Raspberry Pi is a low-cost, very small, single-board computer that usually runs one of the several different Linux-based operating systems (it is not strong enough to run Windows, but don't worry - it's still easy to control!). The primary idea behind this small computer is that everyone could learn computing and programming on an affordable, small computer.
MODELS
There are several different versions of Raspberry Pi:
Model A (replaced by model A+), Model B (replaced by model B+), Model A+ and Model B+.
Models A and B were replaced by newer models A+ and B+ in 2014, so I will briefly describe differences between them.
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| Model A+ and B+ side by side. Photo credit: Adafruit |
| Specification\Model | A+ | B+ |
|---|---|---|
| Dimension | 65mm x 56mm / 2.5" x 2.25" | 56mm x 85mm / 2.2" x 3.4" |
| Weight | 23 g | 42 g |
| Processor | ARM 11, 700 MHz low power | ARM 11, 700 MHz low power |
| USB ports | 1 x 2.0 USB | 4 x 2.0 USB |
| Memory (RAM) | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Ethernet port | No | Yes |
| Price | $20 / ~€20 | $35 / ~€35 |
My recommendation is paying few extra € / $ (or whichever monetary system you use) and get model B+ (unless you really need slightly lower weight and power consumption). With more USB ports you will avoid buying extra USB hubs (on model A+ no ethernet port means you will have to use USB Wi-Fi, thus you won't have a free USB port for keyboard/mouse) and you will get more RAM.
WHAT DO YOU NEED?
Since I have B+ model and will make tutorials based on it, this section is based on what you need for this model. Please note that RASPBERRY PI DOES NOT INCLUDE ANY EXTRA EQUIPMENT!
1 x Raspberry Pi B+ model
1 x micro SD card, UHS 1 or class 10, with 32 GB (can be less)
1 x Micro USB charger (5V, 1 A)
1 x HDMI cable
1 x keyboard (wireless if possible)
1 x mouse (wireless if possible)
1 x ethernet cable or 1 x USB Wi-Fi module (as small as possible)
1 x clear casing with removable top to access GPIO (optional)
1 x micro SD card reader (if you don't buy micro SD card with pre-installed operating system)
I bought a wireless keyboard + mouse combo with only 1 USB receiver, so that I can have more free USB ports. You can buy a micro SD card with pre-installed OS system, or you can install it on your own (in which case you will need micro SD card reader).
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| My complete equipment. |
SETTING UP
If you are going to install OS yourself, put the micro SD card in your card reader and plug it into your computer. Then, depending on your operating system, follow the instructions for writing an image on a micro SD card.
There are several OS you can choose from:
NOOBS - for absolute beginners
RASPBIAN - based on Debian for standard users
PIDORA - based on Fedora for standard users
OPENELEC / RASPBMC - XBCM media centers
and many more official and unofficial OS....
Since I am using Windows, I installed Win32DiskImager and downloaded Raspbian. After both have downloaded, Just double click on Win32DiskImager, select Raspbian file and drive letter your micro SD card is associated with. Click "write" and after few moments your micro SD card will be ready.
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| Writing image file on H: (micro SD card location) |
Now plug in your micro SD card in Raspberry Pi, connect it via HDMI cable to TV/monitor, connect your keyboard and mouse to it and connect either ethernet cable or WiFi module. After everything is set up, finally connect it via micro USB to power outlet.
Your Raspberry Pi should start booting and it will bring up a blue screen with some options.First select "Expand Filesystem" so that OS can take as much space as it needs. If you wish you can also select "Internationalisation options" where you can setup your keyboard layout, time zone, etc. Finally select "Finish".
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| Raspbian configuration |
Raspberry will then ask you for username and password. Default username is "pi" and password "raspberry" (please note what kind of layout you have, it might be "raspberrz"). This will bring you to terminal - a command line interface.
Now you will want to update your Raspbian to newest version. To do that simply type:
sudo apt-get update (to update the sources of the software) and then
sudo apt-get upgrade (to upgrade everything to the latest version).
After it has finished updating, you can switch to GUI (graphic user interface) by typing:
sudo startx
That's it! Now you can explore pre-installed things and what else you could install on your Raspberry.
