This document provides an overview and introduction to the Raspberry Pi. It discusses the origins of the Raspberry Pi in aiming to provide affordable computers to help stimulate interest in computer science education. It outlines key events in the development of the Raspberry Pi and describes its low cost and performance compared to earlier computers. The document then provides basic getting started information for setting up and using a Raspberry Pi including updating software, setting passwords, and connecting to hardware. It also discusses some popular project examples and suggests when to use a Raspberry Pi versus an Arduino.

1. Raspberry Pi 101
Getting Started

2. A little history…

3. Pre-history
• The wonder-
computers of the
1980s were easy
enough for youth to
get started with
(BASIC at boot) and
get experience with
CS before going onto
college

4. The 90’s dark ages…
• Systems evolved beyond the
comprehension of younger
enthusiasts
• BASIC no longer shipped with
computers
• Gaming systems attracted
more attention than 8-bit
computers

5. Why are we here?
• Eben Upton started investigating bare bones computers
in 2006 while director of studies in CS at Cambridge
University. Noticing a decline in skills of those applying.
• Because Eben moved from Cambridge to Broadcom,
his 8-bit prototypes evolved into designs using modern
arm based system-on-chip microprocessors.
• A partnership with BBC fell through due to non-
compete. A last minute cell phone video (by a senior
BBC tech journalist) of the prototypes went viral - and
interest took off.

6. Purpose
• Provide cheap
computers to children to
kick start the application
pipeline going into
university CS courses…

7. Side effects….
• While succeeding in kicking off
a resurgence in applications to
Cambridge CS - much of the
interest in the Pi has been
hobbyists and “makers”
• We can now break things
without getting in trouble!!!
• Prices have gotten weird…
• working zero board for $5
• pic16F84 chip $3.72

8. Performance
https://hackadaycom.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/
pispecs2.png
Feb 2016
Nov 2015
Feb 2015 Feb 2012Wireless Version
Feb 2017

9. • Cray X-MP in 1982 peak 400 MFLOPS for 2.38*$15=
$35,700,000 in today’s money - can fit in your data
center
• Pi3 = 462.07 MFLOPS for $35 in 2016 - can fit in your
pocket
https://www.element14.com/community/community/raspberry-pi/blog/2016/02/29/the-most-comprehensive-raspberry-pi-comparison-benchmark-ever

10. Getting started…

11. You can always start over!
Hold down shift when you boot up - and you can reinstall
raspbian

12. Don’t panic again!
Raspi zero wireless computers are $10 - go buy a new
one if you let the magic smoke out

13. The Very Basics

14. Set a good password for
your “pi” account
• Always a good idea to keep your pi safe
• choose a unique username (or keep “pi”) and
password that you can remember
• Docs are at https://www.raspberrypi.org/
documentation/linux/usage/users.md

15. Easy to remember passwords

16. Raspi config

17. Set your password

18. Set your host name
So you can ssh into it without having to type in the ip
address

19. Add another user
Use this account when not doing admin stuff - or talking
with hardware

20. Update software
Keep things up to date every time you work with the Pi
$ sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get upgrade -y
Prompt

21. All types of hardware
Now what do I do with all this pi?

22. When do I use Arduino?
• Arduino is an easy to use micro controller board with cheaply available
knock-off version for a few dollars.
• Useful for when there isn’t an I2C compatible sensor where you need to
change analog to digital signals
• Useful for when you need to worry about time - the Pi isn’t very precise
when it comes to time control or time measurement because it’s busy
running an operating system (The Arduino runs only the program you put in
it)
• Useful for controlling neo-pixels (multicolor RGB LEDs)
• With specific add on hardware - you can control motors and servos nicely
• Battery powered applications that aren’t internet connected

23. Use Pi Zero W
• If you’re making something permanent (solder wires).
Not pulling apart after a few days
• If you want to connect your project to the internet/IOT
• If you want to store data in a database
• If it’s going to do one thing generally and not be hooked
up to a keyboard and monitor (embedded) (magic
mirrors are OK though)
• If you need A2D or neopixels - add an Arduino to the Pi

24. Use a Pi 3 or greater…
• If you’ll be using the computer’s desktop or using it as
a kiosk
• You want speed (don’t want your retropi games
slowing down right?)
• You’ll be using video
• You’re experimenting using a breadboard (soldered
in 40 pin header) - develop software on the PI 3 and
breadboard - then simply move the flash to the
hardwired project

25. Hardware Setup
Breadboards help you get started quickly with
no soldering

26. First project: BLINKEN-LIGHTS
Improving humanity through periodic emissions of
photons…

28. It’ll be awesome
I promise - sort of…

29. Popular Projects
• Retropi (video games)
• Kodi (raspi based Roku)
• Magic mirror

30. Things I want to learn…
• Elixir (fault tolerant functional language) - cluster
computing
• Displays
• I2C interfacing - battery powered sensing
• Halloween costumes

31. Other things to do…
• Install fail2ban: http://kamilslab.com/2016/12/11/
how-to-install-fail2ban-on-the-raspberry-pi/
• Install key only ssh: https://www.raspberrypi.org/
documentation/remote-access/ssh/passwordless.md
• Turn off password ssh: https://www.jaredwolff.com/
blog/passwordless-ssh-raspberry-pi/
• Connect to raspi zero w pi over usb https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xj3MPmJhAPU

32. GIT Bumper Talk

33. What is GIT?
• GIT is a software version
control system (VCS)
• Keeps track of your programs
changes as you “commit”
them as commits (snapshots)
in multiple branches
(timelines of snapshots)
• Makes it easy to share your
programs and work with other
people on the same software
(making cat herding easier)

34. What does GIT let you do?
• GIT tracks commits in different branches of a timeline (just like back
to the future)
• Lets you work on a software project while someone else is working
on the same project.
• You make changes A, B, and C on an example FOO branch
• Friend makes changes D,E, and F on example BAR branch
• GIT allows you to merge all the changes back to the MASTER branch

35. Don’t be afraid
• Just making changes in logical chunks and
committing at the right time can help you a lot
• Can roll back changes if you make a mistake
• Lets you download other peoples code to use
locally

36. Initial setup

37. Always Use The Cloud
• If someone karate chops your pi -
your software is still safe up on
the cloud.
• Two people can work on the same
project in collaboration.
• You can keep it private or share
with the world.
• Bitbucket lets you keep things
private or public - but isn’t very
popular
• Github is very popular - but can’t
keep private without 🤑

38. Set up your SSH Keys
Much easier and safer than password access to
bitbucket

39. Sign up for github…

40. Copy your public key to github
https://github.com/settings/keys
cut and paste…

41. Download a repo

43. Make a a new branch

44. Add changes to staging
• Make a file
• “Add” it to staging
• Check the status

45. Commit the change

46. Push the change to github

47. Shows up on GitHub

48. Make a “pull-request”

49. Merge the pull request

50. Pull back from GitHub

51. Cleaning up on the pi…
• Switch to master
• Pull master from
github
• delete matt/hello

52. What did we do?
git log --graph

53. A little practice - and the git book
helps a lot
https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2