Raspberry Pi Guide

Part 1: Getting a Pi

Given the low-power nature of my services, I made the more conservative choice of the Pi 4B. I purchased this from The Pi Hut, which is the most popular UK vendor for Raspberry Pis. The delivery on Pi Hut is honestly one of the fastest I've ever had from an e-vendor, even if I had to click for Royal Mail rather than have the poor thing chucked about by Evri (formerly Hermes).

What Arrived in the Post

Raspberry Pi 4 Model B

I purchased the 2GB option, but you can buy Pis available with up to 8GB of RAM.

Official 32GB SD card (pre-loaded with 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS)

This one was pre-loaded with the Pi OS, thus saving me from having to flash it to the card manually. The latter process is not covered in this guide.

Official Raspberry Pi power supply (white UK plug)

Always use the official Raspberry Pi power supplies, using anything else can underpower your Pi.

A black USB cable

This cable came as a bonus, but was ultimately left unused during my setup. It's still good to keep around as a spare.

Official black/grey case, complete with an embossed Pi logo

This protects the Pi's circuit board from dust, static, and physical damage. You can probably put a few little stickers on it.

What Didn't Arrive

White micro-HDMI to HDMI cable

Because I didn't realise my black USB cable wasn't a micro HDMI one! This is for establishing a display on your spare desktop monitor, which you'll need for navigating the Pi setup.

Part 2: Setting the scene

Starting a Pi cannot be done from your main device. You need extra hardware, as you're (temporarily) making a miniature desktop setup. If you're low on supplies, you can unplug things from your main setup. Expect the main setup to fall asleep if it's been left on; putting a mouse or keyboard back in won't automatically wake it up.

Step 1: The scene

Spare monitor

An Acer was used for this initial setup.

Spare keyboard

A spare Dell keyboard from a late Christmas gift worked nicely here.

Spare mouse

A Razer mouse was used, as there were no spare mice on hand.

Step 2: Checking the boxes

Once you have all of these, you're ready to assemble your Pi!

Part 3: Establishing your Pi

Be sure to keep a clean workspace and a non-metal platform for your Pi to sit on.

Step 1: Inserting the SD Card

1. Slot the Pi into the bottom half of its case. Press on the flat circuit board parts of the Pi until it makes a nice snapping sound. Don't be shy, it can handle this even if it looks like it can't.
2. The SD card slot is located on the underside of the Pi Board, on the other side of the USB ports. With your Pi in one hand and your Micro SD in the other, slot it gently into the Pi. The gold contacts have to face up towards you and the board its entering, while the label side faces underneath. If the card keeps entering at an angle, you're likely trying to insert the wrong side.
3. Push gently until it clicks. It should not be at an angle or stick out past the edge of the bottom case.
4. Slot the top case onto the Pi.

You've now loaded your Raspberry Pi. The SD card is crucial to doing anything with the Pi and it must always be handled carefully.

Step 2: Connecting Cables and Power

1. Spare keyboard → any USB port on the Pi
2. Razer mouse → any USB port on the Pi
3. White HDMI cable:
   • SMALL micro-HDMI end → Pi (use the port CLOSEST to the power port)
   • Normal HDMI end → spare Acer monitor
4. Make sure the spare Acer monitor is plugged in and turned on
5. Power supply → plug into Pi's USB-C port LAST

When you plug in the power, the Pi will turn on and your spare monitor should start doing things!

Step 3: Navigating the Wizard

• Let the Pi boot up. It should start with a black screen, then you should see a rainbow gradient and finally the Raspberry Pi welcome screen (light-mode only so don't do this in the dark).
• You're now in the Raspberry Pi's Setup Wizard. Like other Setup Wizards, this will walk you through the installation and help you create an account for your Pi. This account is how you log into the Pi when you want to do things on it.
• Set your language, region and timezone. My Pi automatically guessed I was in England so that wasn't an issue for me personally.
• User Account: Username must be lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens only. Make sure it's got just enough to be useful while being comfortable to type; you'll have to enter this every time you want to access the Pi. As with any other account setup, write stuff down somewhere so you don't lose anything. Nothing appears on screen when typing password—this is normal.
• Network: Connect to WiFi (or skip if you're using ethernet).
• Reboot: Accept any reboot requests.

Step 4: Enabling SSH Access

Secure Shell Protocol lets you control the Pi from your main computer without needing the extra desktop setup. This is known as a "Headless" setup, and is a common practice amongst Pi users. It appears in many other services, and is a completely legitimate means of updating files, servers and more.

1. Click the terminal icon (black monitor icon in top toolbar)
2. Type: sudo raspi-config and press Enter to select it.
3. It will ask for the password you set up back in the wizard. This logs you into your Pi account, and you'll have to do this every time you want to remotely access your Pi. If you don't see it while typing, this is normal and is common in terminals.
4. A blue menu should appear. Use your keyboard's arrow keys to go to 3 Interface Options and press Enter to select it.
5. Navigate to the option for SSH and select it. It will ask you "Would you like the SSH server to be enabled?", to which you select Yes.
6. To finish the process, press Tab to highlight Finish and one last Enter to select.
7. To check your SSH is working, type sudo systemctl status ssh. You should see "active (running)" in green text.
8. Press Q to exit the menu entirely. Your SSH is now established!

Step 5: Getting Your Pi's IP Address

You're almost done with the setup, but if you stop here you won't be able to access your Pi remotely. The last thing you need is your Pi's IP Address, which you enter every time you want to access it.

1. In the terminal, type: hostname -I
2. Write down the number it shows. This is your Pi's IP address, and tends to differ slightly from your main computer's.
3. You now have your Pi's IP Address!

IP Addresses can sometimes change for a variety of reasons, so if you cannot SSH into your Pi, you'll need to repeat this process.

Part 4: Safely turning off your Pi

Now that you've established your brand new Pi and written down its information, you're free to stop from here. However, you've probably noticed that your Pi lacks the conventional means of shut-down. Instead, it goes as follows:

Step 1: Proper Shutdown Procedure

1. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, pull the power cable or turn it off at the switch! This can corrupt the SD card and render it unusable!
2. Every time you want to shut down your Pi, enter this command in the Terminal: sudo shutdown now
3. Press Enter to execute the shutdown command. You should see a series of text in the terminal announcing the shutdown.

Step 2: Knowing when it's safe to switch off

Like other computers, the Pi does not shut down instantly. Here's how you can tell when it's safe to turn it off at the wall or remove the plug entirely.

1. Your monitor screen turns off completely. The Acer I used showed a "No Signal" message.
2. The LED is no longer green, leaving a red light behind. This means the Pi is powered but not fully on.

Conclusion

Congratulations, you've just set up a Raspberry Pi! Pat yourself on the back, give your pi a pat on its back and revel in the freedom of Self-Hosted Tech!

You can stop reading if this is all you needed, because from here we're going over self-hosted IRC stuff. Alternatively, you can find other guides on what to do with your brand new Pi friend!