Raspberry Pi LESSON 4 : Understanding and Using GPIO Pins

Guys the pinout I show in this video has an error on Tx/Rx. You can download your own correct Pinout from my WEB site HERE:

Announcing the Most Awesome Raspberry Pi Lessons of All Times! This time we RUMBLE!

In this class series, we will be using the most excellent Sunfounder Ultimate Raspberry Pi kit, available here: (Affiliate Link)

In this lesson I will take you through use of the GPIO pins on the Raspberry Pi. We will learn the pinout, and which pins are used for what.

You guys get your hardware ordered so you can follow along at home!

You will also need a Raspberry Pi. I suggest the Raspberry Pi 4. If you do not already have one, this is the most suitable gear I could find:

The Raspberry Pi's are sort of pricy right now, so you can look on ebay or elsewhere to see if there are any deals. You will need a SD card. If you do not already have one, this is a good one:

I like using a wireless keyboard and mouse to have fewer wires. You can certainly use your USB keyboard and mouse, but if you want a nice wireless one, this one works on the pi.

You guys can help me out over at Patreon, and that will help me keep my gear updated, and help me keep this quality content coming:

#GPIO
#RESISTTHEMETAVERSE
#RASPBERRYPI

[wwcr]

Question: Shouldn't board pin 6 be shown as ground, tx on board pin 8 (GPIO-14) and rx as board pin 9 (GPIO-15)? Am I missing something?

[opalprestonshirley]

I've been doing this since 1979 and I always get a sense of satisfaction seeing the LED come on and go off.

[annastrong]

Thanks for the shoutout to the ladies. Love your videos. Super helpful. Thank you for making them!

[brandonzawaski]

Paul, I've rewatched the beginning lessons and up to this point just so I am not missing anything. You are a great explainer.

[leahswinney]

Hello from South Texas! Thanks for the great lesson and video playlist! I recently got a job building weather instrumentation for a university. Most of the instrumentation is done using a Raspberry Pi, and I am just starting out. Just wanted to share my thanks and appreciation for your videos!

[BunnLilah]

This is so exciting! I'm thankful you started out very simple because I know the homework is pretty basic but it still took a while for me to figure it out. I'm really excited for the rest of this series! Just turning on and off an LED with code is blowing my mind as someone who has only done basic computer coding. Somehow it feels more magical when you're actually affecting things in the real world!

[andersontiban]

Thanks for taking the time to explain the basics for the new guys such as myself😁

[callumm.]

Following along with the Pi 5 has been smooth sailing up until this video, where RPi.GPIO can no longer be used unfortunately. I will try to follow using gpiod, but it seems more complicated. With that aside, tutorials have been really great so far!

EDIT: I noticed the Raspberry Pi documentation recommends using "gpiozero", though it works much differently than "RPi.GPIO" using device objects rather than controlling the pins directly which I'm not a fan of. On the other hand, "gpiod" seems more complicated and above all, has very little documentation (atleast of what I could find). For anyone looking for a library like RPi.GPIO, I definitely recommend "lgpio" which behaves very similarly. The biggest difference it seems is the chip select, but this is because of Pi 5's new structure. This is very easy to use, just by selecting chip "4" (use "chip = lgpio.gpiochip_open(4)" ). Then, follow the "lgpio python" documentation to use the gpio pins by using the "chip" object as a handle. Hope this helps someone!

[mmulisha]

Just Received my kit and started following this series. No programming background at all. (outside CNC and robotic programming). I am loving this series, and looking forward to getting all the way through it.... long way to go. I never thought i would be this happy about a blinking light lol!! Awesome! Homework is done, may jump to lesson 5 tomorrow!!

[djbroake]

Here from the Arduino course's, This was needed and as good as them. Thank you so much!

[andersontiban]

Thank you for the free course I really appreciate your work

[tarekazakir]

You are the best
I am a a stem teenager and I really wanted to learn alot of things about robotics and I found all my answers in your videos.
Thank you very much

[miguelangelfelipecalle]

You the best, I am sharing this key content to my friends. Greetings from Bolivia.

[MattFacer]

I’ve learnt more in this one lesson than I have over hours of googling!! Thanks. Great video and delivery

[Alpha_fitz]

Thank you. You're an inspired person on a mission. Enjoy your work!

[madisonhypes]

This video is incredible. Thank you so much for all your hard work teaching.

[chandanasrin]

Hloo Paul this is chandana, i am following all your lessons from starting, i love the way you teach us you

[Event.Horizon.]

You got another woman watching your vids over here, thanks for all the help!

[isimsiz-okjg]

I'm surprised there are still good men like you in this world, thank you. :)

[halcyonramirez]

Thank you so much for this.
I do have some programming background but never any hardware.

Seeing the LED turn on brought almost a tear to my eye as it reminded of my initial journey in programming.
Thank you!!.



FYI. folks with a Raspberry pi 5.
this instructions wont work.

RPi 5 changed some things and code written for previous pis wont work.