Gertboard hardware controller is out for Raspberry Pi

THE CAN-DO pocket computer, the Raspberry Pi now has a hardware controller available for it called the Gertboard.

The Gertboard must be assembled but it does add the ability to control hardware to the tiny PC.

Similar in size to the Raspberry Pi itself, the Gertboard was developed by Raspberry Pi enthusiast Gert van Loo and is available exclusively through Element14.

The unassembled Gertboard is available for pre-order and costs £30. For that you get a motor controller, voltage and current detection, buttons and LEDs and the ability, if you can match it, to drive robots and control things.

It is not a Raspberry Pi product but it does come with a solid gold recommendation from the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

"If you want to use your Raspberry Pi to drive motors to open doors, lift things, or power robotics; if you want to sense temperature and switch devices on and off; if you want to flash lights; if you want to teach it to play the glockenspiel; or if you want to learn about electronics from scratch, then Gertboard is for you," it said in a blog post.

"Gertboard isn't an official Raspberry Pi Foundation product, but it's designed and produced by someone who's right at the heart of the Foundation. It fits the Foundation's goals perfectly, and we endorse it wholeheartedly."

Orders are limited to one per customer at Element14, which expects to start shipping hardware in mid September. µ