Getting started with Raspbian “wheezy”

So to get going with the Raspberry PI you need to get an operating system loaded onto a SD card. The instructions on the Downloads page for the Raspberry PI make the process look simple - so here goes.

I started by downloading the latest Raspbian (2013-02-09-wheezy-raspbian.zip). My choice of this particular image was quite simply that it was the first in the list (don't like hard choices) and recommended for people just starting out (like ME). It is then a simple process of following the instructions in the guide for beginners.

As I am primarily a Windows user the first task is to download Win32DiskImager by following the link. The page that appears is rather confusing at first glance. The developer of this software is moving the project to SourceForge. So I clicked the link to Sourceforge project to get to a page where I could download the current version of Win32DiskImager-v0.7-binary.zip It is then a simple process of unzipping the file to a directory and running it - First mistake.

I then spent ages trying to get the program to see the SD card. Windows would detect the card as soon as I plugged in the USB reader with the SD card fitted, but Win32DiskImager would not see it. That's when I discovered that you have to have the SD card seen by Windows before you run the application - simple really. The instructions do tell you to insert the the SD card first before even downloading the utility. So lesson 1 - curb the excitement and follow the nicely written instructions.

It is then a simple matter of choosing the image to write and selecting the correct drive for the SD card and finally clicking the Write button. So I now have a nice new 4GB SD card with the latest version of Raspbian on it ready to be plugged into my Raspberry PI.

Now the moment of truth - does it work.

I connected everything up following the Quick start guide - Keyboard, mouse, DVI monitor (using a HDMI to DVI lead) and even an Ethernet connection (spare one lying on the desk). Finally time to apply power.

Lots of text scrolling up the screen can only be seen as a successful start. After a while the Raspi-config window appears. The Quick start guide suggest changing the Locale and Timezone. I only changed the Timezone as I was not sure which of the cryptic Locale names to choose. You have to use the keyboard arrow keys to select the menu options as the mouse does not work (Yet ?).

I then expanded the root partition to fully utilise the SD card I am using. I also Enabled ssh as I would like to use my main PC to access the PI - saves having two keyboards and mouse on my desk to get confused with. Selecting finish suggest a Reboot, so why not.

After the reboot had completed I was left with a nice simple login prompt. So I entered the default user name "pi" and password "raspberry" and got to the command prompt. One of the things I did know about Linux is it does not show any characters when entering the password. So you have to be careful as you get no indication if you accidentally press two keys.