How to Set Up Raspberry Pi

How to Set Up Raspberry Pi? 🛠️#

Being a powerful, cheap and flexible mini computer, Raspberry Pi can be used in many areas from hobby projects to professional applications. So, how do you set up this device when you first get it? 🤔

In this guide, Raspberry Pi setup is explained step by step. You will find everything you need from preparing the microSD card to remote connection via SSH.

📦 Required Hardware#

You will need the following hardware to set up Raspberry Pi:

Raspberry Pi (Pi 3 Model B was used in this guide)
microSD card (at least 8GB, preferably Class 10)
microSD card reader (adapter may be needed if not on your computer)
Computer (to prepare microSD card)
HDMI cable, monitor, keyboard
Ethernet cable (or Wi-Fi)
microUSB power cable (standard Android charger)

If all this hardware is ready, let's start. 👇

💾 Preparing the microSD Card#

Great, now I'm continuing with Step 1: Flash Your microSD Card section:

Step 1: Flash Your microSD Card#

Insert your microSD card into your computer.
Download and install the Etcher application.
Download the Raspbian Stretch Lite version and extract the zip file. This version is a very lightweight Raspbian version that runs only with the command line and has no desktop interface. The file size is approximately 351MB (November 2018 version), so it will download quickly.
Open Etcher, select the .img file of the Raspbian operating system you extracted, and show your microSD card as the target. Then click the Flash button and wait for the process to complete. If you are using Windows, some Explorer windows may open during the process, you can ignore them.
After the process is complete, eject your microSD card and disconnect it from your computer.
Make sure your Raspberry Pi is off. Insert the flashed microSD card into your Pi.
Connect your keyboard, monitor (via HDMI port) and Ethernet cable to your Raspberry Pi. Finally, plug in the power cable. Raspberry Pi will automatically turn on.

Step 2: Configuring Raspberry Pi#

When you see the raspberrypi login: message and a blinking cursor at the bottom of the screen, type the following as your username:

pi

Press Enter. Then enter the default password:

raspberry

We will change this password shortly.

Now type the following command for system updates:

sudo apt update

This command renews where Raspbian gets its updates from. apt is a package manager. sudo means "super-user do"; that is, you are running this command with administrator privileges.
You may have seen apt-get before, but apt is a newer and more user-friendly version. Wait for the command to complete.

When you see the pi@raspberrypi:~ $ output on the screen again, the update process is complete. Now enter the following command:

sudo apt full-upgrade

When asked

type and press Enter. This process may take a while, but you can watch the progress bar at the bottom of the screen.

After the updates are complete, run the following cleanup commands:

sudo apt autoremove && sudo apt clean

These commands remove unnecessary packages and free up memory. The && sign allows you to combine multiple commands in a single line.

Now type the following command to open the configuration screen:

sudo raspi-config

A blue graphical screen will open. You can navigate the menu with the arrow keys and make selections with the Enter key. Select the 8 Update option and press Enter to update the configuration tool.

After waiting a few seconds, scroll down to the 4. Localisation Options option and press Enter. Then press Enter again to change the locale settings.
Scroll down to find the en_GB.UTF-8 UTF-8 option, if it is selected, deselect it with the spacebar.
Continue and find the en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 option and mark it with the spacebar. Then press Enter to complete the process. Press Enter again to make the en_US.UTF-8 option the default. Then you will be returned to the raspi-config screen.
Enter the 4. Localisation Options menu again. This time select the I2 Change Timezone option.
First select your continent, then your city. For example, I choose America/Toronto. If you are in the USA, you can select your region from under US.
Enter the Localisation Options menu again and this time select the I3 Change Keyboard Layout option to set the keyboard layout.
I am using a Dell USB Multimedia Keyboard. Select your own keyboard. If you are in England, you can select the default layout. If not, go to Other and select your keyboard language.
Then select the version of the keyboard layout. If you are not sure, prefer the first option. Also skip the Alt-Gr key and Compose Key options with Enter - you won't need them right now.
Finally, enter the Localisation Options menu again and select the I4 Change Wi-fi Country option.
This is very important, because using wireless settings that are not appropriate for the country you are in can cause legal problems. Select your country and press Enter. Press Enter again when the <Ok> message appears.
Now scroll down to the 7. Advanced Options menu and select the A1 Expand Filesystem option.
This process allows Raspberry Pi to use the entire SD card.
To change the user password, enter the 1 Change User Password option. Follow the instructions on the screen to set your new password.
Finally, press the right arrow key twice to go to the <Finish> option and press Enter.
Now go to the 2 Network Options menu and select the N1 Hostname option. Give your Raspberry Pi a name. After making the settings, the system will restart. Wait for the restart process to complete.

Step 3: Customizing Raspberry Pi#

When your Raspberry Pi restarts, log in again:

pi

Then type the password you just set and press Enter.

To remove the rainbow screen that appears at startup, enter the following command:

sudo nano /boot/config.txt

Nano is an easy-to-use text editor in Linux. Scroll to the bottom with the arrow keys and add the following line:

disable_splash=1

Press Ctrl+X to exit, then press y to save the changes.

Restart your Raspberry Pi. Now the rainbow effect will not appear on the startup screen.
If you want to see it again in the future, you can go back to the /boot/config.txt file and delete this line.
You just edited a file with nano. Now we will edit the /etc/motd file. This file determines the "message of the day" that appears on the screen when you log in:

sudo nano /etc/motd

If you just type nano, you cannot edit the file, sudo is required.
When the cursor is at the beginning of the file, press Ctrl+^, scroll to the bottom with the arrow keys. This selects all the text. Then delete the selection with Ctrl+K.
When the file is empty, write the message you want to see at login. To save and exit, press Ctrl+X then y.

Now press Ctrl+D to log out of the session.
When you log in again, you will see the message you just wrote.
Finally, set a password for the root user:

sudo passwd

Step 4: SSH Installation#

SSH allows you to connect to Raspberry Pi remotely via terminal (command line) from another device. First, you need to assign a static IP address to Pi.

Learn Raspberry Pi's local IP address:

ip -4 a | grep global

You may get an output like this:

inet 192.168.2.10/24 brd 10.1.1.255 scope global eth0

Here 192.168.2.10 is Pi's local IP address. /24 shows the size of the network, it is 24 for most home networks. Note down the IP address.

Learn the modem's (router) local IP address:

ip route | grep default

You will see something like this:

default via 192.168.2.1 dev eth0 src 192.168.2.10 metric 202

In my example 192.168.2.1 is the modem IP. Yours may be different, note it down too.

Find the DNS server address:

cat /etc/resolv.conf

Sample output:

# Generated by resolvconf
domain home
nameserver 192.168.2.1
nameserver XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX

The address on the first nameserver line is usually the same as the router IP. If it is different, note it down too.

Edit the dhcpcd.conf file to fix the IP address:

sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf

In the opened file, go to the # Example static IP configuration line and edit as follows:

interface eth0
static ip_address=192.168.2.10/24
static routers=192.168.2.1
static domain_name_servers=192.168.2.1

Update these addresses according to your network information.
Ctrl+X → y → Enter to save and exit, then restart Raspberry Pi.

Enable the SSH service:

sudo systemctl enable ssh
sudo systemctl start ssh

Now restart again:

sudo reboot

To connect to Raspberry Pi from another computer, open terminal on that computer:
(Terminal on Linux/Mac, cmd on Windows)
Establish SSH connection with the following command:

ssh pi@192.168.2.10

Here 192.168.2.10 is your Pi's IP address. At the first connection, type yes to continue.

Write Pi's password and press Enter.
If successful, the login message (MOTD) will appear and now you can control Raspberry Pi from your own computer via command line.
From now on, you can remove the screen and keyboard from Raspberry Pi and manage it remotely!

📌 Conclusion and Summary#

microSD card preparation
Raspberry Pi initial configuration
Localization and user settings
Establishing remote connection via SSH

In this article, we covered all the steps you need for Raspberry Pi setup in detail: 💡

how-to-set-up-raspberry-pi

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How to Set Up Raspberry Pi