developer

Install and configure a working Operating System image.

qualifying statement

Learners will use standard raspberrypi foundation deployment techniques to obtain, install and configure an operating system on their sdcard.

outcomes

The result will be a working sdcard image that may be placed into any raspberry pi computer model 3 and above.

(Note: not the pico, which is a micro-controller that does not run an Operating System.)

overview

We are going to look at using the raspberry pi foundation Desktop images:

In this lesson you will learn how to

download the .deb Ubuntu rpi-imager package (note: that Ubuntu is a derivative of Debian)
how to select the operating system
install the sdcard
and configure your raspberry pi OS

instructions

start a shell and install curl if not present

sudo apt install curl

download the rpi-imager (for Ubuntu and Debian on X86).

curl -L https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/imager/imager_latest_amd64.deb > raspi-imager.deb

(alternate) using browser

https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/imager/imager_latest_amd64.deb

(alternate) for Windows (and then run it)

https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/imager/imager_latest.exe

alternate for MacOs

https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/imager/imager_latest.dmg

run the imager as a regular user application on your selected operating system (we are using Debian in our illustration)

sudo rpi-imager

locate Raspberry Pi 64bit operating system

choose the Storage to update

configure some options along these lines:
- hostname
- enable SSH
- set username and password
- configure wireless LAN
  - be sure to select your country e.g. AU
- set local
  - use the US keyboard

save the configuration
write the image to the storage (e.g. sdcard)

The rpi-imager will download the image from the www and write to your card. This will take a little bit of time to complete and you can watch the progress bar.

We chose to use curl to download the rpi-imager for convenience; you could have used a browser download and then located the file in ~/Downloads to install it as an alternate way to curl.

running

Now lets run the image:

make sure the power is off on your pi
install the card into a raspberry pi/pi400
make sure you have your peripherals connected:
- mouse
- keyboard
- display
- network if you have a physical network cable
turn the pi on and wait for a prompt

There are other things we can do after this lesson. You might like to install

Lesson:libreoffice using apt
install a headless image.

(See Special:WantedPages for those we need to complete.)

other operating system selections

There are several images available that can be seen by walking through the rpi-imager. We will explore some of these in other lessons.

multimedia

emulation and games

other specific-purpose OS

erase: format the card FAT32

review

start a browser and review what you have done by watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpJCAafw2qE on your raspberry pi (or a laptop if you only have a pi 3 and it is too slow).

Hint

If you have a working raspberry pi desktop and a USB sdcard carrier you can probably navigate to this lesson and run the installer on your raspberry. Take care not to overwrite your active sdcard. You may also like to perform a backup by following lesson:backup sdcard for those with a laptop.

Raspbian OS (lesson)