Raspberry Pi 3
Raspberri Pi 3 is a single-board computer. It was developed for educational purposes. But due to its small form factor and extensibility it became very popular platform for DIY (Do-It-Yourself) projects including audio projects. The functionality of the Raspberry Pi 3 can be extended by adding so-called HAT (Hardware Attached on Top) modules which can be connected to 40-pin GPIO (General Purpose Input/Output) connector. You can see it on the far side of the module in the following image.
Raspberry Pi 3 is ready to use right out of the box. The only thing which you need to provide is a Micro SD (Secure Digital) flash memory card with OS (Operating System) image. Raspbian is a Debian version for Raspberry Pi. It is probably the most popular OS based on Debian Linux flavor and optimized for Raspberry Pi platform. You can buy Raspberry Pi 3, download OS image and write it to your own Micro SD flash card using free program Win32 Disk Imager.
Also you can buy Raspberry Pi bundled with flash card where OS will be installed already. For Peppy player I installed OS on my own Micro SD card. The details will be explained in the corresponding chapter. After preparing SD card you just need to insert it into the slot on the bottom of the Raspberry Pi and you are ready to go.
