Raspberry Pi Cyberdeck designs

This is my latest design for use with a 4.3" screen that connects to the raspberry Pi via a ribbon cable.  It can be found at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FP1SZF71?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

I started with the "DeckTility" design but it did not work for my 5" screen.  So I set off to make my own design based on their design. 

Before long I had three Raspberry Pi designs.  When it came to the 3.5" and 4.3" screens I made adapters for the 5" case design to fit the smaller screens.

Then I decided to make a custom design for the 4.3" screen.

All of my designs are on thingiverse. https://www.thingiverse.com/bobdavis321/designs

Should I do my own design for a 7" LCD?  YES!

I now have made a design for a 7" LCD with the Raspberry Pi attached upside down to the screen.  The USB jacks are indented quite a bit but USB devices with antennas usually fit ncely with just the antenna outside of the case.

This is what the screen looks like with the Raspberry Pi attached. I had to glue 3/4" spacers on the bottom of the LCD as I could not find spacers to fit the threads that are there.  The screen came with the HDMI and USB connectors to the Raspberry pi.

I am currently designing Keyboard adapters to fit the various keyboards that can work with this screen.

Idea for Raspberry Pi called "Pi Spy"

I have an Idea for a device for the Raspberry Pi perhaps called the "Pi Spy".  It would be a "hat" containing a CC1101, NRF24, NFC, IR Tx and IR Rx devices.  I could not find a truely blank proto board.  They all have several runs connected together and that does not work with the eight pin RF devices.  The proto board pictured below does not have all of the GPIO pins.  So the first thing I need to do is make my own proto board.

Then I need to come up with a GPIO to device pinout list for each device.  I want to use existing software and create a menu file to select what application to run for what device.

There is more to come....

CYD Cheap Yellow Display with Bruce firmware adding NRF24 CC1101 PN523 and IR

Back in 2020 someone told me the covid19 tests were radioactive.  I pulled out my Geiger counter and proved that was not true.  Now I am hearing the Covid19 vax gives people a Bluetooth/RFID/MAC address.  So I decided to venture into hacking to find out if that is true.

Right away I had a second use for these devices.  I am setting up a Raspberry Pi RaspAP filtered router.  I need to compare signal strength between the RaspAP and  Netgear router.  The objective is to add an antenna to the RaspAP and see how the two compare in signal strength.

I bought a LilyGo and a CYD to compare the two.  The CYD lacks many sensors and the LilyGo has a screen so small that you need a magnifying glass to read it.

So I decided to buy and add the additional sensors to the CYD device. Now there is a guy who has added several modules to a CYD using around 12 switches to select between the modules. I am hoping to simplify the design with less modules, three position switches, and 3D print a case for it.

Here is my preliminary schematic design to connect the CYD with Bruce firmware to several modules.  Some IR devies require 5 Volts, so this may be to much of a simplified schematic.

The IR would not work, it just received nonstop garbage, so I changed the schematic to get rid of the interference that was apparently coming from the powered down NRF24 and or CC1101..

This revision of the CYD/Bruce schematic has the power for the GPS receiver coming form the 3.3 volt upper bus and a switch to power it off as it consumes a lot of power. Also the CS to the RF devices is now switched.

.The 3D printed larger case is at: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7258129

I decided to try to fit everything in the smaller case.  Connecting the wires to the SD connector is tricky.  I then brought them out to a 4 pin connector.

The almost finished wiring, point to point wiring is no fun, a circuit board would be better!  No GPS or NFC yet.  I had to cut away room for the antenna connectors for the NRF24 and CC1101.  I have designed a 3D printed case with these changes built in!

The NFC PN532 was supposed to fit above the IR modules, and be fastened on the back cover.  But the back cover will not allow that! So I went with the GPS receiver instead.

Here is my source for the 1.25mm JST connectors that are needed.

I ran into problems with one CYD.  IT would only support one CC1101 or NRF24 not both or two of the same.  I chased it down to the clock connection.  This CYD has a ground plane right next to the clock connection and it was capacitively coupling the signal to ground.  I added a piece of electrical tape to fix the problem.

While I am at it, here is how it is progressing:

Here is the other side of the board.

Raspberry Pi Wireless Internet router and Filter with RaspAP

I have built a Raspberry Pi Wireless Internet router and Filter with RaspAP.  I tried a Raspberry Pi model 3 but out of three tries it only worked once. 

But with the Raspberry Pi model 4 came right up and ran.  All you need to connect is power and a ethernet cable for it to work!

In terminal type: curl -sL https://install.raspap.com | bash

Then I answered the many questions as follows:

Create Dir - Y

Complete - Y

Cookies - Y

Control - Y

Congestion - Y

AD Block - Y

Open VPN - N

RestAPI - N

Wireguard - N

VPN Client - N

Reset - Y

Once it is up and running, set the DNS server to 1.0.0.3 and 1.1.1.3 to block the porn sites.

This does a great job of blocking porn, but it also blocks the Ad blocker!  I have not found a solution to this issue yet.  The ad blocker cannot update but it also delets the database when it cannot update!

Another issue is the built in antenna only has a 20 foot range.  I will be adding an external antenna and will see how that increases the range.

This is a signal strength comparison to a Netgear router at -34 and the Raspberry pi at -51 dB.

Waveshare Zero to Pi3 Review

I recently purchased a Waveshare Zero to Pi3 adapter.  I had a couple of Pi zero's laying around not being used because I had to look up the HDMI and USB adapters in order to use them.  One Zero was even so old that it did not have any built in network ability.  I had to use USB memory sticks to add programs to it.  

This next picture shows the Zero adapter in use.

I could not get it to fit my 3D printed case as it is a very tiny bit wider and the memory card jack is in the wrong place.  I might design a modified case with the new memory card position.  It did mount fine on a piece of plastic with the standard raspberry Pi hole spacing.

When I went to test it, the video worked but the USB jacks did not work.  Then I squeezed it a little more and the USB jacks moved a tiny bit and started working.  Even the network jack worked but, to be honest, the Zero is a model 1.3 and it is to slow for browsing online web sites.

The adapter is also missing the audio jack, but most of the time I have to disable audio to run my projects so that is not an issue for me.  Alltogether I love this little adapter as it brought back usefulness to my Zero's.  

I own a raspberry Pi model 1, 2, 3 and 4.  I was surprised whrn I discovered that I needed a HDMI adapter for the model 4!  Now if I can just keep from loosing it!

7 Inch LCD Screen kits sold on eBay with Raspberry Pi

I recently purchased one of the 7 inch LCD screen kits being sold on eBay.  The resolution is 1024 x 600 so the screen image is a little compressed top to bottom.  The brightness is not that great either.  But it does work fine with a Raspberry Pi.  It also supports composite video and VGA video inputs.  It is rated for 12 volts at 1 amp but it also runs on 5 volts from an included USB connector.

This is the eBay advertisement.

This is the screen running of a USB power cable that was included.  All you have to do is plug the screen into the interface board (there is a clip that you push down to lock it in) and add power.

I flipped the screen orientation so the interface board can be eventually mounted on the back of the screen and switched to a 12 volt AC adapter.  It was not noticeably brighter on the AC adapter. 

Next I bought a case to fit the 7 inch screen.  Theis is the ebay ad for a case to match this screen.

 This is what it looks like when it is put together.  It took several tries as there are no instructions.  There are four layers.  The back layer is first.  Then a layer to space the screen away for the screws (You can countersink the screws instead) it has a notch for the ribbon cable.  Then the layer that fits around the screen.  The top layer holds the screen in place.  I put the top layer on wrong the first time as there was some silver metal visible on the right side of the screen.

 This is the side view.  The power and input jacks end up facing up.

 This is a back view.  I rearranged the control board so the button assignments are right side up.

 This is another side view so you can see how thin the case is when assembled.

I hope to add a camera mount to the screen and mount it on a video camera.  The next question is how to connect R/G/B cables to the screen??

Panasonic Pro AG-DVC7 Rebuild with higher resolution

I am rebuilding a Panasonic AG-DVC7 to give a better image resolution.  I am looking at USB Camera boards with sound on eBay to attach to the existing optics.  An Arduino will handle the Zoom, Focus, and Iris.  A Raspberry Pi will do the recording and provide a viewfinder.

One of the first steps is to reverse engineer the optics.

This is the main side of the optical assembly with the Zoom and Focus stepper motors.

This is the back side - The Iris solenoid connections are shown.  You need to remove the cover on the left to get to the connections.

This is a close up of the Iris assembly.  You do not need to take the optics apart this far.

Here is the first video of the arrangement working.


Yet to do:
Increase the range of the zoom - Add a spacer between board and the image sensor.
Set up a viewfinder - Need a small 5-7 inch HDMI Monitor.
Make the steps finer/smoother. - Done with 8 phases for servos instead of 4.
Auto focus - Need to run the focus to its stop then keep track of its position.
  Perhaps add an ultrasonic distance sensor?
Focus Issue - Somehow I damaged the optical assembly, it does not focus properly when installed back in the DVC7 camera....

Here is the schematic of the Arduino servo controller that was used for the camera.

This is a close up of the Arduino and servo driver interface.

This is a close up of the Raspberry Pi. You could use a USB camera board as well.

Here is the code for the servos.

/*****************************
Dual Four wire stepper motor Control
For Panasonic AG-DVC7 with two servos
by Bob Davis
May 1, 2019
*****************************/
// To L293 one
int motor1A =4;
int motor1B =5;
int motor1C =6;
int motor1D =7;
// To L293 Two
int motor2A =8;
int motor2B =9;
int motor2C =10;
int motor2D =11;
// 2P Momentary Switch One Center is off
int m1sw1 = 14;
int m1sw2 = 15;
// 2P Momentary Switch Two Center is off
int m2sw1 = 16;
int m2sw2 = 17;
// Variables
int m1step = 0;
int m2step = 0;
int mspeed = 100; // Step speed

void setup() {
  pinMode(motor1A, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(motor1B, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(motor1C, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(motor1D, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(motor2A, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(motor2B, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(motor2C, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(motor2D, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(m1sw1, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(m1sw2, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(m2sw1, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(m2sw2, INPUT_PULLUP);
}

void loop() {
// read switches
  if (digitalRead (m1sw1)==HIGH) m1step=m1step+1;
  if (digitalRead (m1sw2)==HIGH) m1step=m1step-1;
  if (m1step > 7) m1step=0;
  if (m1step < 0) m1step=7;
  if (digitalRead (m2sw1)==HIGH) m2step=m2step+1;
  if (digitalRead (m2sw2)==HIGH) m2step=m2step-1;
  if (m2step > 7) m2step=0;
  if (m2step < 0) m2step=7;
// respond M1 with 8 smooth steps
  if (m1step==0){
    digitalWrite (motor1A, LOW); //+A
    digitalWrite (motor1B, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor1C, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor1D, HIGH);}
  if (m1step==1){
    digitalWrite (motor1A, LOW); //+A,+B
    digitalWrite (motor1B, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor1C, LOW);
    digitalWrite (motor1D, HIGH);}
  if (m1step==2){
    digitalWrite (motor1A, HIGH); //+B
    digitalWrite (motor1B, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor1C, LOW);
    digitalWrite (motor1D, HIGH);}
  if (m1step==3){
    digitalWrite (motor1A, HIGH); //+B,-A
    digitalWrite (motor1B, LOW);
    digitalWrite (motor1C, LOW);
    digitalWrite (motor1D, HIGH);}
  if (m1step==4){
    digitalWrite (motor1A, HIGH); // -A
    digitalWrite (motor1B, LOW);
    digitalWrite (motor1C, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor1D, HIGH);}
  if (m1step==5){
    digitalWrite (motor1A, HIGH); // -A,-B
    digitalWrite (motor1B, LOW);
    digitalWrite (motor1C, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor1D, LOW);}
  if (m1step==6){
    digitalWrite (motor1A, HIGH); // -B
    digitalWrite (motor1B, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor1C, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor1D, LOW);}
  if (m1step==7){
    digitalWrite (motor1A, LOW); // -B,+A
    digitalWrite (motor1B, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor1C, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor1D, LOW);}
 
// respond M2
  if (m2step==0){
    digitalWrite (motor2A, LOW); //+A
    digitalWrite (motor2B, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor2C, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor2D, HIGH);}
  if (m2step==1){
    digitalWrite (motor2A, LOW); //+A,+B
    digitalWrite (motor2B, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor2C, LOW);
    digitalWrite (motor2D, HIGH);}
  if (m2step==2){
    digitalWrite (motor2A, HIGH); //+B
    digitalWrite (motor2B, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor2C, LOW);
    digitalWrite (motor2D, HIGH);}
  if (m2step==3){
    digitalWrite (motor2A, HIGH); //+B,-A
    digitalWrite (motor2B, LOW);
    digitalWrite (motor2C, LOW);
    digitalWrite (motor2D, HIGH);}
  if (m2step==4){
    digitalWrite (motor2A, HIGH); // -A
    digitalWrite (motor2B, LOW);
    digitalWrite (motor2C, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor2D, HIGH);}
  if (m2step==5){
    digitalWrite (motor2A, HIGH); // -A,-B
    digitalWrite (motor2B, LOW);
    digitalWrite (motor2C, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor2D, LOW);}
  if (m2step==6){
    digitalWrite (motor2A, HIGH); // -B
    digitalWrite (motor2B, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor2C, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor2D, LOW);}
  if (m2step==7){
    digitalWrite (motor2A, LOW); // -B,+A
    digitalWrite (motor2B, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor2C, HIGH);
    digitalWrite (motor2D, LOW);}

  delay (mspeed);
}

Raspberry Pi Controlled Humanoid Robot

I am rebuilding the humanoid robot from a few years back, but this time it has a Raspberry Pi controlling it via a PCA9685 controller.

Here is the video:


At one point he fell apart and had to be rebuilt.

I crunched the code, now it is much shorter.

# PCA9685 Servo controller for 16DOF humanoid
#
# 01234567890 = select servo 0-15
# Z = Center all servos
# -,+ = Decrease, increase servo
# Range is 20-90-160
# q=quit

import curses
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import time
from SunFounder_PCA9685 import Servo

# Turn on instant key response
key = curses.initscr()
#curses.cbreak()
key.keypad(1)
key.nodelay(1)

# Set default positions
s=[90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90]
sservo=0
r=[90,70,70,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90]
l=[90,90,90,90,90,110,110,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90]
w=[90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,70,120,120,20,90,90,90,90]
f=[90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90,90]

# Set up servos
myservo = []
for i in range(0, 16):
        myservo.append(Servo.Servo(i))  # channel 1
        Servo.Servo(i).setup()

while True:
    char = key.getch()
    if char == ord('q'):
        break
    elif char == ord('1'):
        sservo=1
    elif char == ord('2'):
        sservo=2
    elif char == ord('3'):
        sservo=3
    elif char == ord('4'):
        sservo=4
    elif char == ord('5'):
        sservo=5
    elif char == ord('6'):
        sservo=6
    elif char == ord('7'):
        sservo=7
    elif char == ord('8'):
        sservo=8
    elif char == ord('9'):
        sservo=9
    elif char == ord('0'):
        sservo=0
    elif char == ord('!'):
        sservo=11
    elif char == ord('@'):
        sservo=12
    elif char == ord('#'):
        sservo=13
    elif char == ord('$'):
        sservo=14
    elif char == ord('%'):
        sservo=15
    elif char == ord(')'):
        sservo=10

    elif char == ord('r'):
        for i in range (0,16):
          s[i]=r[i]
    elif char == ord('l'):
        for i in range (0,16):
          s[i]=l[i]

    elif char == ord('w'):
        for i in range (0,16):
          s[i]=w[i]
     
    # Zero servos (90 degrees)
    elif char == ord('z'):
       for i in range (0,16):
           s[i]=90

    elif char == ord('-'):
        for i in range (0,16):
          if (sservo==i):
            if (s[i]>20) : s[i]=s[i]-2
                 
    elif char == ord('='):
        for i in range (0,16):
          if (sservo==i):
            if (s[i]<120 :="" i="" p="" s="">           
    print sservo
    # Send info to servos
    for i in range (0,16):
            myservo[i].write (s[i])

    time.sleep(0.1)

# Close down properly
curses.nocbreak()
key.keypad(0)
curses.echo()
curses.endwin()
# GPIO.cleanup()

DIY 6 DOF Robotic Arm Project

I have been building a 6 DOF Robotic arm by reverse engineering the ones found on eBay.  The only new part is the lazy Susan at the base.  That base looks a lot better than the ones on eBay.  All the other parts were laying around left overs from my Humanoid robotics projects.

Here is a video of it running with a Raspberry Pi.

This video is of a Raspberry Pi running it with a PCA9685 controller.


Here is the Arduino powered setup video, YouTube has made it difficult to embed a video....

Raspberry Pi with SSD1289 LCD and MCP3008 ADC

I have succeeded in writing the code for the SSD1289 screen to work with a Raspberry Pi.  I also added a control panel so I have more variable resistors.  I used them to vary the color giving 256K colors.

The SSD1289 took a flexible ribbon cable to connect it up.  That is because you have to access both rows of pins.

Here is a video of it working:

Raspberry Pi with 2.4 inch parallel interface TFT LCD

After about 2 weeks of trying I finally got a parallel interface LCD to work in Python.  I converted the code from C for the Arduino.  It did not appear to be working until I slowed it way down and discovered little lines appearing on one of the LCD's.  The driver is roughly a ILI9325 driver based on the Arduino code and the ILI9325 specifications.

The picture shows two screens and they both work with the same software.

Here is what the text looks like on the other screen.

Here is the first video demonstrating that it works.


Here is a second video, I added a Analog to Digital converter and made an "Etch-a-Sketch".

My Respberry Pi family is expanding.

The Raspberry Pi Zero was supposed to be a $5 single board computer.  However they were quickly bought up and resold for $25 or more.  With the introduction of the Raspberry Pi Zero camera edition the prices are now coming down to around $18.  So I bought one and a kit to be able to use it for another $15.  To be able to use the Zero you will need a micro SD card with NOOBS on it, a 5V 2 Amp AC adapter, a mini USB to regular USB adapter/hub and a Mini HDMI to regular HDMI adapter/cable.  A case to hold it in helps a lot too.  To be able to use the GPIO pins you will need to solder in your own 26 or 40 pin header.

This first picture is of the Raspberry Pi Zero camera edition.

This picture shows the Raspberry Pi 1A, 2B, and Zero next to each other.

This third picture shows the Raspberry Pi's in their cases.  I have a model 2/3 case on order from china that has not arrived yet.

As far as cases go the case on the left broke off one of the corners.  The hole for the ribbon cable does not fit the ribbon cable connector.  I was not happy with that style of case.  The case for the zero consists of two layers of Plexiglas and that style of case is what I ordered for the Raspberry Pi 2.

Here they are all in their cases.