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AdaBox 005: Break for Pi | Adafruit Subscription Box

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The Adafruit AdaBox is a quarterly subscription box service containing Adafruit products, collectable pins, and discounts for future purchases. AdaBox is geared towards beginners interested in learning more about electronics (similar to the way Creation Crate is geared towards beginners). Adabox 005 is the fifth AdaBox and the theme was Raspberry Pi.

What’s in the Box

AdaBox 005 box contents include:

Adafruit AdaBox 005 box contents

Adafruit AdaBox 005 box contents

The collectable pin in AdaBox 005 is super cute and my favorite on in the series so far.

The Project

Adabox 005’s spotlight project is setting up RetroPie on the Pi Zero and using the Joy Bonnet as arcade game controls. Adafruit created a great, beginner-friendly walkthrough on the process.

Raspberry Pi Zero in Adafruit case

Raspberry Pi Zero in Adafruit case

Adafruit AdaBox 005 Retro Pie with the Joy Bonnet arcade controls

Adafruit AdaBox 005 Retro Pie with the Joy Bonnet arcade controls

The project was not very exciting for me as I have done the exact same thing a few months ago when I purchased a Joy Bonnet.

Read: Adafruit Joy Bonnet for the Raspberry Pi

Pimoroni Hammer Headers

My favorite thing about AdaBox 005 is the Pimoroni Hammer Headers. I have only soldered one thing and I did a really poor job at soldering that thing. I was very impressed with how easily the Pi Zero headers were installed with just using a hammer with the hammer headers and jig.

Pimoroni Hammer Header Jig

Pimoroni Hammer Header Jig

Final Thoughts

I was disappointed with the box at first but then I remembered it’s geared towards beginners,  If I had not previously done the same project I would have found this box as exciting as the rest of them.