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If after reading our guide to Raspberry Pi and Arduino you decided that Raspberry Pi was the one for you then these projects will... Top 5 Hacks For Raspberry Pi – Build R2-D2!

If after reading our guide to Raspberry Pi and Arduino you decided that Raspberry Pi was the one for you then these projects will act as inspiration, a few ideas as to what you can achieve with your Pi. We’ve selected a variety of projects so there is something for everyone, however if you have already done a project of your own then please share it with us – with photos of your project too if possible!

Digital Picture Frame

Andy Jagoe built a digital picture frame with his Raspberry Pi. It cost him half what it would to buy one from an electrical store and yet has double the features. What I think is a nice touch is that the digital frame doesn’t just display photos but weather reports, music and movies too. The best bit? – It took just a couple of hours to build, so a great project to start with.  You can find full tutorial instructions here, complete with photos to help you along the way.

digital picture frame

Mini Mac

At one third of the size of an original Mac, the Mini Mac is the world’s smallest Macintosh. Built to scale and with PVC as well as off-the-shelf PC parts, die hard Apple fan John Leake used his Raspberry Pi as the motherboard and uses Linux to run System 6, which is one of the oldest versions of the Mac OS. The Mini Mac has support for USB, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi and features a 3.5-inch screen and even a HDMI-out port. Impressive!

Home Media Centre

Linux can run the free media centre program XBMC, so if you combine that with the Raspberry Pi, which runs Raspbian Linux then you can make your very own home media centre. Because XBMC has a great plugin library, you will be able to watch content from Netflix, Amazon Prime and other sources.

R2-D2

This has to be one of the best presents ever. Not only did a Raspberry Pi owner give his girlfriend an R2-D2 robot for Valentine’s day, he actually built it himself. The little robot can recognise and track faces, motion and distance as well as give it commands in both English and Chinese, all thanks to the Raspberry Pi.

Home Automation System

If you have an Arduino as well as a Raspberry Pi, then you could create your very own home automation system. By using a Node.js program, you would be able to monitor and control any device within your home. For example, you could turn lights off or the TV and if you really wanted to get technical, you could even set the Pi to switch off lights when it senses a temperature change. Click on this link for a full guide.

[Cover image via YouTube]