Introduction.

At first glance, the Raspberry Pi looks rather unspectacular: it is a computer component with various component components that is roughly the size of a credit card. Due to the small size of the Raspberry Pis, it is all the more amazing how many possibilities one of the computers opens up.
Developed by a foundation from the UK (the Raspberry Pi Foundation), it is offered at a very low cost and is already the best-selling British computer of all time. Originally designed for tech-savvy young people, the Raspberry Pi is exceptionally well-suited for learning the hardware structure of a computer as well as for programming thanks to the minimal equipment and missing housing.
After a short time, the mini-computer aroused the interest of imaginative computer users and hobbyists, who implemented ideas of the most diverse kind with the Raspberry Pi. So many original Raspberry Pi applications and projects were created. We give you an introduction to the calculator in small format and introduce 10 particularly useful and successful home Raspberry Pi projects.

Table of Contents

1. What is the Raspberry Pi?
2. 10 useful Raspberry Pi home projects

What is the Raspberry Pi?

The approximately credit card-sized computer system is a single-board computer , which in addition to the basic hardware of a computer (processor, memory, etc.) and various ports (USB, HDMI, video, sound, etc.) are located. A slot is used to connect a micro SD card, which acts as the hard disk of the computer and via which the operating system is also provided. The Debian-based Raspbian is recommended as the operating system - but you can also use other Linux distributions or a special version of Windows. For the power supply, a micro-USB charger (for example from a Smartphone). An internet connection can be established via network cable via the Ethernet interface. The USB ports allow you to connect a mouse, keyboard, external hard drive and much more. The HDMI port is the easiest option to connect a screen to the Raspberry Pi. In addition, there are several pins (pins).

The components vary depending on the model . The first (Raspberry Pi 1) came in February 2012 on the market. Other models followed, with their original price with a maximum of $ 35 always turned out extremely cheap. The Raspberry Pi 3 was delivered from February 2016; It has a 64-bit CPU and for the first time also has WLAN and Bluetooth (low energy) on board.

The name of the calculator is a pun and is pronounced like the English name for a raspberry pie ("raspberry pie"). The first part joins the tradition of computer and IT companies with fruits in the name of Apple, Blackberry or Acorn; the "Pi" stands for "Python interpreter", because Python is considered by the developers as the main programming language of the Raspberry Pis. If you have no previous experience in programming, you can also fall back on the even simpler, visual programming language Scratch.

10 useful Raspberry Pi home projects

The fields of application of the Raspberry Pis are very broad. In addition to many common uses for which the miniature calculator seems virtually predestined, the implementation of some rather unusual Raspberry Pi ideas has now been presented. For the implementation of Raspberry Pi projects you need hardly any, sometimes quite a bit of prior knowledge. With enough interest, however, nothing stands in the way of your own project. On the contrary, experimenting with the board and learning new computer skills form the concept behind the computer.

The network is full of information for implementing numerous Raspberry Pi applications and projects. The following examples give a first impression of the possibilities of the Mini-PC. You will find links to some of the most popular and helpful projects, for which we will give you a short introduction in further articles.

Web Server

Many users use the Raspberry Pi as a web server . For this, you have different Web server programs available (such as lighttpd or nginx . However, the performance of Raspberry Pis is not enough for the smooth hosting of extensive, dynamic web content from the normal case. Rather, the small computer suitable as a local site test environment . But even simple Web pages that are not likely to attract a lot of traffic can be hosted on a Raspberry Pi, and you 'll learn how to set up a Raspberry Pi web server in this article.

Mail Server

If you use the Raspberry Pi as a mail server, your emails are stored exclusively on it - so no other provider or server has access to your messages. With your own mail server, you not only have complete control over your mail system , but you can also create any number of email addresses with your own domain. A step-by-step guide to setting up a Raspberry Pi mail server can be found here.

VPN Server

With a VPN , you can encrypt all traffic on a network . This is especially useful if you use a public WLAN - without encryption theoretically sensitive and personal data can be intercepted at any time. Here a VPN server helps. Here we show you how to operate a VPN server with Raspberry Pi .

DNS Server

Via a DNS server (also name servers), the name resolution of a domain takes place in an IP address. This process can be accelerated in the home network by setting up a separate DNS server on the Raspberry Pi . Having your own DNS server brings even more advantages - in the following, you will find information and a description of how and why you are using a Raspberry Pi as a DNS server.

Own Cloud

With the small PC, you can also have your private cloud service - with the free software ownCloud . Here again, the Raspberry Pi serves as a server where you can upload your data and then access it. Having your own cloud server has the great advantage over commercial file hosting services like Dropbox or iCloud, giving you complete control over the server and the data on it. Thus, you can also save sensitive data on it with a clear conscience. How exactly this works and what other advantages (eg access via an app) the ownCloud brings with itself, can be found in this article.

Home Server

If you want to make your data available at home on all devices , then a home server will be enough for you. A home server is a file server (file server) on which you store data of any form (documents, pictures, videos, music, etc.) and have access to the devices connected to the server (PC, laptop, smartphone, tablet, etc.). This can be either wired or via WLAN.

Media Center

The use of the Raspberry Pis as a media center is very common - on the Mini PC, you can both movies, music and pictures from the hard drive play , as well as streaming services such as various online libraries, YouTube or Spotify use. A popular software for operating a Raspberry Pi Media center is Kodi, in which all media are sorted and illustrated by type.

Video game machine / console

The performance of the Raspberry Pis goes without a hitch to play old video games of arcade machines or old game consoles (via emulators). Hobbyists have recreated arcade machines in both a miniature version as well as in approximately original size - sometimes even with coin slot, as this YouTube video proves.

Magic Mirror

The Magic Mirror is a Raspberry Pi project by the Dutchman Michael Teeuw. This is a disposable mirror, behind which a monitor and the small computer are attached. On the mirror glass the time, the weather, upcoming appointments and much more are displayed. On the website you will find pictures of the first finished miracle mirror and instructions for its construction. With success: The Magic Mirror found many imitators worldwide.

Voice control for garage door

The fact that the Raspberry Pi can also be used to implement a voice control to open a garage door was already proven by this video on YouTube at the end of 2012 . A post in the official Raspberry Pi forum explains in English how this can be implemented with the Apple speech recognition software Siri and other programs.

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