Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
port and another (typically wireless) connection. Doing so is outside the scope of this topic,
but if you are completely unable to connect the Pi to the Internet in any other way, you can
try searching your operating system's help ile for “bridge network” to ind more guidance.
With a cable connected, the Pi will automatically receive the details it needs to access the
Internet when it loads its operating system through the
Dynamic Host Coniguration Protocol
(DHCP).
his assigns the Pi an
Internet Protocol (IP)
address on your network, and tells it the
gateway it needs to use to access the Internet (typically the IP address of your router or modem).
For some networks, there is no DHCP server to provide the Pi with an IP address. When con-
nected to such a network, the Pi will need manual coniguration. You'll learn more about this
in Chapter 4, “Network Coniguration”.
Wireless Networking
Current Raspberry Pi models don't feature any form of wireless network capability onboard,
but—as with adding wired Ethernet to the Model A—it's possible to add Wi-Fi support to
any Pi using a USB wireless adapter (see Figure 1-8).
Figure 1-8:
Two USB
wireless
adapters,
suitable for use
with the
Raspberry Pi
Using such a device, the Pi can connect to a wide range of wireless networks, including those
running on the latest 802.11n high-speed standard. Before purchasing a USB wireless
adapter, check the following:
