The Raspberry Pi is a computer, be it a very, very small computer. Although it doesn’t look like a traditional computer, tablet or laptop you can be sure that it is. What it exactly? The Raspberry Pi is a small computer that is no bigger than the size of a credit card. The best thing of all is the price tag. Costing approximately £25 it was developed and is now manufactured in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation.
The Raspberry Pi computer has the same features as existing PC’s and laptops but at a reduced speed. The Raspberry Pi is capable of producing high quality HD (high-definition) video playback and graphics. It can play 2D and 3D games with complex graphics and has high quality audio capabilities. It uses the ARM processor which is the brain of the computer and figures out all the complicated calculations.
ARM processors are used in small devices including mobile phones, hand held mobile gaming devices and other small digital devices. ARM processors are extremely efficient, power resourceful and extremely fast when used in small devices. This ARM processor serves the Raspberry Pi well.
There are some differences between a traditionally PC and the Raspberry Pi for example, the Raspberry Pi does not have a hard drive to store data. It instead relies on the SD card for the starting up and storing of information. The SD card contains the operating system and programs which will allow the user to perform various functions.
The operating system gives instructions to the Raspberry Pi based on system services such as maintenance operations which can include checking the disk to errors and user input. It manages the whole system including its programs, user interactions and the general running of the system.
You can think of the operating system as the interface between you and the hardware. You will request an action, which for example could be a delete command to delete a file. This command is passed to the operating system and it will perform this action and inform the user of the result.
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