Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
If you do connect the Pi directly to a PC or laptop, you won't be able to connect out onto the
Internet by default. To do so, you'll need to configure your PC to
bridge
the wired Ethernet
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 file for “bridge network” to find 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 Configuration Protocol
(DHCP).
This 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 configuration. You'll learn more about this
in Chapter 5, “Network Configuration”.
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 2-7).
Figure 2-7:
Two USB
wireless
adapters,
suitable for use
with the
Raspberry Pi
