What is the Raspberry Pi Club
This new club is a joint initiative of the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, designed to give undecided engineering majors some hands-on experience with concepts relevant to our majors—for free!
Students will learn the basics of using, programming, and interfacing the Pi during free weekly meetings.
The Raspberry Pi Club meets on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. in B214 at Floyd Hall.
The Raspberry Pi shown to the right, is a Linux-based, credit-card sized computer. It can do many tasks that a standard desktop PC does, such as word processing, spreadsheets and watching high definition videos. Additionally, it has a series of digital I/O ports which make it extremely useful in electronics projects.
Further information about the Pi is available at the official Raspberry Pi Foundation Website.
Where can I get a Raspberry Pi
You can buy one directly from the store on the Raspberry Pi Website or through their main distributors, Element 14 and RS Components. There are also many sellers which can be found for example through Amazon.
Buying guide for the Raspberry Pi
Listed below is some information that we found helpful when buying a Raspberry Pi.
- There are two models: Model A and Model B. The Model A has 256 MB RAM, one USB port and no Ethernet (network connection). The Model B has 512 MB RAM, 2 USB ports and an Ethernet port
- Model A costs about $25 and Model B costs about $35 plus taxes and shipping and handling.
- In addition to the Raspberry Pi, you will also need an SD card and a power supply. Also you will need a USB keyboard, a USB mouse and a monitor. The Pi has a HDMI and component out so it can plug into most TVs and monitors.
- Power supply requirements: A 5 V micro USB power supply is required to power the Raspberry Pi. In order to run the peripherals attached to the Pi a 1.2 A power supply from a reputable retailer should be used. The maximum current that the Raspberry Pi can draw is 1 A.
If you need to use a USB device that will take the current requirements above this, then you must connect it to an externally powered USB hub. - SD card requirements: It is recommended to use a 8 GB class 4 SD card. You can buy a card with NOOBS, software that will help you to install the operating system on the Pi, pre-installed or you can download it for free from the Raspberry Pi website and burn the image to the SD card using an SD burner.
- Power supply requirements: A 5 V micro USB power supply is required to power the Raspberry Pi. In order to run the peripherals attached to the Pi a 1.2 A power supply from a reputable retailer should be used. The maximum current that the Raspberry Pi can draw is 1 A.
Additional resources
- The official Raspberry Pi website has an extensive FAQ section, which is an excellent starting point.
- There is also a quick start guide by the Raspberry Pi Foundation for getting your Pi up and running for the first time.
- There are numerous forums, blogs, websites and other resources that can be found easily by searching the internet regarding the Raspberry Pi and it uses.