Raspberry Pi 4

Justin Do

Prof. Jacobson

30 March 2020

Writing for Engineering

Technical Description

Outline of the Contents

Introduction:

1. History
2. Need for Innovation
3. Information about the Raspberry Pi Board

Body:

1. What is Raspberry Pi 4
   1. External parts
   2. Internal parts
2. Processes
   1. Installing the Raspbian OS
   2. Connecting the Raspberry Pi Board
   3. Powering the Pi and finish setting up
   4. Conclusion of Processes

Conclusion:

1. Summarizing the project’s content

References:

1. Works cited
2. Pictures and content included

Introduction

The Raspberry Pi Foundation, a UK charity, launched a single board that could power a computer known as the Raspberry Pi. This foundation focused on educating people about technology which brought them to develop a small yet effective board with the idea of creating an easier computing environment. The first Pi was launched in 2012 and began providing access to students and programmers to learn and build projects such as home automation. Because of its elegant design, people started to use the Pi to create more advanced projects such as working with databases, twitter bots, cameras, and much more.

Computers often are very costly, and some people only use them for simple tasks, which created an opening for the Raspberry Pi Foundation. They tried to make computing more affordable for people all over the world. Despite the low cost of the board, this does not strip away its value. With three different generations prior to the one currently, Raspberry Pi 4, the foundation still focuses to making an even smaller and cheaper board. Compared with computers, the Pi board is much smaller however it requires many inputs such as portable keyboard and mouse as well as a USB-C power supply, and HDMI cable.

As mentioned, the Raspberry Pi Foundation created an easier yet affordable way for students and programmers to have access to a computer. They made a Pi board which, over time, decreased in size and cost without deprecating its value. This was a much-needed innovation as people were unable to have access to a computer; therefore, a Pi board was an alternative with high-performance and many uses regardless of its size. Many saw this as a bridge to learn about hardware, programming and electrical principles. With its built-in system and documentations that helps the audience to understand the functions on this board, Raspberry Pi will continue to advance the technological aspects of the environment.

What is Raspberry Pi 4?

Raspberry Pi 4 is a board that is built for people to learn and experiment with software and hardware. With parts that power this mechanism, such as the ethernet, micro SD slot, two USB, HDMI, and USB-C, Pi 4 is an excellent alternative to computers. There are also many built-in components such as the random-access memory (RAM) and the processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU). Although many people use Pi 4 for its computing purposes, they also use the general-purpose input/output to develop other projects that deal with electricity and physical computing such as augmented coffee machines. Depending on the project, the audience will be required to gather additional resources such as resistors and breadboards when dealing with GPIO.

External Parts

As mentioned, there are two USB ports that allow the user to connect objects such as a keyboard and mouse to work with the Pi board. Pi 4 provides a USB 3, which helps transfer data much faster. The micro HDMI ports help display the user’s project onto a screen or monitor similar to the regular HDMI port, except with different ends. Although the Pi 4 is compatible with WIFI connection, and also Bluetooth, the Ethernet port provides another alternative to connect to a network. With the Pi 4 generation, this Gigabit Ethernet improves networking significantly compared to other models. The micro Secure Digital

(SD) slot presents a small way to store data. This means that one would have to purchase an SD card to attach in this slot to save files. Lastly, a power source that is a USB Type-C (USB-C) connector is required. As mentioned, the Raspberry Pi Foundations want to continually make this board smaller and cheaper at the same time. With the USB-C power supply, it is significantly smaller than other ones.

Internal Components

There are some built-in objects such as the RAM, CPU, and GPIO. When purchasing a Pi board, one must pick their choice of RAM. The Raspberry Pi Foundation offers one, two, and four gigabytes of random-access memory. If the plan is to work on a bigger project such as home automation, it is almost required to obtain the four gigabytes worth of RAM because it allows a computer to deal with more information. RAM mostly serves as storing data temporarily and has a significant effect on the system’s performance. Because of this, it may be wise to invest in a model that has more gigabytes of RAM. As for the CPU (central processing unit), also known as the processor, does not require customization. Instead, with each new Pi board, the CPU becomes more powerful as it is the brain of the system. This works with executing instructions that is requested by the user and controlling all performances from both the hardware and software. The most complicated portion of the internal components lies within the function of the GPIO (general purpose input/output).

GPIO allows people to connect and interact with physical computing. In the picture above, this is a simple project of turning on an LED light using Python, a programming language. The Breadboard works with the circuit aspect of a project, which, in this case, helped turn on the LED. Working with the GPIO could produce many more advanced electrical projects. However, this guide will not dive into the many things GPIO has to offer. The purpose was to provide examples of the many different projects that one could achieve by purchasing this mechanism, which relies on the external and internal components that make it operate. With the focus more on the computing aspect, the next section will explain the process the install and function the Pi board.

Processes

Installing the Raspbian operating system with the Raspberry Pi Imager

Firstly. the Raspbian operating system must be installed on the microSD card. Download the Raspberry Pi Imager based on the user’s current operating system (Windows, Linux, or macOS). Insert the microSD card into the larger adaptor and place it in the user’s computer or laptop SD card slot. Then open up the Imager and select the Raspbian OS and the microSD card. Once the installer finishes writing the OS onto the SD card, the user is ready to begin.

Connecting the Raspberry Pi

Insert the microSD card into the slot on the Pi board, which is underneath the board. Connect the keyboard and mouse to the USB port. Afterwards, the user then needs to connect the HDMI cable to the board and a display screen, such as a monitor. This step is optional; connect the Ethernet cable to the Gigabit Ethernet port if the user wishes to connect to the network via Ethernet. Similarly connecting an audio is optional, just insert the end to audio port on the board like so:

Powering the Pi board and Finishing the installation

Plug in the USB-C power supply to the board, and a red LED should light-up on the Raspberry Pi board which means the Pi is connected to a power source. The screen should turn black, followed by some raspberries on the top left and the Raspbian OS welcome screen. Continue setting up the preferences such as keyboard language, network, and towards the end of the installation, update the software. Once these step are finished, there may be a request to restart the Raspbian OS; however, this is not always the case.

Conclusion of Processes and Some Alternatives

The operating system (OS) should be installed on the microSD card. This is not limited to just the Raspbian OS, in fact, one could install another Linux system such as Ubuntu or Mint. Because this requires a computer to write an OS onto the microSD card, there’s an alternative of purchasing a pre-written OS microSD card. On the official Raspberry Pi’s website, they sell a microSD card and its adapter with NOOBS, New Out of the Box Software. The person can write other OS into the microSD with other programs such as balenaEtcher for Windows. After obtaining any written microSD card, one can begin plugging in some cables such as the keyboard and mouse, HDMI and the microSD card. There are two optional things as well that is connecting the Ethernet cable and audio. The final step is to plug in the power source via USB-C power supply. With all of these in place, the red LED should light up on the Pi board. There are no on/off switch, it is only on when the power supply is plugged in. Once these steps are completed, the monitor or display should redirect the user to a welcome page followed by a set-up prompt.

Conclusion

The Raspberry Pi has many functions, including the main focus of this guide, building a small computer that handles light-weight tasks such as managing files, working on small coding projects, writing essays, or something as simple as listening to music. This could be an alternative to purchasing a computer if the idea is to perform small tasks. That being said, users are not too limited because of Pi’s CPU and RAM, as well as the external components. The installation process is quite a versatile and straightforward process. In other words, one does not need a computer to write the Raspbian OS into the microSD drive. The person could purchase an SD card from the official website which has NOOBS pre-installed. The best part about Raspberry Pi is their active community, as well as their documentation and guides to carry out projects. With this small, effective, and efficient board, one could imagine the future of technology as affordable to many people.

Works Cited

Heath, Nick. “Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Review: This Board Really Can Replace Your PC.” TechRepublic, TechRepublic, 28 June 2019.

Jithin. “Raspberry Pi – An Easy to Understand Beginners Guide with a Detailed Power Point Presentation.” RootSaid, 28 Jan. 2019.

Smith, Tony. “Raspberry Pi B+: PHWOAR, Get a Load of Those Pins.” • The Register, The Register, 26 Aug. 2014.

Jithin. “Raspberry Pi – An Easy to Understand Beginners Guide with a Detailed Power Point Presentation.” RootSaid, 28 Jan. 2019.

“What Is a Raspberry Pi?” Opensource.com.