Things You Need To Get Your Raspberry Pi Working

The famed $35 computer Raspberry Pi does not come in a complete bundle. It misses a number of basic things that you should have to get your Raspberry Pi running. In fact these accessories (read necessities) doubles the price of the whole package needed for an up and running Raspberry Pi. I realized this thing only after I got my Raspberry Pi delivered after 1.5 months of pre-order. This is one of the reason why I wrote this article on why Raspberry Pi sucks.

Lets see what are the things you need to get your Raspberry Pi working:

4 GB (or more) SD card:

That is the first and biggest pain. You must have a SD card of at least 4 GB. Raspberry Pi boots only from a SD card then you might use external USB storage, but it won’t breathe without the SD card.

A power lead:

Yes! It doesn’t even come with a power lead. Either you buy it online or you can use your cellphone’s charger that could fit in mini-USB port. But the latter is not suggested on its official forum. Its up to you to take the risk. You should read more about Raspberry Pi power consumption, if interested.

HDMI or Video RCA:

The next thing you need is a display. You can hook up the Raspberry Pi with a digital TV using HDMI or to the older generation TV/monitor using composite Video RCA to RCA connector. There is absolutely no support for VGA.

USB Keyboard and Mouse:

Now when you have Raspberry Pi powered, booted and connected to a screen you definitely need mouse and keyboard to interact. There is no support for PS2 keyboard and mouse and rightly so. No need to support obsolete technology in a gen-next device.

Ethernet cable:

If you have nought model B of Raspberry Pi then you are blessed with the capability to use Ethernet connection. No support for WiFi here. The cheaper Raspberry Pi A (of $25 value) does not have any option of networking at all.

USB Hub [optional]:

There are only 2 USB ports in the Raspberry Pi and high are the chances that you may need a third one as one will be taken by keyboard and other by mouse. Now if you need to use your USB key/drive, there is no option but to remove one. A suggestible thing will be to have a USB hub that could connect multiple USB at the same time.

Case [optional]:

Since Raspberry Pi is a naked device, you might want to take precautions while handling it. There are cases available from several manufacturers. Up to you to buy if you care for your device.

Did I miss out anything here? Let me know.