Use of Raspberry Pi in

Operating Systems class

Muhammad Najib Bin Zainuddin 1120773 , Muhammad Naim Bin Ahmad Zawawi 1119545,
Ahmad Hafez Moulaana Mohammed 1013003, Mahfuzul Islam Nissan 1210627
Faculty of Information & Communication Technology, International Islamic University Malaysia

Abstract Operating System (OS) is an important topic in

many curriculum of Computer Science and Computer
Engineering. There are multiple ways we can use to understand
better about operating system. This paper describes one of the
ways in teaching student to enhance their understanding in
Operating System class by using Raspberry PI as a medium. The
course core elements are the use of Raspberry Pi kits. Our
research shows that the topic covered in this paper will lead to
excellent result in terms of student progression.

I. INTRODUCTION

These reasons justify the study of the development of tailored

Operating System for such devices.
II. WHAT IS RASPBERRY PI
As has been mention earlier in introduction, raspberry in
basically a mini (credit card) size computing unit that
equivalent with normal computer but with limited of hardware
resources . It has around the same computing power as a
modern Smartphone and It runs a version of the Linux
operating system (Debian).

In this paper we will focus on Raspberry Pi as a tool that is

capable of running different Operating System on it. To do so,
such a system should have at least a microprocessor with
MMU management, 4Mb of RAM and about 8Mb of
secondary storage, typically solid-state disks such as memory
cards. Note that this was the standard configuration of a
commodity PC in early 90s. However, miniaturization and cost
reduction, together with the advent of low-powered Systems on
Chip (SoC) have allowed the production of computers with
these or better characteristics for less than forty euros. This is
precisely the case of the Raspberry Pi microcomputer.
The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer board
composed of an ARM-like SoC and a board that includes all
the I/O and storage interfaces needed for practical use,
including HDMI output, one or two USB ports, Ethernet port,
slot for an SD memory card, and even a video output to
connect the system to an analog TV. The Raspberry Pi was
designed to teach Computer Science to students, allowing an
easy I/O access (including exposed GPIO pins) to facilitate the
use of the system not only for programming, but also as the
core of hardware projects of any size.
The existence of a microcomputer such as the Raspberry Pi,
capable of running GNU/Linux at a cost of some tens of euros,
allows us to think that in the following years any embedded
system will be able to do so, even systems with a cost of one or
two euros. This fact would make the design of tailored
embedded systems a comparatively expensive process, only
useful when very special characteristics were needed. Besides
this, the use of an Operating System in embedded computing
greatly simplifies the portability of embedded applications.

It was equipped with arm v6 Broadcomm CPU + GPU, 512

MB of Ram(Model B) , Boots off SD card for filesystem,
USB,Audio out, Lan (model B), HDMI plus Composite video
output and also a GPIO pin which is very powerful feature of
this device . These pins are a physical interface beetween Pi
and the outside world .

At the simplest level, you can think of them as switches that

you can turn on or off (input) or that the Pi can turn on or off
(output). Seventeen of the 26 pins are GPIO pins; the others
are power or ground pins.We can program the pins to interact
in amazing ways with the real world. Inputs don't have to
come from a physical switch; it could be input from a sensor
or a signal from another computer or device, for example. The
output can also do anything, from turning on an LED to
sending a signal or data to another device. If the Raspberry Pi
is on a network, you can control devices that are attached to it
from anywhere and those devices can send data back.
Connectivity and control of physical devices over the internet
is a powerful and exciting thing, and the Raspberry Pi is ideal
for that .
Basically, the point of having a Raspberry Pi is meant to be
a very inexpensive, open computer to help kids, student or
anyone that can access to explore and experiment with it .For
instance, if we could mange to using this in our operating
system class, the theory and practical will be balance and we
can learn more in very interesting way .Since its a small
computer, everyone will doubt it performance,but its really
good for it size . The default clock for cpu is 700Mhz and its
easily to overclcock until 1Ghz and its roughly as powerful as
a 400Mhz Pentium which is not bad actually . The Gpu also
claimed as powerful as what was on the original Xbox .
Although , the SD interface is a bit slow , we can hook up a
normal mechanical HD or even SSD to get a better
performance .We will elaborate more in hardware and
software section for futher explanation .

Raspberry Pi Model-B computers, labeled "Iridis-pi",

achieved a LINPACK HPL suite result of 1.14 GFLOPS
(n=10240) at 216 watts for c. US$4,000 Overclocking
Most Raspberry Pi devices can be overclocked to 800 MHz
and some even higher to 1000 MHz. In the Raspbian Linux
distro the overclocking options on boot can be done by a
software command running "sudo raspi-config" without
voiding the warranty, see note 9 below. In those cases the Pi
automatically shuttles the overclocking down in case the chip
reaches 85 C (185 F), but it is possible to overrule automatic
over voltage and overclocking settings (voiding the warranty).
In that case, one can try putting an appropriately sized
heatsink on it to keep the chip from heating up far above
85 C.
Newer versions of the firmware contain the option to
choose between five overclock ("turbo") presets that when
turned on try to get the most performance out of the SoC
without impairing the lifetime of the Pi. This is done by
monitoring the core temperature of the chip, and the CPU
load, and dynamically adjusting clock speeds and the core
voltage. When the demand is low on the CPU, or it is running
too hot, the performance is throttled, but if the CPU has much
to do, and the chip's temperature is acceptable, performance is
temporarily increased, with clock speeds of up to 1 GHz,
depending on the individual board, and on which of the turbo
settings is used. The five settings are:

III. HARDWARE

Processor

Level 2 cache is 128 KB, used primarily by the GPU, not the
CPU.
The Broadcom SoC used in the Raspberry Pi is equivalent to a
chip used in an old smartphone (Android or iPhone). While
operating at 700 MHz by default, the Raspberry Pi provides a
real world performance roughly equivalent to 0.041 GFLOPS.
On the CPU level the performance is similar to a 300 MHz
Pentium II of 1997-1999. The GPU provides 1 Gpixel/s or 1.5
Gtexel/s of graphics processing or 24 GFLOPS of general
purpose computing performance. The graphics capabilities of
the Raspberry Pi are roughly equivalent to the level of
performance of the Xbox of 2001. The Raspberry Pi chip,
operating at 700 MHz by default, will not become hot enough
to need a heatsink or special cooling. The SoC is stacked
underneath the RAM chip, so only its edge is visible.
The LINPACK single node compute benchmark
results in a mean single precision performance of 0.065
GFLOPS and a mean double precision performance of 0.041
GFLOPS for one Raspberry Pi Model-B board. A cluster of 64

None; 700 MHz ARM, 250 MHz core,

SDRAM, 0 overvolt,
Modest; 800 MHz ARM, 250 MHz core,
SDRAM, 0 overvolt,
Medium; 900 MHz ARM, 250 MHz core,
SDRAM, 2 overvolt,
High; 950 MHz ARM, 250 MHz core,
SDRAM, 6 overvolt,
Turbo; 1000 MHz ARM, 500 MHz core,
SDRAM, 6 overvolt.

400 MHz
400 MHz
450 MHz
450 MHz
600 MHz

In the highest (turbo) preset the SDRAM clock was originally

500 MHz, but this was later changed to 600 MHz because 500
MHz sometimes causes SD card corruption. Simultaneously in
high mode the core clock speed was lowered from 450 to 250
MHz, and in medium mode from 333 to 250 MHz.

RAM

On the older beta model B boards, 128 MB was allocated

by default to the GPU, leaving 128 MB for the CPU. On the
first 256 MB release model B (and Model A), three different
splits were possible. The default split was 192 MB (CPU
RAM), which should be sufficient for standalone 1080p video
decoding, or for simple 3D, but probably not for both together.
224 MB was for Linux only, with just a 1080p frame buffer,
and was likely to fail for any video or 3D. 128 MB was for
heavy 3D, possibly also with video decoding (e.g. XBMC).
Comparatively the Nokia 701 uses 128 MB for the Broadcom
Video Core IV. For the new model B with 512 MB RAM

initially there were new standard memory split files

released( arm256_start.elf, arm384_start.elf, arm496_start.elf)
for 256 MB, 384 MB and 496 MB CPU RAM (and 256 MB,
128 MB and 16 MB video RAM). But a week or so later the
RPF released a new version of start.elf that could read a new
entry in config.txt (gpu_mem=xx) and could dynamically
assign an amount of RAM (from 16 to 256 MB in 8 MB steps)
to the GPU, so the older method of memory splits became
obsolete, and a single start.elf worked the same for 256 and
512 MB Pis.

Networking

Though the Model A and A+ do not have an 8P8C ("RJ45")

Ethernet port, it can connect to a network by using an external
user-supplied USB Ethernet or Wi-Fi adapter. On the model B
the Ethernet port is provided by a built-in USB Ethernet
adapter.

Peripherals

Generic USB keyboards and mice are compatible with the

Raspberry Pi.

Pi.The install manager for the Raspberry Pi is NOOBS. The

OSs included with NOOBS are:

Raspbian (recommended) Maintained independently of the

Foundation; based on the ARM hard-float (armhf) Debian 7
'Wheezy' architecture port originally designed for ARMv7 and
later processors (with Jazelle RCT/ThumbEE, VFPv3, and
NEON SIMD extensions), compiled for the more limited
ARMv6 instruction set of the Raspberry Pi. A minimum size
of 4 GB SD card is required. There is a Pi Store for
exchanging programsThe Raspbian Server Edition is a
stripped version with other software packages bundled as
compared to the usual desktop computer oriented Raspbian.

Video

The video controller is capable of standard modern TV

resolutions, such as HD and Full HD, and higher or lower
monitor resolutions and older standard CRT TV resolutions;
capable of the following: 640350 EGA; 640480 VGA;
800600 SVGA; 1024768 XGA; 1280720 720p HDTV;
1280768 WXGA variant; 1280800 WXGA variant;
12801024 SXGA; 1366768 WXGA variant; 14001050
SXGA+; 16001200 UXGA; 16801050 WXGA+;
19201080 1080p HDTV; 19201200 WUXGA. It can
generate 576i and 480i composite video signals for PALBGHID, PAL-M, PAL-N, NTSC and NTSC-J.
Real-time clock
The Raspberry Pi does not come with a real-time clock, which
means it cannot keep track of the time of day while it is not
powered on.
As alternatives, a program running on the Pi can get the time
from a network time server or user input at boot time.
A real-time clock (such as the DS1307) with battery backup
can be added via the IC interface.

Archlinux ARM
OpenELE ]Pidora (Fedora Remix)
Raspbmc and the XBMC open source digital media center
RISC OS The operating system of the first ARM-based
computer

The Wayland display server protocol enable the efficient

use of the GPU for hardware accelerated GUI drawing
functions. on 16 April 2014 a GUI shell for Weston called
Maynard (software) was released
PiBang Linux is derived from Raspbian.

Driver APIs
Raspberry Pi can use a VideoCore IV GPU via a binary blob,
which is loaded into the GPU at boot time from the SD-card,
and additional software, that initially was closed source. This
part of the driver code was later released, however much of
the actual driver work is done using the closed source GPU
code. Application software uses calls to closed source runtime libraries (OpenMax, OpenGL ES or OpenVG) which in
turn calls an open source driver inside the Linux kernel, which
then calls the closed source Videocore IV GPU driver code.
The API of the kernel driver is specific for these closed
libraries. Video applications use OpenMAX, 3D applications
use OpenGL ES and 2D applications use OpenVG which both
in turn use EGL. OpenMAX and EGL use the open source
kernel driver in turn.
Third party application software
Mathematica Since 21 November 2013, Raspbian includes a
full installation of this proprietary software for free. As of 1
August 2014 the version is Mathematica 10.

IV. SOFTWARE

Minecraft Released 11 February 2013; a version for the

Raspberry Pi, in which you can modify the game world with
code.

The Raspberry Pi primarily uses Linux kernel-based operating

systems.The ARM11 chip at the heart of the Pi is based on
version 6 of the ARM. The current releases of several popular
versions of Linux, including Ubuntu, will not run on the
ARM11. It is not possible to run Windows on the Raspberry

V. USAGE OF RASPBERRY PI

Operating systems

Normally, raspberry pi is uses in various of project

developing .So it is an ideal foundation for building your own
projects. Its cheap,powerful, has an open environment aimed

at development and is very portable. But perhaps the most

exciting aspect of the Pi is the General Purpose Input/Output
(GPIO) header. These pins are there for the sole purpose of
allowing us to interact with the environment around us. When
used with Python, the GPIO instantly opens the Pi up to the
physical world around it. Before we get started on a project,
we would recommend a little shopping. These items can all be
found very cheaply (the most expensive is 10) from popular
electronics sites and online auctions. Number one on your list
is a breadboard, aka a prototype board. These are simple
solderless boards that allow you to create our own electronic
circuits. Number two is male-to-female and maleto-male
breadboard wire, a must for wiring up your contraptions.
Number three is a beginners set of electronic components.
These will have all the common resistors and LEDs well
need before you even know you need them. Last on the list is
a small
low-power LCD we like the HD44780.

your Pi into your network and create a Tweet Robot to

automatically tweet on your behalf? Building embedded
projects Think of embedded projects as a hybrid project where
the Pi is used to bridge the gap between two devices or add
new functionality to a device.
The perfect example of this is the Media Centre project.
HDTVs are yesterdays news everyone wants a smart TV
now. No problem: the Broadcomchip on the Pi can easily play
high-definition video and output this via the HDMI port.
Combine that with the fact the Pi can even be powered from
the USB port of many TVs and suddenly you have a cheap
and powerful upgrade your existing HDTV. This project
brings out the Pis full potential. Embedded projects such as
these are the perfect
way to integrate the modern computing revolution into your
home.
VI. TARGET USER OF RASPBERRY PI

Building External Project

Broadly speaking, Raspberry Pi project will fall into one or
more of three categories: external,software or embedded
projects.External projects are when we build our own
electronic circuits, connect them to the Pi via theGPIO and
write software (most likely in Python) to communicate with
them. For us, these are the most exciting projects you can
build; they bring together
Linux, programming and electronic knowledge in such a way
that just wasnt possible for most home users before the Pi.
If youre new to any of these fields then dont be put off. With
a little help from a great community and some fantastic
tutorials, youll soon be building some basic circuits and
controlling them withsoftware correctly. Then your projects
will get bigger and youll be starting your own from scratch.
Truly, the only limitation is your imagination. To whet your
appetite youll find some great examples in these pages. The
Twitter-powered lamp tutorial is a lot simpler than it sounds
and is a fantastic project to start with it is a great stepping
stone to bigger and better things.
Building software projects
Many of the projects we want (or need) to develop wont
require the full GPIO capabilities of the Pi and will just use it
purely as a computer to write and run our own applications.
These are software projects. The Pi is more suited to this task
than most desktops or laptops as it has been specifically
designed as a development and learning platform. From the
child-friendly Scratch programming environment to the
powerful and diverse Python language, theres a starting point
for everyone here regardless of previous experience or ability.
Whether its recreating classic games or creating your own,
writing a script to make system administration easier or
designing an application to fill a hole in the market; whatever
software project you have in mind, youll find the tutorials
here a great place to start. To get you started why not integrate

Technology writer Glyn Moody described the project in

May 2011 as a "potential BBC Micro 2.0", not by replacing PC
compatible machines but by supplementing them. In March
2012 Stephen Pritchard echoed the BBC Micro successor
sentiment in ITPRO.Alex Hope, co-author of the Next Gen
report, is hopeful that the computer will engage children with
the excitement of programming.Co-author Ian Livingstone
suggested that the BBC could be involved in building support
for the device, possibly branding it as the BBC Nano. Chris
Williams, writing in The Register sees the inclusion of
programming languages such as Kids Ruby, Scratch and
BASIC as a "good start" to equip kids with the skills needed in
the future although it remains to be seen how effective their
use will be.The Centre for Computing History strongly
supports the Raspberry Pi project, feeling that it could "usher in
a new era".[102] Before release, the board was showcased by
ARM's CEO Warren East at an event in Cambridge outlining
Google's ideas to improve UK science and technology
education.
Harry Fairhead, however, suggests that more emphasis
should be put on improving the educational software available
on existing hardware, using tools such as Google App Inventor
to return programming to schools, rather than adding new
hardware choices.Simon Rockman, writing in a ZDNet blog,
was of the opinion that teens will have "better things to do",
despite what happened in the 1980s.
In October 2012, the Raspberry Pi won T3's Innovation of
the Year award, and futurist Mark Pesce cited a (borrowed)
Raspberry Pi as the inspiration for his ambient device project
MooresCloud.In October 2012, the British Computer Society
reacted to the announcement of enhanced specifications by
stating, "it's definitely something we'll want to sink our teeth
into.

The Raspberry Pi was made for education. It was measure

of success as it help to produces alot more of computer science
students. Since its very cheap, there is no excuse for student
cant afford it. As of January 2012, enquiries about the board in
the United Kingdom have been received from schools in both
the state and private sectors, with around five times as much
interest from the latter. It is hoped that businesses will sponsor
purchases for less advantaged schools.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation and Oxford, Cambridge and
RSA Examinations launched a beta of the Cambridge GCSE
Computing Online course or MOOC (Massive Open Online
Course) based around the current GCSE Computing syllabus.
The MOOC will consist of videos, animations and interactive
tasks on every part of the curriculum presented by UK
teachers. The beta is currently presented by Clive Beale who is
the Head of Educational Development. All tasks will be
supported by written materials and audio and text transcripts
available for disabled students. The first MOOC will be linked
to a formal GCSE qualification.
For us, if this university can provide their student with this
device each of everyone, then the learning in class will become
more extensive .Students will gain alot more of information
and they will eventually develop the skill of how operating
system work, how to debugging software and anything which
is related in their field of study .
Secondly is project scope. This device is very much
capable of doing anything within it limits . Student who learn
engineering for instance, can uses this to create a robot brain or
something that will ease them in their work . For the
community The Raspberry Pi was described by Jamie Ayre of
FLOSS software company AdaCore as one of the most exciting
parts of the project.Community blogger Russell Davis said that
the community strength allows the Foundation to concentrate
on documentation and teaching. The community is developing
fanzines around the platform, such as The MagPi. A series of
community Raspberry Jam events have been held across the
UK and further afield,led by Alan O'Donohoe, principal
teacher of ICT at Our Lady's High School, Preston, and a
teacher-led community from RaspberryJam has started
building a crowdsourced scheme of work.
Lately education related efforts were rapildy spreading
downward, aiming toward young children to expose them with
this device .As they are develop from child, we believe it will
be a lot more benefecial for everyone in the future.

VII. DISCUSSION
Raspberry Pie can be good substitute of PC. In
almost all classrooms we have PC. These PC's are expensive
and also consume a lot of electricity. We use these PC only for
using projector and showing power point slides. For doing

these task we dont need expensive PC. We can use Raspberry

Pie. Raspberry Pie can easily perform this task. Raspberry Pie
can support projector through HDMI port.
By using
Raspberry Pie we can save huge amounts of money. Also it
saves lots of electricity. It's also portable. So lecturer can also
carry Raspberry Pie and use it in class for lecture purposes.
In our general labs, there are lots of PCs. All PC's
almost all functions are locked. Only web browsers and office
software are unlocked. But our lab PC's are quite powerful and
capable of doing complicated task. So using these PC's in
general labs is one kind of wasting money and wasting power.
We can use Raspberry Pie in these general labs to perform
these simple task.
In the OS class, every class we have presentations on
different OS. In this case, if every student buy Raspberry Pie
(as it is very cheap, only $25-$35) and install different OS on
different Raspberry Pie and shows it in the OS class, the class
would be more interesting. Also students would be able to
experience different kinds of operation systems.
We cannot expect that all student have the ability to
buy Raspberry Pie. In this case our university can help poor
needy students by providing free Raspberry Pie to them.
After doing almost all OS classes and from the
experience of senior friends who already finished OS course,
we realized that we hadnt actually learned how an OS works.
Today neither our undergrad nor our grad OS course requires
hacking OS code, even in a simulator. We can use the
Raspberry Pie computer as a platform for programming at the
OS level. If we do some exercises on the bare machine and
then modify the linux kernel that runs on the Pie, we would
have much knowledge on OS. Students can get experience
with network engineering by attaching the Pi to an IP router
and configuring it in some basic ways. A stripped down
Raspberry Pi can be purchased for $35, but with some
accessories it can run up to $100. Students can buy one of
their own or share them. The nice thing is that since they are
so simple, and their entire storage is a flash card, there is no
maintenance necessary on the computers themselves.
VIII. CONCLUSION
The idea of using Raspberry Pi as a tool for learning
purpose(presentation) can be deduce from multiple perspective.
The Raspberry is a versatile platform. Besides being
inexpensive, the Raspberry Pi allows not only to be used as a
target platform for embedded Operating System, but as valid
testbed for any further development, from any software project
to hardware I/O. This fact adds value to the investment in
Raspberry Pi kits as part of universities equipment. This is
particularly true for universities with tight budget restictions.
From other point of view, lecturer may sees this as a great tool
to help them in teaching. Instead of just showing picture and
explaining what different Operating System can do,lecturer can
give students the experience of using the Operating System.

Hence, students are much more exposed to different kind of

Operating System and hopefully they are able to come up with
a great innovation from this Raspberry Pi.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]

www.raspberry.org
http://tinyurl.com/RPi -edu
learn.adafruit.com/category/raspberry-pi
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi

[5] www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC44424/l/presentation--programming-the-raspberry-pi-with-dreben-upton
[6] www.thomastongue.com/Making/RaspberryPi/CDMPiJams/GettingStarted.pdf
[7] www.slideshare.net/ltg_oxford/raspberry-pie-an-introduction
[8] Raspberry Pi: A Quick Start Guide by Schmidt
[9] Raspberry Pi User Guide, Upton and Halfacre
[10] Raspberry Pi for Beginners Second Revised Edition 2014