We have written this book to work on three commonly available computers: the
Raspberry Pi running Raspbian, a PC running Microsoft Windows, and an Apple Mac

running MacOS X. Minecraft is supported on other platforms too, such as a PC running
various flavours of Linux, but we don’t cover the set-up of those platforms in this book.
To make the set-up of the various parts simpler, we have prepared three starter kits,
one for each of the supported computer platforms. You can download the correct
starter kit for your computer from the Wiley website, and in your first adventure we
provide step-by-step instructions about how to download and install these and get
everything working. These starter kits include everything you need, except the actual
Minecraft game itself. You’ll be up and running in no time!
You will need an Internet connection on your computer in order to download the
starter kits. Almost everything you need for the adventures is included in the starter
kits. A few of the adventures have special requirements and we note these at the start
of the adventure so you can get everything prepared before you start.
In Adventures 5 and 9, we show you how to connect small electronic circuits together
to link the Minecraft virtual world to the real world. For this you will need to buy a
small collection of electronic components, which are available from most electronics
components stockists. (We provide some links to these in Appendix A.)
The Raspberry Pi has built-in input/output pins, so you can connect your electronic
components directly to these. Because PCs and Macs don’t include input/output pins,
we have chosen a small affordable plug-in board that works via the USB connection of
your computer for these projects. Again, there are links in Appendix A to outlets where
you can buy this.
The most important things you need on this journey are your own excitement and
enthusiasm for Minecraft, and some curiosity and willingness to experiment with
your own ideas and push the boundaries of what you already know!