Raspberry Pi For Dummies 2nd Edition

I had high hopes for this book. After getting my Raspberry Pi, I wanted a single reference to help give me an overall understanding of the device and its software.Most importantly, I wanted to understand the connection between the software and the physical computing; in other words, translating software code into useful actions: making LEDs light up, motors move, things beep, and accepting and using different types of inputs, both physical (e.g. buttons) and digital (e.g. camera). After all, that is kind of the forte of the Raspberry Pi. And the book's cover hinted that it walked through just what I wanted to know. If you get a basic understanding of what you're doing - tools in a toolbox - you can then apply them to almost any project.The reality is a bit different, though.Upfront, you should know that the book assumes that you have basically a raw Raspberry Pi, without a starter kit or any components. What that means is, if you have a kit with NOOBS already installed, you'll be skipping a bunch of pages that walk you through downloading and installing the operating system onto the SD card.Later on, realize that the book assumes you do not have a breakout board for the GPIO pins, and you will be walked through al the menial tasks of building your own - slicing up a ribbon cable, connecting connectors, screwing it to a wooden board, and labeling everything - basically to build what amounts to a five dollar connector using parts that you may (or may not) have laying around. In my opinion, I think the book could clearly state the assumptions on the cover or elsewhere that the user has these basic components, and go from there.The necessary evil of covering fundamental Linux is included as well, but I think that's reasonable, because most people are not particularly adept at the Linux file system or basic commands.Then I think a significant number of chapters are basically throwaway. There's a whole chapter on Libre Office. Then another whole chapter on GIMP (image editing), and another on using the media programs included. Note that these are just basic GUI programs like you'd have on a PC or Mac. Their inclusion is really pointless unless you purchased the Pi to use as a home office machine, but that is not really what's portrayed on the cover.Then there are a couple chapters on programming in both Scratch and Python. The scratch chapter is OK, but is sort of a dead-end because it's not used beyond the GUI example in the book. The Python chapter is used more extensively in the book and even moreso if you use external tutorials. Python is then extended to making Minecraft worlds and then playing music. Both seem like unnecessary diversions, particularly Minecraft, but they do help with practicing python (and they are listed on the cover specifically, so it's fair game).Then begins my biggest problem with this entire book. We finally get to the point of physical computing, and describing the GPIO pins - Part V.It begins innocuously enough, with a primer on circuits. But it's extremely rushed and abbreviated. In two pages, we learn about voltage, resistance, currents, and Ohm's law. Then in three more pages we learned about switches and basic schematics. It them really speeds up and in exactly three pages, it covers the entirety of the GPIO pins from the Raspberry Pi. Three pages! The heart and soul of the transition from software-to-physical computing is glossed over in just three pages.At this point, the book gets incredibly dense for a "Dummies" guide. It goes into current sourcing and sinking, and pull-up/pull-down resistance with hardly any explanation. Page 284 is the breaking point. It discusses using GPIO pins as inputs (fair enough) but then launches into impedance and how that is important for the input, even though impedance is different from resistance, but you don't have to worry about that, but then again, weird things happen with antennas with high impedance values. The whole page is a mess and completely devolves into an inexplicable trainwreck.(Full disclosure: I'm an engineer by education. My circuits is a bit rusty but still intact, and yet I found the explanations very lacking and confusing.)And then that's it on circuits. Then it goes into soldering. Why not use a breadboard so you can, you know, build and take apart circuits easily? No, we're going to solder them. And here's how. And that's the end of the chapter.The book then goes into building a hard-wired project (a Breakout game is first) out of plywood, nuts, bolts, cable, screws, ball bearings, foil, acrylic...basically a big and complex investment, when the reader can't possibly be expected to know the basics of how input and output pins should function based on the preceding chapter. All of these materials that you have to buy, and yet the user had to build his or her own breakout cable and doesn't yet have a simple breadboard.The Dummies book walks through another project (a "Simon says" game) and tacks on some extra chapters about neat other software that can be downloaded.The reason I'm so exhaustive is to help differentiate expectations from reality. This book, rather than giving the user a fundamental understanding of physical computing, heavily loads the front end of using the Raspberry Pi as a desktop computer, then glosses over the transition to physical computing, and then immediately jumps into costly, time-consuming, hard wired projects. It leaves a lot to be desired, I think, for most people who want to actually understand what they're doing and working with.

I gave a Raspberry Pi2 as a present for my nephew. So I needed to give him a basic book for him to find his way around the Raspberry.Like other titles for dummies book, I characterized by a simplistic way of describing and explaining a device /software.I find them to be a great introduction for the Raspberry Pi2, for someone who had no previous experience with coding and hardware.Is a fast reading book, that once you read it, you get your hands on the Raspberry and start playing with it, after that there is a lot of articles, forums and websites where you may find additional information to keep going.Basically I take this book, as the instructions manual that did not come with the Raspberry.

This is a reasonable into to the Pi but I think some elements are becoming dated with later generations of the computer. Also, the internet has proven to be at least as valuable in getting into coding the pins in Scratch and Python. Nevertheless, I'm glad I picked it up.

This is a step-by-step guide that helps guide you from unboxing the product, all the way through to full-on programming. The language in the book is very clear, explanations thorough and the projects are a great way to learn. No prior knowledge is assumed. Within a few hours, I'd taken the kids from knowing nothing about the Raspberry Pi to writing an artificial intelligence program, having an argument with the thing and exchanging petty insults. Great family fun!

exactly what it says it is, it has a lot of info for absolute beginners. if you have ever used Linux or know anything about programming then this book might not be for you.

I love All Of The "For Dummies" Books and this one does not disappoint. An excellent way to start using Your Raspberry Pi.

Great read so far. If you have Pi experience, skip the first 3 chapters.. I mainly use the Dummy guides as reference only anyways...Just flip to the section you need info on. I tend to be old school and prefer to grab a book instead of always going online.

This is something my husband ordered after researching his needs and searching the Internet for the best price. Haven't heard any complaints, so that implies a good review! He uses it for fire and EMS communications.

The problem, of course, with any hardware/software 'how-to' books is that the darned things go out of date so quickly.I purchased this book (2nd edition) in Dec 2016, and to be honest, the earlier chapters (on setting up the software on your Pi) bear almost no relation to what I saw on the screen when I first turned mine on. I'll be honest - this gave me a VERY negative impression of the book, and I originally planned to write a stinker of a review.However, sticking with it, I discovered that some of the things the book tells you how to set up (like a Graphical Desktop interface) now come PRE-set up on modern Pis. So that my initially negative impression was a bit misleading. I found that as I got further into the 'meat' of the book it became a lot more useful, to such an extent that I'd now describe it as an indispensable manual to help you get the best from your pi - the set-up chapters may now be outdated and irrelevant, but the rest will take you all the way from mastering the Pi's various bits of software, right up to messing around with soldering and electronics, should you be so inclined.So, all in all, still a good purchase.

I'd had my Pi for nearly two years before I thought of reading up about it. I knew a bit about computers, and I thought I could wing it without any kind of research.But the Pi does so much more. I really hadn't grasped how Scratch is not just a kids' coder:- visual coding is really a different paradigm. I hadn't noticed that an interface like Sonic means I can use my Pi with my guitar (not just instead of). And I had no idea what is suddenly possible with an expression evaluator like Mathematica.I was enjoying the Pi as a reintroduction to Linux, and as a Python toy. But there is so much more that you can do with one.I'm glad a caught a glimpse of that.

I bought a Raspberry PI to learn about IOT and then thought a book on the PI would be a great idea. I have used several Dummies books in the past and this certainly a great learning reference - I got the kindle version because I could get it instantly to read on my tablet using kindle PC.The book also has more resources online and extra software.

Brought this for my dad and he enjoys reading and learning more about his Raspberry Pi. Only gripe is it's an expensive book - but then again it is loaded with tonnes of information (not a book for the faint hearted). Overall very satisfied with Amazon! And the old man is happy, so I'm happy!

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