The Raspberry Pi is a tiny computer. In this article, I’ll explain more about what it is, and some of the amazing things we can do with it.
About the Raspberry Pi
As you can see in the picture below, the Raspberry Pi is about the size of your hand:
First released in February, 2012, the Pi was created to let anyone learn how to use a computer. It’s a great product with an attractive price – typically varying from $20 to $40, depending on the version, though the Raspberry Pi Zero can be bought for just $5.
Several versions of the Raspberry Pi have been released, each with its own specifications. On some we find four USB ports, while on others there’s no Ethernet port, etc. You normally choose a version based on the requirements of your project. You can see obvious differences between one of the first Raspberry Pi versions (pictured above) and a Raspberry Pi 2 (pictured below):
You can learn more about the components of the different Raspberry Pi computers on Wikipedia.
Power Supply and Operating System
The Raspberry Pi itself is just the motherboard you see pictured above. It’s powered through a microUSB port, and it doesn’t have any hard drive. Instead, it has an SD slot (or a microSD slot), and the OS is run from an SD card.
In terms of the operating system (OS), several are available for the Pi. Most of them are based on well-known Linux distributions such as Raspbian. But you can also install Windows on your Raspberry Pi 2 if you prefer. (The dev.windows site shows lots of fun projects you can try on a Raspberry Pi with Windows.) There’s a dedicated page on Raspberry Pi’s official website that helps in deciding what OS is best for you.
Continue reading %Creating Amazing Projects with a $5 Raspberry Pi Computer%
by Jérémy Heleine via SitePoint
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