Access the Raspberry Pi's GPIO Pig Pen
MakerSpace|MakerSpace #03
The wiringPi library, which many Raspberry Pi fans have grown attached to over the years, is no longer under maintenance by its developer. An alternative, in the form of Pigpio, has arrived just in time
Martin Mohr
Access the Raspberry Pi's GPIO Pig Pen

For as long as the Raspberry Pi has been around, wiringPi has served as a library for accessing the GPIO. With the related gpio tool, programmers could quickly manage the GPIO at the command line. Many Raspberry Pi projects build on this library.

Not least because of frustration about what were in part rude email communications from some users, developer Gordon Henderson decided to discontinue his one-man wiringPi project in August 2019 after releasing his last version. He explained in great detail on his website why he had stopped developing the library. The post, which has since been deleted, is still available on the Wayback Machine internet archive [1]. For more information, see the box “The Two Sides of Open Source.”

The Two Sides of Open Source

The open source community makes many software projects available to the general public. Open source thrives on enthusiasts who develop projects in their spare time. All too often, however, it happens that these developers do not get any recognition for their work. On the contrary, many people expect developers to provide the kind of professional support you would want from a corporate vendor, and people are even insulted if bugs are not fixed immediately. As a result, projects repeatedly disappear because developers no longer want to work under these conditions.

This story is from the MakerSpace #03 edition of MakerSpace.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the MakerSpace #03 edition of MakerSpace.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM MAKERSPACEView All
Access the Raspberry Pi's GPIO Pig Pen
MakerSpace

Access the Raspberry Pi's GPIO Pig Pen

The wiringPi library, which many Raspberry Pi fans have grown attached to over the years, is no longer under maintenance by its developer. An alternative, in the form of Pigpio, has arrived just in time

time-read
5 mins  |
MakerSpace #03
Shell Programming in Python Snake Shell
MakerSpace

Shell Programming in Python Snake Shell

Create lightweight Raspberry Pi scripts with Xonsh, a Python shell that lets you write scripts in Python with Bash commands mixed in

time-read
4 mins  |
MakerSpace #03
Playing old DOS games on the Raspberry Pi Retro Gamer
MakerSpace

Playing old DOS games on the Raspberry Pi Retro Gamer

Play old DOS games on the Dosbian operating system, which turns the Raspberry Pi into an 80486 PC

time-read
6 mins  |
MakerSpace #03
Home Assistant makes the Raspberry Pi fit for the Z-Wave world Home Automaton
MakerSpace

Home Assistant makes the Raspberry Pi fit for the Z-Wave world Home Automaton

Z-Wave components, a RaZberry module, and the free Home Assistant software make the Raspberry Pi a powerful smart home control center

time-read
7 mins  |
MakerSpace #03
Water your plants with a Raspberry Pi Watering Pi
MakerSpace

Water your plants with a Raspberry Pi Watering Pi

With a Pi Zero and a few components, you can build an inexpensive and reliable automatic watering system for your plants in next to no time

time-read
7 mins  |
MakerSpace #03
Raspberry Pi automated fish feeder Fish Food
MakerSpace

Raspberry Pi automated fish feeder Fish Food

Whether at work or on vacation, every pet lover worries about how to take care of their little roommates in their absence. What aquarium owners need is an automatic feeder

time-read
7 mins  |
MakerSpace #03
Integrate hardware components with pluggable systems Plugged In
MakerSpace

Integrate hardware components with pluggable systems Plugged In

Ecosystems with pluggable Raspberry Pi modules, sensors, and displays are a great choice if you don’t want to – or can’t – solder but still want to extend your hardware

time-read
6 mins  |
MakerSpace #03
Change internal logic from relays to an Arduino Redo
MakerSpace

Change internal logic from relays to an Arduino Redo

An electronic project at a local science center was showing its age, calling for a refresh: in this case, rebuilding it almost from scratch with an Arduino instead of relays

time-read
9 mins  |
MakerSpace #03
Get creative with the FLUX beamo laser and open source software Beam Me Up, Fluxy!
MakerSpace

Get creative with the FLUX beamo laser and open source software Beam Me Up, Fluxy!

With the FLUX beamo laser and a Raspberry Pi Board B10001, you can execute your own laser cutting projects on a wide range of materials

time-read
10+ mins  |
MakerSpace #03
Power your Pi Pico with solar Self-Sufficient
MakerSpace

Power your Pi Pico with solar Self-Sufficient

Powering your Pi Pico with solar may not solve the current energy crisis, but it will save you from changing or recharging batteries

time-read
4 mins  |
MakerSpace #03