Book Image

Raspberry Pi 3 Cookbook for Python Programmers - Third Edition

By : Steven Lawrence Fernandes, Tim Cox
Book Image

Raspberry Pi 3 Cookbook for Python Programmers - Third Edition

By: Steven Lawrence Fernandes, Tim Cox

Overview of this book

Raspberry Pi 3 Cookbook for Python Programmers – Third Edition begins by guiding you through setting up Raspberry Pi 3, performing tasks using Python 3.6, and introducing the first steps to interface with electronics. As you work through each chapter, you will build your skills and apply them as you progress. You will learn how to build text classifiers, predict sentiments in words, develop applications using the popular Tkinter library, and create games by controlling graphics on your screen. You will harness the power of a built in graphics processor using Pi3D to generate your own high-quality 3D graphics and environments. You will understand how to connect Raspberry Pi’s hardware pins directly to control electronics, from switching on LEDs and responding to push buttons to driving motors and servos. Get to grips with monitoring sensors to gather real-life data, using it to control other devices, and viewing the results over the internet. You will apply what you have learned by creating your own Pi-Rover or Pi-Hexipod robots. You will also learn about sentiment analysis, face recognition techniques, and building neural network modules for optical character recognition. Finally, you will learn to build movie recommendations system on Raspberry Pi 3.
Table of Contents (23 chapters)
Title Page
Copyright and Credits
Dedication
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
Index

Using built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on Raspberry Pi


Many home networks provide a wireless network over Wi-Fi; if you have Raspberry Pi 3, then you can make use of the on-board Broadcom Wi-Fi to connect to it. Raspberry Pi 3 also supports Bluetooth, so you can connect most standard Bluetooth devices and use them like you would on any other computer.

This method should also work for any supported USB Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices; see the Networking and connecting your Raspberry Pi to the internet via a USB Wi-Fi dongle recipe for extra help on identifying devices and installing firmware (if required).

Getting ready

The latest version of Raspbian includes helpful utilities to quickly and easily configure your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth through the graphical interface.

Note

Note: If you need to configure the Wi-Fi via the command line, then see the Networking and connecting your Raspberry Pi to the internet via a USB Wi-Fi dongle recipe for details.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth configuration applications

You can use the built-in Bluetooth to connect a wireless keyboard, a mouse, or even wireless speakers. This can be exceptionally helpful for projects where additional cables and wires are an issue, such as robotic projects, or when Raspberry Pi is installed in hard-to-reach locations (acting as a server or security camera).

How to do it...

Here are the various methods.

Connecting to your Wi-Fi network

To configure your Wi-Fi connection, click on the networking symbol to list the local available Wi-Fi networks:

Wi-Fi listing of the available access points in the area

Select the required network (for example, Demo) and, if required, enter your password (also known as a Pre Shared Key):

Providing the password for the access point

After a short while, you should see that you have connected to the network and the icon will change to a Wi-Fi symbol. If you encounter problems, ensure you have the correct password/key:

Successful connection to an access point

That is it; it's as easy as that!

You can now test your connection and ensure it is working by using the web browser to navigate to a website or by using the following command in the terminal:

sudo ping www.raspberrypi.com

Connecting to Bluetooth devices

To start, we need to put the Bluetooth device into discoverable mode by clicking on the Bluetooth icon and selecting Make Discoverable. You will also need to make the device you want to connect to discoverable and ready to pair; this may vary from device to device (such as pressing a pairing button):

Setting the Bluetooth up as discoverable

Next, select Add Device... and select the target device and Pair:

Selecting and pairing the required device

The pairing process will then start; for example, the BTKB-71DB keyboard will need the pairing code 467572 to be entered onto the keyboard for the pairing to complete. Other devices may use default pairing codes, often set to 0000, 1111, 1234, or similar:

Following the instructions to pair the device with the required pairing code

Once the process has completed, the device will be listed and will connect automatically each time the devices are present and booted.