Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
To see all configurations with a number (integer) datatype, run:
$ su -c 'vcgencmd get_config int'
arm_freq=900
To see all configurations with a text (string) datatype, run:
$ su -c 'vcgencmd get_config str'
There are very, very few configuration options that store string values instead of
integers. Don't be too surprised if the
vcgencmd get_config str
command doesn't
return anything.
If you just want to check the value of a specific configuration, pass that config name
instead:
$ su -c 'vcgencmd get_config arm_freq'
arm_freq=900
The
vcgencmd
utility is not the most user-friendly tool, but it does have a deep con-
nection into the inner workings of the Raspberry Pi. Since this tool is open source (and
the source code is available in the aforementioned Raspberry Pi GitHub firmware
checkout), if you want to go very deep into the inner workings of the Raspberry Pi
hardware, looking at the
vcgencmd
source code is a good jumping-off point.
Overclock Your Pi
HACK 06
The Raspberry Pi is not a notably fast computer. For most projects, it is
more than capable of providing enough performance to get the job done,
but for other projects, you might want to overclock the hardware to get
a little bit more horsepower.
The Raspberry Pi hardware is preconfigured to what the manufacturer believes is the
best balance of reliability and performance. Now that we've stated that for the record,
it also comes with a lot of tuning knobs, and if you are feeling brave, you can turn them
up to get extra performance out of the hardware.
This is what the cool kids call
overclocking
. People have been overclocking their com-
puters since the beginning of the PC era, but it really became common when owners
realized that the only difference between the high-end and low-end model of the same
Intel CPU was whether it passed speed tests. The ones that passed got labeled at the
higher clock speed, while the rest got the lower clock speed. If you were lucky, you
could adjust settings to get a higher clock speed.
