- What is a Raspberry Pi?

- Where can I buy a Raspberry Pi, and how much does it cost?

- Can I buy a Raspberry Pi kit?

- I'm worried I have a fake Pi!

- I want to be a Raspberry Pi reseller.

- What manufacturing standards etc. does the Pi comply with?

- Can I use a Pi in a commercial product?

- What hardware interfaces does it have?

- Can I use a Pi for audio or video input?

- Why is there no real-time clock (RTC)?

- Why doesn't the Raspberry Pi include a particular type of hardware?

- What are the dimensions of the Raspberry Pi?

The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card-sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard and mouse. It is a capable little computer which can be used to learn coding and to build electronics projects, and for many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word processing, browsing the internet, and playing games. It also plays high-definition video. We want to see it being used by adults and children all over the world to learn programming and digital making. You can learn how to set up and use your Raspberry Pi [here](https://www.raspberrypi.org/help/).

Don't worry, as far as we know, there are no fake Pis. The SoCs used on the Pi range are only available from one supplier, and only in large quantities, which together with the low price of the Pi means it's not cost-effective for clones to be made. There are a number of competitor products that use similar names, but not actual clones or fakes.

We have an exclusive manufacturing and distribution arrangement with [RS](http://uk.rs-online.com/web/generalDisplay.html?id=raspberrypi) and [Farnell](https://www.element14.com/community/community/raspberry-pi). Resellers buy the Raspberry Pi in bulk from them (which reduces shipping costs to nearly nothing) and sell on. You do not need any special licence to resell, and the distributors are very happy to sell on to resellers. If you are interested in joining our [Approved Reseller](https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/approved-reseller/) programme, contact us by email to info@raspberrypi.org.

Depending on the model, the Raspberry Pi has either 40 or 26 dedicated GPIO pins. In all cases, these include a UART, an I2C bus, a SPI bus with two chip selects, I2S audio, 3V3, 5V, and ground. The maximum number of GPIOs can theoretically be indefinitely expanded by making use of the I2C or SPI bus.

There is no on/off switch! To switch on, just plug it in. To switch off, if you are in the graphical environment, you can either log out from the main menu, exit to the Bash prompt, or open the terminal. From the Bash prompt or terminal you can shut down the Raspberry Pi by entering `sudo halt -h` (without the quotation marks). Wait until all the LEDs except the power LED are off, then wait an additional second to make sure the SD card can finish its wear-levelling tasks and write actions. You can now safely unplug the Raspberry Pi. Failure to shut the Raspberry Pi down properly may corrupt your SD card, which would mean you would have to re-image it.