Chapter 1. Getting Up and Running

A few words come up over and over when people talk about the Raspberry Pi: small, cheap, hackable, education-oriented. However, it would be a mistake to describe it as plug and play, even though it is easy enough to plug it into a TV set and get something to appear on the screen. This is not a consumer device, and depending on what you intend to do with your Raspberry Pi you’ll need to make a number of decisions about peripherals and software when getting up and running.

Of course, the first step is to actually acquire a Raspberry Pi. Chances are you have one by now, but if not, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has arrangements with a few manufacturers from whom you can buy a Pi directly at the well-known $25-$35 price. ...

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