Learn How to Install and Use Debian Based Linux OS on Raspberry Pi

Linux is a computer operating system similar to Windows or MacOS, the main differentiating factor between Linux and these OS’s is the customization and control you have over Linux. Linux allows for users to access the source code of the OS. Linux is also seen as the infrastructure for many different servers, and knowing how to use Linux can be very useful for a future career in programming. Using a Raspberry Pi, essentially a very small computer, we can run a Linux distribution with a very small footprint. In roughly 20-25 minutes you can have a Raspberry Pi up and running with Linux, and learn how to install software onto your Pi.

• Windows/Mac computer
• MicroSD card
• SD card reader
• Micro HDMI cable
• Keyboard 
• Mouse
• monitor
• Raspberry Pi (newer versions preferred)
• Raspberry Pi power supply

Plug in SD card reader into your computer and insert MicroSD, or if you are able plug in the sd card directly into your device

Install and run Raspberry Pi Imager, For the section “Raspberry pi device” select your Raspberry Pi version. The imager can be found at https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/

For the section “Operating System” the Linux distribution select the Linux Distro you’d like to install. I would recommend installing Ubuntu Desktop as it is very user friendly and can be found in the other general-purpose OS section of the imager, the default Raspberry Pi OS is also a good choice.)

Finally for the section “Storage”, select your MicroSD card reader device or MicroSD card.

Start plugging in the auxiliary devices into the Raspberry Pi (keyboard, mouse, monitor), and insert the MicroSD with Linux distro installed.

At this point you can plug in the power supply into the Pi and it should begin to boot into the start-up process.

Go through the setup process for distro, try not to forget the password you select as it’s important for obviously accessing your Pi but also for commands that need Administrator privileges.

Once you reach the desktop of your Pi, press ctrl + alt + t to access your terminal (which can also be accessed through the app drawer)

In the terminal type the command “sudo apt-get update”, after that command concludes type the following command “sudo apt-get upgrade”. This combination of commands gets the latest version of any software that is installed on the pi and then updates them.

For APT, we will go over installing a software called “cowsay”, to begin open your terminal (ctrl + alt + t)

In the terminal we will enter the following command “sudo apt install cowsay”, confirm the installation by typing y if prompted

To test if the software has properly installed type “cowsay [words of your choice]” into the terminal

Snapstore is another simple way to install software and comes pre-installed on some distros of Linux.If your version of Linux does not come with Snapstore please refer to the following page to find the steps for your distro of linux. https://snapcraft.io/docs/installing-snapd

Snapstore acts similarly to using the itunes and Google Play store, by simply opening snapstore and searching for the software you want to install, and clicking download. For our test example we will be searching for and downloading the Eclipse IDE, by simply searching for Eclipse and clicking download.

Troubleshooting: If you run into issues opening your pre-installed version of Snapstore please use the following two commands to uninstall and reinstall the software. 

“sudo snap remove snap-store”

“sudo snap install snap-store”

Conclusion: Congratulations, by now you should have Linux up and running on your Raspberry Pi! With the knowledge of how to download software on Linux you can now go to have a deeper understanding of the Linux terminal and all that Linux holds in store for Programmers. One of the best parts of using a Raspberry Pi is the fact that if you run into any roadblocks or feel like you messed anything up, it is very easy to take out the SD card and reflash a fresh distro so you can start from scratch.