IoT Project for Anyone Blog Series:
This is one of a series of blogs developed as part of an overall IoT implementation project for beginners. The project will walk through the hardware needed, operating system installation, data collection and a Power BI dashboard to view the data. These blogs can be reviewed in sequence as part of the overall project or on their own if looking for information on a particular IoT topic.
Project Blog Index:
IoT for Anyone – Materials and Connections
IoT for Anyone – Windows 10 IoT Core Operating System Installation
IoT for Anyone – Raspbian Operating System Installation (this blog)
IoT for Anyone – Power BI Streaming Dataset Setup
IoT for Anyone – Collecting and Streaming Data from Windows 10 IoT (coming soon)
IoT for Anyone – Collecting and Streaming Data from Raspbian Operating System
IoT for Anyone – Designing IoT Microsoft Power BI Dashboard
Introduction:
There are circumstances when a specific operating system may be needed for specific testing, code development, use of various sensors, or just preference. This is a Microsoft TechNet blog post, so naturally I focus my blogs on the Microsoft ecosystem. However, to provide a complete solution I felt it necessary to provide instructions to setup the Raspbian operating system since it can also run commands to collect data and stream to a dashboard in Microsoft Power BI. So let’s continue on with the setup of a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B using the Raspbian operating system instead of Windows 10 IoT Core. After Raspbian has been installed using the information below, additional blogs in this series will provide information about how to stream the data collected to Microsoft Power BI.
Raspbian Operating System Setup:
The first part of the setup is to install the Raspbian system onto the MicroSD card highlighted in an earlier blog with a materials list. Follow the steps below to get started:
- From the Raspberry Pi downloads website, download the NOOBS Lite Zip file. NOOBS is the easy installer for Raspberry Pi.
- When downloaded, extract the zip file contents to a new folder on your hard drive.
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Insert the MicroSD card purchased for this project. If not already done so, format the card into one large partition. If needed, use Windows Computer Management to open the Disk Management area. From there, you can format the MicroSD card. Only one partition is needed.
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Once formatted, copy the contents of the downloaded Raspbian Operating System on to the MicroSD card. Do not copy the zip file to the drive, rather open the folder with extracted folders/files and copy those directly onto the drive.
- Procced to the next section to prepare to boot.
Raspbian Operating System First Boot:
- With the Operating System files now on the drive, insert the MicroSD card to your Raspberry Pi 3.
- Connect a USB mouse, USB keyboard, an RJ45 network connection to the Internet, and an HDMI video connection to a screen.
- Connect the power cable to the Raspberry Pi 3 to turn it on.
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The boot screen will appear
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The NOOBS lite installer will appear
(take cell phone picture)
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Choose to install the Raspbian OS
- Click “Install” (option in upper left of screen)
- Click “Yes” to the warning that all data will be erased on the MicroSD card.
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The installation may take 20-30 minutes as the operating system is installed, depending on your Internet speed. During this time, a progress bar is displayed along with information about the Raspbian environment.
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A prompt will notify you the installation has completed.
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The system will then reboot to complete the installation.
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There is no username and password to define to logon to the screen, displayed below.
Additional Raspbian Setup:
There are several custom areas you will want to configure to make management of the Raspbian Operating System a bit easier. These are optional settings.
Define Time Zone
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In the Raspbian home screen, click on the Raspberry Pi symbol in the upper left corner of the screen. Then click Preferences and then Raspberry Pi Configuration.
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On the Raspberry Pi Configuration box, click on the Localization tab on the right.
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Choose your local timezone.
- In this same area, options also exist to change the Locale from the default location of Great Britain to your location.
Setup Remote Desktop Access:
When enabled, this setting will allow you to use the Rsudoaspbian Operating System in a headless configuration (no longer a need to connect a local keyboard, mouse, and display). Instead, you can use the Remote Desktop application to access the display.
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Open a bash session on the Raspbian Operating System
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Enter the following commands, pressing enter after each line. Answer Y to any prompt that appears:
Sudo apt-get install rdesktop
sudo apt-get install xfonts-base –fix-missing
sudo apt-get install tightvncserver –fix-missing
sudo apt-get install xrdp –fix-missing
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Open Windows Remote Desktop and enter the IP address of the Raspbian device.
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When prompted, the default username is “pi” and the default password is “raspberry”
- You should now be logged in remotely to the Raspbian device.
