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

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

jomoenginer — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 02:36:44 GMT

Is this what you have?

https://www.element14.com/community/message/171871/l/raspberry-pi-1-model-b-io-connector-pinout#171871

https://makezine.com/projects/tutorial-raspberry-pi-gpio-pins-and-python/

Outside of being a bit slower and less RAM and no WiFi and no HDMI, it should not be much different than the new ones. That is unless the newer images do not run on this.

Can you post an image of the top of the board to show the revision?

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

ralphjy — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 21:27:59 GMT

Hi [mention:d25512d61e65470296ce2f82f47741ab:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05] ,

I think that I understand your situation. I'm used to having resources like peripherals and cables readily available......

Hope that the cake helped [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-ca137922-3c13-4ea8-b2e6-b862e0a1baf5/contentimage_5F00_938.png:16:16].

If you just want to get a feel for the RPi then you shouldn't need to make a large commitment. You definitely need to get an SD card reader/writer. You can easily configure the RPi to run headless over ethernet (slightly more complex to run wireless, but you don't have that problem). You do all of this initially on the SD card.

Here is a link to a short tutorial: https://hackernoon.com/raspberry-pi-headless-install-462ccabd75d0

If you decide to do something for the Design Challenge, I would definitely recommend buying the lastest RPi.

Ralph

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

beacon_dave — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 18:13:35 GMT

Perhaps have a read through these MagPi official guides to get a basic overview of the R-Pi:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi-issues/QuickStart_v1.pdf

https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi-issues/Beginners_Guide_v1.pdf

https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi-issues/Beginners_Book_v1.pdf

Also take a look at the on-line help:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/help/

Just keep in mind that you are on an older model of the Pi, so there will be some differences encountered.

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

ralphjy — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 16:42:55 GMT

I would hate to discourage you, but if I were just starting out - I would just buy a new RPi 3B+ as a kit with power supply, pre-loaded SD card and case. I think you'll find that the old model RPi will cause you a lot of issues with lack of memory, CPU power and no wireless. Unless you have a compelling reason for using the old RPi, you'll have a much better experience with the latest one. It is somewhat counter-intuitive, but a full featured unit will be easier to learn because you don't have to worry so much about constraints when running example programs. After you get experience, then you can optimize the hardware selection for features, size and power.

That being said, if your son had used the RPi previously, it probably has a bootable SD card so you'll just need to add a USB keyboard/mouse and HDMI/DVI display to check it out as Luis has suggested. One caveat for a newbie, if you get running - make sure you shutdown the OS before powering off as there is a reasonable chance to corrupt your SD image otherwise.

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

luislabmo — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 14:33:33 GMT

Hi [mention:d25512d61e65470296ce2f82f47741ab:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05],

The minimum necessary to use a Raspberry Pi:

First identify which RPi you have, this way is going to be less painful to deal with issues and also the GPIO mapping may be different, so this step is important
SD card with Raspbian or any OS compatible with Rpi: depending of which version of the Rpi you have, it may be a SD card or a micro SD that is required. Older versions of the RPi handle less types of SD cards/microSD so this is something where need to be careful.
Keyboard/Mouse (optional): Not a lot to say here but USB Keyboard/Mouse are the popular option.
Screen (optional): HDMI or a TV/screen with analog input are probably the easier options, but image quality will be on the low side with the 2nd option... and painful to deal with when reading.
Network cable (optional): or you may have a version that has WiFi, since is not known yet, lets assume you may potentially need one
About the "(optional)": you can access your RPi remotely -if connected to the network- in this case Screen/Mouse/Keyboard may not be required. There are ways to setup the network options from a PC.

Hope this helps.

Luis