Recently, a colleague mentioned that many people are not very clear on how to use and play with the Raspberry Pi. I looked at some previous videos and found that there weren’t any beginner-friendly ones, so today, I will introduce how to buy and use the Raspberry Pi 5, especially since the 2GB version has just been released.

Generally, when we search for the Raspberry Pi 5 online, it only comes with a development board and no peripherals.No power supply.

Of course, if you have a phone charger, you can make do with it, but it’s important to note that the Raspberry Pi 5 only supports 5V power supply, and it can only negotiate up to 5V.

However, all phone chargers at 5V are either 5V2A or 5V3A, and yes, there are no exceptions. So the question arises, can 5V2A or 5V3A be used? Yes, it can boot up.

But there are two problems: one is that using these phone chargers, while they work, because they can only provide up to 5V3A, which is 15W of power, this could lead to two issues: one is that the board might not have enough power under full load for a long time, and the second is that the Raspberry Pi official documentation reminds us that the USB current will be limited to 600mA by the Raspberry Pi, which is definitely insufficient if you plan to connect an external hard drive.

Another issue is that after you boot the system, the system will prompt you with a power error message, and it will show every time you boot up.

The official recommendation from Raspberry Pi is a 5V5A, 27W power supply.

But it’s not just that; you can also buy a 5V5A power supply on Taobao, but this power supply will still prompt insufficient voltage. What’s the issue here? After research, it was found that only power supplies that support the PD protocol can be correctly recognized.

This means that not only must it be 5V5A, but it also needs to be 5V5A under the PD protocol, and in fact, the official specifications from Raspberry Pi state that the supported specification is 5.1V5A, which is 25.5W. The maximum support is up to 27W, but this isn’t the official specification; I believe it’s a modified specification for the Raspberry Pi using a 27W power supply.

In other words, to fully utilize the Raspberry Pi 5, you either need to buy the official Raspberry Pi power supply priced at around seventy to eighty, or you can buy a domestic power supply compatible with the Raspberry Pi 5 for thirty to forty. There are no other options. If the store where you buy the Raspberry Pi 5 offers a corresponding power supply package, just spend an extra twenty or thirty and choose the power supply package without hesitation.

Next is the heat sink, which is also sold officially for around thirty. If you are using it for a long time, it’s necessary to add a fan. How to install this heat sink? Let me explain: first, place the silicone pad on the chip, then align it with the two reserved holes on the Raspberry Pi, press down the two plastic pins of the heat sink, and slightly adjust the position, and the heat sink will be installed.

We also need to prepare a MicroSD card to install the system, which is similar to a hard drive in a computer. Don’t skimp on this; buy a high-speed class, even if you have to sacrifice some capacity, prioritize speed, especially if you need to use the desktop.

If you only need the Raspberry Pi for remote work, these accessories will suffice, but if you also need to view the desktop, it’s best to have a monitor or TV with an HDMI interface. The HDMI cable connecting the Raspberry Pi and the monitor needs one end to be MicroHDMI to connect to the Raspberry Pi, and the other end connects to the monitor, depending on what HDMI interface your monitor uses, most are standard HDMI interfaces.

Viewing the desktop is not enough; you also need to be able to operate the Raspberry Pi, so you need to prepare a USB interface keyboard and mouse.

If your Raspberry Pi is placed next to a router or in an area with significant interference, wireless keyboards and mice may experience some issues. My solution is to get closer, which greatly improves the situation.

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