Cytron Maker pHAT: Simplifying Raspberry Pi for {Education}

Raspberry Pi aims to bring the power of computing and digital making to the masses. It is being used by many educators, makers, and also engineers. Yet, if you are a newbie learning electronics, you might face some of these constraints:

• How to get started without additional devices (monitor, keyboard, and mouse). Beginners will either need to use additional devices or follow many steps just to get started. This may confuse them. For techies that want to know why this is because it lacks an onboard USB to UART communication for your computer to get the IP address for SSH (headless), or to kick-start configuration directly.
• How to get started with electronics. It doesn't come with any inputs or outputs, you will need to connect additional accessories to use it. Most beginners do not have basic knowledge of electronics. They will have a problem to understand the circuit diagram and connections needed when they first started learning. They will spend a substantial amount of time just connecting the wires and troubleshooting the connections.
• How to troubleshoot the GPIO. With just the Raspberry Pi, beginners face a common problem when learning electronics- difficulty in troubleshooting their circuits. This is because when it doesn't work, we do not know whether the problem is due to wire connection or coding.
• How to access the GPIO. Because the pins are not labelled, you need to search online to get the designated pin and know which pin to connect. For beginners, this definitely will make it harder for them to make the connection correctly.
• No easy way to properly shut down using a switch. There is no programmable push button to enable proper shutdown through hardware. If the beginner turns off the power without properly shutting it down, the Raspberry Pi may not work the next time.

Maker pHAT solves all of the hurdles. It is designed to:

• Simplify getting started with Raspberry Pi without an additional monitor, keyboard or mouse (Headless). Go headless with a few simple steps as it enables users to remote access Raspberry Pi through serial.
• Simplify learning electronics. Beginners can skip the hassle of constructing the basic electronic circuit. Although it is equally important for them to learn about basic electronics, it can always come later after they have experienced how easy it is to create an awesome project. Start with fun and excitement. Start coding right away and see your board lights up and plays sound with the press of a button. It comes with onboard LEDs, pushbuttons, and a buzzer to easily learn how to control input and output. No messy wiring needed and no additional components needed.
• Simplify troubleshooting and prototyping. Not only do the onboard LEDs work as outputs, but they can also act as indicators, clearly showing what's happening on that pin. When the pin is used as input, you can clearly see whether the signal is received by just looking at changes on the LEDs. The pre-soldered header pins come with nice labels. This helps the user to easily connect inputs and outputs to the right pins. This will further assist them in interfacing with sensors and actuators.
• Simplify proper shutdown using pushbutton. You can easily follow the steps and choose one of the pushbuttons as the power button to properly shutdown the Raspberry Pi. Just press the button and it will shut down.