• Overview (this page)
• Part1 - Case assembly
• Part2 - Raspbian Install
• Part3 - PiOLED service and configuration scripts
• Links and Acknowledgements

There are so many blogs on RPis and building clusters theres not that much new to be said. This repo is a collection of info mainly for my own reference, but others looking at making a cluster may find this useful too.

After some research, I decided on 10 pi (or pies?) for the cluster. Bit of a shot in the dark, but by getting 10 pies the hope is it will provide the best bang-for-buck on a project of this size.

Having read about and also been affected by issues with underrated power supplies in the past, I wanted a simple and easy case setup so I could focus on the clustering software and other parts of the project. In the end, I selected the picocluster 10H advanced kit for its high capacity power supplies, and its attractive clear acrylic case design.

Next up was the Pi boards. Any serious computation needs ram and lots of it, so 4GB boards it is. (oooof, wallet starting to hurt).

Further reading on other blogs, many recommended adding LEDs (blinkt) strips to show some activity from what the individual pi boards are doing. While looking at the prices I saw that they also make a mini oled display for bit over double the cost. (hey, why not! may as well have a proper display that can be reprogrammed as the need arises in future for that money). Looking at the case, I measured up and estimated there would be enough room between the front facing of the rasperry pi boards and the side of the picocluster case for the mini oled displays.

With the key parts decided on, I added a few 30cm network cables, 2 packs of jumper wires for the pioled displays, and some "cheap" 16GB micro SD cards to the shopping list.

Trigger pulled - parts should arrive first or second week of Jan :)

Part1 - Case assembly continues next.