Install operating system(s)
You
can select from a number of OS’es and media players, but here we
will deal with the most popular and versatile option – installing
Raspian. This is the Raspberry PI version of Debian Linux it is a
very fully featured and powerful operating system. (Even though it
looks cut-down at first, it is NOT!) This is similar to Ubuntu and
Mint Linux (both Debian based Os's) and will be familiar to most
Linux users.
If
you did not buy a case, or do not wish to install it yet DO ensure
that the PI pcb is not near a conducting surface!
You will need to download NOOBS from raspberrypi.org/downloads, my Youtube guide is here
Simply plug your PI into a mouse and keyboard via USB, attach a HDMI cable to your television (Turn your TV on before you boot a PI, some do not recognise TVs otherwise). Slide the Micro SD card into its slot and plug the power supply in. This is the boot process and you should see the rainbow screen within a second or so. If the PI is blank you will then be welcomed by the Noobs boot menu and operating system selection screen. Simply select Raspian and click install on the top left. If you want to download alternatives you can select the WiFi option and login to your router. You can even open a browser from this screen if you need to check RaspberryPI.org for info and do not have a PC or laptop to hand, very useful!
Simply plug your PI into a mouse and keyboard via USB, attach a HDMI cable to your television (Turn your TV on before you boot a PI, some do not recognise TVs otherwise). Slide the Micro SD card into its slot and plug the power supply in. This is the boot process and you should see the rainbow screen within a second or so. If the PI is blank you will then be welcomed by the Noobs boot menu and operating system selection screen. Simply select Raspian and click install on the top left. If you want to download alternatives you can select the WiFi option and login to your router. You can even open a browser from this screen if you need to check RaspberryPI.org for info and do not have a PC or laptop to hand, very useful!
Installation
is not fast, SD cards are not like hard drives, but it is relatively
rare that you will do this. Those who wish to expriment should keep a
stock of SD cards, 16GB mode 10 SDXC ones are amazing value for money
and to 64 GB are supported for Noobs. You can use larger SD cards or
USB sticks or drives later.
 |
| The PI comes alive, this is what you see on bootup. |
If
you are wanting to replace or add to an existing Operating System
(Pi’s can dual/multiple boot) simply boot until you see the
Raspberry fruit screen and hold down ‘Shift’ until you see the
boot menu. From there you can rebuild or install additional OS’es.
So simple! With several updates to NOOBS this process has recently become a lot simpler and more versatile.
For
a video walk though on YouTube - Click
here
Please
do note that if you are making your own Noobs images and have an SDHC
or SDXC card, you cannot format these using Windows’ built in
format facility, (though standard SD can). You will need to download
an SD card formatter, this is free and can be
obtained here how-to-format-pi-sd-cards-using-sd-formatter. I
spent about two frustrating hours before I discovered this.
Okay,
once Raspian is installed, if it presents you with a login screen,
the default login is username ‘pi’ and password ‘raspberry’.
Do not worry we will shortly be changing these and looking at
multiple user accounts and permissions. Yes the PI really is
fully a functioning computer!
The
next thing should be to either connect a network RJ45 cable, or set
up Wifi. For Ethernet simply plug the RJ45 cable in next to the USB
sockets. For Wifi, click the WiFi logo, select your network name and
enter the password.
If
you have used Linux or a Mac before it will be fairly intuitive. From
the “PI” start button on the left hand side of the task bar,
click and explore your new computer.
That
is the basic installation!
