I recently wrote an article about the Raspberry Pi 2 and Cana Kit. This week I received the SmartiPi Touch from Smarticase which I funded from a Kickstarter campaign. The case for the touch screen is unique and compliments the Raspberry Pi well. It took only a few minutes to assemble the kit and have everything running.
The SmartiPi Touch case is light, well built and you get easy access to your Raspberry Pi from the back. See some of the images below. I purchased the “No LEGO studs” on the front. However if I was going to make another SmartiPi Touch purchase I would get the LEGO studs as it’s handy to add attachments and accessories to the side of the unit.
You can read more about this unique style case for the touch screen from the SmartiPi Touch website. At around $33.00 USD shipped to Australia, this is an affordable case to compliment your Raspberry Pi projects. <<< And I don’t get paid to say that.
Where to now with SmartiPi Touch?
I installed the latest version of BerryBoot along with Openelec and Ubuntu Mate side by side. I can watch movies as well as use a familiar desktop almost anywhere. You will see images below taken from my car. Yes you can power it up from the car battery and have a mobile office. Since the Raspberry Pi 3 includes WiFi and Bluetooth this unit is ideal for working away from home. I also plan to install Retropie for some gaming fun on the side.
Running Openelec + Wireless Keyboard. (So far haven’t got the Bluetooth to work with Openelec 6.0.3 and BerryBoot. Kernel issue I guess. So for the moment using the cheap wireless keyboard instead of a Bluetooth keyboard.
Dual boot into Ubuntu Mate. So far no issues. Works perfectly. Updated Ubuntu without issue. Love having a desktop for all the email, browsing and general business needs.
Running SmartiPi Touch with the Raspberry Pi in the car. Running from an auxiliary port in the Holden. No issues. However best to always shut down the Pi before switching off the car and removing the keys from the ignition. Safe shutdown. PS: Yes it’s unsafe to drive watching movies. Obviously you already knew that. However if you have kids this is a great option to stream movies, music and games to the back seats and head rest monitors if installed.