Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Linux Distributions
Because Linux code is publically available, different organisations have made slight changes
to it and distributed it. This has led to different
distributions
(versions), including Red Hat,
Fedora, Debian, Arch, Ubuntu and openSUSE. Some companies sell their distributions and
provide paid-for support, whereas others are completely free. Raspbian is based on the
Debian distribution with some customisations for the Raspberry Pi and is what is used in
this topic.
Getting the OS on an SD Card
The Raspberry Pi doesn't know how to coordinate its hardware without an OS. When it is
powered up, it looks on the SD card to start loading the OS. As such, you're going to need an
SD card with an OS on it.
You can either buy an SD card that already has an OS on it, or you can copy an OS to your
own SD card with a PC. A premade card is simplest, but more expensive. Creating your own
isn't too difficult, but it is slightly more involved than just copying a file.
Premade Cards
Premade cards are bundled in kits or available to purchase from element14, RS or other
online stores. A 4GB card should be big enough for getting started and cost less than £10.
Creating Your Own SD Card
There are two ways to create your own SD card for the Raspberry Pi, using NOOBS or by
transferring an image yourself.
Using NOOBS
New Out Of Box Software (NOOBS) was created for the Raspberry Pi to automate transfer-
ring SD card images. NOOBS boots your Raspberry Pi from a FAT formatted card and then
repartitions and clones the filesystem for you. Using NOOBS should be as simple as format-
Some operating systems do not format cards properly, so it is sometimes necessary to down-
load a program to format the card. Although NOOBS can be simple, it doesn't always work,
and it can be slower. Anyway, it's more satisfying to use the do-it-yourself approach.
