handled roughly.
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