A wall of blinkies, running x86 apps and a Zero-controlled skateboard - all in today's Raspberry Pi Roundup!

Blinkies!

Joshua Krosenbrink works for Usabilla and he has presented them with the World of Light, a map of the world represented by 426 RGB LEDs. The Raspberry Pi runs an API that is used to send data to affect the map and he has hooked up his company’s website so that when feedback is received, the map changes accordingly. A 30-amp power supply completes the picture. More photos are available over at Hackaday and you can see it in action below.

Run x86 apps

Gus, over at PiMyLifeUp, has been looking at Exagear Desktop, a piece of Raspberry Pi-compatible software that allows you to run x86 apps. He has tried out the software and written up some how-tos to get various pieces of software working including Sublime Text and WINE, the Windows emulator. Well worth a read if you want to expand the range of software available to you.

Skateboard

Matthew Timmons-Brown (aka The Raspberry Pi Guy) has been around for ages, providing tutorial and other videos. Now, he has embarked upon his most ambitious project yet by building his own motorised skateboard, controlled (of course) by a Raspberry Pi.

A Pi Zero sends a servo signal to a speed controller, which is powered by a 22V 8A battery. The control signal is then sent to the motor – a whopping 63mm Alien Power System brushless jobby that is rated for 80A, 3200-watts and carries the skateboard at speeds of up to 30km/h.

The skateboard itself is rather nice and on the bottom are two boxes protecting the battery and the electronics. A Wiimote controller is used to control the amount of power applied to the motor over Bluetooth. Matt reckons the skateboard has a range of at least 10km, although he hasn’t yet tried it out over that distance.

Matt has written just over 100 lines of object-orientated Python to drive the skateboard and you can see his code here. The skateboard itself was customised and put together with help from the awesome guys over at Cambridge Makespace. Leave Matt a comment and a thumbs-up by visiting the YouTube video!