Getting Started with an Old Raspberry Pi #1 : Its a Model B (not a B+)

18 Feb 2019

As I am thinking of taking part in the Picasso Design Challenge that uses a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ and not knowing very much about any Raspberry Pi I thought I would borrow one and see what I could do. I obtained an old one from my son which I am now attempting to get going.

I have searched some of the Element14 older material and managed to find out that I have a Raspberry Pi Model B (but not a B+). But so far I have not been able to find out how to connect it up so that I can at least turn it on and see what happens. I think I need an HDMI cable but what else? Can anyone point me in the right direction for this very old Pi which is way past its Best Before Date?

Dubbie

Top Comments

beacon_dave over 6 years ago in reply to dubbie

There is this guide book on the Sense hat:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi-issues/Essentials_SenseHAT_v1.pdf

and some more useful guides to get you started:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi-issues/Essentials_GPIOZero_v1.pdf <- simple stuff
https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi-issues/Essentials_C_v2.pdf
https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi-issues/Essentials_Bash_v2.pdf

PyGame may be of interest for graphics if doing the Picasso design challenge:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi-issues/Essentials_Games_v1.pdf

Also perhaps take a look at the 'Processing' for arty stuff:
https://processing.org/
https://pi.processing.org/
( and you can use this in conjunction with an Arduino either via USB (or an Ethernet shield).
Load the Firmata sketch onto the Arduino then access its I/O pins from Processing on the R-Pi using the Arduino library.
https://playground.arduino.cc/interfacing/processing )
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dubbie over 6 years ago in reply to beacon_dave

Dave,

Another set of exciting things to be investigated without too much difficulty. It seems like thee is no end to what Raspberry Pi or simulations/alternative implementations can do. I'll have to try and stick to the initial simpler things or I'll just get carried away looking at stuff and never do anything.

Thanks foro all this good information.

Dubbie
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beacon_dave over 6 years ago in reply to dubbie

Raspberry Pi Desktop should be ideal for giving those old laptops a new lease of life.

More info on desktop in MagPi issue 53 page 70:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi-issues/MagPi53.pdf#page=70

Yes you can boot and run from DVD or USB and leave the existing OS untouched. By default with a live disc any changes don't get saved locally. You can however enable 'persistence' and that allows you to save changes to a USB drive.

You may also be interested in this web-based Sense Hat emulator:
https://trinket.io/sense-hat
The off-line version of the emulator is included in later versions of Raspbian as well.
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dubbie over 6 years ago in reply to beacon_dave

Dave,

This is really helpful. I have a couple of old laptops that I was thinking I might just scrap but if they could have a second life that would be great. I'm not entirely sure I fully understand what the Raspberry Pi Desktop is but I think it is some sort of emulation of a Raspberry Pi that runs Raspberry Pi programmes - but doesn't have the Raspberry Pi I/O capability. It isn't clear to me yet whether these programmes can then be downloaded to a Raspberry Pi or not. I might be confusing the programme with the executable here.

Also, I wasn't sure if you can make a USB stick with Raspberry Pi Desktop on which can be run from any Windows PC (without affecting the Windows PC in any way?). The YouTube video I watched mentioned something about persistence but I wasn't sure what that was.

I also saw that you do seem to be able to connect a Raspberry Pi Zero directly to the Raspberry Pi Desktop and then create and run programmes on the zero that were created using the Desktop. This sounds like a great idea to me.

Now I have a second aspect of Raspberry Pi to look into - the other was accessing my old Raspberry Pi 1B via Ethernet. This all sounds like great fun.

I can remember when Windows first came out when you could access hardware directly from within your C programmes. My students did some great projects controlling hardware from PCs. Then Windows introduced the Hardware Abstraction Layer and that was the end of that. A backward step for me in programming but I guess a necessary step for Windows to increase security.

Dubbie
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beacon_dave over 6 years ago in reply to dubbie

If you want familiarity with the Raspbian software, then there is also 'Raspberry Pi Desktop' available which you can run on a PC or Mac computer.
https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/install-raspberry-pi-desktop
https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspberry-pi-desktop/
You can install it on an unused laptop as the native OS, or run it as a live disc or virtual machine.
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