Raspberry Pi
Introduction
Raspberry pi is as such most inspiring computer available today because most devices that we use today like phones , tablets are designed in such a way that that we cannot manipulate them , From manipulation i mean we cannot design it in such a way to get a specific desired output , But raspberry is exactly opposite.
It was invented in the UK as a device for promoting the teaching of computer science and coding, and its development is overseen by The Raspberry Pi Foundation charity. The first-generation Raspberry Pi appeared in 2012 and the latest Raspberry Pi 3.0 arrived in February this year. Eight million devices have been sold worldwide, the Pi Foundation says. (Source Google).
It is credit-card sized computer which can be plugged into your TV and a keyboard , which can be used for many of the things that an average computer does like watching movies , word processing, playing light games etc.
Comparing Raspberry pi with PC
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So if we compare both , In Raspberry pi we can only download open-source operating system and the Ram , Graphics and processor of Raspberry pi is comparatively low as compare to that of personal computer which works completely fine for doing basic operations other than playing high end games like GTA V.
Basics of Raspberry pi
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We have HDMI port to connect raspberry pi it to monitor . We have a dedicated SD card slot for installing open-source operating system. Here we have blue colored SD card in the picture, (in the latest version) integrated wifi and Bluetooth
We also have a camera for recording and a headphone jack using which we can listen to songs and it can also be useful for any automation project. We also have a 26 pin GPIO (General Purpose I/O) which is used for carrying out specific job from Raspberry Pie.
Comparing Raspberry pie Models
There are basically two models
- Model A
- Model B
It cost around $25( ₹ 1750) for Model A and $35 (₹ 2450) for Model B .
In Model A we don’t have Ethernet connectivity unlike in Model B where we have a RJ45 connector.
Consumption for Power in Model A ( 1.5 W) is less then that of Model B (3.5W).
Why Raspberry Pi ?
If you are a amateur computer and electronics enthusiasts who want to build their own devices this is the best thing you can get at such low cost , its definitely a value for money thing for doing automation.
You can pretty much do anything which a low powered computer can do .
You can watch a movie, write a document, play basic games, and so on—it’s really up to you.
(Source - Google)
Operating system in Raspberry Pi
Well there are many open source OS like
- Raspbian- Official supported OS
- Debian
- Arch Linux
- Fedora
- Ubuntu Mate
which you can install on your Raspberry Pi but if you are beginner then Raspbian OS should be your 1st choice .To make it more simpler there is NOOBS ( New Out Of The Box Software).
NOOBS is a way to make setting up a Raspberry Pi for the first time much, much easier. You won’t need network access, and you won’t need to download any special imaging software. Just head to the https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/ page, grab a copy of the NOOBS zip file, and unpack it onto a freshly formatted 4GB (or larger) SD card. When you boot up for the first time, you’ll see a menu prompting you to install various OS’s .
After installing OS you can run various linux commands on it.
Programming
By default it is supporting python as the educational language. But you can use any language which can compile with ARM processor which is based on RISC architecture.
For Game Development we can use SCRATCH game maker
Below is screenshot from SCRATCH
GPIO - General purpose I/O
These pins are a physical interface between the Pi and the outside world. At the simplest level, you can think of them as switches that you can turn on or off (input) or that the Pi can turn on or off (output). Of the 40 pins, 26 are GPIO pins and the others are power or ground pins
You can program the pins to interact in amazing ways with the real world. Inputs don’t have to come from a physical switch; it could be input from a sensor or a signal from another computer or device, for example. The output can also do anything, from turning on an LED to sending a signal or data to another device. If the Raspberry Pi is on a network, you can control devices that are attached to it from anywhere** and those devices can send data back. Connectivity and control of physical devices over the internet is a powerful and exciting thing, and the Raspberry Pi is ideal for this.
Projects/Applications related to Raspberry Pi
- Pi as a Media center
- You can run web server on it
- Can play light games
- As a security camera
you can refer to this link for further details related to Raspberry pi projects .