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Raspberry Pi initial setup

Let's start from the very beginning...

Parts list.
1 x Raspberry Pi Model B (I originally used the original 256MB version, then moved to a B+, now i'm using the Pi 2 but the Pi 3 will work)
1 x Suitable case for the Pi
1 x SD card (Or Micro SD depending on the Pi, 8GB at least)
1 x Copy of Raspbian, the lite version is all we need (I used Wheezy, but Jessie should work. YMMV on later versions
1 x 5.1V 2A power supply (I recommend the official Raspberry Pi power supply, I found other PSU's can't sustain the voltage above 5V while under load and cause problems)
1 x Ethernet cable, (and a spare port on your router/switch)

Optional parts.
1 x Powered USB hub
1 x Video cable (HDMI, RCA or a camcorder lead depending on which Pi you have)
1 x Portable USB drive

I wouldn't recommend using Wi-Fi, as finding a dongle which can run 24/7/365 is nearly impossible. The last thing you want is to reboot the Pi to establish a connection every time you want to access it.

Initial setup
Follow the instructions on how to write the Raspbian image to the SD card here (if you're using Linux you can use the Gnome disk utility (Disks) if you prefer to use a GUI)
Once complete, insert your card into the Pi, then connect the ethernet cable to your router and Pi, finally connect the power lead.
If it is working, all the LED's will flash for a while, then settle down.
Now you need to find out what the Pi's IP address is, you can either go into your router's web configuration and look at the attached devices page, or you can use a network discovery tool. I use Fing on my Android phone, although every platform has something similar.

Once you have the Pi's IP address (it'll look something like this 192.168.X.X) Open a terminal app on your PC and connect to the Pi using your Pi's IP address instead of mine.

The default username is pi and the default password is raspberry.

ian@IanHillPC:/$ ssh pi@192.168.0.23

If you are using a Windows PC to do this then I'm sorry for you, and also you can use PuTTY to SSH into your Pi, use the below screenshots as a guide, type your Pi's IP address into the Host Name (or IP address) box, leave everything else as default and click open.



BTW If you see this on a Linux box.

ian@IanHillPC:/$ ssh pi@192.168.0.20
The authenticity of host '192.168.0.23 (192.168.0.23)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is f2:29:a5:f6:a7:da:bd:c7:9f:25:2f:85:eb:e5:d0:ca.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

Then just type yes to continue, this just means you're trying to connect to an unknown device, you'll only see this once.

Whichever system you're using, once you're connected you'll see this.

Linux Home 4.1.13-v7+ #826 SMP PREEMPT Fri Nov 13 20:19:03 GMT 2015 armv7l

The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software;
the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the
individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright.

Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent
permitted by applicable law.

pi@raspberrypi:/$

Note: Unix commands are always lower-case, and with some commands that could be confusing, like ls, because it can look like Is (capital I), so i'll display the command in upper-case in brackets as well. ls (LS) for clarity.
Lastly depending on how your version of Raspbian is set up you may have to type in your password when you use the sudo command, you may find it easier to use sudo su to go superuser permanently, if you do then omit sudo from the commands below, you'll also notice that pi@raspberrypi becomes root@raspberrypi.

First thing to do once you're connected is make change some settings on the Pi using raspi-config.

pi@raspberrypi:/$ sudo raspi-config



Use the cursor keys and select option 1 and allow it to complete, then option 2 and change the default password for SSH access (this will change the password you used earlier), then go into option 8 and select A2 to change the hostname, mine is called Home, finally go back into option 8 and select A3 and give the GPU only 16MB's of RAM to use by entering 16, you won't use the GPU much, so that's all it needs.

Then use the right cursor or tab to move to the Finish option at the bottom, you'll be prompted to reboot, so do that now, allow a few moments for the reboot to complete, then log back in as before (with the new password)

Now enter this command to update Raspbian.

pi@Home:/$ sudo apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y

It's good practice to log in occasionally and run the update commands to keep Raspbian up to date, this is especially important for security reasons if you allow connections from outside the network.

© 2020 IWH Software (Ian Hill)