Installing Node.js

To finish this chapter, we are going to install Node.js, which is a powerful framework that we will use to run most of the applications that we are going to see inside this book. Luckily for us, installing Node.js on Raspberry Pi is really simple.

First, log into your Raspberry Pi via SSH. We are going to quickly check that Node.js was not installed with the Linux image. To do so, type the following:

node -v

If this returns the version of Node.js, you can stop there. If it returns an error, you will have to install it manually. To do so, first type the following:

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_4.x | sudo -E bash -

After that, type the following command, which will install Node.js:

sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Finally, install some additional tools with the following:

sudo apt-get install -y build-essential

You can now test that Node.js is correctly installed by typing the following:

node -v

Congratulations, you now have a fully configured Raspberry Pi Zero! In the next chapter, we are going to build your first application using the Zero board and learn how to measure data from sensors.