Raspberry Pi: Setup & Configuration

Installing Raspbian

If you do not already had an SD card preloaded with Raspbian, the cheapest way to get it is to download it on to a Micro-SD card. This requires that you have access to another computer.

1. In your non-Pi computer, insert the SD card into either the built in SD card reader or a USB card reader.
2. Go to the Raspberry Pi Downloads page (click this link).
3. Select the tab RASPBIAN.
4. Select the "Raspbian Stretch with desktop and recommended software" Download Zip option.
5. Save to your desktop and unzip the folder.
6. To write the .img file to the card, download and install Etcher and open it.
7. Select the .img file, select the SD card, and hit "Flash!"
8. Remove the SD card and insert it into your Raspberry Pi, as shown below.

Hardware Configuration

1. What You Need	Hardware Diagram	2. Setting Up Hardware
		1. Position you raspberry pi like the diagram with the raspberry pi symbol facing up. 2. Begin by placing your SD card into the SD card slot on the Raspberry Pi as shown on the left side of the diagram above. It will only fit one way. 3. Next, plug your keyboard and mouse into the USB ports on the right side of the Raspberry Pi. 4. Make sure that your monitor or TV is turned on, and that you have selected the right input (e.g. HDMI 1). 5. Connect your HDMI cable from your Raspberry Pi to your monitor or TV, as shown by the red cable in the diagram. 6. Now connect the micro USB power supply (to the left of the HDMI cable). This action will turn on and boot your Raspberry Pi. If done correctly, the green LED on the Raspberry Pi should blink. 7. You will be prompted to create a username and password. Type in any username and password you would like. 8. The Raspberry Pi will then boot and you should see a computer desktop on the monitor with the raspberry pi symbol as the background.

Network connection

To connect to the internet, you can either:

1. Plug an Ethernet cable into the Ethernet port:
   1. The Raspberry Pi has an Ethernet port, together with the USB ports. Plug one side of the Ethernet cable into the Raspberry Pi and the other side into a router. Now the Raspberry Pi will automatically connect to the internet.

1. Connect a WiFi dongle to one of the USB ports:
   1. Plug one Wifi dongle into the raspberry pi and another into your computer. You should now be able to access the wifi just like you would on a normal computer.
   2. In the top right corner of the screen, you should see a wifi configuration symbol. Click on it and select your network.
   3. You should now be connected to the network. If not, repeat steps B1-3.

GPIO Pins

If you require input to your Pi for you project, here's a handy diagram of the different pins available on the Pi 2 and 3:

Be very deliberate in plugging things into your Pi; playing around with random wires and pins or things that require lots of power can wreck your device.