Raspberry Pi

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)