Pi4J Drivers V1.2.0 adds ePaper displays with partial updates, new DAC and ADC drivers, motor and servo controllers, and a LoRa transceiver driver for Java on the Raspberry Pi.

Three Java Champions share practical GitHub Copilot workflows, from feature development to agentic verification and debugging Pi4J.

A new release of the Pi4J Drivers library is available! Version 1.2.0 is a big step forward for anyone who wants to connect hardware components to a Raspberry Pi and control them with Java, without having to write the low-level I2C, SPI, or GPIO code yourself. The full announcement is on the Pi4J blog, here are the highlights.

Pi4J is the Java library that gives you access to the hardware I/O of the Raspberry Pi: GPIO pins, I2C, SPI, PWM, and serial communication. With it, you can read a button, blink an LED, or talk to a sensor from plain Java code, running on the Pi itself.

What is changing towards Pi4J V5.0.0: a big API cleanup, a simpler Context, parallel ports, RISC-V support, better board detection, and a new release flow.

Java, Raspberry Pi, and the Art of Overengineering Everyday Life 20261007 - Recording of the talk at Devoxx Belgium by Matti Tahvonen Home automation promises to make life easier. Naturally, I used it...

One of the best moments when learning electronics is seeing your first LED blink. It's a simple experiment, but it represents the bridge between software and the physical world. With Java and Pi4J, that first step is already well documented. But what happens after the first LED? How do you experiment with different animations, colours, brightness levels, or GPIO configurations without repeatedly rewriting the same code? That question led to the creation of the **Pi4J LED Playground**. 👉 https://igfasouza.github.io/pi4j-led-playground/ ## Why another example? Pi4J already provides excellent examples and documentation for getting started with Raspberry Pi hardware. The project itself encourages community-driven examples and implementations, recognising that the ecosystem grows through shared contributions. The goal of the LED Playground is not to replace those examples. Instead, it provides an interactive environment where developers can quickly experiment with LED behaviours while learning how Pi4J works. Think of it as a sandbox where changing a few lines of code immediately produces visible results. ## Built by the community, for the community This project started as a personal experiment while exploring Pi4J. Very quickly it became clear that the playground could be useful for others who are starting their journey with Java on Raspberry Pi. Instead of keeping it as a private repository, it was published as an open community resource where anyone can: * 1. learn from the source code; * 2. suggest improvements; * 3. report issues; * 4. contribute new LED effects; * 5. help improve the documentation; Open source projects become stronger when many people contribute different ideas, and Pi4J itself has grown thanks to this collaborative model. ## What can you do? The playground demonstrates common LED operations such as: * turning LEDs on and off; * blinking patterns; * brightness control (where supported); * experimenting with different GPIO configurations; * creating reusable animations; Because the project focuses on experimentation, it is easy to extend with new examples. Whether you're a beginner learning GPIO or an experienced Java developer testing new ideas, the playground offers a quick way to prototype without starting from scratch. ## A place to experiment Learning hardware programming is often an iterative process: 1. Try an idea. 2. Observe the behaviour. 3. Change a parameter. 4. Repeat; The playground embraces this workflow by making experimentation simple and enjoyable. Rather than reading long explanations, developers can immediately see the impact of small code changes on the connected hardware. ## Join the project This is only the beginning. The vision is to make the Pi4J LED Playground a collaborative resource that evolves together with the community. If you have ideas for new LED effects, improvements, documentation updates, or educational examples, contributions are always welcome. The best open-source projects are not built by one person—they are built by a community. Explore the project, try it on your Raspberry Pi, and if you have an idea to improve it, we'd love to see your contribution. 👉 **Project** : https://igfasouza.github.io/pi4j-led-playground/

This week, Jonathan Bennett, Randal Schwartz, and Aaron Newcomb chat about Linux, the challenges with using system modules like the Raspberry Pi, challenges with funding development, and more! Did you …read more

Pi4J, the Java library to control the GPIOs of the Raspberry Pi - Pi4J/pi4j

This week, Jonathan Bennett, Randal Schwartz, and Aaron Newcomb chat about Linux, the challenges with using system modules like the Raspberry Pi, challenges with funding development, and more! Did you …read more

This week, Jonathan Bennett and David Ruggles chat with Frank Delporte about Pi4J, the friendly Java libraries for the Raspberry Pi, that expose GPIO, SPI, I2C and other IO interfaces. …read more

'We support the official recognition and continued use of the existing independent register – the National Register of Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI). This register has long served as the gold st...

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