Controlling a GPIO input/output pin

In this guide, we are using periph.io, a library for peripheral I/O in Go, to set one of the Raspberry Pi’s General Purpose I/O (GPIO) pins to a logical high (3.3V) or low (0V) signal.

periph.io supports the Raspberry Pi 3, Raspberry Pi Zero 2W and Raspberry Pi 4, starting with version v3.6.4.

Connect GPIO pins based on pinout

To verify the code is doing what we expect, let’s connect a multimeter as per pinout.xyz’s pinout:

  • pin number 18 (signal BCM24, labeled 24 in the pinout above)
  • pin number 20 (signal GND)

We need to set the multimeter to “Voltage measurement, DC (direct current)”.

Setting an output pin signal

To set the pin high and low, alternatingly, with a 5 second frequency, we will be using the hello-gpio program, which is a slightly modified version of the example at periph.io/device/led:

package main

import (
	"log"
	"time"

	"periph.io/x/conn/v3/gpio"
	host "periph.io/x/host/v3"
	"periph.io/x/host/v3/rpi"
)

func doGPIO() error {
	log.Printf("Loading periph.io drivers")
	// Load periph.io drivers:
	if _, err := host.Init(); err != nil {
		return err
	}
	log.Printf("Toggling GPIO forever")
	t := time.NewTicker(5 * time.Second)
	for l := gpio.Low; ; l = !l {
		log.Printf("setting GPIO pin number 18 (signal BCM24) to %v", l)
		// Lookup a pin by its location on the board:
		if err := rpi.P1_18.Out(l); err != nil {
			return err
		}
		<-t.C
	}
}

func main() {
	if err := doGPIO(); err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
}

You have two options to run this program on your Raspberry Pi:

  1. Use gok run to temporarily run this program on a running gokrazy instance.
  2. Use gok add to permanently include this program in your gokrazy instance:
# From the hello-gpio directory, run:
gok add .
# Then, deploy as usual:
gok update

At this point, we should be able to see the high/low signal on the multimeter, alternating between 3.3V (high) and 0V (low) every 5 seconds:

Setting up an input pin

To setup a Pin as an input and to act on change to High level, such as a button, we must poll the Pin periodically because periph.io’s edge detection, which examples like the periph.io/device/button example rely on, is not available on gokrazy.

The below example configures a single Pin for Input and uses Go channels to signal level changes that can be acted on. Keep in mind that shortening the polling interval will increase CPU usage.

package main

import (
	"log"
	"time"

	"periph.io/x/conn/v3/gpio"
	"periph.io/x/conn/v3/gpio/gpioreg"
	host "periph.io/x/host/v3"
)

type pinLevelMessage struct {
	State gpio.Level
	Reset gpio.Level
}

func setupGPIOInput(pinName string, levelChan chan pinLevelMessage) (gpio.PinIO, error) {
	log.Printf("Loading periph.io drivers")
	if _, err := host.Init(); err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	// Find Pin by name
	p := gpioreg.ByName(pinName)

	// Configure Pin for input, configure pull as needed
	// Edge mode is currently not supported
	if err := p.In(gpio.PullNoChange, gpio.NoEdge); err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	// Setup Input signalling
	go func() {
		lastLevel := p.Read()
		// How often to poll levels, 100-150ms is fairly responsive unless
		// button presses are very fast.
		// Shortening the polling interval <100ms significantly increases
		// CPU load.
		for range time.Tick(100 * time.Millisecond) {
			currentLevel := p.Read()
			log.Printf("level: %v", currentLevel)

			if currentLevel != lastLevel {
				levelChan <- pinLevelMessage{State: currentLevel, Reset: !currentLevel}
				lastLevel = currentLevel
			}
		}
	}()
	return p, nil
}

func main() {
	// Channel for communicating Pin levels
	levelChan := make(chan pinLevelMessage)

	p, err := setupGPIOInput("GPIO4", levelChan)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}

	// Main loop, act on level changes
	for {
		select {
		case msg := <-levelChan:
			if msg.State {
				log.Printf("Pin %s is High, processing high state tasks", p.Name())
				// Process high state tasks
			} else if msg.Reset {
				log.Printf("Pin %s is Low, resetting to wait for high state", p.Name())
				// Process resetting logic, if any
			}
		default:
			// Any other ongoing tasks
		}
	}
}