[Raspbian-devel] Questions About the RPi Board

[martin McCormick]

I just got a new Raspberry Pi2 and am waiting for a serial cable
to get a console login for the following reason:

As a computer user who happens to be blind, this should be the
easiest way to setup WiFi and start exploring this new world.

	The first question is about the 40-pin header. If one has
the Pi sitting such that the pins are going left to right like
two horizontal lines, the Ethernet jack and USB ports face off to
the left and the memory port faces off to the right, Where is Pin
1?

	Another way to describe it is one row of pins is right
next to the board edge and the other row is next to that, further
towards all the components. If the first pin on one row is Pin 1,
is the first pin of the other row Pin 21 as in 21-40?

	The Pi starter kit came with a heat sink. There is an
adhesive back on it and it sits on one of the two VLSI chips.
Which one should it be on? The largest chip is closer to the
right when the pins are closest to you.

	I suspect that it gets very warm drawing almost a full
amp at 5 volts. We don't want our Pi to get over done.

	Finally, I know I can convert the serial port from a
console port to a regular tty if connecting the Pi to something
else but console ports are helpful if one goofs and makes the Pi
so that it is not booting fully. Will a second USB to serial
cable just generate a new ttyUSBsomething and work that way? That
would seem a more robust way to operate?

	Thanks.

Martin McCormick WB5agz
Stillwater, OK