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Equipment

This is very very important.

You must get very specific USB “chargers” (power supplies) and cables. {And SD card?} We list below the ones that have worked. If you do not, the Raspberry Pi can (and probably will) randomly lock up, crash. The cause will look mysterious.

Why? The escape pod is running software that demands a lot of a Raspberry Pi at times. The Raspberry Pi has requirements higher than standard USB-specification chargers and cables. The Pi will have errors and random crashes if the right ones are not used.

Hardware Configurations

If you are buying hardware

  • Buy the Raspberry Pi 4, with the official Charger. Raspberry PI 4 in 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB are all reported to work. (Prices vary, but the 8GB Pi 4, charger, and SD card cost me $81 at Micro center. Another $6 for the optional micro hdmi cable)
  • A Canakit charger may be instead (see below for links).

If you already have a Raspberry PI 3B+, this can be used. However be aware:

  • The PI3 will be noticeably slower and less responsive
  • Make absolutely sure to get very specific power supplies and cables. Power supplies and cables that worked with other software on a Pi 3 may not work here. The EscapePod software has higher demands than raspbian. Without the specific supplies AND cables, there may be power issues: random crashes, lock ups, and confusing error messages.
  • Prefer power supplies where the cable is directly built-in (connected) rather than a separate charger and a cable. Like this:

Figure: This is what a Raspberry Pi power supply should look like

Pi3 'official’ Chargers (tested with a Pi3)

Other chargers tested with Pi3

Pi4 official USB-C Chargers

Sundry Tips

From the internet: "If your Raspberry Pi 4 is running a little hot, users can get it running cooler simply by positioning it vertically with the GPIO header at the bottom and the power and HDMI ports at the top."