Lesson-02 Setting Up the Raspberry-Pi 4 Model-B Board
The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B is a completely upgraded, re-engineered, faster, and more powerful model that is more energy-efficient, cost-effective, and capable of running two monitors at once in 4K resolution. The Pi 4 Model B gives you a complete desktop experience to work on your documents, browse the web and do a lot more smoothly.
In the previous tutorial, we introduced you to the Raspberry Pi series of boards. Have a look at the Previous Tutorial…
Lesson 01: Introduction to Raspberry Pi
In this tutorial, we are going to learn how to set up our Raspberry Pi 4 Model B to be used as a full desktop computer and we’ll be covering the following;
- Hardware Peripherals – What you’ll need.
- Installing Raspberry-Pi OS on SD Card
- Using the Raspberry Pi – with a Monitor
- Using the Raspberry Pi – without a Monitor (Headless Connection)
Hardware Peripherals – What you’ll need:
For us to better use the Raspberry Pi 4 as a full desktop, we need a few hardware peripherals for connections, and these include;
A power supply:
All Raspberry Pi models have a USB port to connect power to them, the same port found on most smartphones. Earlier models of the Pi (3, 2, 1, Zero) all have micro USB ports whereas the Pi 4 Model B has a USB-C for power supply. Therefore you’ll need a power supply that provides at least 3.0 Amps for the Raspberry Pi 4 and at least 2.5 Amps for the Raspberry Pi 3 and other models.
A microSD card
To get started with the Pi, you’ll need a microSD card with a capacity of at least 8GB to store all the files and the Raspberry Pi operating system. You could also purchase a microSD card that is already set up with the Raspberry Pi OS and ready to go.
A keyboard and mouse
To start using your Pi for the first time during setup, you’ll need a USB keyboard and a USB mouse and after you’ve set up your Pi, you can use a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard. You could opt for the official keyboard and mouse from the Raspberry Pi foundation or buy from your local vendor.
A TV/Computer screen
A computer screen or a TV with HDMI, VGA, or DVI ports is needed to help you view and interact with the Raspbian desktop environment via a cable connection to link the screen with the Pi. If the screen has in-built speakers, the Pi will use those to play sounds alternatively, you can connect external speakers to play sounds.
HDMI, DVI, or VGA cables;
Earlier Pi models have a full HDMI port that is compatible with the HDMI port of most modern TVs or computer monitors, so a standard HDMI-to-HDMI cable is all you need for a connection. The Raspberry Pi 4 Model B however, has two micro-HDMI ports that allow you to connect two separate computer monitors to the Pi. Therefore to connect the Pi 4 to a computer screen, you’ll need either a micro HDMI-to-HDMI cable or a standard HDMI-to-HDMI cable plus a micro HDMI-to-HDMI adapter.
For a computer monitor or TV screen, that has either a VGA or DVI ports, you can use an HDMI-to-VGA adapter or an HDMI-to-DVI cable to connect the Pi to it.
A case (optional);
This piece of hardware is optional, but should you want to provide some sort of protection for your Raspberry Pi, then you might want to put it in a case. You can use the official case for the Pi 4 or Pi Zero/ Zero W or you could purchase these cases from third-party vendors.
Headphones or Speakers (Optional);
Unlike the Pi Zero/Zero W, all other Raspberry Pi models have a standard audio port just like the one on your smartphone or MP3 player. You can either connect your headphones or speakers via this audio port for the Pi to play a sound or alternatively if your computer monitor or TV screen has in-built speakers, then the Pi can play sounds through these.
An Ethernet cable
Unlike the Pi Zero/Zero W, Pi 1 Model A, and Pi 1 Model A+ that need a USB-to-Ethernet Adapter to connect to the internet, all other large Raspberry Pi models have a standard Ethernet port to connect them to the internet. The Raspberry Pi 4, 3, and Pi Zero W, 2W can also be wirelessly connected to the internet.
Installing Raspberry-Pi OS on SD Card
The Raspberry Pi needs an Operating System to work and the official supported OS is the Raspberry Pi OS previously known as Raspbian. The best, quick, and easy way to install Raspberry Pi OS and other operating systems to a microSD card to be used by your Pi is by using the Raspberry Pi Imager.
Follow the steps below to learn how to install your Raspberry Pi-OS onto an SD card;
Step 1: Install Pi Imager
Once you have all the required hardware listed above, download and install Raspberry Pi Imager software from this link https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/ to a computer with an SD card reader.
This software is cross-platform (available for Windows OS, macOS & Linux,) but for this tutorial, we’ll be showing you how to use it on Windows OS. For macOS and Linux users, use the same link above to download the software.
Step 2: – Insert SD-card Reader
Insert the SD card you’ll be using with your Pi into the reader and then insert the reader into your computer as shown below;
Step 3: Choose OS
Run/Start the Raspberry Pi Imager software and click on “CHOOSE OS” then select Raspberry Pi OS (32-bit) from the OS menu.
There are other options, but for the case of this tutorial, we shall use the recommended 32-bit version.
Step 4: Choose Storage
Click on “CHOOSE STORAGE” and choose the SD card you’ll be using as shown below.
Step 5: – Advanced Options Menu
This step is optional and it’s about preconfiguring your Operating System. To access this advanced menu, click on the gear icon or press “CTRL+SHIFT+X” if you’re using an older version of Imager.
If you use the Advanced Options menu in Imager to configure your Raspberry Pi OS installation then the configuration wizard that normally runs on the first boot of your Raspberry Pi will be skipped.
Amongst other things the Advanced Options menu is useful mostly for when you want to configure a headless (without a monitor) Raspberry Pi.
For our case, we shall go for the pre-configurations by setting the hostname, enabling SSH, setting a new password, if you leave this empty, the default password (“raspberry”) will be used, configure the Wireless LAN (SSID and Password), you can skip this if you’re using an ethernet cable, and also changing the location settings to our time zone and finally selecting the keyboard layout we prefer to use. After the configurations, click on the save button.
In case you prefer not to configure your Operating System at this stage using the Advanced Menu of the Pi Imager, then when the Raspberry Pi OS starts up for the first time, you will be guided through the initial setup of the Pi OS configuration wizard that runs on the first boot.
Step 6: – Write & Verify SD Card
Finally, click on the Write button to start the writing process, this process takes several minutes as the Raspberry Pi Imager downloads the Raspberry Pi OS and burns it to your microSD card and after the writing process is done, remove the microSD card from the card reader and insert it into your Pi.
Using the Raspberry Pi
There are two ways how to use your Raspberry Pi single-board computer and these include;
Method 1 – With a Monitor
To use your Raspberry Pi with a computer monitor or a portable screen, follow the steps below;
- first and foremost, you need to insert the microSD card with the Raspberry Pi OS into the back of your Raspberry Pi board.
- then power up your Pi and your monitor using the power-supply adapters.
- connect your Raspberry Pi to the monitor with the use of a micro-HDMI-to-HDMI cable,
- attach either a wired or wireless keyboard and mouse as shown in the figure above and you’ll be good to go. At this point, you can use your Raspberry Pi as a full desktop.
Method 2 – Headless – Without a Monitor (Remote Connection)
This method is very conducive if you don’t want to use an external monitor or when you don’t have one but want to use your Pi as a Desktop computer.
For us to be able to achieve this, we have to follow the steps below;
Step 1: Connect your Raspberry Pi to the Internet either via ethernet or Wi-Fi.
Use an ethernet cable and insert one end into the ethernet port of the Raspberry Pi and the other end into your router/ethernet wall plug. Alternatively, you could use the wifi connection that you pre-configured during the installation process. Make sure that your laptop and the Raspberry Pi are connected to the same network.
To ensure that the Raspberry Pi is connected to the Internet, open cmd/power shell and run this command “ping -4 raspberrypi.local” or just “ping -4 raspberrypi”. This ping test will either show you that the Pi is fully connected and avail the IPv4 Address of the Pi or show you that the Pi is connected which may be due to poor internet connectivity.
NB: If you don’t include the “-4” in the command, it will give you an IPv6 Address.
Alternatively, we could use a software called Angry IP Scanner to get the IP Address of our Raspberry Pi.
Step 2: Establish an SSH connection
The second step after connecting our Pi to the internet requires us to establish a Secure Shell Connection (SSH). To do this, we will have to download and install Putty Software if we don’t have it already installed on our Machines. Putty is the leading SSH client for windows.
Launch Putty and enter either raspberrypi or raspberrypi.local or the IPv4 Address of the Pi you wish to connect to in the Host Name (or IP Address) field of Putty and then click “Open”.
Click on “Accept” to start the connection.
Once the SSH connection is established, you will need to login into the Raspberry Pi using the pre-configured credentials, that is; your username and password.
At this point, you’ve already established a connection and you can remotely control your Raspberry Pi with this Command-Line Interface (CLI). But if you want to access the Graphical User Interface (GUI) of the Raspberry Pi OS, then you’ll need to enable VNC server.
Step 3: Enable VNC server from Pi configurations:
In order to access the GUI over VNC, we need to, first of all, enable VNC server and to do this, enter this command “sudo raspi-config” in the command line prompt above.
A configuration window opens up, select Interfacing Options.
Select VNC and also select Yes on the next window.
Click OK/Enter to enable VNC Server.
Finally, click Finish to complete the configuration.
Step 4: Download, install, Launch & Configure VNC viewer
Upon launching VNC viewer, click on File and select New Connection from the File Menu item.
Enter the “raspberrypi.local” in the VNC server field as shown below and then click Ok.
Double click on the connection icon below to connect.
If you’re shown the security warning, just click “continue”.
Enter the Raspberry Pi’s username and password that you pre-configured during installation and click Ok.
Step 5: Complete the SetUp.
Upon clicking Ok, the Raspberry Pi OS GUI will appear in a window on your computer’s desktop and you’ll be able to control your Raspberry Pi remotely.
Conclusion
In this tutorial, you’ve been able to learn how to setup your Raspberry Pi Board to be used as a full desktop computer, you’ve learnt how to install the Raspberry Pi OS onto a microSD card, how to use your Board with a Monitor and also how to connect to it remotely (SSH) using the headless method without a monitor.
In the next tutorial, we will be learning about how to use our Raspberry Pi Board as a full desktop computer running Raspberry-Pi OS to perform tasks such as web-browsing, programming in Python using built-in IDEs, gaming, using terminal, installing and updating software and many more…