Chapter 7. Basic Input and Output

While the Raspberry Pi is, in essence, a very inexpensive Linux computer, there are a few things that distinguish it from laptop and desktop machines that we usually use for writing email, browsing the web, or word processing. One of the main differences is that the Raspberry Pi can be directly used in electronics projects because it has general purpose input and output pins right on the board, shown in Figure 7-1.

Raspberry Pi’s GPIO Pins
Figure 7-1. Raspberry Pi’s GPIO Pins

These GPIO pins can be accessed for controlling hardware such as LEDs, motors, and relays, which are all examples of outputs. As for inputs, your Raspberry Pi can read ...

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