Pi Cloud

Pi Cloud : Basic Setup

Initialize your Raspberry Pi’s SD card

Set up WiFi

[Optional]

If you’re not connecting via ethernet, you’ll need to set up WiFi on your Pi before powering it on.

country={two-letter country code, e.g., US}
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1

network={
  ssid="{WiFi network name}"
  psk="{WiFi network password}"
}

Set up SSH

If you’re not using a keyboard/mouse/monitor, you’ll need to communicate with your Pi via SSH.

[Optional], [Recommended]

Boot the Pi

Verify connectivity

Ping your Pi from your main machine’s command line. The system doesn’t matter here, the command is the same:

ping raspberrypi.local

On OS-X, you may need to use ping raspberrypi.home instead.

You should see something like…

PING raspberrypi.local (192.168.1.15) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from raspberrypi.local (192.168.1.15): icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.065 ms
64 bytes from raspberrypi.local (192.168.1.15): icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.047 ms
64 bytes from raspberrypi.local (192.168.1.15): icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.065 ms
64 bytes from raspberrypi.local (192.168.1.15): icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.057 ms

For Linux and OS-X, you can hit Ctrl+C to stop. Windows will stop on its own. That dotted number, 192.168.x.y, is your Pi’s IP address. (Note: may be 10.0.x.y) Write it down

If this doesn’t work, you’ll need to grab a keyboard / mouse / monitor and get your Raspberry Pi’s IP address manually:

Your Pi’s IP address is the four-octet number immediately following inet and starting with 192. or 10.. Drop the /24 (netmask). Again, write it down.

Sign in

If you’re not using a keyboard/mouse/monitor, you’ll need to sign in via SSH.

[Optional]

Windows + PuTTY

Linux / OS-X

Change the password

Since the default password for Raspberry Pis is well-known, you’re definitely going to want to change it now.

Change the hostname

You’ll want your Pi Cloud’s name to be something memorable. It may contain lowercase a-z, 0-9, and -, and must not begin with a number or -, and cannot end with -. Spaces, uppercase, and other punctuation aren’t allowed.

Use the following commands to update the hostname, then reboot.

HOST="new-hostname"
echo "$HOST" | sudo tee /etc/hostname
sudo sed -e 's/^\(127\.0\.1\.1[\s\t]\+\)[a-zA-Z0-9-]\+/\1'"$HOST"'/' -i /etc/hosts
sudo reboot now

Note: you’ve just changed your hostname. If you’ve changed it to razzle-dazzle, Anything that used to be raspberrypi.local or raspberrypi.home will now be razzle-dazzle.local or razzle-dazzle.home.

Localize

You’ll want to let the Pi know where it exists in the world. Each of the following steps uses raspi-config.

Locale

Timezone

Keyboard layout

Note: if you’re not using a physical keyboard, this doesn’t matter

WiFi Country

Note: if you set up a wpa_supplicant.conf in your boot partition at the beginning, you don’t need to do this.

Enable SSH

Note: if you created the file ssh in your boot partition at the beginning, you don’t need to do this.

Enable VNC

Enabling VNC will allow you to access your Pi’s desktop for administration without having a keyboard/mouse/monitor connected. It’s a nice convenience, but entirely optional. I recommend RealVNC as your viewer.

[Optional]

If you plan on running your Pi headless, but want VNC access, you’ll need to force HDMI on. Exit raspi-config, and do the following:

Update

You’ll want your system to be as up to date as possible.

Your next step is to set up Dynamic DNS.