Every time the Raspberry Pi seems to have no more roles to fill, a new project comes along that leaves us speechless. After his children asked him for a pair of walkie-talkies, Daniel Chote from the site projectable.me created the TalkiePi, an alternative based on WiFi connectivity that links two Raspberry Pi boards with the help of the open-source Mumble application. Although the device is more 'talkie' than 'walkie', he plans to make a portable version with a Raspberry Pi Zero inside.
The Raspberry Pi's price and availability problem
I think the only big challenge ahead for the Raspberry Pi, beyond optimizing its specs (which should happen naturally in future versions), is improving its price and availability. You might think I'm a bit crazy, since on sites like Element14 it sells for $35, but in the rest of the globe the Raspberry Pi has reached costs that border on the prohibitive, and we must also add the fact that the Raspberry Pi Zero is conspicuously absent. At the end of the day, we all want a $5 computer to experiment with, as long as it's possible to pay that price, shipping costs don't become crazy, and the customs process doesn't treat us like criminals. Assuming you can get your claws on a pair of Raspberry Pi boards at a reasonable price, here's another very interesting project: TalkiePi.
The TalkiePi project
Daniel Chote from the site projectable.me decided to turn two Raspberry Pi boards into personal communicators after his children asked him for a pair of classic walkie-talkies. In very relaxed terms, TalkiePi improvises a case for the Raspberry Pi and adapts the mini computer to a PTT (push-to-talk) function. The project requires a few resistors, a physical button, several pins that facilitate connection to the Raspberry Pi's GPIO (thus avoiding soldering wires directly), and of course, both a speaker and a microphone for each TalkiePi. The original project uses a modified USRobotics USB Internet Speakerphone, but I imagine any generic variant of that device should work without problems.
How it works and what's next
The PTT function works over a WiFi connection, and the software part is handled by Mumble, an open-source application widely used by gamers who want to stay in touch when the game doesn't allow it. The fact that its connectivity is via WiFi and that each Raspberry Pi needs a power source eliminates any idea of portability, therefore, the term “walkie-talkie” comes with a grain of salt. However, the project is not finished. The next version will be portable, with a built-in battery, and a Raspberry Pi Zero to further reduce its size.
