Starting out, waiting for stuff and things

First post, much waiting.

Ok so I'm new to the Raspberry Pi scene, a noob if you like, but I'm giving it a go. 

I've ordered up my first Raspberry Pi, and I'm waiting for all my bits to arrive. If you've stumbled on this blog by accident, this isn't a blog about cooking badly spelt desserts. The Raspberry Pi is a small, cheap computer with many possibilities like media PC's, weather stations, wireless print servers, all various options if you are so inclined.

When you order a Raspberry Pi, you just get the basic circuit board, you'll need some other stuff to go with it. If you're interested in getting your own, then I'll run through the bits you will need, and the nice bits you might want as we'll, starting with the items you'll need.

You'll need a power supply, fortunately it's a micro USB power supply, the type that commonly powers most modern smart phones, so you may have one of these already. The next thing you'll need, you may already have again is an SD memory card as used in digital cameras etc. The software that runs the Pi all fits on an SD card. I'd go for at least a 4gb card as the basic operating system is 2gb as a download, you can go up to 32gb, but it's debatable weather you need to go this big. For this reason I've picked a couple of 8gb cards. Keep an eye on the blog, as getting the operating system and software onto the SD card will be a future post.

Now we have power and a way of getting software onto we will need input and output stages, so we can make sense of what the Pi is doing. If you're into tinkering with computers, then again you may have some of this stuff already, a standard USB keyboard and mouse, or wireless equivalents will allow you to make use of the Pi. And finally you'll need to see what it's doing, now there's no VGA port, it's strictly HDMI or crappy yellow phono plug so I need an HDMI cable. Word of note on HDMI cables here, don't waste money on expensive HDMI cables, there's no difference in signal output/picture quality as its a digital signal, as shown in this several tests: here, here, and here. This outlines the basic things you'll need to get up and running, now for the stuff that's nice to have.

First things first, the Pi is just a bare circuit board, there's no case, so I ordered one of these, there are expensive ones, but I just opted for a cheap see through blue number. After this, there's network and internet connection to be considered. The Pi has an Ethernet socket, so I've ordered a network cable to plug directly into my broadband router. However you can add wifi by the addition of a cheap USB device. Also to think about is there's only two USB sockets, so it could be useful to have a USB hub. As the power output from the Pi USB sockets is limited, it would be better to look for a powered USB hub. Finally, a cheap card reader that can read those SD cards.

There is a list available of the components that are compatible, and others that are not recommended, you can find it here.

It should be obvious that some of the items listed may be lay about your home already with the exception of the Pi board and a case. For the moment, the bits I need have been ordered variously from eBay and Amazon. There are people shifting 'ultimate pi kits' for around £75. You can buy the bits individually and for about £60 if you need everything, obviously the more stuff you have already, the cheaper it will become.

Next post will be when I get my stuff, and get cracking.