Introduction to Raspberry Pi

An Introduction to Raspberry Pi 

Raspberry Pi is a credit-card-sized single-board computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of promoting the teaching of basic computer science in schools.

The Raspberry Pi is manufactured in two board configurations through licensed manufacturing deals with Newark element14, RS Components and Egoman. These companies sell the Raspberry Pi online. Egoman produces a version for distribution solely in China and Taiwan, which can be distinguished from other Pis by their red coloring and lack of FCC/CE marks. The hardware is the same across all manufacturers. There are two Models available:- Model A and Model B (also called Double Memory).

Components Explanation :-

A. The Processor. Same processor you would have found in the iPhone 3G. This chip is a 32-bit, 700 MHz System on a Chip, which is built on ARM11 architecture. The Model B has 512MB of RAM and the Model B has 256MB of RAM.

B. The Secure Digital (SD) Card slot. Everything including the OS in on the SD card. 

C. The USB port. On Model B there are two USB 2.0 ports, but only one on the Model A. The original Pi board supported 100mA or so, but the newer revisions are up to the full USB 2.0 specifications.

D. Ethernet port. The Model B has a standard RJ45 Ethernet port. The Model A does not, but can be connected to a wired network by a USB Ethernet adapter. WiFi connectivity via a USB dongle is another option.

E. HDMI connector. The HDMI port provides digital video and audio output and 14 different video resolutions are supported.

F. Status LEDs. The Pi has five indicator LEDs that provide visual feedback. The following is a guide to Status LEDs:-

ACT (Green):- Lights when the SD card is accessed.

PWR(Red):- Hooked up to 3.3V power.

FDX(Green):- On if network adapter is full duplex.

LNK(Green):- Network activity light.

100(Yellow):- On if the network connection is 100Mbps.

G. Analog Audio Output. This is a standard 3.5mm mini analog audio jack.

H. Composite video out. This is a standard RCA-type jack that provides composite NTSC or PAL video signals. The video format is extremely low-resolution compared to HDMI.

I. Power input. The microUSB connector is used to supply power. This isn't an additional USB port; it's only for power. MicroUSB was selected because the connector is cheap USB power supplies are easy to find.

A. General Purpose Input and Output(GPIO) and other pins. These pins are used to read buttons and switches and control actuators like LEDs, relays, or motors.

B. The Display Serial Interface (DSI) connector. This connector accepts a 15 pin flat ribbon cable that can be used to communicate with a LCD or OLED display screen.

C. The Camera Serial Interface (CSI) connector. This port allows to a camera module to be connected directly to the board.

D. P2 and P3 headers. These two rows of headers are the JTAG testing headers for the Broadcom chip (P2) and the LAN9512 networking chip (P3).

Conclusion :-

Here we come to an end of technical basics of Raspberry Pi. We will be unboxing a Raspberry Pi Starter kit on the next article, till then I leave you with a common query.

Confused between Model A and Model B ? Here is a quick look at their specifications.

Price -  Model A =25 USD (1526 Indian rupees) ------- Model B =35 USD(2137 Indian rupees)