As off-the-shelf small sized single board computers are gaining popularity among the professional developers, electronics enthusiasts, hobbyist and also students, three names have become known to almost all of these people: Arduino, Raspberry Pi and Beagle Bone Black. Among these three, I some how got attracted to Raspbery Pi, don't know why. Once reason could be that I was looking for a cheaper but somewhat powerful single board computer. Recently I got one from Element 14 and it is Raspberry Pi "B" version. I expected that it would atleast come with the SD card loaded with the OS, but it doesn't. So, I had to buy one 16 GB Class 10 microSD card with a SD card adopter as the Raspberry Pi has the slot for SD card. Somebody on the web suggested to keep the SD card adopter installed on Raspberry Pi and just take the microSD card in and out when required. In that way, the wear & tear on the Raspberry Pi SD card connections would be minimum. I followed the instructions mentioned in Raspberry Pi official website to format the microSD card and load NSBOOT in it using my computer. An microSD/SD card reader would be required for loading the necessary files in the microSD card.
I did not have a HDMI cable and hence I bought one. I had a wireless keyboard-mouse set and already had power supply with mini USB connector. So I just connected all of these to Raspberry Pi. By the way, I bought a little cute transparent case too.
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| Picture 1: Raspberry Pi in a case, micro-SD card and SD card adopter & HDMI cable |
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| Picture 2: Bottom-side view of Raspberry Pi with SD card adopter with micro SD card installed, HDMI cable, USB power cable & wireless USB dongle for keyboard & mouse connected and all set to go. |
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| Picture 3: Top-side view of Raspberry Pi with all connected and ready to go. |
I used my 32" LED TV as the display and I connected the other end of the HDMI cable to one HDMI port of the TV. Next I powered the TV on, changed its input to the corresponding HDMI input and then switched Raspberry Pi on. It came alive!! The first screen appeared as shown in Picture 4 below:
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| Picture 4: The first screen appeared after power-up, prompting which OS to install |
I had a low confidence on how my wireless keyboard and mouse would work. I moved my mouse and awfully enough I saw the mouse pointer moving on the screen. My respect for the Raspberry Pi engineers got mightier than I originally had. I clicked on the little box next ti "Raspbian [Recommended]" and the "install" button on top left corner appeared, on which I clicked. The installation began and as the installation progressed, several important information appeared and re-appeared time to time.
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| Picture 5: Raspbian installation in progress. |
After the installation was completed, the following screen appeared as shown in Picture 6 below:
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| Picture 6: OS Installation Successfully Completed |
