Electronic Starter Kit for Raspberry Pi (Raspberry Pi NOT included)

I was asked to look at this for someone else and it is a nice clean build but a simple reorientation or shifting the proto board to the right (looking down) would have been all that was needed to make this much more usable. The plug board is so close to the Pi that (using the current layout) if you need or use either a composite monitor or any straight audio plug you will loose access to the left hand side of the plug board.

A little expensive really at £22 for a couple bits of perspex, screws and headers, a dozen leads, a small prototype solderless breadboard and misc components. You could pull all these together much cheaper, for the same price you could maybe add a separate power module on the base unit to provide a 5V so you do not overload the Pi, a larger board and in a throw back to ZX81/Z80A interfacing days include a few IC (aka ULN2803A darlington drivers and 74 series TTL chips) to allow the GPIO ports to sink more current otherwise if you are not careful you might try to draw too much current from the PIO pins. The gert board when it is available is a more sophisticated way of doing this too.

For those that just want to see can they blink an LED from a Pi with minimal effort you will get instant gratification but you will run out of options quickly after that.

Having received my Raspberry Pi some weeks ago I knew I'd need a case. I was going to build my own but after doing a little research I came across this product which was recommended in a Linux magazine. Although I only have a little knowledge of electronics, I was suddenly inspired by the memories as a youth tinkering and building radios and such. The thought of using my RP as part of some renewed hobby had really inspired me; so I bought one straight away.

On arrival I was really pleased to see the inclusion of a few resistors diodes etc. to start you off. The parts were bagged separately and although there were no instructions it was very easy to put together. I'd recommend keeping the spacers screwed in loose until you have the RP in place; then tighten. The Acrylic was protected by a film of rip of plastic which keeps the viewing side very clean. Stick on silicone feet finish off the build.

Overall I think the RP now looks really smart; my 17 year old son was really impressed :D So I'd recommend it to anyone. Be aware though this isn't a sealed case so you'll need to store it away safe and keep drinks and such well away. On the plus side it shouldn't get hot :)

I received my Raspberry Pi this week and immediately looked for a case. I was drawn to this particular set up as it contains a BIM Board and cables to allow you to play with the Raspberry Pi's I/O Feature.

It would have been great to have a page of instructions with this case.

*** Update, I should have spotted on the bag that contained the perspex sheets the following
[...]

Contains full instructions on how to assemble the case :-)
***

You get two perspex sheets pre-cut, but with a pattern etched on the surface. At first I thought these were break out parts, they are not, they simply show the alignment of the PI to the board.

The four plastic pages/board spacers have a notch cut out on on end. These notches hold the PCB in place and line up nicely.

To assemble.

The largest perspex sheet is the bottom with the raspberry pie SD Card on the right, the USB ports on the left. Insert the two plastic begs and tighten slightly, sliding in the Raspberry pi In and ensuring the notches align with the PCB.

Then insert the remaining two plastic spaces, again with the notch gripping the PCB and tighten the four screws.

The top (Smallest Perspex Part) goes on top and is secured by four screws.

The BIM board has adhesive backing and sticks to the front area of the case.

Four rubber feet are supplied and stick them on the four small screw holes on each corner of the board.

Et Voila, your ready to go!

The kit contains 2 miniature switches, 10 LEDs' variable colours, and 10 connectors that attach nicely on the Raspberry PI's connector block and the BIM Board.

This brings back childhood memories of trying the latest elektor electronics magazines monthly projects on BIM and Vero-Board :-)

All I need to do know is work out how to program the Pi !

The case is sturdy, and in my opinion is worth the spend. But please note, it does not encapsulate the Pi device, so little fingers could touch the remaining circuitry!

Happy Pi'ing... :-)