Basic Introduction to Raspberry Pi

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For those who are unfamiliar with this little tiny computer. This is a Raspberry Pi:

To be specific this is a Raspberry Pi Model B. It has 512 MB of Ram. The SD card is the harddrive. It operates on a Linux based operating system (I use Raspbian, which is built on the Linux Operating System Debian Wheezy, most of the time) loaded on that little card. It connects to a monitor or TV via HDMI. There are 2 USB ports that you can use to connect a wifi adapter, keyboard, powered USB Hub, etc. Whatever you might need to operate this tiny computer.

There are several different styles of Raspberry Pi out there these days too. Here's a very BRIEF list of the differences in the boards:

• Model A - Basic unit with 1 USB port and 256 MB Ram
• Model B - 2 USB port and majority has 512 MB of Ram but some original boards only have the 256 MB Ram
• Model A+ - has an increase in the GPIO pins from 26 to 40
• Model B+ - increased GPIO pins from 26 to 40 and 4 USB ports
• Raspberry Pi 2 - 1 GB of Ram (huge increase!) and 40 GPIO pins

You can read all about the little differences between each board on the Raspberry Pi Foundation - Models and Revisions page. My little list is more of a way for you to identify the difference between the boards by sight. Except the Model A and Model A+ or the Model B+ and Pi 2... They basically look the same.

What can someone do with this little thing? Well... you can make a private Minecraft Server (done that), a media center (done), webserver (want to do), retro game system (want to do) or any other number of things. Just do a search for Raspberry Pi projects to see the options. Be prepared to muttle through more than one tutorial to get your end result. Currently I am working on attaching my Pi to an old RC car and controlling it from my phone!! Amazing!!

Here are some of my favorite Raspberry Pi resources:

• Raspberry Pi Foundation
• MagPi Magazine
• Adafruit Tutorials
• Element 14 Community
  (I won a Raspberry Pi 2 in one of their twitter competitions! LOVE IT!)

Notice: I am NOT affiliated or receiving any compensation from any
of the websites I have listed in this post as resources.

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