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Raspberry Pi as a Computer

Raspberry Pi is an amazing devise in credit card size that can replace even CPU of your computer hence you can use Raspberry Pi as a personal computer!!! The Raspbian OS comes with Web browser, pdf viewer, Python games etc. You can download necessary application softwares from Raspberry Pi store. You can connect connect display, mouse, keyboard etc. with your Raspberry Pi. In the figure shown below showing connecting USB keyboard to your Raspberry Pi.
Inserting the USB Keyboard

Connecting a display

The Raspberry Pi can be connected by HDMI or composite video directly. With the use of an adapter you can connect it by DVI or VGA. You should use HDMI or DVI whenever possible because they give a better picture.

Look at the sockets on your display to determine how to connect your Raspberry Pi.

Connecting via HDMI

If your display has an HDMI input, as shown below, then connect your Pi with an HDMI-HDMI cable. This is the only type of video connection that can also be used to carry audio from 
the Pi to your display. The HDMI socket on the Pi is at the bottom as shown below:
HDMI connection on Raspberry Pi

Connecting via DVI

If your display has a DVI input as shown below, you will need an adapter. HDMI and DVI have very similar electrical signals, so adapters are passive – that is, they don’t contain any electronics, just two sockets with wires in between. You can buy cables with an HDMI and DVI connector or adapters as shown.
HDMI-DVI adapter

Connecting via VGA

DVI and HDMI both work with digital signals and are only found on newer monitors. Older monitors with VGA use analogue signals and as such need some sort of electronic circuit to convert between them. You can buy adapters that convert between HDMI and VGA.
HDMI-VGA adapter

Connecting via Composite

If your display only has a connector for composite video, you need a phono-to-phono cable that plugs in to the yellow connector on the top of the Raspberry Pi as shown below. Be aware that composite is an old technology and may produce a poor quality display.
Phono connector for composite video

Connecting to a Network

The Raspberry Pi has an Ethernet socket that allows your Pi to connect to the Internet or your home network. You can download new software and updates, or browse the web. You could even run your own web server!
Network connection
If you will be using a network, connect a network cable on the right side as shown above. Although the Raspberry Pi uses the network to set its clock and to download updates and new programs, it will work without a network connection.

Booting the Operating system

You will need an SD card with the OS already installed on it. You can either buy one pre-installed or follow the instructions discussed earlier in this blog in th to make your own.

Insert the SD card in the slot on the underside of the Raspberry Pi, on the left, as shown below. Take care to keep the card parallel with the Raspberry Pi when you slide it in or out so as not to break the edge of the retaining slots.
Inserting Micro SD card carefully

Powering Up!

Plug in the power supply to the bottom left of the Raspberry Pi as shown in Figure 1-12. On the top-right corner, you should see a green light (labelled PWR) come on and another one(labelled ACT) flash.
Inserting micro USB for power
The Raspberry Pi needs a power supply that can supply 5V 700mA (3.5W). Most decent quality mobile phone chargers of 5V 2A(2000mA) will work fine – many have the output marked on them, so it’s easy to check. If your power supply can’t deliver enough power, your Raspberry Pi may not start, or it may freeze when it does something computationally more demanding. For more information, see the “Troubleshooting” section later.

The Boot Process

After you’ve connected everything, have a correctly imaged SD card and powered up your Raspberry Pi, it will quickly flash a colourful square to test the graphics as shown below. It is a kind of Power On Self Test(POST). After a few seconds, the Raspberry Pi logo will appear in the top-left corner of the screen, and many lines of text will scroll past.
Colorful square during power up Raspberry Pi to test graphics
The text reveals some of the work the OS is doing. You may see messages as the various drivers are loading, such as the keyboard driver, sound driver and network driver. After the drivers have loaded, the OS runs any startup programs and displays the login prompt.

By default, the username is pi, and the password is raspberry.

Type pi and press Enter.

Now type raspberry and press Enter. Linux doesn’t display anything when you type passwords, which can be a bit unfamiliar if you are used to other OSes.

You should see the command-line prompt, where you can type commands and run programs. In the next section, you’re going to start the program that allows you to use the Raspberry Pi graphically.

Starting the Graphical Desktop

If you are familiar with Windows or OS X, you are used to a friendly graphical desktop that is loaded automatically with icons you can click. On the Raspberry Pi, however, in order to show that a graphical desktop doesn’t have to be integral to a computer, it isn’t loaded automatically.

The X Server

The design of Linux means that the graphical desktop runs on top of the OS as a separate program called the X server. This opens up additional possibilities, such as controlling one computer with the display being shown on another computer over a network connection. This means that you can control the Raspberry Pi without having a monitor plugged into it, which is useful if you put it in a remote location.
To start the graphical display on the Raspberry Pi, type startx.

After a few seconds the X server will start, and you will be able to use a graphical desktop. If you can see the Raspberry Pi logo in the background, then congratulations – you have successfully connected your Raspberry Pi!
Raspberry Pi as a computer

Starting a Terminal under X

Linux makes greater use of the text-based command line, often known as a terminal. This can be very powerful and quicker for some tasks than using a mouse. To start a terminal in a window under X, double-click the LXTerminal icon on the desktop, or select it from the menu by clicking Accessories and then clicking LXTerminal.
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