Cool Projects

Build Your Own Internet Radio Receiver

Tune in to communities around the world with the push of a button. When I get home at night, I like to tune into the world with the push of a button. I've lived in lots of different places—from Dunedin, New Zealand, to Santa Fe, New Mexico—and in each town, I've come to love a radio station (usually a community radio station) that embodies the spirit of the place. With the push of a button, I can get a bit back in sync with each of these places and also visit new communities, thanks to internet radio.

Weekend Reading: Raspberry Pi Projects

The Raspberry Pi has been very popular among hobbyists and educators ever since its launch in 2011. It’s a credit-card-sized single-board computer with a Broadcom BCM 2835 SoC, 256MB to 512MB of RAM, USB ports, GPIO pins, Ethernet, HDMI out, camera header and an SD card slot. The most attractive aspects of the Raspberry Pi are its low cost of $35 and large user community following. Join us this weekend as we explore some cool Raspberry Pi projects.

Live Stream Your Pets with Linux and YouTube!

Anyone who reads Linux Journal knows about my fascination with birdwatching. I've created my own weatherproof video cameras with a Raspberry Pi. I've posted instructions on how to create your own automatically updating camera image page with JavaScript. Heck, I even learned CSS so I could make a mobile-friendly version of BirdCam that filled the screen in landscape mode.

The Weather Outside Is Frightful (Or Is It?)

Blistery cold weather is sinking in, which ought to ignite an instinctual desire to get your house in order and monitor it so the water pipes don't freeze and burst. So, let's take a timely look at a project setting up some temperature probes in various areas, reading them and reporting in a custom dashboard.

Gordon H. Williams' Making Things Smart (Maker Media, Inc.)

Pretty much anything in the O'Reilly spin-off Make: series is like catnip to us Linux cats, and the new book Making Things Smart is no exception. The book is subtitled Easy Embedded ARM Programming For Transforming Everyday Objects Into Intelligent Machines and is authored by Gordon H. Williams.

My Childhood in a Cigar Box

I grew up in the 1980s. That meant we drank far too much Kool-Aid, and on Saturday mornings, we got up early to watch cartoons. It also was the heyday of arcades, but I lived in the ghetto of Detroit and couldn't afford quarters to play games. Plus, there were none anywhere near the neighborhood where I lived. For me, the first real video-game experience was the Atari 2600.

The Tiny Internet Project, Part III

In a previous article, I introduced the Tiny Internet Project, a self-contained Linux project that shows you how to build key pieces of the internet on a single computer using virtualization software, a router and free open-source applications.

The Tiny Internet Project, Part II

In the May 2016 issue (also available here), I introduced the idea of the Tiny Internet Project, a self-contained Linux project that shows how to build the key pieces of the public internet on a single computer using one or two old computers, a router and a bunch of Linux software.

When BirdCam Goes Mainstream

If you read my articles on when I originally set up BirdCam a few years ago, you'll remember I did it with compatibility in mind. At the time of this writing, BirdCam is simply an HTML page with the JavaScript language to refresh the images constantly, in order to create a low-fps video stream of sorts.

Build Your Own Raspberry Pi Camera

During the past few years, my BirdCam setup has evolved significantly. As I mention in the UpFront section of this issue, I hope to get the stream transferred to a YouTube Live stream at some point, so I can watch the feathery show on my television. And although watching the birds is the end goal, I'm constantly on a mission to improve the quality and flexibility of my setup.

Securi-Pi: Using the Raspberry Pi as a Secure Landing Point

Like many LJ readers these days, I've been leading a bit of a techno-nomadic lifestyle as of the past few years—jumping from network to network, access point to access point, as I bounce around the real world while maintaining my connection to the Internet and other networks I use on a daily basis.

Embed Linux in Monitoring and Control Systems

The target vehicle for this project is a vintage intercity transport bus (think Greyhound) whose instrument panel was sparse and mostly nonfunctional. The speedometer cable was twisted off some place back in 40 feet of cable, and the fuel sensor had sunk long ago. What I wanted was an instrument panel more in line with modern practice.

Home Automation with Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi has been very popular among hobbyists and educators ever since its launch in 2011. The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card-sized single-board computer with a Broadcom BCM 2835 SoC, 256MB to 512MB of RAM, USB ports, GPIO pins, Ethernet, HDMI out, camera header and an SD card slot.

Raspi-Sump

In June 2013, we had the unfortunate luck of a basement flood, caused by a tripped electrical breaker connected to our sump pump. There are so many things that can go wrong with a sump pump. You always are on guard for power outages, blown breakers, sump pump failures, clogged pipes and all manner of issues that can arise, which ultimately can end with a flooded basement.

Give new life to old phones and tablets with these tips!

If you're like me (and you're a Linux Journal reader, so you may actually be like me), you probably rotate through your cell phones and/or tablets every couple years. These little devices are so convenient and have been consistently dropping in price, while their power continues to go up, so you may have a few older devices sitting in a drawer.
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