The Pi-Top 4 hardware used in the project described in this blog post was provided through a contest at pi-top [4] Unboxing - Karen meets the pi-top 4! . In response to our STEM project being selected, I felt it was important to make a blog post documenting our success once the project was underway.
The object of the project was to expand Physical Computer Club members networking knowledge. The drawing was the starting point for students to develop the knowledge to understand how to navigate a computer network. The students learned the commands (all command line using donated hardware running Ubuntu LInux and Raspberry Pi OS) to establish a secure connection from their laptop to their local Raspberry Pi and then an ssh connection from their Raspberry Pi through the Internet to the Raspberry Pi-Top 4 device hosted in the Coaches network.
Once the student established a connection, they were to develop a Python script to discover the environmental conditions where the Pi was located using the sensor on device. The 41 degrees Celsius temperature reading to discovered confused them initially. It was ironic, the outside temperature was approaching that same value except in the negative direction. The Pi-Top 4 was sitting on top of the hot water tank in the basement, providing the high temperature reading.
Once all students had successfully connected and obtain the temperature, student took turns sharing their screens as the Coach provide command line instruction to examine different directories within the device. Watching log files record ssh connections was something students were not aware was happening.
The next club meeting the student are required to control an LED. The exercise is a competition to see who can light their associated LED first.
We are currently developing a process of making the kit available as a loaner. This would enable greater exploration for those that are interested without having to invest in the hardware resource.
Again our thanks to the E14 Community for making the kit available and choosing our small club as the recipient of the device.
