Creating a basic Word Cloud in Python

We’ve all seen word clouds, like in the sidebars of blogs, but let’s see how we might create our own with a little bit of code!

  Jun 4, 2020 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  2 min

Connecting an Analog Joystick to the Raspberry Pi

One of the best things about the Raspberry Pi is its GPIO pins. They’re just sitting there, waiting to be connected to all kinds of interesting peripherals so your Pi can interact with the world around it. We can send alerts, attach sensors, and even plug cards like the Sense HAT over top of the pins to do even more. A few months ago, I bought a set of 37 sensor modules. I knew they wouldn’t directly interface with the Pi, but that it was entirely possible to do it, so they were set aside for later. Well, it’s time to try one out, and I figure the mini-joystick might offer some interesting opportunities! ...

  Sep 24, 2016 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  9 min

Creating a Flickering Candle Using an RGB LED on the Raspberry Pi

After getting PWM (pulse-width modulation) to work with an RGB LED last week, I was trying to think of what else I could do with an LED that demonstrated changes in color as well as intensity. I’m not sure why – maybe it was because we lost power in our neighborhood recently – but I thought a flickering candle could be an interesting little challenge… Materials In order to test this out, you’ll need a few things. ...

  Aug 29, 2016 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  10 min

How to Use Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) on an RGB LED and the Raspberry Pi

If you buy a kit with random LEDs, wires, switches, etc, you’re likely to end up with one or two of those funky little LEDs that appears to be white, and has 4 wires instead of 2. I had set mine aside and made a mental note to figure it out later – well, that time has come! The code in this article is available on GitHub, if you’d like to use it or just follow along. ...

  Aug 22, 2016 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  9 min

A Simon Game Clone for the Raspberry Pi

Let’s recreate the Simon game of the 1980s using a Raspberry Pi and Sonic Pi!

  Jul 28, 2016 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  11 min

Flash an LED on Your Raspberry Pi When You Get New Email

Let’s learn how to flash an LED on the Raspberry Pi when someone sends us a new email.

  May 28, 2016 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  6 min

Building a Morse Code Transmitter on a Raspberry Pi (version 2)

I created a morse code generator before based on entering a string at the console. Now I extended it to generate a message by clicking a button.

  May 19, 2016 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  9 min

Using PullUp and PullDown Resistors on the Raspberry Pi

When you start out creating circuits with the Raspberry Pi and its GPIO pins, there’s an unexpected but important concept to understand, called “floating”. To adjust for it, you need to understand how to use pullup and pulldown resistors.

  May 9, 2016 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  10 min

Building a Morse Code Transmitter on a Raspberry Pi

Making the Pi blink an LED a few times is thrilling, but what about building something.. more? Let’s build a morse code transmitter!

  Apr 3, 2016 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  6 min

Hello World for the Raspberry Pi - Making an LED Blink

I unboxed my Raspberry Pi a few weeks ago and started learning Python. Let’s code the “Hello World” of the Pi, and make an LED blink.

  Mar 26, 2016 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  9 min