The best Raspberry Pi accessories and alternatives for 2021

3 years ago 495

Looking for the cleanable acquisition for the shaper oregon tinkerer successful your life? These ideas spell large with robotics, sensing, IoT computing and more.

I uncertainty everyone volition hold with me, but I deliberation the Raspberry Pi is 1 of the astir important computing devices successful caller years. These pocket-sized, open-source and dirt-cheap computers person made tinkering and prototyping caller products easier than ever before, opening the satellite of computing to radical everywhere.

Adults and children alike tin payment from tinkering with a Raspberry Pi — determination are countless things to learn, tons of hardware with breathtaking features to adhd to your Pi and a database of projects lone constricted by one's imagination.

SEE: Power checklist: Troubleshooting hard thrust failures (TechRepublic Premium)

Imagination and world are precise abstracted beasts, and sometimes getting started with a caller Raspberry Pi tin beryllium daunting, arsenic tin coming up with caller Pi projects for much precocious users. This database is designed to assistance remedy that. In it you'll find caller imaginable products and Pi add-ons that tin assistance you get started arsenic good arsenic determination connected to much precocious stuff.

Your Pi needs a screen

I ordered my archetypal Raspberry Pi without a screen, reasoning that I'd beryllium contented to conscionable distant successful to presumption my desktop oregon nonstop commands. Once I started gathering dashboards and programming sensors to cod information I realized I wanted to spot what my Pi was doing without needing a abstracted computer, truthful I needed a display.

You person options erstwhile it comes to screens for Raspberry Pi, and I'd urge 2 indispensable elements for a bully Raspberry Pi display: Touch capability and hardware buttons. The buttons tin beryllium programmed to bash thing you want, similar motorboat a definite app, show an on-screen keyboard oregon thing other you whitethorn request it to bash that you're capable to constitute codification for.

Your Pi besides needs a case

The Raspberry Pi is sold without immoderate housing, truthful if you program for your portion to beryllium anyplace but successful a safe, static-free situation it's important to support it. There are a batch of cases to take from, and immoderate whitethorn not acceptable your project, peculiarly if you program to connect outer components.

Options see a lawsuit specifically for the 7" touchscreen featured above, ones for older Pi models and an authoritative 1 for the Pi 4. Other cases, similar ones that let access to the GPIO and POE pins, tin beryllium recovered arsenic well.

Robotics projects volition necessitate a servo hat

Hats, oregon Hardware Attached connected Top, are add-on boards that connect to a Raspberry Pi via its 40-pin wide intent input-output (GPIO) port. They travel successful a assortment of flavors to suit circumstantial purposes, and successful this lawsuit the chapeau successful question is for controlling servos, thing that a regular Raspberry Pi struggles with.

If you're readying to bash a robotics project, oregon thing other related to question control, you'll request 1 of these 16-channel PWM/Servo hats, arsenic good arsenic a 5V powerfulness supply, which isn't included.

Specially-designed projects necessitate bully prototyping

Adafruit sells different chapeau that is an implicit necessity for anyone readying to experimentation with gathering their ain circuits, bits oregon boards: A permanent prototyping board that attaches straight to the Raspberry Pi's GPIO port.

The perma-proto chapeau has to beryllium soldered straight to your Pi's GPIO, truthful beryllium definite you're prepared for that added spot of work. Once attached, you tin proceed to solder to your heart's contented and physique fantastic things. Here's a tip: If you privation one, you tin prevention a fewer bucks by keeping an oculus connected Adafruit's freebie offers, wherever they'll often propulsion successful 1 of these (that's however I got mine) erstwhile you bargain a definite magnitude of stuff, which is precise casual to do.

Get immoderate STEMMA stuff

I got into tinkering with Raspberry Pis due to the fact that I emotion carnal computing, particularly biology sensors. I've purchased a bunch: A GPS sensor, state sensor, magnetometer, UV sensor and more, and I made definite each of them came with a definite benignant of connector that makes gathering elemental projects and conducting experiments a snap: STEMMA QT ports.

SEE: Keyboard troubleshooting usher (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

STEMMA, and it's tinier STEMMA QT counterpart, is simply a full class of plug-and-play devices that uses grove-compatible connectors, and has built-in voltage regulators to forestall accidents oregon harm to your hardware. I highly urge STEMMA sensors and components for Raspberry Pi tinkerers, particularly those who are caller to programming and circuitry. They destruct the request to solder, frankincense redeeming clip for the much breathtaking process of penning codification and getting your sensors to work.

Go wireless with Bluetooth

One of the drawbacks of having a Raspberry Pi portion is controlling it: You either person to find a mode to connect outer hardware, see a tiny interaction show oregon distant in. Any of those options tin beryllium inconvenient astatine the champion of times, which is wherefore adding Bluetooth capabilities to your Pi task tin beryllium truthful beneficial.

Adafruit's Bluefruit debased vigor module is what you request if you privation Bluetooth connected your Pi, and it comes with immoderate neat features, similar an iOS and Android app from Adafruit that makes interfacing with the BLE module a snap. Other functionality is imaginable arsenic well, similar utilizing the BLE to crook a Pi into a bosom complaint monitor.

The Seeed Wio terminal: A cleanable not-Pi

The miniscule Seeed Wio terminal is simply a tiny small surface with a built-in Arduino, arsenic good arsenic a joystick, 3 programmable buttons, 2 multi-function Grove ports and a 40-pin GPIO larboard for attaching it to a Raspberry Pi, oregon Wio modules similar the 650 mAh battery.

While not a Raspberry Pi, I've work reviews that picture it arsenic "the past microcontroller you'll ever own," and with bully reason: It supports Circuit Python, truthful you don't adjacent request to cognize however to codification for an Arduino to usage it. I'll comfortably accidental the nonstop aforesaid thing: It's the lone microcontroller I'll each buy.

I ain one, and the artillery pack, and it present acts arsenic my superior instrumentality for my STEMMA sensors and different experiments I tally that necessitate a small, standalone instrumentality that tin easy instrumentality my codification and tally it without issue. One happening to note, though: The Wio doesn't enactment an operating strategy similar a Raspberry Pi. It volition simply tally the Arduino oregon Circuit Python codification you driblet connected it, meaning it's not a full-fledged computer. If you're looking for a portion of hardware that volition simply tally a Python publication oregon log information from sensors, this lite feline is perfect.

Get yourself immoderate spare wires

If you're going to beryllium playing astir with a Raspberry Pi oregon 1 of its relatives similar the Seeed Wio, and immoderate peripherals, you're going to request immoderate other wires. The much you bargain the less you'll request erstwhile you're successful the mediate of a project, truthful don't hesitate to bargain successful bulk.

A battalion similar this 120-count of one-pin breadboard wires volition bash the trick; you tin adjacent abstracted idiosyncratic wires and splice them onto Grove connectors oregon different attachment points if needed (I've done it). This battalion besides comes successful 3 varieties for each your needs: Male-male, male-female, and female-female.

You request batteries if that Pi is going to move

Some Pi projects are simple: You assemble the hardware, deploy the code, test, acceptable up and forget. In different cases that's not possible: You whitethorn request a Pi that tin beryllium remotely deployed oregon that is portable. For that you'll request a battery.

Lots of antithetic artillery powerfulness supplies are disposable for the Raspberry Pi, and thing bully astir them: They're cheap. With terms not a large issue, wherefore not spell for a 6,600 mAh battery that'll past for a bully agelong while? Your project, nevertheless distant it whitethorn be, volition convey you.

You request a look book

Baking a bully Pi(e) isn't truly imaginable without a coagulated cookbook, which is wherever O'Reilly's Raspberry Pi Cookbook by Simon Monk comes in. It's much than 400 pages of tips, tutorials, projects and fundamentals that are large for a Pi beginner each the mode up to an adept successful request of a useful notation book.

The Pi Cookbook besides comes with a sizable conception connected coding with Python that starts with the basics, making it a existent one-stop notation store for Raspberry Pi enthusiasts.