In a clever bit of miniaturization, [JediJeremy] has nearly completed a gyro-mouse controller for a Raspberry Pi Zero! Ultimately this will be a wearable Linux-watch but along the way he had some fun with the interface.
Using the MPU6040 gyroscope/accelerometer card from a quadcopter, [JediJeremy] spent a week writing the driver to allow it to function as a mouse. Strapping an Adafruit 1.5″ PAL/NTSC LCD screen and its driver board to the Zero with rubber bands makes this one of the smallest functional computer and screen combos we’ve seen. Simply tilt the whole thing about to direct the cursor.
It presently lacks any keyboard input, and [JediJeremy] has only added a single button for clicking, but look at this thing! It’s so tiny! In his own words: “I think this is the first computer that I can accidentally spill into my coffee, rather than vice versa.”
There have been a few issues along the way. He was originally planning to detect taps on the screen using the accelerometer and use that as the clicking input, but it disrupts the cursor position. The screen’s driver board also likes to overheat, and it tends to kill the battery life since the screen doesn’t shut off completely — but it is still a functional proof of concept.
Stripping away the need for clumsy mouse is in perfect thematic keeping with this efficient powerhouse of a computer. The best part is the extremely low price point of all the components so building your own is a cost-effective project as well! If that’s not to your taste, why not a button that plays a random episode of The Simpsons?
[via /r/raspberry_pi]
If you could actually get a Rpi 0 would be great. They are out of stock every where.
These guys seem to have stock quite a bit lately
https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/raspberry-pi-zero
Assuming your in the UK of course
If you are in the US try microcenter, picked one up there a couple of days ago
I’ve got half a dozen of them, Micro Center has them albeit in kits with a few dongles last I checked.
http://whereismypizero.com/ is here for this purpose. I recently bought unbundled Pi Zeros thanks to it (yes, at last a pi 0 at the “normal” price)
Have you checked recently? I thought the scarcity of the Pi Zero in the past was because it came out shortly before the Pi 3. Now that the Pi 3 is out and past the bump of initial demand, I had the impression that both the Pi 3 and Pi Zero were readily available.
I was lucky enough to snag a Pi Zero as part of a gift for someone else, right around the time they were first released. I’d like one for myself, but I have literally never seen them in stock at any US retailers since then. (You can get one on eBay if you’re willing to pay a 2-5x markup.)
No joke. I wish that folks would stop hoarding them and just buy what they need for a single project. I managed to get one, but I had to buy it as a package with a camera and then it was sold out 10 minutes later.
there is the “orange pi one”.
Hah awesome.
Could ditch the power board, and use an SPI screen and make it even smaller!
That gyro is a clever touch. Looks awesome
Nice, also the final version thats linked too at the end of the video
How can you run this on a pi 0 when I can’t even get the game to run playable on a HP netbook.
It’s a special minimal version of the game.
You can get it to run on just about anything made in the last few years, you just might need to turn down the settings. Put everything on low/off and decrease the render distance. Bet you could get it working semi-decently in a jiffy :)
My last laptop could only just run minecraft on Windows, it was a 1.4gh duel core and it could only run on minimum settings
Up next a Pocket Computer it hooks up to ur computer and u can take ur computer any were u go to work,shopping,meatings,and much more just for: $50 each
Like a smartphone? :P
They should set the gyro movements in the opposite direction to make it realistic
Is there any way to know what kind of screen is being used here and how to look into hooking it up?
I’m making a small board with two ATMEGA8, half is a mouse and half is a keyboard. I’m using V-USB library and Atmel Studio.
The goal is to connect two PS2 joystiks, one for the directionnal mouvements, the other one for the mouse, 6 buttons in order to make a portable pi ZERO minecraft station with batteries and a 5″ LCD.
The mouse is done, i’m working on the keyboard now.
If interrested, contact me at reptooyep”aro”hotmail.fr