Getting Started with My Raspberry Pi – Part 2: RPi Specs and Peripherals

Recently I got myself a Raspberry Pi model B Revision 2.0 with 512MB RAM. In this post, I list the specs of my RPi as well as the peripherals I have bought for it.

Raspberry Pi 

• Model B Revision 2.0 (hardware revision code 0005) (how to see this: http://www.raspberrypi-spy.co.uk/2012/09/checking-your-raspberry-pi-board-version/)
• 512MB RAM (how to see this: http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/how-to-tell-how-much-ram-your-raspberry-pi-has-20121016/)

Case

• Adafruit Pi Box: https://www.adafruit.com/products/859
• I have modded this one a bit, as I wanted my jumper wires to be connected directly on the board (instead of using a ribbon cable and an external PCB). So basically, I have removed a part of the corner where the GPIO pins are located.

SD-Card

• 32GB Transcend SDHC Class 10 (TS32GSDHC10): http://www.transcend-info.com/products/catlist.asp?ModNo=268&Func1No=0
• 20MB/s read (according to specs)
• 17MB/s write (according to specs)
• Is on the RPi Verified Peripherals list: http://elinux.org/RPi_VerifiedPeripherals#Working_SD_Cards
• The only down-side of using a 32GB SD-card is that it takes some time doing the initial partition expansion when setting up raspbian wheezy (btw, if your screen turns black during this process – don’t panic! This is just a screen saver which you might see about 3 times during that process – hitting a key on the keyboard makes it go away)

Power Adapter

• Nokia AC-10E phone charger
• Micro USB, 5V, 1200mA
• Is on the RPi Verified Peripherals list: http://elinux.org/RPi_VerifiedPeripherals#Working_power_Adapters
• According to the WiKi model B requires 700mA without any external devices connected, so using a 1200mA power supply gives me some more current to play with and ensures that I can connect external devices like a WiFi adapter without risking stability problems.

WiFi Adapters

• Edimax EW-7811Un: http://www.edimax.com/en/produce_detail.php?pd_id=347&pl1_id=1&pl2_id=44
  • Realtek RTL8192CU chipset
  • Is on the RPi Verified Peripherals list: http://elinux.org/RPi_VerifiedPeripherals#Working_USB_Wifi_Adapters
  • The current driver do not comply with the nl80211 interface public header, meaning that it cannot be used with hostapd.
  • I currently use this adapter to connect to my WPA2 WiFi at home, and to create an ad-hoc network when my home network is out of range. Very stable and has caused no problems so far.
• Ralink RT5370
  • This WiFi adapter seems to turn up everywhere you Google “raspberry pi access point” (e.g. here, here, and here)- primarily because its driver actually implements the nl80211 interface public header and thus can be used with hostapd which is one of the required daemons to setup in the process of turning your RPi into an access point.
  • I have bought two of these:
    • One with an external antenna: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Widemac-SL-1506N-Ralink-RT5370-USB-2-0-802-11b-g-n-150Mbps-Wireless-Network-Card-/160887501440?pt=US_USB_Wi_Fi_Adapters_Dongles&hash=item2575a47280
    • And one without: http://dx.com/p/mini-usb-2-4ghz-150mbps-802-11b-g-n-wifi-wireless-network-card-adapter-black-120933
  • I haven’t tried them out yet, but I plan to do so in near future.

HDMI Adapter

• Club 3D HDMI (M) to DVI-I (F) adapter cable
  • http://www.club-3d.com/index.php/products/reader.en/product/hdmi-to-dvi-i-single-link-cable.html
  • http://www.club-3d.com/isotope/c/cac-hmddfd.pdf

Keyboard

• Dell SK-8115 wired USB keyboard
• Is on the RPi Verified Peripherals list: http://elinux.org/RPi_VerifiedPeripherals#Working_USB_Keyboards

Mouse

• Dell MOA8BO wired USB optical mouse

USB 2.0 Hub

• Standard 4-port USB 2.0 Hub with a 2100mA power supply

Relay

• 2 channel relay board with 2 x 5V relays (capable of attaching devices requiring up to 10A and either 250VAC or 30VDC ): http://www.let-elektronik.dk/relae-board-x-2.html
• Schematics: http://www.let-elektronik.dk/filer/produkter/K-REL-2041-IT_2Ch5VRelay_Schematic.pdf
• I currently use this to trigger, e.g., the coffee machine to brew coffee when I’m on my way home from the university 😉