Raspberry Pi Forums

So I thinking that with the forums growing and there getting to be a lot of information gathering in different places a sticky designed to help newcomers would be pretty useful. If such a thread were started what sort of information would you considered to be the most useful? I.E. what do you consider to be the most immediately relevant question asked by new comers

Here's an example of what I mean:
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Welcome to the Raspberry Pi (Raspi or R-pi for short) forum! We're glad you want to join our rapidly growing community of individuals interested in the Raspberry Pi project. We encourage you to view R-pi's "Home", "FAQ", the "Media" and the "About Us" pages. They're short little pages and contain basic information about who Raspberry Pi is and what features the R-pi offers.

If you'd like detailed information about all the technical specification of each and every inch be sure to check out the detailed and impressive wiki page (started by Michael)

If you don't want to wade through all that information but have questions that are unanswered be sure to use the search feature of the forum to see if it's already been asked.

Here's some topics you might be interested in:

1) What are the power requirements of the R-pi?
Presently the R-pi uses a 6-20V Coax power supply. It consumes <1W of power while running. To follow this discussion, check out this thread

2) Does it come with an ethernet port?
The Model B version of the R-pi comes with an Ethernet port and 2 USB ports (plus 256MB of RAM) while the Model A, comes only with a single USB port (and 128MB of RAM). At the time of this writing the Model A is planning to be sold for ~$25 and the model B will be sold for ~$5-$10 more.

3) What output ports are there?
The R-pi provides an HDMI 1.3a port which supports a h.264 level 4.1. There is also a composite out for the video, and a 3.5mm stereo headphone jack for analog audio. Depending on the model there is also 1 USB port (Model A) or 2 USB ports and 1 Ethernet Port (Model B)

4) I want feature X to be included!
Things are pretty set for the initial lunch, but the R-Pi team wants to hear about things you'd like to see in future revisions. Come over to this thread and let the R-pi team know anything you fell like we missed in developing this machine.

5) Can I install OS __ on the R-pi?
Any OS that can run on a ARM11 processor will work on the R-pi (in theory ) Since the R-pi does not use a traditional x86 or x64 processor, Operating Systems designed to run on those architectures will not work (Windows 7, OS X, etc)

6) Where do I go from here?
Fun threads to join include:
Introduce Yourself
How would you use a Raspberry Pi device?

The Profile Pics thread provides information on how to add an avatar or picture to your posts.
And this post in the thread about logos can teach you have to display a picture directly in your post

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What do you think? It might be a little too much for a read before posting thread... is there something you'd cut out or you think should be included?

Excellent idea!

I think the enumerated list should be moved to the FAQs page. I'm not sure of the best way to deal with the FAQs page - the R.Pi team are so busy at the moment. Is there a WordPress plugin that allows community editing of FAQs - like a mini wiki page? Another possibility is to move the FAQs to a separate page on elinux.org. Other FAQ topics include:

Can I order a custom board with feature X?
Will there be discounts for bulk orders?
What audio connections does the R.Pi have?
What video connections does the R.Pi have? What are its graphics and video capabilities?
Can I power this theing from a 12v car supply?
Will you ship to X? Will you ship worldwide?
Will you be using distribution channels? How do I become a distributor?


What do you recon, Liz? Also, could we get a link to the two main wiki pages from the header navigation on raspberrypi.org? - hopefully that will reduce the people re-asking the FAQs a bit, too.

I like. I've got a load of work to do today on other stuff, but I'll try to get this started this evening.

This would be great indeed! I am reading the forums every day now, but its getting harder to track what's new. Note that an enumerated list should be maintained as well Liz; more work

Thanks very much, Abishur - I've lifted that wholesale and made it a sticky. I'll be updating the FAQ later on too.

Oh wow, I figured we'd clean it up some and refine it, but hey, I'm glad I could help out!

I'll be dropping in and out to edit it and add to it over the next few days, but I figured that we needed something along those lines up asap, so…there it is!