Single Board Computer

Need more brains for your project? There are several different kinds of Single Board Computers today that will give you all of the power of a modern computer on a small board with lots of inputs and outputs.

Qwiic Kit for Raspberry Pi V2 Hookup Guide

December 29, 2022

Get started with the SGP40, BME280, VCNL4040, and microOLED via I2C using the Qwiic system and Python on a Raspberry Pi! Measure VOC Index, light, temperature, humidity, and pressure from the environment. Then display them on the microOLED, serial terminal, or the cloud with Cayenne!

Qwiic Distance Sensor (VL53L1X, VL53L4CD) Hookup Guide

February 10, 2022

The Qwiic Distance Sensor - VL53L1X is a time of flight sensor that is capable of several modes, as well as having a range of 4M. It's cousin VL53L4CD is also a time of flight sensor with similar characteristics but it has a range of about 1.3M. Let's hook it up and find out just how far away that thing over there is.

Getting Started with the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

December 22, 2021

Learn how to setup, configure and use the latest version of the smallest Raspberry Pi out there, the Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W.

Machine Learning @ Home Kit Hookup Guide

July 16, 2021

A living hookup guide with three different machine learning applications that will help you around the home as well as teach the basics of taking the examples of machine learning you find in the DLI Course and working towards deploying those projects beyond an example in Jupyter Notebooks!

Qwiic SHIM Kit for Raspberry Pi Hookup Guide

February 16, 2021

Get started with the Serial LCD with RGB backlight and 9DoF IMU (ICM-20948) via I2C using the Qwiic system and Python on a Raspberry Pi! Take sensor readings and display them in the serial terminal or SerLCD.

Introduction to the Raspberry Pi GPIO and Physical Computing

January 20, 2021

This tutorial will teach you how to set up your Raspberry Pi as a full desktop computer and read in sensor data through the GPIO using SparkFun hardware.

Qwiic pHAT Extension for Raspberry Pi 400 Hookup Guide

December 17, 2020

Get started interfacing your Qwiic enabled boards with your Raspberry Pi 400! SparkFun Qwiic pHAT Extension for the Raspberry Pi 400 provides you with a quick and easy solution to access all of the 400's GPIO, stack your favorite HAT right-side up, or connect a Qwiic-enabled device to the I2C bus (GND, 3.3V, SDA, and SCL).

SparkFun Qwiic 3-Axis Accelerometer (ADXL313) Hookup Guide

November 5, 2020

Let's get moving with the SparkFun Triple Axis Digital Accelerometer Breakout - ADXL313 (Qwiic), a low cost, low power, up to 13-bit resolution, 3-axis accelerometer with a 32-level FIFO stack capable of measuring up to ±4g. This hookup guide will get users started reading measurements from the ADXL313, by Analog Devices, with an Arduino microcontroller, Jetson Nano, or Raspberry Pi.

Jetson Nano + Sphero RVR Mash-up (PART 2)

July 29, 2020

We took two of our biggest robotics partnerships from the previous year and shazamed them together into one robot to rule them all!

SparkFun Qwiic Quad Solid State Relay Kit Hookup Guide

July 16, 2020

A Hookup Guide to get you started with the SparkFun Qwiic Quad Solid State Relay Kit (say that five times fast!).

SparkFun GPS-RTK Dead Reckoning ZED-F9R Hookup Guide

July 9, 2020

The u-blox ZED-F9R is a powerful GPS-RTK unit that uses a fusion of IMU, wheel ticks, a vehicle dynamics model, correction data, and GNSS measurements to provide highly accurate and continuous position for navigation in the difficult conditions. We will quickly get you set up using the Qwiic ecosystem through Arduino and Python so that you can start reading the output!

Nintendo Switch Macro Recording on the Raspberry Pi

July 8, 2020

Learn how to record and playback controller 'macros' for your Nintendo Switch using a Raspberry Pi, SparkFun Top pHAT, and Joycontrol.

SparkFun Photodetector (MAX30101) Hookup Guide

June 25, 2020

The SparkFun Photodetector - MAX30101 (Qwiic) is the successor to the MAX30105 particle sensor, a highly sensitive optical sensor. This tutorial will get you started on retrieving the raw data from the MAX30101 sensor.

How to Make a Magic Mirror with Raspberry Pi

June 17, 2020

Need a great project for your Raspberry Pi 4 kit? Use it to create a command center to display the weather, clock, your calendar, or even a news feed!

Adding WiFi to the NVIDIA Jetson

April 23, 2020

Step by step instructions for setting up and installing the Edimax N150 USB WiFi/BLE adapter on your NVIDIA Jetson Nano

Raspberry Pi Safe Reboot and Shutdown Button

April 20, 2020

Safely reboot or shutdown your Raspberry Pi to avoid corrupting the microSD card using the built-in general purpose button on the Qwiic pHAT v2.0!

SparkFun Top pHAT Hookup Guide

April 16, 2020

The pHAT to sit above your other HATs. Does that make it the "king" of the pHATs? This guide will help you get started using the Top pHAT with the Raspberry Pi.

SparkFun Auto pHAT Hookup Guide

April 16, 2020

The pHAT to get your projects moving. This guide will help you get started using the Auto pHAT.

Assembly Guide for SparkFun JetBot AI Kit V2.0

March 27, 2020

Assembly Guide for the SparkFun JetBot AI Kit v2.0. This tutorial includes photos & comments to assemble the two-layer chassis & additional components unique to the JetBot kit.

Raspberry Pi 4 Kit Hookup Guide

March 14, 2020

Guide for hooking up your Raspberry Pi 4 Model B basic, desktop, or hardware starter kit together.

Getting Started with the Autonomous Kit for the Sphero RVR

December 13, 2019

Want to get started in robotics? Look no further than the SparkFun autonomous kit for the Sphero RVR! Whether you purchased the Basic or Advanced kit, this tutorial will get you rolling...

Basic Autonomous Kit for Sphero RVR Assembly Guide

December 12, 2019

Get your Basic Autonomous Kit for Sphero RVR all hooked up with this guide!

Advanced Autonomous Kit for Sphero RVR Assembly Guide

December 12, 2019

Get your Advanced Autonomous Kit for the Sphero RVR built up with this hookup guide!

Qwiic SHIM for Raspberry Pi Hookup Guide

December 5, 2019

Ever wanted to prototype I2C components on a Pi? Now you can!

Getting Started with the A111 Pulsed Radar Sensor

September 26, 2019

Get started with the Acconeer A111 SDK with a Raspberry Pi! The tiny A111 pulsed coherent radar (PCR) adds high-precision, cutting-edge distance measurement for speed-, material-, motion-, or gesture-sensing projects! We’re not talking about simple ultrasonic, or even infrared sensors here, but 60GHz radar!

Qwiic Atmospheric Sensor (BME280) Hookup Guide

August 21, 2019

Measure temperature, humidity, barometric pressure with the SparkFun Atmospheric Sensor Breakout BME280 (Qwiic).

Pi Servo pHAT (v2) Hookup Guide

July 11, 2019

This hookup guide will get you started with connecting and using the Pi Servo pHAT on a Raspberry Pi.

Qwiic Joystick Hookup Guide

February 21, 2019

Looking for an easy way to implement a joystick to your next Arduino or Raspberry Pi project? This hookup guide will walk you through using the Qwiic Joystick with the Arduino IDE on a RedBoard Qwiic and in Python on a Raspberry Pi.

Computer Vision and Projection Mapping in Python

February 6, 2019

Use computer vision to detect faces and project images on top of them.

Pi AVR Programmer HAT Hookup Guide

July 26, 2018

In this tutorial, we will use a Raspberry Pi 3 and the Pi AVR Programmer HAT to program an ATMega328P target. We are going to first program the Arduino bootloader over SPI, and then upload an Arduino sketch over a USB serial COM port.

Qwiic MUX Hookup Guide

July 19, 2018

Have a bunch of sensors with the same I2C address? Put them on the Qwiic MUX (TCA9548A) to get them all talking on the same bus!

How to Use Remote Desktop on the Raspberry Pi with VNC

July 9, 2018

Use RealVNC to connect to your Raspberry Pi to control the graphical desktop remotely across the network.

Headless Raspberry Pi Setup

April 23, 2018

Configure a Raspberry Pi without a keyboard, mouse, or monitor.

Setting up a Raspberry Pi 3 as an Access Point

April 23, 2018

This guide will show you how to configure a Raspberry Pi as an access point and connect it to your local Ethernet network to share Internet to other WiFi devices.

Raspberry Pi Stand-Alone Programmer

March 8, 2018

This tutorial will show you how to use a headless Raspberry Pi to flash hex files onto AVR microcontrollers as a stand-alone programmer. It also tells the story about production programming challenges, how SparkFun came to this solution, and all the lessons learned along the way.

Raspberry Pi Zero Helmet Impact Force Monitor

March 8, 2018

How much impact can the human body handle? This tutorial will teach you how to build your very own impact force monitor using a helmet, Raspberry Pi Zero, and accelerometer!

Getting Started with TJBot

December 14, 2017

This post will walk you through setting up your TJBot and getting started with the first three recipe examples provided by IBM.

Getting Started with the Raspberry Pi Zero Wireless

July 13, 2017

Learn how to setup, configure and use the smallest Raspberry Pi yet, the Raspberry Pi Zero - Wireless.

Bark Back Interactive Pet Monitor

March 8, 2017

Monitor and interact with pets through this dog bark detector project based on the Raspberry Pi!

Logging Data to Google Sheets with the Tessel 2

December 12, 2016

This project covers how to log data to Google Sheets two ways: using IFTTT with a web connection or a USB pen drive and "sneakernet" without.

PiRetrocade Assembly Guide

October 28, 2016

Build your very own retro gaming controller with a Raspberry Pi using the SparkFun PiRetrocade Kit!

ReconBot with the Tessel 2

October 13, 2016

Build a robot with the Tessel 2 that you can control from a browser on your phone or laptop.

Environmental Monitoring with the Tessel 2

October 13, 2016

Build an air-conditioner monitoring device to collect environment information and store it in the cloud.

Sunrise Machine with the Tessel 2

October 13, 2016

Are you to sleepy to enjoy a sunrise on a brisk morning? Yeah...us too! No worries, with a Webcam, a Tessel 2 and a bit of code you can sleep in and catch the sunrise at your leisure with the Sunrise Machine.

Getting Started with the Tessel 2

October 12, 2016

Get your Tessel 2 up and running by blinking and LED, the Hello World of embedded electronics.

Experiment Guide for the Johnny-Five Inventor's Kit

June 28, 2016

Use the Tessel 2 and the Johnny Five Inventors kit to explore the world of JavaScript enabled hardware through 14 awesome experiments!

Raspberry Pi 3 Starter Kit Hookup Guide

April 11, 2016

Guide for getting going with the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B and Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ starter kit.

Raspberry gPIo

October 29, 2015

How to use either Python or C++ to drive the I/O lines on a Raspberry Pi.

Raspberry Pi SPI and I2C Tutorial

October 29, 2015

Learn how to use serial I2C and SPI buses on your Raspberry Pi using the wiringPi I/O library for C/C++ and spidev/smbus for Python.

Preassembled 40-pin Pi Wedge Hookup Guide

October 29, 2015

Using the Preassembled Pi Wedge to prototype with the Raspberry Pi B+.

SparkFun Blocks for Intel® Edison - 9 Degrees of Freedom Block

August 19, 2015

A quick overview of the features of the 9 Degrees of Freedom Block.

Single Board Computer Benchmarks

July 31, 2015

How to set up different benchmarking programs on single board computers or computing modules and run them. The results for various generations are shown on the subsequent pages.

SparkFun Blocks for Intel® Edison - Dual H-Bridge

July 17, 2015

A quick overview of the features of the Dual H-bridge Block.

Building Large LED Installations

July 16, 2015

Learn what it takes to build large LED installations from planning to power requirements to execution.

SparkFun Blocks for Intel® Edison - PWM

June 22, 2015

A quick overview of the features of the PWM Block.

SD Cards and Writing Images

June 4, 2015

How to upload images to an SD card for Raspberry Pi, PCDuino, or your favorite SBC.

Hackers in Residence: The Sound Visualizer Pt. 2

May 7, 2015

An addition to a previous project, this time using a PC and a custom Java app to create your own music visualizer using a RGB LED matrix.

Hackers in Residence: The Sound Visualizer

March 23, 2015

A fun project that uses a Raspberry Pi and a custom Java app to create your own sound visualizer using a RGB LED matrix.

SparkFun Blocks for Intel® Edison - OLED Block

February 13, 2015

A quick overview of the features of the OLED Block for the Edison.

Programming the Intel® Edison: Beyond the Arduino IDE

January 7, 2015

Intel's Edison module goes beyond being just another Arduino clone. Check this tutorial for advice on how to get the most out of your Edison by writing code in C++!

Installing libmraa on Ubilinux for Edison

January 5, 2015

libmraa is a tool kit for interacting with various Intel single board computers.

General Guide to SparkFun Blocks for Intel® Edison

January 5, 2015

A general guide for using SparkFun Blocks for Intel® Edison in your next project!

BeagleBone Black Proto Cape Hookup Guide

May 22, 2014

Learn how to get started making your own capes for the BeaglBone Black using the BeagleBone Proto Cape.

pcDuino Crowdsource Kiosk

January 9, 2014

Getting People to do your job for you (badly) with some chocolate and a pcDuino!

Setting up Raspbian (and DOOM!)

December 19, 2013

How to load a Raspberry Pi up with Raspbian -- the most popular Pi Linux distribution. Then download, compile, install and run the classic: Doom.

Raspberry Pi Twitter Monitor

November 19, 2013

How to use a Raspberry Pi to monitor Twitter for hashtags and blink an LED.
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Old Tutorials

Looking for the old, archived tutorials? Head on over to the archived tutorials on the main SparkFun site.
Please be aware that the tutorials you find there are no longer actively maintained.