[HLUG] Hello / Starting with Raspberry Pi

[Pete]

Hi Alex;
This is an interesting intersection of several of my own areas of 
interest. Perhaps you could use an existing small scale monitoring set 
up like openenergy monitor
https://openenergymonitor.org/emon/

and tie the scheduling and moisture monitoring into that.
I would also be interested in exploring ways to include controlled 
release of fertigation (liquid feeds to plants) but there is a bit of 
hardware bodging to sort out for this...

You may already know that Linux Format mag now runs a Pi section every 
issue, and there are specialist mags just for the Pi- automating home 
systems is a well covered topic !

Meet soon,
Pete H@

On 14/06/16 22:24, Alex Hempton-Smith via Herefordshire wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Just joined this group and I'm hoping to attend the next meeting, great to see this group exists in Hereford.
>
> I've mainly experienced Linux by interacting with server environments and doing some basic SSH commands. However I'm reasonably proficient at PHP so I'm looking forward to learning another language, something I can use with hardware.
>
> I'd really like to get started with Raspberry Pi development, but I'm not sure where to start. I have an idea for some home automation projects that might be somewhere to start from.
>
> Perhaps something basic on a Raspberry Pi Zero for automatically watering the plants. Opening a solenoid water valve for 5 minutes when it gets to dusk time, isn't forecast rain in the next 6 hours (weather and sunset web API's) and hasn't already rained that day (a moisture sensor). Then maybe elaborate on that with a dashboard I can access via wifi, send a text message when they've been watered (Trello API) and calculate how much water has been used...
>
> Does anybody here have any experience with Raspberry Pi projects, and any suggestions for good ways to get started?
>
> Thanks,
> Alex
>
> Sent from my iPhone