It’s looking like I may be getting a Pi for Christmas, on the grounds that if there isn’t one in my stocking I’ll be buying one for myself. Problem is, I’m thin on ideas for what to do with it beyond “I really want one.”

First thing I’m going to be attempting is a media player I think. Also, I’ve got a breadboard and bag ‘o’ bits from my GCSE electronics days, so I’m hoping to do a bit of tinkering with the GPIO side of things.

I was considering getting the Upton guide. Anyone got it / recommend it? Or is there something better I should be looking at?

Any web resources people recommend for getting started guides / project ideas?

I got the Upton one it’s ok but think there might be better out there.

I was rather tempted by this selection of sensors from Amazon for my Pi.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shanhai-37pcs-Sensor-Arduino-Raspberry/dp/B00HFVQXJO

I’m not sure what to build with them yet though.

TBH I’ve basically just used the pi forum and the web in general when I’m stuck on a bit of particular python code.
I’ve got one Pi checking light levels in a room and switching on lights (using wireless energenie plugs) when it gets to a certain darkness. This Pi will also be hooked up to a temperature sensor and will control the heat in a bread proofing box I’m going to make.
A Pi in another house monitors the hot water water and air temperature and pts the data on a web page it hosts – it will soon also allow me to remotely switch electric wall heaters on and off.
All done through the GPIO.

If you’re getting the Pi yourself make sure it’s a B+ as you can then fit a GPIO header card (such as the Pi-Mote card from Energenie which you use to control their wireless plug sockets) and you’ll still have gpio pins left for other stuff.

Media player = Raspbmc which is literally childs play to set up – I think you can also run other programs in the background. There is another xbmc based media player and I know one of them does not allow you to run other programs.

Get yourself a nice breadboard and a GPIO break-out for prototyping. Great fun.

http://www.themagpi.com/
Raspberry Pi Internet Magazine, some great tutorials and idea’s.

My first project was to build a temperature & humidty sensor/logger for logging incubator temp/hum.

AdaFruit Site – Raspberry Pi
This site has some great tutorials and stuff to buy.

Currently building a robot with a camera and ultrasonics.. This was a project for over Christmas, but all my spare time has already been filled. 😥 Eventually it will be put inside the Bigtrak along with the Pi controlled robotic arm.

Another project I want to get started on is a controller for LED strips, pretty sure there will be something already built that can be modified.

Raspberry Pi Internet Magazine, some great tutorials and idea’s.

Ah, good shout. I remember spotting that site years ago and couldn’t for the life of me remember what it was. Ta.