Category Archives: Raspberry Pi

Adding a Reset Switch to your Raspberry Pi

Normally, shutting down the tiny credit card sized single board computer, the RBPi or Raspberry Pi, involves pulling the plug. That means disconnecting the power cable from the RBPi board. However, that is a risky way of shutting down the SBC, since it may be in the process of transferring data to the SD card, and the power interruptions may cause corruption of the memory card. Another problem with frequent removal and re-insertion of the power cable is the damage this may cause the connector port. Program development on the RBPi may cause it to hang occasionally. Therefore, frequent restarting via power cycling with removal/re-insertion of power cable will be a problem. A simple fix is to add a simple reset function to the RBPi. You can do this in one of three ways. The first is to use a USB reset button. The second is to use a motherboard jumper on the GPIO bus. The third option is useful only for RBPi Models B Rev2 and B+, where you solder pins on the P6 header and connect to a momentary button. The third option is the most complicated, requiring soldering on the RBPi.

Although the first option of a USB reset button is the simplest, it also ties up one of the USB ports on the RBPi. With only one or two USB ports available, depending on the RBPi model, this may not be a very viable option for many. However, in case it works for you, get a USB reset button from any specialist online stores. Those who want all their GPIO pins available or those who are averse to soldering may use the USB reset button connected to the RBPi for scenarios when the device needs to be booted.
If you can salvage a jumper from an old motherboard or an HDD, connect it on two pins on the RBPi GPIO. All RBPi models have GPIO pins – models A & B have 26 pins each, while the models A+ & B+ each come with 40 pins. You need to place the jumper on the GPIO3, pins 5 and 6, counting from the left while holding the board the right way around.

However, you will need a script to detect the jumper. Make the script executable before running – use ‘sudo chmod 755’ for this. You will also need to run the script every time you boot up. For this, add the following line to /etc/crontab –

@reboot root /home/user/scripts/gpio_actions.sh

Whenever you place the jumper on the specified pins of the GPIO, RBPi will sense it and will shut itself down.
The third option involves using the P6 header, which is available only on the latest models of the RBPi – models B Rev 2 & B+. On the Model B Rev 2, you can locate P6 next to the HDMI port. On the model B+, you will find P6 next to the label marked as ‘Raspberry Pi 2014’. Normally, the RBPi does not come with pins soldered on to P6, so you will have to do the soldering.

Once you have soldered the pins, install the jumper with the switch to reset the RBPi. However, use this switch with caution, only when the RBPi is not responding.

Raspberry Pi Alternatives

f you have been using single board computers such as the RBPi or Raspberry Pi and Arduino, you would have certainly found them great as do-it-yourself boards for hacking and for setting up your own design. However, using these boards can bring up a natural curiosity to look at other alternate hacker boards similar in size and functionality to the RBPi.

Listed here are some boards comparable in prices to that of the RBPi, and with community support. They are good for transitioning to low-cost commercial volume manufacturing, while being compatible and easy-to-use.

According to the director of ecosystem and marketing program of Freescale, Steve Nelson, one should look for five important features while selecting an SBC: Simplicity in installation and during operation; Staying power or popularity with users; Stability against regular rebooting or updating; Security of design; and Standards of compatibility irrespective of the manufacturer.

Udoo: Although more expensive compared to RBPi, Udoo offers a unique experience of Linux and Arduino SBC. It runs on an ARM i .MX6 processor from Freescale, has 1GB DDR3 RAM and offers 76 fully available GPIO. Apart from this, it has a Wi-Fi module, one Ethernet RJ45, 3D GPUs for graphics, HDMI and LVDS. Other features include a pair of mini USB and mini OTG, one analog audio and microphone socket and a camera connection. Udoo works on 12V from an external power supply and the board has an external battery connector.

Wandboard: With 0.5GB to 2GB DDR3 RAM, Wandboard is more expensive compared to RBPi and is a unique Arduino and Linux SBC. It sports an HDMI interface, a camera interface, a micro-SD slot, an expansion header, serial port, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 802.11n, SATA and Gigabit LAN. This board is used in small autonomous Sumo-robots and a cluster with a custom PCI-Express carrier board adapter.

WaRP: Targeted at wearable designs, this not-yet-released Freescale supported board runs on an i.MX 6SoloLite processor based on the Cortex-A9 architecture and Android 4.3 OS. With an E-ink display and wireless charging option, this tiny board has MCU for sensor aggregation, orientation and pedometric functions. Communication interfaces include a Bluetooth wireless module, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and sports multi-chip packaging with LP-DDR2 and eMMC memories.

RIoTboard: This board also runs on the Freescale I.MX 6Solo processor based on the ARM Cortex A9 architecture. It offers very high performance video processing with HD- and SD-level video decoders and SD-level encoders. The 2D and 3D graphics accelerator are based on OpenGL ES 2.0 with shader. The Freescale Kinetics MCU is an integrated power management chip with 1GByte of 32-bit wide DDR3 running at 800MHz. The board uses 4GB of EMMC Flash and offers support for GNU/Linux and Android along with enhanced expansion capabilities.

Freedom: With ARM Cortex Core and a full tool suite, the Freedom board has up to 256KB of Flash, USB, an LCD Controller, a capacitive touch sensor, a magnetometer, a 3-axis accelerometer, a visible light sensor and a 4-digit 4×8 segment LCD.

Teensy 3.1: This is an extremely tiny board of 1.4×0.7 inches, weighing 3 grams. The ARM Cortex M4 MCU runs at 72 MHz with 256K Flash memory and 64K RAM. It is cheaper than the RBPi.

Christmas tree Lights with the Raspberry Pi

Although Christmas is still a good four months away, you can always prepare for it in advance. The project uses a tiny single board computer known as the RBPi or Raspberry Pi, but you will need some time to collect other material for the project. You will also need time to iron out software bugs, especially if you are a newcomer to the RBPi and Python programming. Additionally, although the project is meant for Christmas, you can as well use it for decorating any other occasion.

The RBPi in the project drives eight AC outlets connected to sets of light. An RGB LED star adds a dynamic range to the light show with its 25-step programming mode. Another advantage the RBPi offers is its audio out can drive the lights in time with music. With a Wi-Fi connection, you can work on the software from a remote location.

The basic ingredients you require for this project are: an RBPi, any model; an SD card containing the Occidentalis operating system; a USB Wi-Fi adapter; and an eight-channel 5V SSR Module Board. You may also use electro-mechanical relays in place of SSRs, but they will produce noticeably audible clicking sounds when switching, while SSRs are noiseless. If you use the SainSmart SSR module board, each of the eight SSRs is rated up to 2A, which will adequately power a string of lights.

Apart from the basic ingredients, you will also require a bunch of extra items: some jumper wires, JST SM Plug and receptacles; four 8ft pieces of wire; eight extension cords, two power distribution blocks; a power strip; suitable enclosure; and speakers. You will also need a few power supplies: for driving the RBPi and the LEDs – 5V, 3A or greater; and for driving the SSR module – 5V, 1A or greater.

For the star, you can use 12mm or suitable RGB LED strands. With the Adafruit WS2801 chip, the RBPi only has to pulse the LED strand once rather than pulse it continuously to keep the LEDs lit up.

It is advisable to test the RBPi and associated components before connecting the wiring. Do this before setting up everything within the enclosure and you have the advantage of easy troubleshooting. Connect the RBPi to a monitor and keyboard, so you can set the system configuration to start software development.

As the default RBPi installation does not have the necessary libraries for driving the WS2801 LEDs, it is necessary to use the Occidentalis operating system from Adafruit. Follow the steps outlined here for configuring the RBPi to get it working as required. Use GPIO 0-7 on the RBPi for driving the SSR module.

As the RBPi drives the GPIO output high, the SSR connected to that pin switches on. This allows the LED associated with the SSR to light up. Write a simple test program to cycle through all the GPIO pins, setting them high for two seconds each.
After testing for proper functioning, connect the lights to respective SSRs through extension cords, using power distribution blocks to keep the wiring neat. Use cheap night-lights to test the animation program first, since this will reduce your eyestrain.

Make the OpenJFX DukePad with a Raspberry Pi

If you are looking for a fun project aimed at making your own tablet computer at home based on the Raspberry Pi (RBPi) Single Board Computer, the DukePad is for you. As software, you will use the Raspbian Linux operating system and your environment will be OSGi-based JavaFX.

You can think of DukePad not as a product but an open-source set of plans and software freely available for assembling your own tablet for which, you will be using off-the-shelf components. At present, the DukePad software environment is only demo-quality, as more importance has been given to making the software for demonstration purpose rather than for real functionality.

Although, for the purpose of this guide, you need to name your RBPi with the host name of “dukepad”, you could have any other name of your choice. In addition, instead of letting the RBPi run X11, which it is fully capable of running, JavaFX will be used and it will take over the entire screen. However, while downloading the software into your RBPi, you may choose either to start up with X, or you could elect to download to your desktop PC and then scp/sftp the files into your RBPi.

To get started, you must set up your RBPi as usual; follow these steps if you do not know how. Setup you RBPi such that you have allotted a generous amount of memory to VRAM, also called graphic memory or Video Core. An even split of 256MB each for VRAM and for system memory is also acceptable. If you only have 256MB in total, you may also get by with a 128MB/128MB split, but you may have to tweak the amount of VRAM that FX will eventually use.

If you have not already downloaded and installed the latest JavaSE Embedded release, you may do so now. You can use either the weekly builds or the official builds, whichever is available. For the RBPi, you will have to look for Linux ARMv6/7 VFP, HardFP ABI. Other versions are not likely to work with RBPi.

For installation, you must uncompress the file you have downloaded and put it in a directory of your choice. A good choice would be to install it in the directory /opt; this will require you to assume the superuser status (root). Once you install JavaSE Embedded, it will include JavaFX as well. To play media, RBPi will need some additional packages. You will also need additional packages for configuring the auto-booting and the splash screen. In case you are not interested in creating a table device and you are simply planning to play with the DukePad software, you may safely skip the splash screen and auto boot instructions.

For the boot-loading screen, you need the “fbi” package and for being able to play media files, you have to download and install the “mpg321” package.

For building the body of DukePad, the CAD files are provided here. They contain the template for laser cutting the acrylics for the body, which is made from material of two thicknesses – 4.5mm and 3mm.

Embedded Linux on Raspberry Pi

Developers usually have two common models of development for Embedded Linux. One of them is the cross-platform development, where the aim is to develop programs that will eventually run on platforms different from the one being used by the developer. The other is self-hosted development to generate programs to run on similar platforms as the one being used for the development. The tiny single board computer, the RBPi or Raspberry Pi, lends itself beautifully to self-hosted developments when used as a target system. Although self-hosted developments are preferably done on fast machines running Virtual Mode installations, the major difference in using the RBPi as a target system is the challenge of its limited memory and a relatively slow processor.

The RBPi is an inexpensive and complete single board computer that runs on a 700MHz Broadcom ARM processor. Sporting 512MB of RAM, the SBC displays over high definition video output, supported by a GPU. You can connect a keyboard and a mouse to the on-board USB connectors and use the SD memory card for the OS and file system. Along with an Ethernet port, the SBC has significant expansion ability.

There are several other similar single board computers in the market with some of them being better suited for specific applications. However, the RBPi was specifically designed for educational use, which makes it eminently suitable to the specific purpose of self-hosted development. If your development is targeted at commercial applications, you may look at other SBCs tailored to the specific rigorous environment required by your application.

With a tremendous support base, the RBPi has its own dedicated website, how-to guides, online blogs, magazines and even videos. Follow the Quick Start Guide on the RBPi website and its recommendations of using the NOOBs SD card to install the Raspbian distribution.

The NOOBs SD card displays all the distributions available on it when the RBPi boots up from the SD card. Select the Raspbian and be prepared for the installation since it takes a while. Select only the locale where you live, as that cuts the installation time. After the installation, you can log in with the username as “pi” and the password as “raspberry.” RBPi needs some configuration to allow it to operate without confusion.

The primary configuration required may be that for the keyboard, since RBPi may not be displaying the symbols for the keyboard connected to it. You can use the nano editor to edit the file ‘keyboard’ at /etc/default and change to the proper country code suitable for the keyboard.

The next configuration parameter required may be for the Ethernet port, which by default, is assigned an IP address using DHCP. If your DHCP server is configured to assign the RBPi a different address at each restart of the RBPi, you must change its properties to serve the same IP address to the RBPi each time it submits a request. To do that, follow the tutorial here.

Once you log in to the RBPi, you will see that the distribution is nearly complete, with most of the development tools already installed. Although normally booting up into the command line mode, you can enter the GUI with a “startx” command. For instructions for the development work, follow this.

Flexible Aluminum Battery for Smartphones

Would you be interested in a battery that takes only a second to charge up and is flexible enough to wrap around your smartphone? While manufacturers would be more interested in the flexibility feature, most users will welcome the quick charging time. At Stanford University, researchers claim to have developed such a battery from cheap, plentiful materials. It is flexible and charges up very fast as well.

The new aluminum battery has a foil anode made of flexible aluminum, a cathode of graphite foam and an electrolyte of liquid salt. Researchers at the Stanford University say they discovered this aluminum and graphite battery quite by accident, but have worked on their discovery to improve its performance, especially the graphite cathode part.

Compared to a lithium-ion battery, the aluminum battery with its porous graphite cathode offers only one-third the capacity at a terminal voltage of 2.5V. Therefore, two aluminum batteries must be used in series to power most devices requiring 5V. However, the aluminum battery has a property that gives it an edge over its lithium-ion rival – a very high Coulombic efficiency of above 95%. Researchers are currently engaged in optimizing the capacity and other desirable qualities to match or surpass those of lithium-ion batteries.

The aluminum battery uses a liquid electrolyte, making it cheap and nonflammable. This is an ionic liquid made by mixing two solid precursors – EMIC and AlCl3, where EMIC stands for 1-ethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium chloride and AlCl3 is aluminum chloride. While both compounds are individually solid, mixing them significantly lowers the melting point of the mixture so that it remains a liquid at room temperatures. The liquid electrolyte and the porous graphite electrode contribute to the super-fast recharging time, and the amount of current the aluminum battery can deliver.

The porous graphite foam cathode presents a large surface area, which is the governing factor for accessing the electrolyte. While charging, the large surface area presents a low energy barrier to the process of intercalation. The team expects the flexibility of the battery will be useful to manufacturers making flexible smartphones in the future.

The main attraction of the aluminum battery as compared to the lithium-ion batteries currently available is its capability of fast recharge. In fact, even the prototype reached 7.5 times the rate of charging of a commercial lithium-ion battery. Typically, lithium-ion batteries loose significant capacity after they have reached about 1000 recharge cycles. In comparison, an aluminum battery is capable of withstanding more than 7500 charges without any loss of capacity.

That makes the aluminum battery suitable for large installations such as storing solar energy during the day for release at night on the grid. These batteries are a perfect replacement for the lithium-ion batteries that occasionally burst into flames and for alkaline batteries that are bad for the environment. According to the researchers, even if someone were to drill through an aluminum battery, it will not catch fire.

At present, the only drawback is the terminal voltage. However, the researchers are optimistic that with a better cathode material, the aluminum battery can be made into a more powerful commercial battery.

Pico USB Scope for the Raspberry Pi

According to Pico Technology, the beta release of its drivers for the PicoScope oscilloscopes, useful for running on ARM-based single board computers, is available. That includes development systems such as the BeagleBone Black and the ever-popular Raspberry Pi, also known as the RBPi. For the RBPi, the drivers are a specialized armhf build under the control of its Raspbian OS. Pico Technology is offering this Beta release with some caveats.

Although the developers claim to have taken care of ensuring implementation of almost all the driver features, they may not work in all cases. The developers mention that the recommended systems requirement for the drivers specifies resources that most embedded systems will not be able to fulfill entirely. That means when the system is busy, the driver may not have enough resources for processing the data, which may result in the device being dropped or the application to hang. They also expect power surges, fuse blowing and port damage and to guard against this, they suggest powering the system through a separate USB hub.

All this makes it sound like the drivers are more suitable for advanced do-it-yourself people. It also suggests that the drivers are useful for working on other platforms, but Pico may not yet be in a position to offer support for these implementations. At present Pico is focusing their support for only two platforms – the RBPi and the BeagleBone Black.

The Pico USB Scope has advanced display software that assigns almost all the display area to the waveform. Therefore, the user is able to see the maximum amount of data at a time. Additionally, this makes the viewing area much larger and of a higher resolution than that available on a traditional bench top oscilloscope.

The large display area also makes it easier to create a customizable split-screen display for viewing multiple channels or for projecting different views of the same signal simultaneously. The software is capable of displaying both oscilloscope output and spectrum analyzer traces at the same time. Moreover, the software can flexibly control each waveform individually for zoom, pan and other filter settings.

Oscilloscopes frequently require using an analog or DC offset. Most PicoScope Oscilloscopes offer this valuable feature. With DC offset, you can get back the vertical resolution, which is usually lost while measuring small signals. In practice, an analog offset typically adds a DC voltage to the input signal. This is useful if the signal is beyond the range of the ADC of the scope. By adding an offset, the signal is brought back within the range and the display can use a more sensitive range.

For testing purposes, an AWG or arbitrary waveform generator is often required. This generates electrical waveforms that can be either a single-shot or repetitive. With an AWG, you can generate any arbitrarily defined wave shape to inject into a DUT or device under test for analysis by the PicoScope. The progress of the signal through the DUT confirms its proper operation and enables pinpointing any fault inside.

Deep-memory versions of the PicoScope oscilloscopes offer waveform-buffering sizes up to 2 gigasamples, which is much larger than that offered by competing scopes of traditional bench top or PC-based design. A hardware acceleration technique ensures the PicoScope does not slow down while using deep memory and displaying at full speed.

Energy Monitoring with the Raspberry Pi

If you are looking for an all-in-one device for monitoring your home energy needs, a low-cost single board computer such as the RBPi or Raspberry Pi along with an add-on shield is all you need. The emonPi board is a low-cost shield that is bereft of any enclosure, HDD and LCD.

However, when connected with an LCD for status display, hard-drive for local logging and backup and a web-connected RBPi, the emonPi makes a high-quality and robust unit. Enclose it in a suitable enclosure and you have a stand-alone energy monitoring station.

The design of the emonPi allows it to be a perfect fit for those who install heat-pump monitoring systems. Usually, these systems require several temperature sensors that must also be wired up along with power monitoring. Accompanying modules offer a myriad of options.
For example, the emonPi can also act as an emonBase, as it has options for rad
io (RFM12B/RFM69CW) to receive data from other wireless nodes. These nodes include emonTH, for measuring room temperature and humidity. Another energy-monitoring node, the emonTX V3 can send the current time to the LCD, emonGLCD.

The status LCD makes it easy to install, setup and debug the emonPi system as an energy monitor sensing mode and an all-in-one remote posting base station. This makes the emonPi a great tool for remote administration, since, with a proper networking configuration the RBPi can be accessed remotely. Thus, you may check its log files and even upload firmware onto the ATmega328 of the emonPi.

The emonPi monitors energy through a two-channel CT or current transformer along with an AC sample input. It can power up the RBPi and an external hard disk drive without using an external USB hub. Additionally, the emonPi can function even without a hard disk drive being connected to it.

The RJ45 breakout board makes it very easy to attach several temperature sensors to the RJ45 on-wire temperature bus provided by a DS18B20. This is eminently suitable for multi-sensor setups such as in heat pump monitoring applications. The RJ45 also has IRW and PWM I/Os.

The emonPi is compatible to all models of the RBPi and its options for RFM21B and RFM69CW along with an SMA antenna makes it capable of receiving or transmitting data from other sensor nodes. One can control remote plugs with the OOK or On-Off keying transmitter.

All hardware, firmware and software are open-source and the ATmega328 on the emonPi can remotely upload sketches via the serial port of the RBPi. However, compared to the emonTX V3, emonPi has some disadvantages.

The emonPi module is not capable of making measurements on three-phase systems as there is only one CT monitoring two channels. As the RBPi has high power requirements, it is not possible to power the emonPi from batteries. You cannot also use an AC-AC adapter, because, for measuring real power, you must use both a 5VDC and a 9VAC adapter. Remote location of the utility meter requires Ethernet connection or Wi-Fi connectivity. Additionally, the emonPi requires a larger enclosure as compared to what an emonTX V3 uses.

Raspberry Pi and the Intel Edison

The Intel Edison is an extremely small computing platform suitable for embedded electronics. Intel has packed the Edison with many technical goodies within its tiny package. That makes it a robust single board computer, powered by the Atom SoC dual-core CPU. It includes an integrated Bluetooth LE, Wi-Fi and a 70-pin connector. A huge number of shield-like blocks are available to stack on top of each other on this connector.

Do not be misled by its small size, as the Edison packs a robust set of features within the tiny size. It has a broad spectrum of software support, along with large numbers of IO, delivering great performance with durability. Its versatile features are a great benefit to beginners, makers and inventors. The high-speed processor, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radio on board makes it ideal for projects that need low power, small footprint but high processing power. These features make the Edison SBC suitable for those who cannot use a large footprint and are not near a larger power source.

In addition, the Intel Edison Mini Breakout exposes the native 1.8V IO of the Intel Edison module. On this board is a power supply, a battery charger, USB OTG power switch, USB OTG port, UART to USB Bridge and an IO header.

So, how does the Intel Edison SBC compare with the RBPi or the Raspberry Pi SBC? The first question that comes to mind when starting a comparison between the two is the lack of a USB port on the Edison to plug in the keyboard and mouse. Compared to the RBPi, the Edison also lacks video output, has low processor speed, higher cost and it is not possible to use the IO connector without an extra board.

Although Intel claims it as an SBC, unlike the RBPi, the Edison is a module meant for deeply embedded IoT computing. On the other hand, the RBPi has always been a low-cost computing terminal to be used as a teaching tool. That the RBPi platform also has hardware hack-ability is a bonus feature and purely incidental.

The Edison, a deeply embedded IoT computing platform, does not have video output because usually, Wi-Fi enabled robots do not need video. Since wearables do not need keyboard and mouse, the Edison does not have a USB port. To keep power consumption on the low side for portable applications, Intel has deliberately kept the processor speed low.

Although the Edison is comparatively higher-priced as compared to the RBPi, the difference is lower when you add the cost of an SD card, a Wi-Fi card and a Bluetooth dongle to that of the RBPi. Not only does the Edison integrate all this, it is more of a bare ARM A9 or A11 SoC that can be integrated easily into a product.

Finally, three things need highlighting. The Edison has a Quark micro-controller; it operates at 1.8V and is very small. The RBPi, without the addition of the communication modules, occupies about 93 cubic centimeters, whereas the Edison and its breakout board together require only 14. The RBPi requires about 48 square centimeters of footprint, while the Edison needs only 17.

Prototyping Plate Kit for the Raspberry Pi

For new owners of the versatile inexpensive Raspberry Pi or RBPi, there is always a period of perplexity as to how they can try out an embedded computer project with the SBC. Although a breadboard helps to some extent, connecting the circuit on a breadboard to the RBPi involves many loose wires, making the experiment very cumbersome. An add-on kit, the Pi Plate from Adafruit, makes it very easy to prototype circuits for the RBPi.

The Pi Plate snaps on to the RBPi and the user can easily unplug it for making any changes to the circuitry. This is a double layer board and has a connector on the underside for fitting on to the GPIO pins of the RBPi. The specialty of the Pi Plate is the huge prototyping area, half of which is in the form of a breadboard style, and the rest in the form of a perfboard style. Therefore, users can wire up DIP chips, sensors and switches.

All the GPIO, I2C, SPI and Power pins from the RBPi are broken out to 0.1” strips along the edge of the proto area. The connections are all labeled, so the user has little difficulty in connecting them to his/her prototype circuit. In addition, all the breakout pins are also connected to 3.5mm screw-terminal blocks, all with labels. That makes it very easy to connect sensors, actuators, LEDs, etc. semi-permanently with wires. For general-purpose non-GPIO connections, there is also a 4-block terminal block broken out to 0.1” pads. For those with surface mount chips to be connected, the remaining space has a SOIC breakout area, therefore, if you can conveniently use an IC that does not come in a DIP format.

When you buy the kit, all parts come separated. Following a tutorial on how to assemble the kit, any first-time user can learn to put it together. One advantage with this process is the user learns to solder and thereby acquiring a new skill. This is in line with the philosophy of learning with the RBPi.

Those who regularly use add-ons to the RBPi will appreciate that the header breakouts on the Pi plate are taller than the typical custom header breakouts. Therefore, the prototype plate sits above the metal connectors on the RBPi, allowing for a large workspace. However, this does not prevent it from fitting within the RBPi enclosure. Therefore, the RBPi remains safe within the enclosure, with complete access to the terminal blocks, making prototyping simple. Adafruit plans to have stackable header kits, which will help in putting multiple plates on top of the RBPi.

It is very easy to use the Prototyping Pi Plate. Adafruit has designed it to be as simple as possible so that it is a good fit for any type of RBPi project – whether simple or complex. According to Adafruit, there is no extra power regulator on board and none of the pins is buffered, because that keeps the design simple and inexpensive. In addition, it also offers the maximum space for adding any circuitry for prototyping.