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).
For more detail: Turn your Raspberry Pi into a desktop PC