Starting out with the Raspberry Pi - Set up instructions

The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card-sized single-board computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of promoting the teaching of basic computer science in schools.

The Raspberry Pi is manufactured in two board configurations through licensed manufacturing deals with Newark element14 (Premier Farnell), RS Components and Egoman. These companies, amongst others, sell the Raspberry Pi online.

The Raspberry Pi has a Broadcom BCM2835 system on a chip (SoC), which includes an ARM1176JZF-S 700 MHz processor, VideoCore IV GPU,[12] and was originally shipped with 256 megabytes of RAM, later upgraded to 512 MB.

It does not include a built-in hard disk or solid-state drive, but uses an SD card for booting and persistent storage.    

 

 

To set up your Raspberry Pi you will need:

1 SD card • Minimum size 4Gb; class 4 (the class indicates how fast the card is).

2a HDMI to HDMI / DVI lead • HDMI to HDMI lead (for HD TVs and monitors with HDMI input). OR HDMI to DVI lead (for monitors with DVI input).

2b RCA video lead • A standard RCA composite video lead to connect to your analogue display if you are not using the HDMI output.

3 Keyboard and mouse • Any standard USB keyboard and mouse should work. • Keyboards or mice that take a lot of power from the USB ports, however, may need a powered USB hub. This may include some wireless devices.

4 Ethernet (network) cable [optional] • Networking is optional, although it makes updating and getting new software for your Raspberry Pi much easier.

5 Power adapter • A good quality, micro USB power supply that can provide at least 700mA at 5V is essential. • Many mobile phone chargers are suitable—check the label on the plug. • If your supply provides less than 5V then your Raspberry Pi may not work at all, or it may behave erratically. Be wary of very cheap chargers, some are not what they claim to be. • It does not matter if your supply is rated at more than 700mA.6 Audio lead [optional] •

  • If you are using HDMI then you will get digital audio via this.

  • If you are using the analogue RCA connection, stereo audio is available from the 3.5mm jack next to the RCA connector.

  • HDMI connector HDMI to DVI lead RCA composite video connector

Preparing your SD card for the Raspberry Pi

In order to use your Raspberry Pi, you will need to install an Operating System (OS) onto an SD card.

An Operating System is the set of basic programs and utilities that allow your computer to run; examples include Windows on a PC or OSX on a Mac.

These instructions will guide you through installing a recovery program on your SD card that will allow you to easily install different OS’s and to recover your card if you break it.

1. Insert an SD card that is 4GB or greater in size into your computer

2. Format the SD card so that the Pi can read it

a. Windowsi. Download the SD Association's Formatting Tool1 from https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/eula_windows/ii. Install and run the Formatting Tool on your machineiii. Set "FORMAT SIZE ADJUSTMENT" option to "ON" in the "Options" menuiv. Check that the SD card you inserted matches the one selected by the Toolv. Click the “Format” button

b. Maci. Download the SD Association's Formatting Tool from https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/eula_mac/ii. Install and run the Formatting Tool on your machineiii. Select “Overwrite Format”iv. Check that the SD card you inserted matches the one selected by the Toolv. Click the “Format” button

c. Linuxi. We recommend using gparted (or the command line version parted)ii. Format the entire disk as FAT3. Download the New Out Of Box Software (NOOBS) from: downloads.raspberrypi.org/noobs4. Unzip the downloaded filea. Windows: Right click on the file and choose “Extract all”b. Mac: Double tap on the filec. Linux: Run unzip [downloaded file name]

5. Copy the extracted files onto the SD card that you just formatted

 6. Insert the SD card into your Pi and connect the power supply. Your Pi will now boot into NOOBS and should display a list of operating systems that you canchoose to install.

If your display remains blank, you should select the correct output mode for your display by pressing one of the following number keys on your keyboard;

1. HDMI mode this is the default display mode.

2. HDMI safe mode select this mode if you are using the HDMI connector and cannot see anything on screen when the Pi has booted.

3. Composite PAL mode select either this mode or composite NTSC mode if you are using the composite RCA video connector

4. Composite NTSC mode