ECE471 Required Hardware (Fall 2026)

Pi Boards good for ECE471:

• Raspberry Pi Model 3B+
• Raspberry Pi Model 3B
• Raspberry Pi Model 4B (note: the low-end 1GB model is plenty, there's no need for more RAM which can get pricy)
• Raspberry Pi Model 5B (again, it might be fun to have the most powerful Pi, but we don't really need any of its flashy features for class so probably not worth the extra price)
• Raspberry Pi 400 / 500 (these are overkill with a built into a keyboard, but in theory could work for the class)
• Raspberry Pi Model 2B (these are older, slower models but are fine for class)
• Raspberry Pi Model 1B
• Raspberry Pi Model 3A (the A models lack wired ethernet but that isn't needed for ECE471)
• Raspberry Pi Model 4A
• Raspberry Pi Model 2A

Pi Boards that could work but not recommended:

• Pi Zero (the zero models are cheaper and more barebones, but in theory if you solder a pin header onto them you can do all of the ECE471 assignments with only slightly more trouble)
• Pi Zero-W
• Pi Zero 2
• Pi Zero 2-W

Pi Boards that will *NOT* Work:

• Any of the compute modules (CM1, CM2, CM3, CM4)
• Raspberry Pi Pico (often are cheap and available, but are completely different from the other models and can't run Linux)

Required Additional Hardware

• SD Memory card, 8GB or larger (if you can get one preinstalled with Raspberry Pi Linux (previously called Raspbian) it makes life easier)
• USB charger and cable
  • Pi3 and earlier this is a USB-micro cable and charger
    
    Sometimes you can get away with just a cable to your laptop or dekstop USB port, but you might need a charger instead (an old phone charger can work too, no need to get a Pi-branded one).
    
    The more powerful a charger the better, Ideally you'd have one that can apply 5V at 2Amps.
    
    
  • Pi4 and Pi5 use USB-C. That's much more common these days, and again you can often re-use an existing charger you have.
    
    Beware that the original Pi-4 uses an unusual combination of voltages so some USB-C chargers might not work with it. There are "official" Raspberry Pi power supplies if you want to be sure.
    
    
• A breadboard (the assumption is if you're an ECE major you have one by now, if you don't have one let me know and I can usually track some down)

Optional Hardware

• A case for the Raspberry Pi
  To protect it, and also it can help avoid accidentally shorting it out if you put it down somewhere conductive.
• An HDMI cable for connecting to a screen/monitor (full size if pi3 or older, micro-HDMI if a pi4/pi5)
• A USB keyboard/mouse if you want to use the Pi like a desktop
• Ethernet cable if you want to connect to a wired ethernet port
• On recent Pis the chips can get hot, you can get heatsinks that attach to them to help keep things cooler.

Finding a Pi

Other Parts That I'll Provide

• LED (any type), miscellaneous resistors (1k, 470 Ohm) and some wire
• Male/Female Extension jumper wires. These make it easy to connect the Pi GPIO pins to the breadboad. Jumper Wires at adafruit
• 7-segment LED display with i2c backpack. These are from adafruit. There are a variety of colors, all should work. They cost $10 and you have to solder them together yourself (it's a relatively easy soldering job). LED display at Adafruit
• DS18B20 1-wire sensor. I usually get these from Adafruit. Cost $4. DS18B20 at Adafruit
• TMP36 Temperature sensor. I usually get these at Adafruit. Cost $1.50. TMP36 at Adafruit
• MCP3008 8-Channel 10-bit SPI ADC. I usually get these at Adafruit but they're often out of stock. Cost $3.75. MCP3008 at Adafruit