Do Pi model A's support internet & ethernet connection

[steve103]

I am looking to purchase a raspberry pi and am looking at the specs (pi 2, 3 models A and B)
Can I connect to internet and ethernet using model A?
I believe I can using model B.

[Gavinmc42]

You will next an external WiFI dongle or USB to Ethernet adapter.
There are other ways but these are the easiest

[DougieLawson]

The currently available models are: £35 3B, £30 2B2, £25 B+, £20 A+, £5 Z or £10 ZW

The original A is no longer available - so you must mean an A+. Why are you considering a £20 A+ it has no on-board networking and only one full-sized USB? Networking is possible with ESP8266, ENC28J60 or any USB WiFi or ethernet adapter. (You'll usually need a USB hub.)

You'd probably do better with a £10 RPiZW with the built-in WiFi and one microUSB. Or start with a full-fat £35 RPi3B which has everything (4 full-sized USB, ethernet, WiFi and BT).

[bensimmo]

Don't get the A+ if this is your first Pi.
It's not very good for your use.
Get the Pi3 it's going to be the easiest and most flexible to get started with and you'll need to buy less extras.
The Pi2 is the older brother to the Pi3, a bit slower but lacks the trendy WiFi and Bluetooth, not really worth the cost saving.

The ZeroW is as slow as the A+ (actually at its out of the box speed the A+ is slower by some 30%)
I wouldn't bother with that either.
By slower, I mean the Desktop and web browsing are just not a nice thing to do on them. That nice Pi3 is quite a lot faster, not just 20% in clock speed, ignoring the fact its a better CPU in the first place. But it sticks four of them together to help out.

So yes, get the Pi3 as it's on your list.
Any reason you can think of not too?

(and yes I have the A+, 2B and 3B and the ZW mentioned).

I do love the shape of the A+ though, something pleasing about it compared to the larger B shape and smaller Z shape.

[DougieLawson]

Don't get the A+ if this is your first Pi.
It's not very good for your use.

That confirms what I was trying to say.

You really want the ZW, 2B2 or 3B.

[jahboater]

The Pi2 is the older brother to the Pi3, a bit slower but lacks the trendy WiFi and Bluetooth, not really worth the cost saving.

Quite often the Pi2 is more expensive than the Pi3. See RS for example:

Pi2
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/ ... lsrc=aw.ds

Pi3
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/ ... lsrc=aw.ds

[sora03]

The Pi2 is the older brother to the Pi3, a bit slower but lacks the trendy WiFi and Bluetooth, not really worth the cost saving.

Quite often the Pi2 is more expensive than the Pi3. See RS for example:

Pi2
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/ ... lsrc=aw.ds

Pi3
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/ ... lsrc=aw.ds

interesting or some reason the Pi 2 is low price and 3 is high price that is sold by RS on my country.

[Gavinmc42]

From a baremetal view the Pi2 is closer to the Zero, A+, B+ with double the memory.
The Zero W and Pi 3 mess about with the GPIO numbering to do the WiFi and BT.
This is not a problem if you use Raspbian as the device tree handles the hardware abstraction.

Software wise a Zero or A+ can be made into a B+ by the right USB to Ethernet adapter, ie LAN9514 based.

A PI3 is slow desktop PC and can be used for more things.
Zero's are nice things to stick in toys and things, B+ is for wired network things.
Zero W I have yet to use in anything, not the easiest Pi to use.
Zero's are also come over clocked at 1GHz so they are the fastest BCM2835 Pi.

Get them all, I never even considered stopping at one or 20

[alphanumeric]

I have 2 A+'s, they run headless. For setup I used this, https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/usb- ... n-adaptor usually with a USB WIFI dongle. I used an A+ because they are the same size as a Sense Hat and I don't need all the extra ports. The mounting holes line up perfectly with the sense hats mounting holes. And they are more than capable of doing what I'm asking of them.

I have a couple of projects using a ZERO W. One is a rover with an Explorer pHat attached. Another is in a Pirate Radio with a pHat Beat attached. The built in WIFI comes in handy in both projects. The Zero's having the same outline as the pHats makes mounting with stand offs easy.

If this is your first Pi, I'm with the others, get a 3B. What you save by buying a cheaper model you'll likely spend on adapters, USB hubs, dongles etc to make it usable.

[W. H. Heydt]

Zero W I have yet to use in anything, not the easiest Pi to use.

I "built" (in the sense of, soldered in GPIO pins, added a 3.5" display and configured the system) an electronic name badge. It was originally a Pi0, but I changed to a Pi0W, config'd as an access point so that one can connect and log in over WiFi to make adjustments like backlight setting all without having to know or control a local wireless LAN. So there is a use for a Pi0W.

[Gavinmc42]

So there is a use for a Pi0W.

Yep many, many uses for the Zero W but unless you really really know your stuff it is the hardest to use.
There is a firmware blob for the VC4 but there is another one for the WiFi/BT chip.

Not sure, has anyone baremetaled the WiFi chip?
Easier to use A+ with dongle

[W. H. Heydt]

So there is a use for a Pi0W.

Yep many, many uses for the Zero W but unless you really really know your stuff it is the hardest to use.
There is a firmware blob for the VC4 but there is another one for the WiFi/BT chip.

Not sure, has anyone baremetaled the WiFi chip?
Easier to use A+ with dongle

Even without considering bare metal, the Pi0 and Pi0W are very poor choices for beginners. Much better to start with a Pi3B (or a Pi2B if WiFi/BT isn't needed). I have 2 Pi0s in use. One is an NTP server where I used a Pi0 because I could. The other was the prototype name badge with the Adafruit display. Plus the previously mentioned Pi0W. But I've been using Pis since shortly after launch (took about 3 months to get my first one) so the purely Pi stuff isn't new to me. Being a retired programmer who majored in EECS (back when rocks were soft), programming, unix/Linux and soldering are also familiar skills. I don't even begin to think the average Pi buyer starts out with that sort of background.