Lack of responses. It ask my question in a certain way !

In other word, what would be your first choice : A Piface or an Adafruit BreadBoard with Pi Cobbler Breakout Kit for Raspberry Pi ?

Thanks

Hi Andre,

It sounds like you're looking for tutorials and ideas for what to do. Once you have these, then purchase the bits you need. The Piface provides connectivity to the outside world so it will be useful for many exercises. I've not heard of Pi Cobbler Breakout but it sounds like it serves a similar purpose.

There is an online magazine (Magpi) that has tutorials and ideas, so it would be worth going through that first to select something that interests you.

All i did was some sort of basic and stupid code making light goes on and off on the piface board but that's all

That's all the purpose of the piface it - it provides connectivity. It is then up to you, and ancillary hardware, and any software skills, to go further.

For example, the point of turning a light on/off is that it signifies you could turn on/off other things if you wished, and control them via (say) the Internet from another part of the world, since the R-Pi has a network connection. That's an idea, but requires reading up to see how to implement it.

Well, since no one else has tried to answer you question I will give it a go.

I took too long to write this so I am not the first to respond

I think it is important to first situate the target audience for the PiFace and the breakout board (Cobbler).  If you want to interface directly to the GPIO then you want the Cobbler, but this is not entirely a good option for new programmers or new hardware tinkerers who want to play with basic sensors and motors.  I am not suggesting that the PiFace is only for kids, but it is important to see the PiFace as a demonstration board of possibilities as much as it is something you could use for a project.

Perhaps if you give us an idea regarding what you want to make or what you want to learn with the Pi the forum members could better assist you.  Are there particular electronic components you want to use in a project?  Do you

This is one site to check out, but I haven't used my PiFace all that much:

http://pifacedigital.wordpress.com/

Also, check out Gordon's site, he has some PiFace stuff as well as WiringPi:

https://projects.drogon.net/piface/https://projects.drogon.net/

Hope this helps a bit!

David

Check out the PiFace google docs:

https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B-UAZ9CyJCLGQjJ3RDlqa2pqaDg/edit

You might also find these blog posts I wrote interesting:

PiFace and Gertboard resources

PiFace controls motor speed with PWM

cheers,

drew

There is a also a good review with some other ways to use it, by Gough Lui

http://www.element14.com/community/roadTestReviews/1468

Mark

Thanks a lot shabaz, i will look further more about the magpi and get some attention about your precious advice,

Thanks again,

André

You are perfectly right about what you said, David. In fact, yes i want to learn the basic of interacting with something outside. As you say, i have to get to learn some basic points before using my piface with something outside.

I'm a beginners in all the electronic aspects of these device, but i'm a programmer since many years. So as important is the programming knowledge i have to invest myself in the electronic side of the Piface.

I want to thank you for the excellents links you gave to me, and for all your advices.

André

Hi Drew,

I will check out these links of yours that you shared with me as well as to everybody's reading this thread.

It look very very interesting just seeing these links you proposed.

Thanks a lot for your help Drew, and i'll get back as soon as i'll explored them.

André

I think that my reactions were inapropriate about the real value of the Piface vs all these Adafruit components that i bought that i didn't receive after a waiting time of more than two weeks.

Hi Mark,

What an excellent link you shared ! Wow !  It is more thn interesting and in some words it cover a lot about the piface.

Thanks a lot, i appreciate it !

Cheers

André

Andre

Gough has very interesting stuff on his site.

He has a very good warning about cheap USB memory sticks that everyone should read.

http://goughlui.com/?p=3151

Maybe the E14 AUS people should be contacting him for some articles, and more product writeups.

Mark