a fully featured computer for less than $35, so you’ll need to scavenge or buy a few other bits and pieces in order to use your Pi. We say scavenge because the things you need are exactly the kind of things many people have lying around their house or garage already, or can easily pick up from friends or neighbors. In particular, if you’re using a Raspberry Pi as your second computer, you probably have most of the peripherals you need. That said, you might find they’re not fully compatible with the Raspberry Pi and you need to buy replacements to use with the Pi.
Here’s a checklist of what else you might need:
❯❯ Monitor: The Raspberry Pi has a high-definition video feed and uses an HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) connection for it. If your monitor has an HDMI socket, you can connect the Raspberry Pi directly to it. If your monitor does not support HDMI, it probably has a DVI socket, and you can get a simple and cheap converter that enables you to connect an HDMI cable to it. Older VGA (video graphics array) monitors require a device to convert the HDMI signal into a VGA one. If you’re thinking of buying a converter, check online first to see whether it works with the Raspberry Pi. A lot of cheap cables are just cables, when what you need is a device that converts the signal from HDMI format to VGA, not one that just fits into the sockets on the screen and your Raspberry Pi. These converters can be quite expensive, so Gert van Loo has designed a device that uses the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO pins to connect to a VGA monitor. He’s published the design specs so that anyone can build one, and sell it if she wants to, too. Take a look at eBay if you need one, and you might well find what you need. For more information, check out www.raspberrypi.org/blog/gert-vga-adapter. (If your monitor is connected using a blue plug and the connector has three rows of five pins in it, it’s probably a VGA monitor.)
❯❯ TV: You can connect your Raspberry Pi to a high-definition TV using the HDMI socket and should experience a crisp picture. If you have an old television in the garage, you can also press it into service for your Raspberry Pi. The Pi can send a composite video signal, so it can use a TV as its display. When we tried this, it worked but the text lacked definition, which made it difficult to read. If a TV is your only option, see Appendix A for advice on tweaking the settings to get the clearest possible picture. It’s better to use a computer monitor if you can, though. You’ll need to get a cable with the right connector to fit your Pi: The Model A and Model B have a dedicated RCA video socket, but later models use the headphone socket for RCA video output, too.
❯❯ USB hub: The Raspberry Pi has one, two, or four USB sockets (depending on the model you get). Consider using a powered USB hub, for two reasons. Firstly (and especially if you have a Model A, A+, B, or Zero), you’re going to want to connect other devices to your Pi at the same time as your keyboard and mouse, which need two sockets. And secondly, a USB hub provides external power to your devices and minimizes the likelihood of experiencing problems using your Raspberry Pi, especially if connecting relatively power-intensive devices such as hard drives. Make sure your USB hub has its own power source, independent of the Raspberry Pi.
❯❯ USB keyboard and mouse: The Raspberry Pi only supports USB keyboards and mice, so if you’re still using ones with PS/2 connectors (round rather than flat), you need to replace them.
❯❯ MicroSD card or SD card: The Raspberry Pi doesn’t have a hard drive built into it, so it uses a MicroSD card (current models) or SD card (older models, excluding the Model B+) as its main storage. You probably have some SD cards that you use for your digital camera, although you might need to get a higher-capacity one. We recommend an 8GB card as a minimum, but you can use a 4GB card if you use a media center operating system (OS) like LibreELEC. (See Chapter 8 for a guide to LibreELEC.) Even that isn’t much space compared to the hard drive on a modern computer, but you can use other storage devices such as external hard drives with your Raspberry Pi, too. SD and MicroSD cards have different class numbers that indicate how fast you can copy information to and from them. The Raspberry Pi Foundation recommends its branded Class 6 card as a good value and high-performing solution, although online retailers often sell a Class 10 card for this purpose. You will be fine with a Class 6 or higher. The easiest way to get started with the Raspberry Pi is to buy a card with the NOOBS software already on it. (See Chapter 2 for more on NOOBS.) Online retailers, including those mentioned earlier for buying the Pi itself, usually sell an 8GB or 16GB MicroSD card that has the NOOBS software preloaded on it. It comes with an SD card adapter, shown in Figure 1-3, so the card fits the older models (with the adapter) and newer models (without it).
❯❯ SD or MicroSD card writer: Many PCs today have a slot for SD or MicroSD cards, so you can easily copy photos from your camera to your computer. If yours doesn’t, you might want to consider getting an SD or MicroSD card writer to connect to your computer. You can use it to copy software to an SD card for use with your Raspberry Pi, but you won’t be able to use it to copy files from your Raspberry Pi to a Windows computer. Alternatively, as we’ve said, you can buy a MicroSD card with an SD adapter that has the Raspberry Pi software already on it. You can also use the card writer to create a backup copy of your Raspberry Pi's files and software. (You can read about making back-ups in Chapter 4.)
❯❯ USB key: A USB key (also known as flash drive or memory stick) can be fairly cheap and high-capacity now (a 64GB USB key is readily affordable), which makes it an ideal complement to your Raspberry Pi. You can transfer files between your PC and your Raspberry Pi using a USB key, too.
❯❯ USB Wi-Fi adapter: The Model A and A+ don't have an Ethernet socket, so if you want to connect to the Internet, you’ll need a USB Wi-Fi adapter. You might already have one of these from a laptop. Some are incompatible with the Raspberry Pi, but companies that sell the Pi usually sell a compatible Wi-Fi adapter, too. There is an official Raspberry Pi Wi-Fi adapter, available from the usual Pi retailers.
❯❯ External hard drive: If you want lots of storage, perhaps so that you can use your music or video collection with the Raspberry Pi, you can connect an external hard drive to it over USB. You’ll need to connect your hard drive through a powered USB hub, or use a hard drive that has its own external power source.
❯❯ Raspberry Pi Camera Module: The Raspberry Pi has stimulated entrepreneurs to create all kinds of add-ons for it, but the Camera Module is a product that originated at the Raspberry Pi Foundation. This 8-megapixel, fixed-focus camera can be used to shoot HD video and take still photos. There is also a version without an infrared filter (the PiNoIR Camera), which can be used for wildlife photography at night or weird special effects by day.
❯❯ Speakers: The Raspberry Pi has a standard audio out socket, compatible with headphones and PC speakers that use a 3.5mm audio jack. You can plug headphones directly into it, or use the audio jack to connect to speakers, a stereo, or a TV. If you’re using a TV or stereo for sound, you can get a cable that connects the 3.5mm audio jack and the audio input(s) on your television or stereo. You won’t always need speakers: If you’re using an HDMI connection, the audio is sent to the screen with the video signal, so you won’t need separate speakers – but note that this doesn’t work if you use a DVI monitor.
❯❯ Power supply: The Raspberry Pi uses a Micro USB connector for its power supply, and is theoretically compatible with a lot of mobile phone and tablet chargers. In practice, many of these can’t deliver enough current (up to 700 milliamperes for a Model
