Raspberry Pi, How To Set It Up

Step 1: Get the Parts

 

Before you even begin to get your pi set up, you need a few things, the first of which is the actual device. You can get it off of the foundation’s website or Amazon for 25 pound, or 35 for a slightly better version. It’s not all cheep and cheerful though, you also need to buy an HDMI display to connect your the pi to, although if you don’t want to fork out a couple of hundred quid you could hook it up to a monitor or TV screen. And something you may not have expected, a micro SD card, this is where the computers operating system will go. This makes it a rather versatile device because there are loads of different operating systems to put on. Some doing simple things like controlling the air con, to more complex things like running a full computer system.. The rest is rather self explanatory, a mouse and keyboard which can plug into the little USB ports on the side. And also a micro USB plug that comes with practically every smart phone these days. The raspberry pi needs power of course.

 

Step 2 Choose Your OS

 

 

Now you need to choose what operating system your Pi will run on. It won’t run on anything though, you will need to find an operating system designed to run on a raspberry pi. Sadly neither Windows or Mac OSX run on the raspberry pi, so you will need to resort to the third most popular OS on the planet, Linux. There are thousands of different versions of 　Linux and most of the big ones are available on your pi, however if you’re a beginner then you’d better go with the one recommended by the foundation, it’s called Rasbian. It’s the most popular OS on you new mini PC, it has all the things you’d expect from a normal computer, a browser an appstore and all the little utilities like calculator and Python for programming. In the appstore you can find games and office suites as well. And there is a version of 　Minecraft, the popular blocky PC game. If you don’t think Linux is your cup of tea then you do have a whole load of other OS’s to choose from, such as Chrome OS, XMBC a customized version of the Xbox media centre and even Android Ice Cream Sandwich.

 

 

Step 3 Flash it to Your SD Card

 

This is one of the simplest steps, if you’re on Windows that is. You simply save the OS, you downloaded in an easy to remember spot. Now go to this link and extract the files to a folder on your desktop. Now insert your SD card in to the computer. If your PC doesn’t have an SD card slot, then you can plug a camera in and use it’s built in slot. If the SD card pops up in computer then move on. Now double click on the folder you made and open the file that ends with .exe. This is the tool that allows you to put the OS on to your SD card. Open it up and select your OS that you saved earlier and the SD card, make sure you choose the SD card and not your computer’s hard drive because that can mess things up. Then click flash to SD card, or something along those words. When it’s finished make sure you safely eject your SD card safely and remove it from your computer.

 

Step 4 Get it Connected

 

So now you’re all set you can finally plug everything in. Starting with the SD card. Slide it in with the logo facing up. Don’t push it in too hard as there is supposed to be a bit sticking out so you can remove it later on. Now connect your mouse and keyboard, on to each USB port, or if you feel you need more ports, connect a powered USB hub. It must be powered though although it will sap power from the Pi and may make it malfunction. Now connect the HDMI port, plug one end in to the Pi and the other in to your monitor or TV. And finally plug the power in. The micro USB must be plugged in to the Raspberry Pi. Once again, be gentle. It is a delicate machine. Now you should see an orange LED come on your device. If it is booting you should also see a flickering or solid green light come on too.

 

Step 5 First Boot

 

So, your pi is booting up for the first time? I will run you through how to get Rabian set up, the most popular OS for the Pi. First of all be patient, it takes a few mins for the first time. Then follow the onscreen instructions until you get to a terminal. Now type in your username, which is raspberry press enter. Then type in pi as the password. Then type startx and press enter. Now this will launch Rasbian in a graphical session, which is similar to what you are used to on Windows or Mac. Use your mouse and keyboard to navigate the OS. You can also use the Ethernet port to browse the Internet or connect a USB wifi dongle and use the built in app to set that up. If you gain access to the Internet, you can browse the store for apps or do everyday things on the web. You can also use Python or Scratch to do some basic coding, enjoy!