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Raspberry Pi User Guide Paperback – 14 Sept. 2012

by Eben Upton (Author), Gareth Halfacree (Author)
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The essential guide to getting started with Raspberry Pi computing and programming.

Originally conceived of as a fun, easy way for kids (and curious adults) to learn computer programming, the Raspberry Pi quickly evolved into a remarkably robust, credit-card-size computer that can be used for everything from playing HD videos and hacking around with hardware to learning to program! Co-authored by one of the creators of the Raspberry Pi, this book fills you in on everything you need to know to get up and running on your Raspberry Pi, in no time, including how to:-

  • Connect to a keyboard, mouse, monitor and other peripherals
  • Install software
  • Master basic Linux System Admin
  • Configure your Raspberry Pi
  • Set-up your Raspberry Pi as a Productivity computer
  • Write programmes in Scratch and Python
  • Set up the Raspberry Pi to drive a multimedia centre

This is your complete guide to using and getting the most out of the world’s first, true compact computer.

Eben Upton is the co-creator of the Raspberry Pi board and the founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Gareth Halfacree is a freelance technology journalist, open source advocate and erstwhile system administrator.
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  1. ISBN-10
    111846446X
  2. ISBN-13
    978-1118464465
  3. Publisher
    John Wiley & Sons
  4. Publication date
    14 Sept. 2012
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    18.75 x 1.52 x 23.5 cm
  7. Print length
    262 pages
  8. See all details
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Product description

About the Author

Eben Upton is the co–creator of the Raspberry Pi board and the founder of the Raspberry foundation.

Gareth Halfacree is a freelance technology journalist, open source advocate and erstwhile sysadmin.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ John Wiley & Sons (14 Sept. 2012)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 262 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 111846446X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1118464465
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 18.75 x 1.52 x 23.5 cm
  • Customer reviews:

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  1. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree

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    Author, freelance technology journalist, writer, programmer, electronics designer and erstwhile sysadmin. A love of technology drives development of open source systems and documentation, as well as features and news for publications including Linux User & Developer, Custom PC, Micro Mart, IT Pro, Bit-Tech and Expert Reviews.

    His website is at http://freelance.halfacree.co.uk.

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  2. Eben Upton

    Eben Upton

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
472 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book clear, easy to understand, and helpful. They also appreciate the history and the fact that the Raspberry Pi is a fascinating product.

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ContentReadabilityCompatibility
76 customers mention ‘Content’76 positive0 negative

Customers find the book very helpful, easy to follow, and organized into well defined and logical topics. They say it has interesting chapters about what you can do with the Raspberry Pi. Readers also mention that it contains loads of vital stuff and is an essential start point.

"...at the right level for those just starting out and also a good intro to the capabilities of the RPi and Linux for us older newbies...." Read more

"...The good: Well written and informative, especially for those for whom the Raspberry Pi is their first taste of Linux...." Read more

"...Simple things like setting up the class path are very useful and described well...." Read more

"...detail about the various configuration files, and also enough of an introduction to Linux for someone with little or no experience of it to get..." Read more

72 customers mention ‘Readability’62 positive10 negative

Customers find the book clear, easy to understand, and comprehensive. They also say it's helpful and assumes no prior knowledge of programming or setting up a computer. Customers also mention that the book helps them set up their Raspberry Pi and learn Linux.

"...-point maths capability of the Pi, which means that it is able to do some things faster than it could when running standard Debian...." Read more

"...The lamp section was also well written...." Read more

"...out there, I was looking for some sort of easy to read, step by step manual. With a good combination between depth and logical order...." Read more

"...came around and what it is actually based on, along with some nice configuration info to help you get the best out of it depending on what your..." Read more

6 customers mention ‘Compatibility’0 positive6 negative

Customers find the book's compatibility issues. They mention that the disk image from a Mac didn't work, and that it's not much use for experienced Linux users. They also say that the mouse and keyboard were inoperative.

"...and a USB hub to use with it, but found out later that neither would work with the 'Pie...." Read more

"...with the instructions on creating a disk image from a Mac - these just did not work...." Read more

"...Mouse and keyboard were inoperative, the only way to get out of it was to power down...." Read more

"...Most of the book is devoted to very basic Linux tasks which are not necessarily specific to the Pi...." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

CaZy
5.0 out of 5 stars Pleasantly Surprised
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 September 2012
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Having finally received my RPi I was looking for a `joined up' guide into flexing it to see if all the hype was true. I got started in Electronics and Programming with the original Sinclair ZX80 kit (yes I am that old) which was about all there was around at the time without taking out a second mortgage. From there I progressed through almost every evolution in home computing and ended up doing this stuff (Electronics) for a living. My first outings in the embedded world used machine code before the availability of decent compilers and I never had a reason to get into Linux before, which is one of the reasons I got the RPi and still be able to get at the hardware. I've since added Ubuntu to a few of my older PCs as well.

Unusually I pre-ordered the book, since I normally like to weigh up all the reviews and didn't really have high expectations considering its target market of beginners. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the clear information and coverage. I am still working my way through it in the odd hour or so I am able to get the RPi out of the box, but can definitely recommend the book based on what I've seen so far. I would have liked to have seen more about the hardware but then I must remember the target market. Just at the right level for those just starting out and also a good intro to the capabilities of the RPi and Linux for us older newbies.

In a previous role working for a manufacturer I often had cause to visit Universities and was saddened to see the lack of embedded courses being offered giving hands-on and understanding of hardware. I believe that the likes of the Sinclair and BBC micro got many people started in the Industry but now the vast majority of students going into University are just Application users, which I can only conclude is down to the education system and this I believe is why the RPi was created in order to get the next generation of engineers interested and skilled in programming and subsequently hardware and not just users of sofware packages. I am sure this book will play its own small part in helping that process.
I see the price has increased since I purchased it but even so I still believe its good value.
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GrahamG
4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but already out of date
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 October 2012
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If you're reading this review a good while after it was written in October 2012, bear in mind that these comments refer specifically to the first printed (paper) edition of this book. I fully expect that the few issues I mention here will be resolved in the next edition.

--Edit, December 2013. The second printed edition of this book has now been released. All comments below still refer to the first edition, as I have not seen the second edition.

The good: Well written and informative, especially for those for whom the Raspberry Pi is their first taste of Linux.

The bad: It was already out of date on the day of release, in several ways. In the three months after the book was completed and before it was printed, some things changed.

1) One particular Linux distribution (Raspbian) has become quite synonymous with the Pi, due to the fact that it is modified to use the hardware floating-point maths capability of the Pi, which means that it is able to do some things faster than it could when running standard Debian. When the book was written, the recommended version or 'Distro' of Linux for the Pi was Debian 'Wheezy', and the book makes no mention of Raspbian. Fortunately, as Raspbian is essentially a Pi-tweaked version of Debian, there's little difference between using one or the other. Instructions given originally for Debian in the book will work fine in Raspbian.

2) The hardware design of the 'deluxe' model (The Model 'B') has changed slightly so that some of the connections on the GPIO connector are not the same as they were on early (revision 1) boards). If you have a revision 1 Pi then all the information in this book will exactly match your Pi - but if you have a revision 2, you may be disappointed to find that there is no reference to that version at all - no pin diagram of the GPIO connector for the revision 2 board for example. There is also no reference to the fact that the very newest model B Pi now comes with 512MB ram on board, but as this came about after the publication date of the book, that could hardly be helped. The differences in the GPIO connector are the only serious differences between the revision 1 and revision 2 - everything else is much the same, but the book needs to be revised to include a GPIO pin diagram for the revision 2 as well as the revision 1.

The book has sections on:

-History of the Pi - why it was conceived.

-Setting up, including downloading and installing an operating system onto an SD card, and also backing up the card once you have it set up the way you want it. Since the Pi can't do anything without an operating system, you either have to purchase a preloaded SD card or load one with an operating system yourself. The book explains how to do this using Windows, Linux and Mac based PCs.

-Configuring, including comprehensive coverage of the many options in the config.txt file, used to set the graphics modes and system speed and voltage settings among other things.

-Productivity applications: Cloud based office type applications: Local (as in installed on the Pi itself) Office type applications, including a section on GIMP, Linux's image manipulation program. (Sound / Music authoring and editing didn't make it into this section).

-Multimedia - this section focuses on RaspBMC, one of several applications which make the Pi into a fully featured media player.

-Networking - a very good section on getting the Pi to work with wired networking, USB networking (for the model 'A' which doesn't have an ethernet connector) and with wireless networking.

-Pi as a web server - yes, you can even host a website on your Pi. This explains how to do it.

-Programming (in Scratch) - up to and including the use of collision detection, an essential building block in most games.

-Programming (in Python) - a more advanced game example including the use of the 'Pygame' Python module, and then (overlapping with the section on hardware) reading from and writing to the GPIO pins using the GPIO Python module

You might have expected that the 'C' programming language would have been covered, but it is barely mentioned. Nor is there any mention of BASIC, which might disappoint many for whom the Pi evokes fond memories of the 8-bit computer era (although Python has many BASIC-like qualities).

-Hardware section - you could reasonably expect that this section would get as far as introducing the transistor as an output switch or buffer / driver but it doesn't, it's kept at the most basic level possible - switches and LEDs. However, the use of these components is properly shown in a truly practical way, illustrating placement of the components on breadboard. Transferring projects to stripboard and the subsequent need for soldering skills is also discussed.

-Third party add on boards such as the Adafruit, Slice Of Pi and Gertboard are discussed - that is, their existence is discussed and images of them are shown, but there is really no hard information in the book which would actually get you started on using the Gertboard, for example. That is perhaps understandable since the Gertboard is a pretty complex PCB which includes an autonomous Atmega microcontroller - you'd have to devote another whole book just to that.

Everything in this book can be found online on the official Raspberry Pi support website and numerous other fan and community websites - if, that is, you can spare a year or two to sift through it all.

If you're reading through these reviews of this book it's possible that you are doing so because so much of the advice on website forums is written in such intensely nerdy, cryptic shorthand that you find it impossible to understand it even when you find it.

If so, this book, written on the assumption that the reader has never used Linux before, will come as a tremendous relief to you. Absolutely recommended if you have a revision 1 Pi: If you have a revision 2, you will have to bear in mind that the GPIO header diagram in the book does not match your board, but 95 percent of the book is still relevant for all that, and this discrepancy is sure to be updated in the next edition of the book.
11 people found this helpful
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Junior
5.0 out of 5 stars An essential guide for getting started
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 November 2012
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After reading about the Raspberry Pi I took the plunge and ordered one as I wanted my kids to get the same kind of experience I got when I started out with a ZX Spectrum. At the same time I ordered this book as a guide to get me started.

I'd say for someone starting out with a Raspberry Pi that this book is essential. I really liked the contrast between modern PC's when plugging in some external storage versus the real world scenario's covered in the book around having to mount the external device. It's exactly how things are in the real world and just such a perfect lesson for my kids. In my head I've planned a lesson which links together two parts of the book. I'm planning to mount a drive (which I've pre-loaded with an mp3) and then get them to play the mp3 via the command line on the console. All straight from the book.

I was a bit sceptical about Scratch thinking that it was maybe too simple and that I should get them into Python straight away. When reading through the examples described in the book though I could see all the basics just shouting out. Sequence, selection, iteration it's all there with scratch and described well enough to change my mind.

I have to admit to being a bit old school as well thinking that maybe I'd teach them basic. But Python is so much more current and the examples in the book allowed me to re-consider my direction. Simple things like setting up the class path are very useful and described well.

The lamp section was also well written. I'm probably along way off covering a lesson for them on that but can certainly see it on the horizon.

All in all an excellent book and well worth the money.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Francis Perea
4.0 out of 5 stars Muy completo
Reviewed in Spain on 27 January 2016
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Es un libro muy completo, aún así no he encontrado nada que no puedas leer por ahí, pero el tenerlo todo recogido en un texto lo hace muy cómodo. Lo uso como texto de referencia para las clases con mis alumnos.
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Andre Laurin
5.0 out of 5 stars Raspberry Pi, after this book I get it.
Reviewed in Canada on 22 October 2013
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What I thought I knew about Raspberry Pi was correct but it was also a whole lot more than I realized and this book is a great introduction and how to quickly get going and creating projects. Now for that million dollar project :)
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Ravindran Padmanabhan
5.0 out of 5 stars This book gave me an excellent idea of Linux fundamentals and clear instructions how to ...
Reviewed in India on 7 October 2014
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This book gave me an excellent idea of Linux fundamentals and clear instructions how to setup Raspberry Pi with ease. First few chapters are must read for all novice like me for last several years working on Windows Environment and never entered Linux world.
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Jim Manley
5.0 out of 5 stars The User Manual That Should Have Come With The Raspberry Pi
Reviewed in the United States on 6 September 2012
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This is the official user guide for setting up and using the Raspberry Pi Model B credit card size Linux single-board computer that costs $35 (plus taxes and shipping). The guide was written by Raspberry Pi Foundation co-founder Eben Upton, whose day job is application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) architect (and general troublemaker, as he states it) for the semiconductor device manufacturer Broadcom. His co-author is self-described freelance technology journalist, writer, programmer, electronics designer, and erstwhile sysadmin Gareth Halfacree, whose writing appears in publications such as "Linux User & Developer", "Custom PC", "Micro Mart", "IT Pro", "Bit-Tech" and "Expert Reviews".

The book properly starts with a short, but fascinating, history of how the Raspberry Pi came to be, starting as an idealist concept and a much simpler (and much less capable) breadboard prototype half a dozen years ago, compared with the real deal. As Eben recounts it, the Foundation gradually realized that they had accidentally and unintentionally promised a $25 ~ $35 computer to over 100,000 very expectant and enthusiastic fans, a bit more than the couple of hundred boards they had originally thought they would just give away to prospective students applying to Cambridge University's computer science curriculum. In less than a year, the Pi went from being just-another seemingly great idea that had a very uncertain but potentially great future, to an astoundingly successful reality, with several hundred thousand manufactured and delivered so far, to what are by all accounts highly-satisfied customers.

The book then gets down to the nitty-gritty of how to connect the board to the necessary (and not included) power supply, USB keyboard and optional mouse, HDMI display, and optional wired Ethernet and audio system hardware. Instructions are also provided for creating a bootable SD memory card on a Linux/Windows/Mac desktop or laptop computer that contains the recommended Debian Linux operating system and user files. A subsequent entire chapter describes the basics of the Linux OS, how to administer the system at a fundamental level and, most importantly, how to obtain the most up-to-date version of the OS, which will require a wired Ethernet connection. WiFi networking is possible with the Pi, but not fully detailed in this chapter - it is discussed in more depth in the network configuration chapter. Another full chapter describes how to troubleshoot the keyboard and mouse, power issues, boot-up problems, and network connection gremlins.

The chapters in the second part of the book discuss wired and wireless network configuration, SD card storage partition management, configuring the Pi hardware via config.txt, start.elf, and cmdline.txt boot-time files. Then, additional chapters describe how to set up the Pi as a Home Theatre PC (HTPC) for playing music and video from files or over the Internet, to use it as a productivity using freeware such as OpenOffice and the Gimp image editor, configuring the Pi as a web server using a Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP (LAMP) software stack, and installing WordPress to create your own blogging server.

In the third part of the book, the authors get down to what the Pi was originally developed for: teaching software programming. The first examples demonstrate how to use the very child-friendly MIT Scratch to create the canonical Hello World program, in addition to simple animation and sound, game, and robotics sensor programs. The lessons then shift to the much more capable and more complex Python language, showing another Hello World example, then how to handle comments, inputs, variables, and loops. It ends with how to use the pygame code library to develop much more sophisticated games than can be accomplished with Scratch.

Additional chapters cover hardware interfacing with the Pi board via the built-in General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) port to access the Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter (UART) serial bus, Inter-Integrated Circuit (I²C) bus, and the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) bus. How to access the GPIO port via Python is discussed in detail, complete with code examples for how to flash an LED and read whether a pushbutton is being pressed. A valuable brief guide to soldering is included for budding hardware hackers, followed by descriptions of the Ciseco Slice of Pi, Adafruit Prototyping Pi Plate, and Gert van Loo's wonderful Fen Logic Gertboard. The book ends with appendices containing Python code examples (also available by download from the publisher's web site) and the HDMI display modes that can be set via the boot-up configuration files.

The book reads very well for beginners who are the target audience, and none-too-soon. The geeks have been spewing techno-jargon on the RaspberryPi.org forums and eLinux.org wiki for many, many months, even well before the Pi was even available to the general public. The best thing about the book is that it brings together in one place all of the information that novices need to know in a form that can actually be understood by mere mortals. The fact that it's written by the principal designer of the Pi with education experience and a published personal computing author and journalist goes a long way to making that possible. Other tech authors might be too tempted to jump off into the deep end of the technical pool more quickly than would be warranted.

I was particularly impressed with Chapter 12: "Hardware Hacking", for its very complete and clear descriptions of the Pi GPIO port, add-on hardware options, and how to wire everything together and program the Pi to interact with an LED and a pushbutton. Especially appreciated is the several pages dedicated to both on-line and retail sources for the add-on components, including solderless prototyping breadboards and the individual parts such as LEDs, resistors, pushbuttons, etc. A couple of pages are also spent just to describe how to read the colo(u)r codes on resistors, and a complete list of the tools and materials needed to perform soldering are provided as part of the soldering guide. Another whole page provides the details on how to calculate the proper resistor values to limit the current flowing through an LED for various voltages - this kind of detail often slips through the cracks in such books.

The full Kindle e-book cost me a "whopping" whole $6.60 and I'm a 1970s era veteran of when men were men and computers were made of iron. So, I'm definitely not in the target audience, but even I found enough tiny new details that I'd still missed despite reading tens of thousands of forum and wiki posts, that the price of the e-book has to be the best bargain in tech writing that I can think of in an extremely large number of years. As I understand it, the Raspberry Pi Foundation benefits from the profits for the book, as it does from sales of each Pi board. As far as I'm concerned, they could have charged ten times the price for the book and it would still be a complete bargain. I haven't checked every single detail in the book, yet, but, I didn't see any glaring errors. Yet, I'm one of those people to whom even any misspelling stands out like a geek on the runway at a Paris fashion show, and I don't mean at the airport. Those who know me at all are aware of my persnickety nature, and I really tried to find problems in this book, but I have to say that's a pretty tall order.

No one has any excuse now for not learning computer science fundamentals with a Pi, thanks to this book. Just go spend about $50 for this book and a Pi and you'll be much better off than consuming the equivalent cost in a week's worth of froo-froo caffeine beverages - five very broad smilies from this admitted SillyCon Valley curmudgeon!
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valerio264
5.0 out of 5 stars eccellente testo educativo
Reviewed in Italy on 18 August 2013
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Questo libro spiega molto bene la filosofia alle spalle del progetto Raspberry Pi e ne fornisce innumerevoli spunti di utilizzo il cui limite è soltanto la nostra fantasia. Gli argomenti sono trattati in maniera semplice e completa. Si tratta di un'ottima introduzione al mondo del Raspberry Pi. Da avere in bacheca.
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