[Bradford] Fruit Pies

[Bernard Czenkusz]

Hi Mike, from my own experience with a Raspberry Pi 3, (though I would 
suggest you go for the latest pi4):

Items you need:

USB power supply - needs to be a good one, I'd go for the 'official 
raspberry pi power supply'.

An SD card (I think the pi 4 uses a micro format of SD card) - you can 
download the OS onto it, be aware that you can download an image with a 
desktop environment on it - in which case you may want the 4G option, or 
a 'lite' image with just a command line - in which case the 2G option 
would probably be fine. My laptop is Linux mint and it has a 'USB image 
writer' facility which worked fine.

I use the lite image with just the command line - after putting the 
image onto the SD card, I then plugged the SD card into the pi,  
connected a hdmi cable to a TV, connect a USB keyboard and mouse, and 
ethernet cable to my router. I then set up the pi with wifi and ssh 
service using a config facility included in the OS.

Once that is done, the pi can be completely 'headless',  you can connect 
to it from your PC by wifi and ssh. No keyboard/mouse/tv necessary. 
However that only gives you a command line, good for setting up 
services, but for general programming you may want the graphical 
environment of a text editor. I do that on my laptop, and then when 
required upload files to the pi by sftp. Rather as if the pi was a 
remote server. If you set the ssh with keys, this becomes very easy, not 
even a password to remember.

I wouldn't worry about upgrading, the next version will inevitably be 
more powerful and prettier than the last. The hardware connectivity is 
another world in itself, I've had a camera attached, and temperature 
sensors, and LED's flashing, all interesting stuff to play with.  The 
hardware pin outs changed from the very first versions of pi, but have 
been consistently stable since then.

Cheers

    Bernard


On 13/12/2020 00:03, Moanin via Bradford wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> I just wanted to buy a Raspberry Pi
> But there's so many models I now want to cry.
> It's really confusing so please tell me why
> It's so hard to know which Raspberry Pi?
>
> Continuing with my efforts to get to grips with programming I thought 
> it may be a good idea to get one of these. But so many choices! The 
> commercial offerings were bad enough but there seem to be a never 
> ending list of them on raspberrypi.org, from version 1 to 4 and each 
> with its own variations. From a "sticking with Linux" perspective, 
> should I be getting the latest or will an earlier version suit my 
> needs? They all look affordable. But I don't want to have to fight off 
> 'Doze and 'Tosh if I get something towards the shinier end!
>
> My objective is to set one up as a server, then write and test simple 
> programmes. I'd also like to start knocking up a few web pages using 
> the Smarty templating engine, to get a handle on its basic principles. 
> I don't mind if it means deleting earlier work to make space but I 
> gather they can hold quite a lot?
>
> The main question: Which "board" to get - online it looks like boards 
> or you can buy one in a box but is there much point in that beyond 
> cosmetics? Several people brought theirs to the BradLUG meetings, 
> remember those anybody? so hopefully a few of you can help to 
> enlighten me? :)
>
> Am I right in thinking I can plug one into the laptop or PC to get a 
> screen? What other bits and pieces will I need?
>
> Any recommendations for a UK supplier? I found thepihut.com which 
> prices in £p. There's Farnell too, which used to be in Armley but were 
> bought out. No idea how reliable or trustworthy any of them are though.
>
> Finally, are they upgradeable? So for instance I may only need say 2gb 
> just now but could I add more or is it better to start off with say 
> 8gb? What's the maximum?
>
> Any and all help and/or tips welcomed warmly.
>
> TIA,
>
> MIKe
>