Getting Started with Raspberry Pi (review)

O'Reilly (via Make:Magazine.com) have published Getting Started with Raspberry Pi the $35 ARM power Linux computer from the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

The book is 10 chapters with 3 appendices.

• Chapter 1 - Getting Up and Running
• Chapter 2 - Getting Around Linux on the Raspberry Pi
• Chapter 3 - Python On The Pi
• Chapter 4 - Animation and Multimedia in Python
• Chapter 5 - Scratch on the Pi
• Chapter 6 - Arduino and the Pi
• Chapter 7 - Basic Input and Output
• Chapter 8 - Programming Inputs and Outputs with Python
• Chapter 9 - Working with Webcams
• Chapter 10 - Python and the Internet
• Appendix A - Writing an SD Card Image
• Appendix B - Astral Trespassers Complete
• Appendix C - Analog Input

Though it's a "Getting Started" book, it quickly gets difficult for non-technical users and very quickly loses them. The first few chapters are helpful and allow people to get a Raspberry Pi up and get started with it, though some essential information (like getting the operating system on to an SD card) is in the appendices which would have probably better been placed in the first chapter.

Someone who has programming knowledge will find the book useful as they should be able to get to grips with the environment reasonably quickly (it is Linux), but it should maybe have been split into 2 books or a just into 2 major sections, one really for beginners and then an advanced user section.

The book is available in paper or via O'Reilly's Safari store, it's also available on Valobox.