Tuesday 22 September 2015

Installing Node.js on Raspberry Pi!

Node.js is server side JavaScript and it is awesome! JavaScript is now a powerful multipurpose language that can do literally anything. It allows you to use the same language for a whole host of applications on any operating systems for desktops, embedded devices, smart phones, inside the browser and more. This is why there has been an explosion in the amount of people using JavaScript and it has become the lingua franca of programming languages. There is also the Node Package Manager or NPM which is a massive stockpile of free applications, frameworks and packages. NPM will intelligently install software packages not just those written in JavaScript, downloading all the required dependencies and putting them together in a logical folder arrangement.

The Raspberry Pi is the perfect choice for using a light weight language such as Node.js, but you can't install Node on your Pi through the usual apt-get method because of its ARM architecture. Don't despair there is an easy way to install it. Just go to this website and follow the instructions. Node-Arm, http://node-arm.herokuapp.com/

Good luck and may the Node be with you!

If you are upgrading be sure to delete the old node_latest_armhf.deb file as it will end up installing the old one and not the update. Or you could rename the file or whatever.

Multitasking the Arduino

This is a series about multitasking the Arduino from the Adafruit learning site. I had difficulty finding links between the three articles, so I am going to link them all here. This tutorial shows what the best way to the most out of your Arduino, It shows you how to use millis() how to create timer or external interrupts and good stuff.

Multitasking the Arduino:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Have fun!

hizzer