Contents - Raspberry PI Community Projects

Get the latest firmware version
The GPU firmware and kernel can be updated with Hexxeh's rpi-update tool
(https://github.com/Hexxeh/rpi-update) .
However this requires the Pi to be successfully booted. With sdcard problems, you may
not get that far, so can try a manual udpate. If you have a Linux machine, rpi-update can
be run on that in an offline mode, and will update your sdcard from the Linux machine.
Otherwise, on a Windows computer, you will see the "/boot" partition appear as the
contents of SD card. You can download the latest GPU firmware version here
(https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/blob/master/boot/start.elf) . Click on view raw,
then save it, and put the new start.elf file on the sdcard replacing the existing one.
Similarly, the latest kernel is here (https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/tree/master/
boot/kernel.img) . After updating these files you should be able to boot. You still need to
run rpi-update to update the kernel modules (in /lib/modules) and the GPU libraries (in
/opt/vc).
Choosing the right ARM/GPU memory split
There is a choice of how the 256M of RAM is divided between the ARM and GPU:
arm240_start.elf : 240M ARM, 16M GPU split : Maximum ARM memory. Good for ARM desktop use. No accelerated
arm192_start.elf : 192M ARM, 64M GPU split : Reasonable ARM memory. Simple video (omxplayer) or 3D (quake
arm128_start.elf : 128M ARM, 128M GPU split : Use this for heavy 3D work, or 3D plus video. Needed for XBM
To switch replace start.elf with one of the above files and reboot. E.g.
sudo cp /boot/arm240_start.elf /boot/start.elf && sudo reboot
Note: the arm224_start.elf is usually the wrong choice. arm240_start.elf is almost always
a better choice.
SD cards
▪ If you have problems, check you have latest firmware version (described above)
▪ Some SD cards do not work on the R-Pi, so check the list of known SD cards.
▪ If you are having problems setting up your SD card you might want to start by
erasing it completely - especially if it has been used elsewhere and still contains
data / partitions.
▪ Windows and Mac users can download a formatting tool from the SD
Association: https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_3/
▪ Reformatting cards is also easy to do in a digital camera.