Setup

Initial setup

Installation

Please follow the instructions at https://www.raspberrypi.org/help/noobs-setup/ to install the Raspbian OS.

• Download NOOBS and copy it to your SD card
• connect your RPi to the monitor, keyboard and Ethernet and install the Raspbian OS.
• Boot to the GUI

If you do not have a keyboard or monitor available, it is still possible to configure your RPi.

• Copy Raspbian to the SD card: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/README.md
• Connect with SSH: https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=74176

Configuration

Run raspi-config using the command sudo raspi-config

• change locale (e.g. US-UTF8), timezone (US-East), and keyboard layout
• SSH is enabled by default https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/raspi-config.md

Update

From terminal, run the commands

sudo apt-get update -y
sudo apt-get upgrade -y
sudo apt-get autoremove -y
sudo reboot

SSH

On Windows, install a SSH client such as PuTTY. MacOS and Linux include ssh by default.

You may want to set up Password-less SSH. This makes it much more convenient to connect via SSH.

Install Avahi. This will let you access the RPI by name: raspberrypi.local instead of fishing around for its IP address.

sudo apt-get install avahi-daemon

WiFi

• Select your WiFi network from the menu at the top-right of the screen and configure it with the correct password.
• WiFi Power management is off per iwconfig but it seems to lie! To keep the WiFi adapter from timing out
  • sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces
  • add the line wireless-power off after the wpa_supplicant.conf line
  • sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
  • http://www.modmypi.com/blog/disable-wifi-power-management

Tip: If the WiFi adapter does time out, you can restore it by unplugging and plugging the WiFi USB adapter.

Tip: You can configure the WiFi network from SSH as well:

sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

Add the lines

network={
ssid="wifi_access_name"
psk="wifi_password"

# or if no password and/or open authentication:
key_mgmt=NONE
auth_alg=OPEN
}

Final check

At this point, the RPi has net access via WiFi. You will be able to communicate with using your PC via PuTTY or ssh terminal app. If the HDMI is plugged in you can issues the startx command to get a GUI displayed. A USB or bluetooth keyboard with touchpad makes using the GUI much easier.

You should be able to disconnect the keyboard, monitor and Ethernet cable from the RPi, restart it and access it wirelessly via PuTTY or ssh.