Book Image

Getting Started with Raspberry Pi Zero

By : Richard Grimmett
Book Image

Getting Started with Raspberry Pi Zero

By: Richard Grimmett

Overview of this book

Raspberry Pi Zero is half the size of Raspberry Pi A, only with twice the utility. At just three centimeters wide, it packs in every utility required for full-fledged computing tasks. This practical tutorial will help you quickly get up and running with Raspberry Pi Zero to control hardware and software and write simple programs and games. You will learn to build creative programs and exciting games with little or no programming experience. We cover all the features of Raspberry Pi Zero as you discover how to configure software and hardware, and control external devices. You will find out how to navigate your way in Raspbian, write simple Python scripts, and create simple DIY programs.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
Getting Started with Raspberry Pi Zero
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Configuring and controlling an RC car with Raspberry Pi Zero


In this project, you'll be working on a simple RC car, similar to the one shown here:

This particular car is an Xmods car, originally sold by Radio Shack. However, the best place to get them now is eBay. The advantage of this particular set is that the inputs to the drive train and steering are very easy to access.

The following image shows the car with its center control mechanism exposed:

There are two connections that you will want direct access to. The first is the drive motor, and the second is the steering mechanism. For this particular model of RC car, the drive mechanism is in the rear. What you are normally looking for is two wires that will directly drive the DC motor of the car. In this system, there is a connector in the rear of the car; it looks similar to the following image:

In the main control section of the car, you can see that there is a connector that plugs into these two wires, in order to control the speed of...