Raspberry Pi is a credit card–sized, single-board computer. Raspberry Pi is a wonder device for hobbyist and geeks like me. You can easily get it from online stores or from electronic component shops in Pune. I visited one of my geek friend and saw a Raspberry Pi micro computer. My engineering days flashed and I decided to get the hands on for my passion about electronic hobby projects.

I called up my old vendor Visha World from Lamington Road, Mumbai. Founder – Shailesh Gala promised me to get Raspberry Pi 3 Model B in a days’ time.

The courier arrived next day with Raspberry  Pi, Pi Case, few M-M, M-F, F-F jumper wire connectors, bread board, 5V / 2.1A USB power adapter for sourcing power to Raspberry, minimum 4GB SD card.  I had a nice experience from the staff at Visha World who helped me in choosing the model.

Items for getting started

Raspberry Pi Device

Raspberry Pi 3, Model B comes with :

• 1 GB RAM
• 1.2GHz 64-bit Quad-Core
• ARM Cortex-A53 CPU
• On-board 802.11.b/g/n wireless LAN
• On-board Bluetooth 4.1

Power Adapter

Raspberry model B requires micro USB 5V ~ 1.2A (1200mA) power supply from a reputed brand. Check out the official power supply documentation for Raspberry. I preferred this one: LDNIO Universal high Fast speed 5V 2A. micro USB mobile/smartphone charger

Micro SD Card

Minimum 4GB Class 10 SD card is required. Class 10 ensures fast data transfer. SD card will have operating system required for booting. These cards are in-expensive and would cost you around Rs. 280/- for a 16GB. I preferred this one: SanDisk Ultra MicroSDHC 16GB UHS-I Class 10 Memory Card.

SD Card Reader

SD Card Reader would be required for installing your operating system on SD card. Once you copy the OS image on SD card, Raspberry will boot and start with the installation processes.

You are now ready with the necessary hardware.

Component Shops in Pune

There are many places in Pune, but below are the ones which I have personally visited.

• Rajiv Electronics
  Add: Survey No 1030 Shriram Apartment, Near Nagnathpar, Sadashiv Peth, Pune
  Contact: 020 24494150
  Web: www.rajivelectronics.com
  Location: See on Google Maps
• Unistar Enterprises
  Add: 471, Balaji Prasad Chamber, Shaniwarwada, Near Dakshin Mukhi Shani Maruti Mandir, Shaniwar Peth, Pune
  Contact: 020 24456080 / 9370274184

In the next post, I will explain the installation and basic setup to get you running. Stay tuned for next update.