Complete Raspberry Pi

Everything you need to master the Raspberry Pi The Raspberry Pi has amazed and astounded the world with its diminutive dimensions and powerhouse performance. It’s been used for all sorts of great projects and collaborations and has been utilised in living rooms, nature reserves, the oceans of the world and even in outer space. It really is an incredible little computer. We’ve put together dozens of tutorials, complete with step-by-step pictures, that are easy to follow, to help you get to grips with your Raspberry Pi. We tell you exactly what to do, how to do it and where to go to learn more. There’s plenty here to help you become a Raspberry Pi expert and start your own unique and equally amazing project. There’s never been a better time to learn how…

Using the Raspberry Pi should always start with understanding the hardware. There are several versions of the Raspberry Pi available: Pi 1 Model A+, Pi 1 Model B+, Pi 2 Model B, Pi 3 and Pi Zero. Confused? You needn’t be. The Raspberry Pi may be diminutive in size but it’s a surprisingly powerful computer. This little powerhouse is capable of so much but first we need to make sure we have everything needed to get up and running. Throughout this section we help you figure out what’s needed in terms of connectivity, the extra hardware and of course the operating system itself. From there we look at getting the Raspberry Pi set up and ready to use, regardless of whether you’re working with a Windows PC or Apple Mac. By the…

The Raspberry Pi is a British built low cost computer that enables everybody to learn computing, start programming and explore basic electronics. It’s the size of a credit card but capable of running a full operating system and doing everything a desktop does. More importantly, with the Raspberry Pi you install your own operating system, connect all your devices and create your own programs using languages like Scratch and Python. There’s no case so you can hook up electronic circuits to the pins and control them to get input and output, so you can hack together electronic projects at home. Setting up a Raspberry Pi is pretty simple, and throughout this book we’ll take you step-by-step from unboxing your Raspberry Pi to setting it up and getting started. There are many different models…

40 GPIO Pins The GPIO (General Purpose Input Output) pins can be accessed directly on the Raspberry Pi. These are used in projects to connect the Raspberry Pi to electronic circuits and control electric devices. Some can be turned on and off while the Raspberry Pi is running. ARM-Powered At the heart of the Raspberry Pi 3 is a Broadcom BCM2837 System on Chip (SoC). It contains a powerful 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU. This is 50-60 percent faster than the Raspberry Pi 2 and ten times as fast as the original Raspberry Pi. DSI The Display Interface (DSI) can be used to connect a display directly to the Raspberry Pi board. SD Card Slot Instead of a hard drive you use an SD Card with the Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi 3 (pictured here) uses…

FASTER AND CONNECTED The new Raspberry Pi board has a faster processor, making it more like a regular desktop computer. It also packs better connectivity features. STEP 1 If you’re familiar with the Raspberry Pi, you’ll notice that the Raspberry Pi looks a lot like the Raspberry Pi 2. It has the same board, with the components laid out in the same place. This design is handy because all the hardware designed for the Raspberry Pi 2 will work with the new board. STEP 2 Faster CPU. The marquee feature for the Raspberry Pi 3 is a new BCM2837 System on Chip (SoC). This system contains a custom hardened 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU to the Raspberry Pi, which is 50-60 percent faster than the Raspberry Pi 2 and ten times as fast as…

ASK AROUND The kit list required to set up a Raspberry Pi is pretty basic: keyboard, mouse, HDMI monitor, SD Card and an optional case. Many of these items you’ll already have, but don’t rush out and buy those you don’t. Ask around to see if anybody you know has spares. STEP 1 The most important thing you need is an SD Card. These are the storage cards commonly found in digital cameras. All modern Raspberry Pi boards, including the Raspberry Pi 3 and Pi Zero, use Micro SD cards but the older boards may use a larger SD Card. STEP 2 The SD Card plugs into the SD Card socket. On the Raspberry Pi 3 and Pi Zero you push the card in and pull it out. On some older models you push the…