In this step, we will make it possible to connect the Raspberry Pi to your computer, so you don't have to use the separate screen, keyboard and mouse any longer. The process is a little bit different from Windows, Linux and Mac computers. But it is possible to do for all of them.

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Some quick words about networks and IP addresses, you don't really need to understand this to talk to the Pi, but it may make troubleshooting a bit easier if you experience problems. When computers or devices are connected together, we call that a network, and we can talk about local and global networks. In our case we will only be working on the local network, which can be either over WiFi or through a wired connection. The global network makes up the internet, where we can access websites, servers and such. Communication on the global network requires a bit more knowledge about security and communication protocols than we are going to worry about here. Feel free to explore this on your own, it is a very interesting field. On our home network, the communication with the global network is taken care of by your network provider through your modem and router.

The local network consists of all devices connected either directly together, or through your home router. These days that is typically a WiFi router. All computers, phones, Raspberry Pies etc connected to your router is on the same local network. Also called LAN (local area network). In order to identify different devices on this local network, all devices are given an IP address, usually from the router. On an general basis, these IP addresses are set up i a dynamic fashion. Meaning that they may change when you reconnect your device. In addition to this IP address, devices can broadcast their own hostname on the network. This hostname will be the same every time the device connects, and is therefore a more predictable. For computers running MacOS or Linux, devices can be identified using the hostname on the local network by typing in "hostname.local". For this to work on Windows computers, you need to install a program called "Bonjour print services". 

In order to connect one device (for example your computer) to another device (such as a Raspberry Pi) over a network, we need to be able to identify the device we connect to, and we need a tool to communicate. For the eduROV, we suggest using a unique hostname and communicating through SSH (Secure SHell). The hostname you define in the configuration of the Raspberry Pi (as explained in the previous section). Follow the steps below for a step-by-step walkthrough.

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Checklist for the Raspberry Pi:

• SSH is activated

• The Pi has a unique hostname

• You have a new password on your Pi

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If you use a Windows PC:

• Install Bonjour Print service

  • Du​ring installation, uncheck the box suggesting automatic updates

• Install Putty, which is an SSH client. A program that can communicate on the network using SSH​

• Connect to the Raspberry Pi by typing in "hostname.local" in Putty. (exchange hostname with the one you made for the Pi, for example: if your hostname is group5, you connect by writing "group5.local")

• You will be prompted with a question of adding the Pi to a local register, say "Yes" here and continue

• You will then be asked to "log in" to the Pi, this is where you write the username, which is "pi"

• Followed closely by the password, this is the password you set previously

• You are now in the terminal window of your Raspberry Pi!

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If you use a Mac:

• Open a terminal window

• Connect to the pi by writing: "ssh pi@hostname.local"

• You may be prompted with a question of adding the Pi to a local register, say "Yes" here and continue

• You will then be asked to "log in" to the Pi, this is where you write the username, which is "pi"

• Followed closely by the password, this is the password you set previously

• You are now in the terminal window of your Raspberry Pi!

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Every time you want to start the ROV, you will need to repeat these steps to connect to the Pi. The terminal may seem scary to you, but it is only a way of controling the computer without a screen and the graphical user interface we are used to. 

You can read about using the terminal here, on the Raspberry Pi website. We will only be using a few simple commands:

• sudo - is a keyword which gives us administrative rights. Or root previliges as they call it

• halt - is a command for turning off the Raspberry Pi

• reboot - is the command for restarting the Raspberry Pi

• apt-get - is a package handler, it can install and uninstall programs for us

• pip - is a package handler specifically for Python programs (Python is a programming language, and what the eduROV program is written in)

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Now we are ready to install the edurov program 😊

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If you are experiencing problems with finding the Raspberry Pi from your computer, you might need to activate network discovery, check this by opening the Network and Sharing centre on your PC.

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Relevant links and resources:

Raspberry Pi website, how to find the IP address of your Pi

Bonjour services - install for Windows

Putty SSH program for Windows

Download the newest version of Raspbian

DHCP Server - for Windows. An alternative to using hostname

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If you want to reinstall the Raspbian operating system, or you have an SD card without NOOBS or Raspbian installed. You will need these programs:

Etcher - for writing the operating system to the SD card - works on Mac, Windows and Linux

SD card formatter - for properly formatting old SD cards - works on Mac and Windows