How to turn a credit card sized, $35 computer into a fully functional Desktop PC with surprising good performance.
Step 1: Installation
1. download NOOBS LITE from www.raspberrypi.org/downloads.
2. copy contents of zip folder onto root of SD card.
3. Connect Pi to monitor, keyboard, mouse, power and internet via ethernet.
4. select Arch Linux ARM then install.
Step 2: Updates and software
5. when installed, login with user ‘root’ and password ‘root’
6. type the command
pacman -Syu
without quotations. Note that the ‘S’ is capital and the ‘y’ and ‘u’ are lowercase. This will update the system.
7. select all default options if/when asked.
8. when installs complete, type command
pacman -S lxde xorg xorg-xinit abiword gnumeric netsurf udisks udiskie p7zip unzip unrar xarchiver apvlv
This will install all necesary programs.
lxde – Desktop Manager
xorg – program for displaying images on screen
xorg-xinit – program for displaying images on screen
abiword – lightweight docx compatible word processor
gnumeric – lightweight spreadsheet program
netsurf – lightweight web browser
udisks – Disk utility
udiskie – Allows auto-mounting of USBs
p7zip – .7z file support
unzip – .zip file support
unrar – .rar file support
apvlv – lightweight PDF viewer
xarchiver – program for unzipping compressed folder/files
9. select all default options if/when asked.
Step 3: Settings
10. when install has completed, type command
echo "exec startlxde" >> ~/.xinitrc
this will allow you to start the desktop with startx
11. type command
nano /etc/profile
and type at the bottom of the document ‘startx’ press CTRL+X, Y then enter to save and exit. This will make the desktop start after logging in. (you may also type ‘wifi-menu’ above ‘startx’ if you a device which allows you to connect to wifi. This will make you choose a wifi network to connect to after logging in and before starting the desktop).
12. type the command
reboot
to reboot the Pi.
13. login with username ‘root’ and password ‘root’ as before.
14. the desktop should now start up.
TIP: Apvlv (the PDF viewer) is not automatically associated with PDF files (if you click on one, apvlv will not start up). To change this, right click on any PDF file – open with – custom command and type:
apvlv %f
into the space provided and chech the box saying ‘Set selected application as default action for this file type’ This will make sure that all PDF files will open automatically with apvlv.
ANOTHER TIP: scrolling in apvlv is controlled with the arrow keys rather than the scroll wheel on the mouse.
Step 4: Finished!
15. customise the desktop to your liking (Not covered in this tutorial).
16. Done! You now have a fully functional and relatively fast desktop computer running on a Raspberry Pi with essential programs installed!
17. Have fun
