Raspberry pi 4 8GB (Complete Kits) board contains the following components:
General-purpose input–output pins: These pins are used to connect the Raspberry Pi to electronic components.
Ethernet port: This port connects the Raspberry Pi to a wired network. The Raspberry Pi also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built in for wireless connections.
Two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 ports: These USB ports are used to connect peripherals like a keyboard or mouse. The two black ports are USB 2.0 and the two blue ports are USB 3.0.
AV jack: This AV jack allows you to connect speakers or headphones to the Raspberry Pi.
Camera Module port: This port is used to connect the official Raspberry Pi Camera Module, which enables the Raspberry Pi to capture images.
HDMI ports: These HDMI ports connect the Raspberry Pi to external monitors. The Raspberry Pi 4 features two micro HDMI ports, allowing it to drive two separate monitors at the same time.
USB power port: This USB port powers the Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi 4 has a USB Type-C port, while older versions of the Pi have a micro-USB port.
External display port: This port is used to connect the official seven-inch Raspberry Pi touch display for touch-based input on the Raspberry Pi.
microSD card slot (underside of the board): This card slot is for the microSD card that contains the Raspberry Pi operating system and files.
A little later in this tutorial, you’ll use the components above to set up your Raspberry Pi.
Raspberry Pi vs Arduino
People often wonder what the difference is between a Raspberry Pi and an Arduino. The Arduino is another device that is widely used in physical computing. While there is some overlap in the capabilities of the Arduino and the Raspberry Pi, there are some distinct differences.
The Arduino platform provides a hardware and software interface for programming microcontrollers. A microcontroller is an integrated circuit that allows you to read input from and send output to electronic components. Arduino boards generally have limited memory, so they’re often used to repeatedly run a single program that interacts with electronics.
The Raspberry Pi is a general-purpose, Linux-based computer. It has a full operating system with a GUI interface that is capable of running many different programs at the same time.
The Raspberry Pi comes with a variety of software preinstalled, including a web browser, an office suite, a terminal, and even Minecraft. The Raspberry Pi also has built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to connect to the Internet and external peripherals.
For running Python, the Raspberry Pi is often the better choice, as you get a full-fledged Python installation out of the box without any configuration.
Setting Up the Raspberry Pi
Unlike the Arduino, which requires only a USB cable and a computer to set up, the Raspberry Pi has more hardware requirements to get up and running. After the initial setup, though, some of these peripherals will no longer be required.
Required Hardware
The following hardware is required for the initial setup of your Raspberry Pi. If you end up connecting to your Raspberry Pi over SSH, which you’ll look at later in this tutorial, then some of the hardware below will not be needed after the initial setup.
Monitor
You’ll need a monitor during the initial setup and configuration of the operating system. If you’ll be using SSH to connect to your Raspberry Pi, then you won’t need the monitor after setup. Make sure your monitor has an HDMI input.
microSD Card
Raspberry Pi uses a microSD card to store the operating system and files. If you buy a Raspberry Pi kit, then it will contain a preformatted microSD card for you to use. If you buy a microSD card separately, then you’ll need to format it yourself. Look for a microSD card with at least 16GB of capacity.
Keyboard and Mouse
A USB keyboard and mouse are required during the initial setup of the Raspberry Pi. Once the setup is complete, you can switch to using Bluetooth versions of these peripherals if you prefer. Later in this tutorial, you’ll see how to connect to the Raspberry Pi over SSH. If you choose to connect this way, then a physical keyboard and mouse are not required after the initial setup.
HDMI Cables
You’ll need an HDMI cable to connect the Raspberry Pi to a monitor. Different Raspberry Pi models have different HDMI cable requirements:
Raspberry Pi 4
Raspberry Pi 3/2/1
Raspberry Pi Zero
micro HDMI
HDMI
mini HDMI
micro HDMI to HDMI
HDMI to HDMI
mini HDMI to HDMI
Depending on your model, you may need to purchase a special HDMI cable or adapter.
Power Supply
The Raspberry Pi uses a USB connection to power the board. Again, different Raspberry Pi models have different USB connection and power requirements.
Below are the connection and power requirements for the different models:
Raspberry Pi 4
Raspberry Pi 3/2/1/Zero
USB-C
Micro-USB
At least 3.0 amps
At least 2.5 amps
To avoid any confusion when selecting a power supply, it’s recommended that you use the official power supply for your Raspberry Pi 4 or other model.
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Optional Hardware
You can use a whole range of additional hardware with the Raspberry Pi to extend its capabilities. The hardware items listed below are not required to use your Raspberry Pi but would be useful to have on hand.
Case
It’s nice to have a case for your Raspberry Pi to keep its components from being damaged during normal use. When selecting a case, make sure that you purchase the correct type for your model of the Raspberry Pi.
Speakers
If you want to play music or sound from your Raspberry Pi, then you’ll need speakers. These can be any standard speakers that have a 3.5 mm jack. You can connect the speakers to the Raspberry Pi using the AV jack on the side of the board.
Heat Sinks (Recommended)
The Raspberry Pi can do a lot of computing for a little board. This is one of the reasons it’s so awesome! But this does mean that it can get a little hot sometimes. It’s recommended that you purchase a set of heatsinks to prevent the Raspberry Pi from throttling the CPU when it gets too hot.
Software
The operating system for the Raspberry Pi is stored on a microSD card. If your card did not come from an official Raspberry Pi kit, then you’ll need to install the operating system on it.
There are multiple ways to set up the operating system on your Raspberry Pi. You can find out more about the different installation options on the Raspberry Pi website.
In this section, you’ll look at two ways to install Raspbian, the officially supported Raspberry Pi operating system, which is based on Debian Linux.
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