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If you’re interested in building projects with a Raspberry Pi, you probably already have one. But if you don’t yet have your own Raspberry Pi, this is the section for you! You’ll be glad to know that there are a few places you can pick one up quickly and cheaply.

The Raspberry Pi comes in several versions: Model A is shown in Figure 1-1, and Model B is shown in Figure 1-2. There are other versions of the Raspberry Pi, though – Chapter 4 has a full rundown. The Model A and Model B use the same kind of processor, but the Model A is cheaper and uses less power; it has a single USB port and connections for your screen and audio. Model B has everything Model A has, plus an additional USB port and an Ethernet port for connecting to a network, so it costs a little more. For the projects in this book, you’ll want to get a Model B.

Photograph courtesy of the Raspberry Pi Foundation

Figure 1-1: Raspberry Pi Model A.

Photograph courtesy of the Raspberry Pi Foundation

Figure 1-2: Raspberry Pi Model B.

The newest model as of this writing is the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B, which replaced the Model B+, but we’ve kept all the projects in this book compatible with Model B and later.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation (which is technically a UK charity, not a business) created the Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi Foundation licenses the manufacture of the Raspberry Pi to the biggest names in electronics in the UK, RS Components (www.rs-components.com) and Farnell, which supports Raspberry Pi under the brand name element14 (www.element14.com/community/community/raspberry-pi). If you’re buying a Raspberry Pi for personal or home use, Farnell’s outlet is CPC (order from http://cpc.farnell.com). In the United States, you can also buy from Newark (www.newark.com), which is a part of Farnell, and Adafruit (www.adafruit.com). These suppliers can provide you with everything you need to get your Raspberry Pi up and going, but you can only buy from them online.

If you simply can’t wait to get your hands on a Raspberry Pi, and you live in the UK, you can also walk in to any Maplin electronics shop, where they’re usually kept in stock. You’ll pay a bit more for the convenience of shopping in a store, but you can get personal advice from the salespeople, which can be pretty useful if you have questions. At the time of this writing, you can walk into a Radio Shack in the United States and buy a Raspberry Pi starter kit, but this may change because the company is restructuring.

You can also find the Raspberry Pi for sale on eBay. There are usually plenty of listings for just a Raspberry Pi or for bundles that include all the accessories you need in order to hook it up.

If you decide to buy a Raspberry Pi on eBay, be sure to purchase from a reputable seller with plenty of good feedback. There are knock-offs out there, and they can’t be guaranteed to be manufactured to the same standards as the real thing. We tend to think the cost savings isn’t worth the risk of buying from eBay.