Raspberry Pi Rev. B
I finally got my hands on a Raspberry Pi. I’ve been curious about it for a few months now and it’s always been in backorder. I ordered it from http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/83-14346 and it took 2 weeks to get it delivered. I bought the kit that came with a case, SD card, and AC adapter – I didn’t know too much about it so I went this route. The Rev. B comes with 512MB or memory instead of the original 256MB. A couple of things to consider now that I know more about it.
- You don’t need the AC adapter unless you plan to use it. It can be powered by USB ports. For instance, my TVs at home have USB ports and can power the device when the TV is turned on. Plus it uses a micro USB – many Android devices use this, not the digital camera one.
- The case that the kit came with is horrible. It’s way too big for the Raspberry and while plugging in cables, it can come loose off the case.
- They forgot to ship the SD card. I have may just lying around and I’ve been too lazy to contact them about it.
If I were to get another one, I wouldn’t buy the kit. With that said, the OS can be downloaded from their website. You can also use it with XBMC – using Raspbmc.
The SD card I’m using is a 4GB class 4. I might get better performance if I use a faster card but I don’t have any spare ones at the moment so I wouldn’t be able to tell you.
The video out is using HDMI or RCA video (the yellow one). If you don’t have access to either one on your monitor/TV, you can always get a converter. The one I tried is from Sabrent.
The resolution may not be the best or optimized. HDMI has worked great for me so far.
The performance is what I expected. I will be using it with Raspbmc for HTPC purposes. I have noticed a 94% CPU usage constantly. I may have to do some tweaking to get that lower. For $35, it’s not a bad little device. It’s a lot cheaper than the other HTPC projects I’ve done in the past.
