Much as I like the rawness (is that a word?) of the naked Raspberry Pi, it does feel like it would be very easy for me to break and, with huge waiting lists to get a replacement as demand massively outstrips supply, I really don’t want to break mine. Consequently, I decided that a some sort of case would be appropriate (a punnet?).
Punnet v1.0 (or maybe it was v0.1) was the brainchild of freind and neighbour Jon Cowell, who took a plastic box that had originally been used as packaging for a set of business cards (I’m told that Graze boxes work well too) and used a Dremel multitool to cut out holes for connectors. I also had a few spare business card boxes so, after an evening in Jon’s garage, I had a case for my Pi – and very happy with it I was too!
Unfortunately, I also have a penchant for shiny things and, at around the same time as Jon and I created Punnet v1.0, I saw a Raspberry Pi blog post highlighting Paul Beech’s Pibow. You can learn more (and place an order) on the Pibow website and, whilst I’ve noticed that the price has gone up slightly since I bought mine it’s still great value.
I had a chuckle at the the Ikea-inspired instructions and my son had fun putting it together.
It also seemed to go down well at last weekend’s Milton Keynes Raspberry Jam. So that was Punnet v2.0.
Another option would be to build a case out of Lego but the chances of my boys letting me raid the Lego box to take parts on a semi-permanent basis (even the Lego that dates back to my own childhood) is best described as slim. Thankfully, you can buy a kit of Lego parts to build a Raspberry Pi case, based on a design from a 12-year old Scout called Biz.
Alternatively, for those with a flat-screen monitor that’s not fixed to the wall, SK Pang’s VESA mount for Raspberry Pi looks interesting. Who needs an iMac when you can fix a Raspberry Pi to the back of a cheap monitor, eh?!