How many myths are there about Raspberry Pi?

The Raspberry Pi is a small single board computer which hit the market with its low price and features. Main aim Raspberry Pi developed is helping teachers on lessons for teaching science basics with computer dynamics. Main features of Raspberry Pi are Broadcom BCM2835 system on a chip, ARM1176JZF-S 700 MHz processor, VideoCore IV GPU and 512 MB RAM. There’s no hard disk attached to device but it’s possible to boot operating system from SD CARD easily. There are two prices for different board schemes as US$ 25 and US$ 35. The Raspberry Pi is one of the first board selling worldwide and it’s popular also between hobbyists and other computer related people. A computer so cheap created also lots of myths and misinformation. How many myths are there about Raspberry Pi?


Most popular myth of Raspberry Pi is about Windows operating system. Lots of people are selling Raspberry Pi on their websites and they write that Raspberry Pi runs Windows. Especially using Raspberry Pi with Windows 8 is possible. It’s not impossible to run Windows and especially Windows 8 on Raspberry Pi but first of all, Raspberry Pi has an ARM based processor which is not suitable for any Windows. Today it’s possible to see Windows RT for ARM based boards but it has no retail version.
There are also some works to run Windows on Raspberry Pi and they are successful but it’s true that 700MHz Broadcom BCM2835 ARM11 of Raspberry Pi will not give the power of a standard home pc. There are some ways to run Windows on Pi with virtualization systems but that system means Windows is working on another operating system and it’s very slow.

Another myth about Raspberry Pi is email and browsing capacity. There are lots of ads say that Raspberry Pi is the perfect device for emails and browsing on internet. Raspberry Pi uses a light browser called as “Midori.” It’s not so slow on standard pages but today web is full of detailed flash and java based pages and it’s possible to see that Raspberry Pi slows down after some browsing.
Power required for running Raspberry Pi is also a myth. Raspberry Pi developers and sellers are making a little trick while selling the device. On ads, it’s possible to see that Raspberry Pi only needs 5V. According to ads, it’s very easy to find 5V micro-USB adapter even Raspberry Pi developers are selling it. It’s true that Raspberry Pi is working with 5V micro-USB adapter but it also needs at LEAST 700Ma. There are millions of USB adapters in the market but most of them are under 500Ma and only expensive ones are some over 500Ma. Also there are some new 5V micro-USB adapter offering 1000Ma and they are over the need. It’s possible to see that people are asking millions of questions about power on forums. There are some works on Raspberry Pi still to make it plug-and-play but it’s not this type of board still.
Another myth is that Raspberry Pi can run all wireless mice and keyboards. It’s some tricky because USB ports of device offers 100Ma which is not enough for most of the wireless devices. According to experts on forums, there are a few usb hubs working on Raspberry Pi and one of them is Belkin USB 2.0 7 Port Hub. But it’s very expensive.

Last myth about Raspberry Pi is about overlocking. It’s true that users like to overlock devices. Pi forums are offering overlocking ways with some commands and power tricks. But it’s not obvious that tricks will avoid the guarantee or not.