Chapter 4 Download and install OS
OK, so now you have a feel for the Raspberry Pi and Linux. It's time to download and install the operating system and set up a Pi!
Go to https://www.raspberrypi.com/software to download the latest Raspberry Pi OS. Unzip it. (Etcher will use it zipped)
Now, you need to burn the .img file onto the SD card.
Linux:
Method 1 (Original) Open a terminal. Navigate to where you saved the .img file. Insert SD card. Run command to verify where it is.
Run another command to do a copy of .img to SD. Prompt returns some time later when finished. Not used any more!
Method 2 Insert the SD card. From a file manager, right click on the .img file. Select "Open with Disk Image Writer" Follow the prompts to select the SD card, enter password, then start restore. Progress will be shown.
Method 3 From the page above, click on installation guide. Click on Download Etcher. Unzip Etcher. From a file manager, navigate to the unzipped Etcher file. Click on it. A window pops up. It's Etcher! You select the .img file you want to burn. Insert the SD card. It finds it. Flash!
Yes, we saved the best for last. There is a Windows version of Etcher too.
Go to https://www.raspberrypi.org/help/ There, you'll find a nice tutorial on how to set up the Pi's hardware, and configure the software. They'll take you through changing password, setting locale, timezone, wifi etc. They will even take you through creating a text file, saving it, and opening up a terminal to see the file you just created.
Initial powerup:
So, assuming you just burned an image of Raspbian Buster onto an SD card, insert the card into the pi, connect a USB keyboard and mouse, an HDMI monitor, and a 5 volt power supply to the power port. It will begin to boot. The first thing it will do is expand the file system to fill the whole SD card and reboot.
A "Welcome to Raspberry Pi window will appear. Click NEXT
A window will appear allowing you to select the Country, Language, Timezone, and check a box for a US Keyboard. Check the box for US Keyboard. Click NEXT
A window will pop up asking to create a password. (Omarc for our demo system, put whatever you want here) Click NEXT
A window will pop up to select a wifi network. Select one. Click NEXT
A window will pop up to enter the wifi password. Put in password. Click NEXT
A window will pop up to update software and show progress. When finished, REBOOT
You now have a Raspberry Pi up and running on the net! This is the starting point for virtually all Pi Projects.
Next, we'll explore a few handy mods from the basic system.
Jim Albrecht, K2BHM