If you’re looking for a way to turn your Kindle into a Raspberry Pi screen, or control your iPod from anywhere in the house, there are a few easy ways to do it. And if you’re feeling ambitious, six degrees of Kevin Bacon can help you out too. To turn your Kindle into a Raspberry Pi screen, connect it to your computer using the included USB cable and install the Raspbian operating system. Once installed, open up a terminal window and type: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade This will install all of the necessary updates for Raspbian. Next, type: sudo rpi-update This will install all of the necessary software for using your Raspberry Pi as a screen. Finally, type: sudo reboot to restart your Kindle and start using it as a screen. To use it as an input device for your computer, connect it using the included USB cable and type: xinput set-prop “Kindle Keyboard” “Device Enabled” 1 This will enable keyboard input on your Kindle. To control iTunes from your Kindle, download and install TuneKit from http://www.tunekit.net/. After installing TuneKit, open up its preferences window by clicking on its icon in the main menu bar and selecting Preferences from the menu that pops up. Under Input Devices, select Add New Device and enter in the following information: Name : Kindle Keyboard Device : /dev/input/event11 Click OK to close out of TuneKit’s preferences window and start using iTunes on your Kindle! If you want to use iTunes with other devices too (like an iPhone or iPad), you can also download AirPlay Mirroring software from http://www.apple.com/airplay/mirroring/. After installing AirPlay Mirroring on both devices (your iPhone or iPad and your Kindle), open up iTunes on both devices and select Your Devices in the left ..
Once a week we round up some of the great reader tips that come our way and share them with everyone. Today we’re looking at using the Kindle as a screen for the Raspberry Pi, custom iPod control modules, and an easy way to play the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.
Kindle as Raspberry Pi Monitor
Ken writes in with the following tip that combines hacking Kindles and Raspberry Pi units:
If you end up building a micro-computer around the house with an e-ink display, weather station or otherwise, we’d love to hear about it (so make sure to write back in). Thanks Ken!
In-Car Audio with a Dedicated iPod Control Box
Chris writes in with the following mobile audio tip:
While some people might consider it a step backward to take the slim form-factor of the Touch and build a big box around it, we totally understand why you would want to do so. This makes operating the device much safer.
Google Searching the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
Angie writes in with a light hearted tip:
All we can think about, Angie, is how there must be a web site or two devoted to crunching Bacon Numbers and Google just yanked the rug right out from under them. That said, nice find on the Easter egg!
Maybe if you quietly check your smartphone under the table at the pub you could win yourself a pint or two.
