This small project came about when I was asked whether the Raspberry Pi could measure the temperature of a biomass boiler and display it on a phone.
Using a couple of digital temperature sensors, the DS18B20, some python and a bash script, the temperature at each sensor is relayed to a web page every 60 seconds.
I’m building a temperature sensor which updates a webpage, all being controlled from the Raspberry Pi Zero.
First thing is to solder some header pins on to the board, as the Zero comes “light”, so most functions need a little bit of work.
There’s been a fair amount of hype in the technical press about the Pi Zero (see https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/pi-zero/) recently — and fair enough. Very cheap, reasonably powerful, and as small as you could ever imagine for a fully fledged linux computer. I’ve been showing mine off to friends and family, just because it’s been small enough to fit in my pocket without noticing it.
But what’s the point if it’s not doing something useful. Tonight I finally fired it up.
I am, in fact, writing this post on the Pi Zero.
First impressions, when I got it free with a magazine, were “wow! Tiny, cheap, powerful — the world’s my oyster!”
Second impressions were less positive. [Read more…]
When the Raspberry Pi Zero appeared in the tech news, I phoned a local retailer and had them put aside a copy of MagPi magazine for me — a computer cheap enough to come with a magazine!?
Raspberry Pi Zero – a £4 computer (or free with a magazine!)
It will normally retail for £4 — pretty amazing. I only just downloaded NOOBS to install on it – not plugged it in yet. Slightly disappointed there’s no ethernet onboard but otherwise it looks great.
I purchased a new wireless router for the house — mainly to be able to install DD-WRT on it, a custom firmware. It works a treat, sitting behind my original modem-router.
I bought a Linksys E1200 v2 for just over £20 – and DD-WRT is free. Brill.
The main benefits for me are:
There are a million other things you can do with this system. So far so good.
I’ve started reading Ghost In The Wires by Kevin Mitnick. It will contribute to my CISSP credits, but is also a pretty good read so far.
Phreaking, social engineering, password stealing, staying one step ahead of the authorities – sometimes one step behind – entertaining stuff.
