A lot of people have asked me what they should to get when starting with a Raspberry Pi. In this post I will give my advise on the minimal components you needs to get a good start using a Pi.
What Pi should you get:
That is an easy one, Raspberry Pi 3 model B. Simply because that is the most used and most equipped edition of the Raspberry’s nowadays. A Pi Zero W or even the new Zero WH are a nice choice, but not to start with. They are just to much hassle for my taste when you are just staring. USB hub needed with micro USB, mini HDMI adapter, need I go on?
So just get a Raspberry Pi 3B. And don’t get seduced to buy an old Pi 3 (without the B) or even a model 2 because they are cheaper. These editions need a Wifi dongle and also do not have Bluetooth. Not even mentioning the lower CPU speeds and memory and such. Just get a Pi 3 model B. Okay, you can get a second hand one. That’s allowed.
Power adapter:
Get a 5 Volt adapter with at least 2.5 Amperage of output. Even though the Pi will work with only 0.5/1.0 Amps once you get started with your Pi you will probably need more Amps when connecting more and more devices to it (like game controllers or USB drivers and such). So do the investment getting a higher Amperage so you don’t need to buy an extra power adapter in the near future. Personally I buy at least 3 Amps and when I use the Pi for gaming I will not go lower than 3.5 Amps even (I just got to play Bomberman with more than two persons, but that’s just me).
Buy your power supply locally. Do not get tempted to buy one in China. I know they are dirt cheap, but they could burn your house down. So stay away from those cheap Chinese power adapters. Be smart about that please.
I personally buy my USB charger from Ikea. It has 3.4 Amps of power and has 3 USB ports. Th charger is called: KOPPLA and is under 8 euro’s. Only downside is that it has no USB to micro USB cable. Those you CAN buy in China 😉
microSD cards:
Although it depends what you are going to actually do with the Pi the minimum size in my opinion is 8 GB. But at the moment of writing this post the best buy for your bucks is 16 GB (price per GB wise).
If you are certain that you are only going to use the Pi for coding, than 2GB or 4GB should be more than enough. But in my experience it almost never stays at ‘just coding’ on a Pi.
Are you going to use your Pi for gaming, you could consider getting a larger microSD card than that. Not when you are going to play the consoles from 1984 ofcourse, those games are tiny. No, I’m talking about games from a Playstation or even newer consoles. But keep in mind that 64GB or higher is getting pretty expensive. Maybe a USB thumb drive is a better addition to the smaller microSD card.
Case:
Your Pi needs a nice case. It not only deserves it, it will also prolong its lifetime. I myself are hooked on the transparent cases like this one. You can look for a case in local stores, but most of the time these cases are way more expensive. I mean more than 10 times more expensive. That’s why I buy my cases in China.
When choosing a case you have to keep in mind what you are going to use the Pi for. For instance if you are going to use your Pi’s GPIO connection most of the time, make sure you can easily access it. It will be a pain getting your Pi out of its case every time you want to connect something to it.
Are you going to use CPU heavy applications (like game console emulators or mining Altcoins) then look for a case with passive or even active cooling. A metal case can give a lot of cooling and even a case with a fan on it is an option.
A special mention is the ‘Lego’ case. My son loves that one. I installed Kano on a Pi and put it in the Lego case. He fell in love with it instantly. Putting his Lego Star Wars figurines on it and started programming in Kano when he was only eight.
Essentials:
One of the most essential parts is a good USB to microSD card adapter. This small device will enable you to put an image on your Pi’s microSD card. Without this, your Pi is dead in the water I’m afraid. (Also see my post on writing images on SD cards). When you buy one, please make sure the hole where the microSD card goes in has enough room for you to get the card out again. I had a really small adapter eat my SD card and damaged it on the way back out. When that happens with a 128GB card you will be … sad?
HDMI cable to connect your Pi to your monitor or TV (be sure your display device has an HDMI input).
USB Keyboard and USB mouse are helpfull. You will need them at least the first time you bootup the Pi to configure SSH and the Wifi network name and password in order to use the Pi without a keyboard and mouse. So you could borrow it from your PC or Mac (if you only have a laptop or MacBook this won’t work). Having a separate keyboard and mouse is a luxury and I do advice that.
Oh and a monitor is also needed the first time you bootup. How else are you going to know when to type your WiFi password 😉 But borrowing also works here (no, not for you MacBook and Laptop users).
Miscellanious:
Networking cable or a USB Hub can also be essential for your setup. But that really depends on what you are going to connect to your Pi. The Raspberry Pi 3B has WiFi onboard, so a UTP cable should not be essential unless you do not have WiFi. A USB hub is only needed when you want to connect more than 4 USB devices (the Pi has 4 USB connections onboard). Keep in mind that you will definitely want a 3 Amps or higher power adapter when you are connecting so many USB devices.
In short:
- Raspberry Pi 3 model B (about 40 euro);
- 2,5 Ampère power adapter (about 10 euro);
- 16 GB microSD card type 10 (8 euro);
- microSD naar USB adapter (1 euro);
- Case (3 euro);
- HDMI cable (2 euro);
- Keyboard and mouse (15/20 euro);
- Last but not least a tv or monitor with HDMI (from 100 euro and up)
So for about 65 euro’s (without a monitor, keyboard and mouse) you are good to go.
