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Raspberry Pi, the new and novel credit-card-sized computer, has inspired the minds and workshops of an entire hacking community, who not only develop software projects for it, but are creating external interfaces with clever abandon. We've rounded up a few of our favorites to share with you here.
This doll-house-scale videogame cabinet made of laser-cut plastic, MAME emulator software and a Raspberry Pi recreates the childhood memories of millions of gamers on a 2.4-inch TFT screen. Especially impressive is that Jeroen Domburg of SpritesMods.com pulled this together from rough paper prototype to final wiring with no prior Raspberry Pi experience.
Just as the Arduino platform has enabled creators to explore the possibilities of combining bits and atoms, this sweet new computing platform has given hackers and designers a new set of tools to combine physical and virtual worlds. Raspberry Pi lets developers code in popular languages like Python, reducing the learning curve for pros and making it more accessible to designers who might have picked up a bit of experience on the web. The microprocessor on board also opens up more applications for video and other rich media applications, or in Domburg's case, the greatest hits from '80s arcades. If you want to try your hand at recreating this cute cabinet, he's made the schematics and code available.
If you want to see what else the design friendly Raspberry Pi community is cooking up, the following examples are great recipes for creative construction. And let us know what your favorite Raspberry Pi projects are in the comments.
Bonus: Realizing that the joy of playing Street Fighter 2 on a computer the size of a credit card shouldn't be the exclusive domain of hardware hackers, the team at Pimoroni are developing a simpler kit-based alternative. It just completed a successful Kickstarter campaign and should be available for pre-order soon.
Photo: SpritesMods
