Raspberry Pi

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Revision as of 03:15, 10 January 2013 by Rpeters (talk | contribs) (second release of model B & cases)
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A growing body of information is available at http://www.raspberrypi.org

Only a few critical issues, that are easily overlooked, are summarised below

Models

Most will purchase the model B, which has Ethernet and more USB ports

The second release of model B has 512 MB RAM in lieu 256 MB

  • likely to increase the variety of OS that are usable
  • earlier boards are not upgradeable, because all components are soldered in place

Case

The basic product is sold without a case. It does not fit in any "standard" blank case and has sockets on both sides as well as all four edges, making construction of a suitable case not a simple task.

Cases are now being sold on the Raspberry Pi site. Alternatively, third-party cases are also marketed

Circuit Board

Power is supplied via the micro-USB connector at one end. The surface-mounted capacitor behind that connector is a known physical weak-point.

  • do not grip the board by that capacitor
  • preferably leave the micro-USB power cable permanently plugged in and power ON?OFF by either
    • powering the plug-pack/USB-hub ON?OFF or
    • disconnecting the other end of the power cable

Power Supply

  1. A raspberry pi draws 0.7A (700 mA) of regulated 5V power, which is beyond the capacity of most:
    • USB sockets on a computer
    • mains-USB plug packs
  2. Suitable power supplies include
    • mains-USB plug packs rated at 1A
      • preferably having a single USB socket only
    • USB-hubs capable to delivering 1 A to a single USB socket
      • "Zipp" brand from Big W does - but check before purchasing
  3. although the use of a USB-hub as a power source is deprecated by the manufacturers, it has been used sucessfully by the developers at http://www.ipfire.org. Critical factors are:
    • regulated power to the hub
    • 1 A available to a single socket

Rpeters14:15, 10 January 2013 (EST)