Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Configuration Hacks
They say the beginning is usually a good place to start anything, but this is a Hacks
topic. You're likely to skip around to things with interesting titles, or perhaps the one
that starts in Old English because you were flipping through the pages and it looked
like the topic had some terrible printing errors.
That said, there are some things that it's nice to keep in the back of your head before
you start building things, and the Raspberry Pi has a few unexpected quirks that it's
good to be aware of. If you're entirely new to Linux, electronics hacking, or both, it's a
good idea to give this chapter a read-through before proceeding with any of the other
hacks. You just might learn something that will save your Pi (and the $35 of having to
replace it).
Choose and Format the Right SD Card
HACK 01
The Raspberry Pi does not have any built-in flash storage; it needs an SD
card to do anything. Picking the right one might seem simple, but we're
here to help you make the right choice.
Your SD card choice is an important one. After all, when it comes to the Raspberry Pi,
it's the equivalent of choosing a hard drive. Being able to change the entire system
quickly by inserting a new SD card is also one of the Pi's most interesting strengths,
especially when it comes to education. A few factors should weigh into your card se-
lection, though, and even if you think you've chosen well, you might still need to trou-
bleshoot minor problems.
SD cards are sold with a class number (e.g., 4, 6, 10), in which a higher class number
equates to a faster card. Most high-quality, Class-4-or-greater SDHC cards (i.e., a
recognized name brand) should work for most purposes. Vendors that sell cards with
a Linux distribution meant for the Raspberry Pi largely use SanDisk or Kingston brand
SDHC Class 4 cards. You can find a thorough list of known, tested cards (as well as
cards that don't work) at http://elinux.org/RPi_VerifiedPeripherals . That said, a faster
card can as much as double your transfer rate (in terms of MB/sec), so if speed is
critical to your use, you should go with a higher class card.
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