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Learning Raspbian
Learning Raspbian

Learning Raspbian: Get up and running with Raspbian and make the most out of your Raspberry Pi

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Learning Raspbian

Chapter 2. Getting Started with Raspbian

Now that you know a bit more about Raspbian, it is time to get started. The first thing that you need to do is plug in your Raspberry Pi and then install Raspbian onto an SD card. This process is different from installing software onto your Windows PC or Mac.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

  • SD card specifications
  • Downloading Raspbian
  • Imaging Raspbian onto your SD card

SD card specifications

It is recommended that your SD card has the following specifications:

Capacity

At least 8 GB

Class

Class 4 is minimum but class 10 is recommended

Note

Make sure that you get the correct SD card. Raspberry Pi A and Raspberry Pi B both use a full-sized SD card. Raspberry Pi B+ uses a mini SD card.

It is highly recommended that you don't run your Raspberry Pi without an SD card. This is because all the hardware on your Raspberry Pi will not be set up correctly. This might lead to the damage of your Raspberry Pi hardware.

Downloading Raspbian

Now that you have got all the hardware, you need to get your Raspberry Pi up and running. It is time to get the Raspbian image. You can download the Raspbian image from several places. The easiest place from which you can download this is directly from the Raspberry Pi Foundation website at http://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/.

Downloading Raspbian

The official Raspbian download page

On this page, you will see links to all the official operating systems supported by the Foundation. We are interested in the Raspbian image. If you are able to download the image from a BitTorrent client, you can help the Foundation save some bandwidth. If you can't do this, simply download the zip file.

At the time of writing this book, the latest version of Raspbian is based on Debian Wheezy, which was released in January 2015. The download itself is just over 800 MB. When you have downloaded the file, you need to extract the image from the zip file. How you do this depends on the operating system that...

Imaging Raspbian onto your SD card

The file that you have just downloaded is an exact replica of the all the contents of an SD card. For this reason, you can't simply copy the file onto the SD card and be up and running. To copy Raspbian onto your SD card, you need to write the image directly to your SD card. The process to do this varies depending on your operating system.

Writing the image using Windows

To write the Raspbian image to an SD card using Windows, you need a software program that is capable of performing the task. There are several programs available, but we will be using a program called Win32 Disk Imager. Win32 Disk Imager is an open source tool designed to write image files to a removable storage device such as an SD card or USB drive. You can get Win32 Disk Imager from http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/. Its icon will look like the following:

Writing the image using Windows

The steps to be performed for writing the image using Windows are as follows:

  1. The first step is to insert the SD...

Summary

In this chapter, you learned where to download the Raspbian image from. You also stepped through how to write the Raspbian image to your SD card using several different operating systems. The next chapter will show you how to set up your Raspberry Pi and configure Raspbian.

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Description

This book is intended for developers who have worked with the Raspberry Pi and who want to learn how to make the most of the Raspbian operating system and their Raspberry Pi. Whether you are a beginner to the Raspberry Pi or a seasoned expert, this book will make you familiar with the Raspbian operating system and teach you how to get your Raspberry Pi up and running.

Who is this book for?

This book is intended for developers who have worked with the Raspberry Pi and who want to learn how to make the most of the Raspbian operating system and their Raspberry Pi. Whether you are a beginner to the Raspberry Pi or a seasoned expert, this book will make you familiar with the Raspbian operating system and teach you how to get your Raspberry Pi up and running.

What you will learn

  • Understand your Raspberry Pi and the different components that make up the Raspbian operating system
  • Set up and configure your Raspberry Pi
  • Download and install Raspbian onto an SD card suitable for the Raspberry Pi
  • Learn about the XFCE desktop environment that is bundled with Raspbian
  • Experiment with the different ways you can install software in Raspbian
  • Grasp the basics of the Linux command prompt

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : Feb 24, 2015
Length: 154 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781784390181
Category :
Languages :
Tools :

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Product Details

Publication date : Feb 24, 2015
Length: 154 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781784390181
Category :
Languages :
Tools :

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Table of Contents

9 Chapters
1. The Raspberry Pi and Raspbian Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Getting Started with Raspbian Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Starting Raspbian Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. An Introduction to the Raspbian Desktop Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Installing Software on Raspbian Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. The Console Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Other Linux Distributions Based on Raspbian Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
A. References Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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Rating distribution
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(14 Ratings)
5 star 42.9%
4 star 21.4%
3 star 28.6%
2 star 7.1%
1 star 0%
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Dennis McCoy Oct 26, 2015
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Easy shopping, rapid delivery, great product
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Jason Jun 23, 2015
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
This book is an excellent introductory book for novices to learn about Raspberry Pi or Raspbian in particular. The topics covered in the book range from the Raspberry Pi hardware platform, to all major aspects of the software, including the fundamentals of the customized Raspbian OS, software management on Raspbian, graphical interface, and command-line console. Even people who have an IT background but want to know about Raspberry Pi can benefit from the book. The book was well written and reads like a breeze. The only improvement I would suggest is to avoid using black background in figures illustrating the console. I read the book on an e-book reader. Certain text is difficulty to read inside the console with that setting. In addition, I spotted a few typos, probably because the book was published in a fast pace by Packt. Overall, this is a great book. I recommend it.
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Charles A. Sep 24, 2020
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very good reference
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bspuckett Aug 18, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Great help transitioning from Windows to Raspbian.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Brian Doros Nov 27, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Good book, lots of vey good info. Fast delivery
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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