Difference between revisions of "RPi Wheezy raspi-config 2012-06-18"

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==The raspi-config==
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raspi-config was introduced with the advent of the Debian Wheezy image. It helps you configure your Pi. It is a work in progress so the number of menu items and the ease of use of those items will increase with time. If anyone feels willing and able to improve raspi-config then please contact Alex Bradbury [https://github.com/asb/raspi-config].
  
When you start your Pi using the wheezy image The Raspi-config menu appears and has the following entries.
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== The raspi-config ==
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When you start your Pi for the first time using the Wheezy image then, following lots of scrolling text with a couple of pauses lasting in total a few tens of seconds, you will be automatically logged in as pi with the password raspberry and the raspi-config menu will appear. It has the following entries:
  
 
  info Information about this tool
 
  info Information about this tool
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  change_pass Change password for ‘pi’ user
 
  change_pass Change password for ‘pi’ user
 
  change_locale Set locale
 
  change_locale Set locale
  change_timezone Set timezone
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  change_timezone         Set timezone
 
  memory_split Change memory split
 
  memory_split Change memory split
 
  ssh Enable or disable ssh server
 
  ssh Enable or disable ssh server
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  <Ok> <Exit>
 
  <Ok> <Exit>
  
At any point from within any of the menu or  submenu options the Tab key will toggle about the selected entry and the options at the bottom inside angle brackets now
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== Moving Around the Menu ==
  
There is an exception to this and that’s with the change_locale option ignore that exception for now it’s covered later.
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At any point from within any of the menu or sub-menu options the Tab key will toggle about the selected entry and the options at the bottom inside angle brackets, cursor keys move up and down menus. There is an exception to this and that’s with the change_locale option, ignore that exception for now it’s covered later.
  
==info                  Information about this tool ==
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Some of the menu entries take quite a while to display. The user experience looks like its running a desktop but in fact it isn't; its using the command line and its graphics capabilities (remember VDU's) so occasionally the screen will scroll a bit.
  
  
This would be really helpful if it actually explained the options in the menu but that would be a lot to hope for. 
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== What raspi-config does ==
  
As it is it helpfully advises you may have difficulties if you have heavily customised your installation but as this is probably the first thing a rookie is going to see the likelihood of a heavily customised installation.
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Some menu entries modify the file /boot/config.txt. This file, out of the box, contains a number of commented out configuration entries; raspi-config adds entries at the end of this file. You can see what raspi-config has done to the file by viewing it on the Pi using Leafpad and, if you really mess things up you can edit the file from the SD card using Notepad on a Windows PC. More information on editing config.txt here [[R-Pi_ConfigurationFile]]
  
What would be useful would be instructions on running this from command line combined with advice on writing these (from the command line) instructions down.
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Other entries modify Linux configuration files, some take effect immediately, others at the next boot.
  
Also it would be useful advice that it will not be difficult to re-image and advice that killing the install may require a re-image. 
 
  
Killing the power by pulling the micro USB plug will switch off but do this too often and the socket will start to wear out.
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== INFO - Information About This Tool ==
  
I use a USB A to micro USB lead and connect this via one of my PC USB ports or one of those nice mains adaptors (Plug with a USB port) used for charging phones.   
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This would be really helpful if it actually explained the options in the menu, hopefully at least it will provide a reference to this Wiki page.   
  
If anything is going to wear out its at the non (micro USB) Pi end of the cable.
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It helpfully advises you may have difficulties if you have heavily customized your installation but as this is probably the first thing a rookie is going to see the likelihood of a heavily customized installation is small.
  
==expand-rootfs Expand root partition to fill SD card==
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raspi-config appears automatically at first boot. You can run it at any time after that by typing sudo raspi-config (case sensitive) at the command line or in a terminal window. The sudo (do as superuser) is necessary because you will be changing files that you as user pi do not own, its Debian's way of providing a root login.
  
This does what it says on the tin so if you have installed wheezy on a 4g card after use this option and after reboot it will use all of the SD card.   
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The lovely thing about the Pi is that, if you mess up, it will not be difficult to re-image; killing the install may require a re-image (check this).   
  
==overscan Change overscan==
 
  
This is the worst because there’s no information on overscan what it is what it does and I am really looking for some help on expanding this one.
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== EXPAND-ROOTFS - Expand Root Partition to Fill SD Card ==
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When you image an SD card the image has to fit on cards as small as 2GB so once it has been done you need to expand this reduced image to make use of whatever space remains unallocated on your SD Card.  
  
When you fire it up you get the unhelpful
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This option in the raspi-config script menu does this for you you need to reboot after but the reboot can wait till you finish the other things on the menu
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EXPAND-ROOTFS does what it says on the tin so if you have installed Wheezy on a 4GB or greater card use this option and AFTER REBOOT it will use all of the SD card. The Wheezy image takes nearly 2GB so if you are going to install additional software or large files its worth doing, however you don't need to do it on first boot. The downside of using all of a larger card is that it takes much longer to backup the image.
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NOTE it will take a while for that first reboot be patient I was circa 4 minutes for a 32GB
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== OVERSCAN - Change Overscan ==
  
 
  What would you like to do with overscan
 
  What would you like to do with overscan
 
  <Disable>                      <Enable>
 
  <Disable>                      <Enable>
  
After experimenting with changing the command line font size to make the command line stuff easier to read.
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Any changes will take effect after a reboot. If you change a setting and end up losing the left side of the screen you can easily edit /boot/config.txt on a PC to undo the changes.
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Televisions do not usually display the whole of the picture, they Overscan and crop off a few percent of the image. This is to hide the data signals such as teletext which use the outer lines of the picture (could be a hangover from analogue TV). Computers, including the Pi, use all the lines for real display so often the image displayed by computers on TV's is cropped.
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To avoid losing the critical left column at first boot the clever Pi people have deliberately enabled Overscan and used positive Overscan vlauses to make the displayed image smaller, and to play safe much smaller. This means, depending on your monitor/TV, there may be black borders around the picture. LXDE will show the wrong resolution in its display information as it shows you the size of the framebuffer (display size-overscan), and the display may be a bit fuzzy.
  
On reboot the text on the screen was shifted left and down loosing me the start of the line and half of the current line off of the bottom of the screen however after re-running raspi-config using
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On some displays, particularly monitors, just disabling Overscan will make the picture fill the whole screen and correct the resolution. For other displays it may be necessary to leave overscan enabled and fiddle with Overscan values, more information here [[R-Pi_Troubleshooting#Big_black_borders_around_small_image_on_HD_monitors]].
  
sudo raspi-config
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== CONFIGURE-KEYBOARD - Set keyboard layout ==
  
note it's case sensitive (don't use capital letters)
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Slow to display and, if you select some of the non-default options, there will be a short delay while changes are made. Changes take effect immeadiately except for changes to X-server exit which require a reboot.
I switched on overscan and then rebooted which suggests the overscan is screen alignment related.  
 
  
==configure-keyboard Set keyboard layout==
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This menu for using different attached keyboards. Brands of keyboards are chosen first followed by other choices to set up nationality of keyboards etc.   
This is the setting for using different attached keyboards that is brands of keyboards first followed by other choices to set up nationality of keyboards etc.   
 
  
The first list will probably fall to one of the generic 105 key keyboards but it’s probably not a big deal if you cant find yours on the list have fun remember you can always re-image or if your really stuck go to a supermarket and pick up a generic 105 USB keyboard I got logitech one for six quid.
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Default is Generic 105-key (Intl) PC. If you cannot find your keyboard on the list then use one of the generic keyboards but it’s probably not a big deal if you can't find yours on the list, have fun remember you can always, change it later or re-image if you're really stuck.
  
The next screen regards keyboard layout  If your not using the first choice of English UK select other and you will be faced with a long list of other national keyboards.  Funnily enough this list includes English UK.   
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The next screen regards keyboard layout. If you are not using the first choice of English UK select Other and you will be faced with a long list of other national keyboards.  Funnily enough this list includes English UK.   
  
Next screen is actually quite well documented on the screen your probably going to run with one of the top two choices these are
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Next screen is quite well documented on the screen you're probably going to run with one of the top two choices. These are
  
The default for the keyboard layout
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    The default for the keyboard layout
 
Or
 
Or
No AltGr key
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    No AltGr key
  
 
To be honest if this is your first setup and you get this wrong it’s not going to break the bank and as I keep saying if in doubt re-image and start again.   
 
To be honest if this is your first setup and you get this wrong it’s not going to break the bank and as I keep saying if in doubt re-image and start again.   
  
Next screen well if your using a standard keyboard then you probably don’t have a compose key and if your new to computing as intended your not likely to need one for a while so I would suggest choosing  
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Next screen; well if your using a standard keyboard then you probably don’t have a compose key and if your new to computing as intended you're not likely to need one for a while so I would suggest choosing  
  
No compose key
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    No compose key
  
The next screen is a useful one and the on screen documentation is actually quite clear provided you know what is meant by “X server”
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The next screen is a useful one and the on screen documentation is actually quite clear provided you know what is meant by “X server” so here’s an outline:
  
So here’s an outline when you have finished your install the last line of the startup will tell you that you can run startx.  Startx is the command to run the windows (like) screen where you use a mouse to select options.   
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When you have finished your install the last line of the start-up will tell you that you can run startx.  Startx is the command to run the windows (like) screen where you use a mouse to select options.   
  
This is the X server and to get back to command line (that’s all the typed stuff) you can have [Ctrl][Alt][Backspace] all pressed at the same time to shut down this X server screen and you can always restart it by typing “startx”  Always handy if you have a flaky mouse or are using a wireless mouse that eats batteries.   
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This is the X server and to get back to command line (that’s all the typed stuff) you can use [Ctrl][Alt][Backspace] all pressed at the same time to shut down this X server screen; you can always restart it by typing “startx”. Always handy if you have a flaky mouse or are using a wireless mouse that eats batteries.   
  
Of course this is pointless if you don’t remember the key combination when the time comes
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Of course this is pointless if you don’t remember the key combination when the time comes!
  
==change_pass Change password for ‘pi’ user==
 
  
The default user for the wheezy install is pi and the normal password is raspberry now until your familiar with the setup it’s probably better to leave this password as it is at least till you are happy changing stuff.  In addition this is probably one of the easiest things to change from a command line. 
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== CHANGE_PASS - Change password for ‘pi’ user ==
  
To return to my mantra if you screw this up be prepared to re-image with Linix and Unix forgotten passwords are a killer the Raspberry is one of the simpler systems and lets face it till you know what your looking at, the out of the box solution of pi and raspberry are probably all you will need.
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The default user for the Wheezy install is pi and its password is raspberry. Until you're familiar with the setup it’s probably better to leave this password as it is at least till you are happy changing stuff.  In addition you can re-run raspi-config to change it at any time.
  
==change_locale Set locale==
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If you screw this up be prepared to re-image and lose any work you have done and programs installed (you did back up your data didn't you). With Linux and Unix forgotten passwords are a killer the Raspberry Pi is one of the simpler systems. Let's face it till you know what your looking at, the out of the box solution of pi and raspberry are probably all you will need.
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== CHANGE_LOCALE - Set locale ==
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Slow to start up and there will be a delay while locales are generated.
  
 
You can tell this was written by a computer engineer and not a human how about this as an alternative.   
 
You can tell this was written by a computer engineer and not a human how about this as an alternative.   
Line 97: Line 110:
 
change_locale Tell the computer if you need non English characters.   
 
change_locale Tell the computer if you need non English characters.   
  
Sheesh! a computer aimed at children and new users and then you expect them to know what locale means.   
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Sheesh! a computer aimed at children and new users and then you expect them to know what locale means (google's your friend?).   
  
This menu option gives you a massive list of choices that look like they were written by one of the infinite monkeys of legend (goggle infinite monkeys Shakespeare if you don’t understand this reference actually don’t I think you need to stick with this).   
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This menu option gives you a massive list of choices that look like they were written by one of the infinite monkeys of legend (goggle infinite monkeys Shakespeare if you don’t understand this reference).   
  
 
The default setting is   
 
The default setting is   
  
en_GB UTF-8 UTF-8
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    en_GB UTF-8 UTF-8 (ain't it nice to have a UK produced computer!)
  
English Great Britain and UTF-8 is a code related to showing all of the characters usually need to show English letters on the screen now if you are working in some other language than English then you will probably need to play around with this.   
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English, Great Britain and UTF-8 is a code related to showing all of the characters usually needed to show English letters and other symbols on the screen. If you are working in some other language than English then you will probably need to play around with this.   
  
You can select multiple choices in the list the space bar toggles them on and off (this was the exception I mentioned earlier) and it’s a long list basically if you want to work in more than one language then you will need to make other choices from this list based on the languages you intend to use.   
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You can select multiple choices in the list the space bar toggles them on and off (this was the exception I mentioned earlier) and it’s a long list. Basically if you want to work in more than one language then you will need to make other choices from this list based on the languages you intend to use.   
  
If your working in English only the default choice is probably the only one you will need.   
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If you are working in English only the default choice is probably the only one you will need.   
  
==change_timezone Set timezone==
 
  
This is where you setup your clock now it’s no big issue if it’s wrong it just means the date and time assigned to files you create (automatically when you make) them will be out and its not hard to set this up.   
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== CHANGE_TIMEZONE - Set timezone ==
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Slow to display.
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This is where you setup your clock; now it’s no big issue if it’s wrong it just means the date and time assigned to files you create (automatically when you make them) will be out and its not hard to set this up.  (What is the effect if you are not connected to the internet and don't have time set with ntp?)
  
 
The set up consists of two layers basically to make your selection easier to find.   
 
The set up consists of two layers basically to make your selection easier to find.   
  
First option screen think continent just to confuse things you have US and America because we all know USA is not part of America.
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First option screen think Continent; just to confuse things you have US and America because we all know USA is not part of America. Actually the US option just gives you a shorter list containing the US time zones that are included in the American list; they just made a shorter list under US for all those Good Old Boy American Citizens who don’t know about American places outside of the USA. (flames imminent!).
  
Actually  the US option just gives you a shorter list all of the US time zones are included in the American list they just made a shorter list under US for all those Good Old Boy American Citizens who don’t know about American places outside of the USA.   
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SystemV relies on you knowing what SystemV is (Think Unix and ignore it for now).   
  
SystemV relies on you knowing what SystemV is (Think Unix and ignore it for now).
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Most people know where they are in the world for time zone; for me it’s Europe then London on the next screen but I’ve always been of the opinion that there should be ropes and lights around the M25 with signs saying “Danger hole in the world Keep Out” but then I’m not from London and the M25 was always the road to hell. 
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== MEMORY_SPLIT - Change memory split ==
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This allows you to choose how much of the RAM memory is set aside for the Broadcom Graphics Processing Unit (Videocore) and how much for the operation of the main ARM processor.
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Three choices 32MiB for Videocore, 64MiB for Videocore, 128MiB for Videocore. First time users should leave it at the default 64MiB for the Videocore. There is more information on when to use the different options here [[RPi_Advanced_Setup]]. You can change it with raspi-config and it will take effect at the next reboot (check).
  
Most people know where they are in the world for time zone for me it’s Europe then London on the next screen but I’ve always been of the opinion that there should be ropes and lights around the M25 with signs saying “Danger hole in the world Keep Out” but then I’m not from London and the M25 was always the road to hell.
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Now let’s assume your really fresh to writing code, as in never done this before ever. You're not going to be writing really complex Artificial Intelligence type programs and your also unlikely to be running cutting edge real time first person shooter games not yet anyways. I like the idea of having 128 meg for graphics.  As a new programmer your not likely to push graphics unless you want to do something with photos or live streaming (Watching Live TV on your Pi).
  
==memory_split Change memory split==
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== SSH - Enable or disable ssh server ==
  
I am prepared to be corrected on this but I am almost certain that this allows you to choose how much of the onboard memory is set aside for the graphics and how much for the on board operation of the main ARM processor.
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NOTE: This is broken in Wheezy Beta. If you enter it by mistake press CTRL-C and type sudo raspi-config to recover.
  
Three choices 32meg for graphics 64meg for graphics 128meg for graphics.  Now let’s assume your really fresh to writing code, as in never done this before ever. 
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This change takes effect when???
  
Your not going to be writing really complex Artificial Intelligence type programs and your also unlikely to be running cutting edge real time first person shooter games not yet anyways.
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This option enables or disables the ssh server, a program which sits quietly in the Pi looking for ssh connections from other computers.  The default setting is on and there's little reason for a new user to change this unless your home network has hostile users or is open to the Internet.
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ssh means 'secure shell'. It is a communication protocol which will allow you to log into the Pi from another computer on your network using a program like Putty to provide a command line interface in a terminal window.
  
At a later date should you go either of these routes re imaging a new SD card will probably be well within your capabilities till then it’s not really an issue which option you choose.   I like the idea of having 128 meg for graphics.  As a new programmer your not likely to push graphics unless you want to do something with photos or live streaming (Watching Live TV on your Pi).  Remember not only can you re-image but you can run raspi-config again and reassign this value is not set in stone.
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Putty is free and available to download. It’s free Open source and runs on both Windows,Linux. There are other things available for Mac’s (I’m not really familiar enough but I believe there’s an option in Xterm).  
  
==ssh Enable or disable ssh server==
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This option allows access to the Pi without a monitor attached to the Pi. OK it’s easier if you have one but let’s say you want to do some command line stuff and your partner/brother/sister whatever wants to use the TV for Corrie or suchlike. Its particularly useful for starting a VNC server on the Pi so you can use the Pi's desktop on another computer. More details here [http://myraspberrypiexperience.blogspot.co.uk/p/setting-up-vnc.html] this is a link to a Blog page that douments an experience with VNC.
  
Now unless you know what ssh is then enable or disable ssh is probably the option that’s going to leave you re-setting you Pi the most.
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Using Putty or the like is pretty straightforward. You will need to know the IP address of the Pi, either by watching the startup output as it scrolls by, typing ifconfig at the Pi's command line or terminal window, or looking at your router. The IP address is dynamic and can change, particularly if you have not used the Pi for a day or so.
ssh is the secure shell option ssh will allow you to log into the Pi from another computer on your network using a program like putty.
 
  
Putty is free and available to download it’s free Open source and runs on both Windows, Linux and there are other things available for Mac’s (I’m not really familiar enough but I believe there’s an option in Xterm).  
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However if you are using everything from the box as is.  That is to say you have your HDMI connected to a TV and a Keyboard and Mouse on the Pi and you have the menu running then I suggest you could disable ssh just to be on the safe side security wise(note just a suggestion).
  
This option has allowed me to access my Pi without a monitor attached to the Pi ok it’s easier if you have but let’s say you want to do some command line stuff and your partner/brother/sister whatever wants to use the TV for corrie or suchlike. 
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== FINISH - Finish config and don’t start raspi-config at boot ==
  
You can hook up the TV and use this option in the setup menu to toggle the ssh server.   
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If you select <Ok> from this option then on all future startups you won't get the raspi-config menu. If you choose <Exit> then the next time you start you are going to get this menu again automatically.   
  
Now let’s make this clear if you have not got a network connection to your Pi and you select the ssh option you will not get back to the menu without a re-set however if you have putty loaded on your PC and you know the IP address of your Pi then it’s a good option. 
 
  
Playing with the Pi with putty is probably one of those things that will need it’s own guide notes because there’s all sorts of stuff associated with spotting what the IP address is. 
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== After Exiting the Menu ==
  
I have found that even when I have known the address and I have selected ssh there’s no indication of the ssh state however using putty I’ve connected using the ip identified by interrogating my router.   
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OK let's assume you have happily worked your way through this and you selected OK for the final menu option.   
  
Then using the ssh option from this menu if the connection did not work hit enter on the Pi’s keyboard this appears to be the toggle one the selection has been made. 
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You are going to get the text that is displayed each time you login to your Pi:
  
However if you are using everything from the box as is.  That is to say you have your HDMI connected to a TV and a Keyboard and Mouse on the Pi and you have the menu running then I suggest you don’t run ssh (note just a suggestion).   
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First information about the Last Login which is useful for finding out if it was you, your son/daughter/grandmother/cat was the last to login and screw up your Pi.   
  
==finish Finish config and don’t start raspi-config at boot==
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Then you get the standard copyright and NO WARRANTY message the latter just legalese for “your doing this at your own risk” that kind of goes without saying. 
  
If you select <Ok> from this option and you reboot then you won't get this raspi-config menu if you choose <Exit> then the next time you start your going to get this menu again automatically.   
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Then the key line.   
  
==after exiting the menu==
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    Type ‘startx’ to launch graphical session
  
Ok lets assume you have happily worked your way through this and you selected OK for the final menu option. 
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or
  
You are going to get some gibberish about the Last Login (ignore this). 
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    Type 'sudo raspi-config' to relaunch the script
  
Then there’s some info on finding further information on the included programs now as a new user for now even locating this stuff is probably a no-no.
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So, if at this point you type startx followed by hitting the Enter key you will be launched headlong into a windows style environment. When you have finished work logout using the red exit button (bottom right) and then type sudo halt at the command line. Wait until 'System Halted' is displayed before pulling the plug. (Exiting the desktop is a bit flakey on Wheezy beta, you may find you end up with a blank screen and will have to pull the plug with a small risk of corrupting the SD card. Enabling and using CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE appears to be much more reliable.)
  
Then you get the standard NO WARRANTY message it’s just legalese for “your doing this at your own risk” that kind of goes without saying.
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If on the other hand you want to play in the rarefied atmosphere of the command line environs then type away. You are in the home directory of the pi user; typing ls followed by [enter] will display its files and directories. Directories are in blue so type cd python_games then ls to change folder and display its contents. When you have finished don't forget to type sudo halt and wait until 'System Halted' is displayed before pulling the plug.
  
Then the key line.   
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Finally you may want to manually reboot just to allow allow the delayed configuration settings to take effect; type sudo reboot at the command line.   
  
Type ‘startx’ to launch graphical session
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If you use just the command "reboot" your RaspberryPi will tell you that you must be super user so type sudo reboot
  
So if at this point you type startx followed by hitting the Enter key you will be launched headlong into a windows style environment.  Should you feel inclined have fun.
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This should restart your Pi. Scrolling text should appear immediately and there will be a pause if you have chosen to resize your SD card.
  
If on the other hand you want to play in the rarefied atmosphere of the command line environs then you may want to manually reboot just to test your Pi.   
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'''NOTE''' All of this is specific to the 2012-06-18 Beta version of Wheezy and not the New version.   
  
The command reboot tells you that you must be super user so type
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[[Category:RaspberryPi]]
  
sudo reboot instead this should restart your Pi give it a couple of minutes if it does not re-start on it’s own switch it off then on again. Hey it works more often than not.  Its probably the oldest line of computerhelp you will ever see
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=References=
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  <references/>

Revision as of 14:15, 23 August 2012

raspi-config was introduced with the advent of the Debian Wheezy image. It helps you configure your Pi. It is a work in progress so the number of menu items and the ease of use of those items will increase with time. If anyone feels willing and able to improve raspi-config then please contact Alex Bradbury [1].

The raspi-config

When you start your Pi for the first time using the Wheezy image then, following lots of scrolling text with a couple of pauses lasting in total a few tens of seconds, you will be automatically logged in as pi with the password raspberry and the raspi-config menu will appear. It has the following entries:

info			Information about this tool
expand-rootfs		Expand root partition to fill SD card
overscan		Change overscan
configure-keyboard	Set keyboard layout
change_pass		Change password for ‘pi’ user
change_locale		Set locale
change_timezone         Set timezone
memory_split		Change memory split
ssh			Enable or disable ssh server
finish			Finish config and don’t start raspi-config at boot
<Ok>						<Exit>

Moving Around the Menu

At any point from within any of the menu or sub-menu options the Tab key will toggle about the selected entry and the options at the bottom inside angle brackets, cursor keys move up and down menus. There is an exception to this and that’s with the change_locale option, ignore that exception for now it’s covered later.

Some of the menu entries take quite a while to display. The user experience looks like its running a desktop but in fact it isn't; its using the command line and its graphics capabilities (remember VDU's) so occasionally the screen will scroll a bit.


What raspi-config does

Some menu entries modify the file /boot/config.txt. This file, out of the box, contains a number of commented out configuration entries; raspi-config adds entries at the end of this file. You can see what raspi-config has done to the file by viewing it on the Pi using Leafpad and, if you really mess things up you can edit the file from the SD card using Notepad on a Windows PC. More information on editing config.txt here R-Pi_ConfigurationFile

Other entries modify Linux configuration files, some take effect immediately, others at the next boot.


INFO - Information About This Tool

This would be really helpful if it actually explained the options in the menu, hopefully at least it will provide a reference to this Wiki page.

It helpfully advises you may have difficulties if you have heavily customized your installation but as this is probably the first thing a rookie is going to see the likelihood of a heavily customized installation is small.

raspi-config appears automatically at first boot. You can run it at any time after that by typing sudo raspi-config (case sensitive) at the command line or in a terminal window. The sudo (do as superuser) is necessary because you will be changing files that you as user pi do not own, its Debian's way of providing a root login.

The lovely thing about the Pi is that, if you mess up, it will not be difficult to re-image; killing the install may require a re-image (check this).


EXPAND-ROOTFS - Expand Root Partition to Fill SD Card

When you image an SD card the image has to fit on cards as small as 2GB so once it has been done you need to expand this reduced image to make use of whatever space remains unallocated on your SD Card.

This option in the raspi-config script menu does this for you you need to reboot after but the reboot can wait till you finish the other things on the menu

EXPAND-ROOTFS does what it says on the tin so if you have installed Wheezy on a 4GB or greater card use this option and AFTER REBOOT it will use all of the SD card. The Wheezy image takes nearly 2GB so if you are going to install additional software or large files its worth doing, however you don't need to do it on first boot. The downside of using all of a larger card is that it takes much longer to backup the image.

NOTE it will take a while for that first reboot be patient I was circa 4 minutes for a 32GB

OVERSCAN - Change Overscan

What would you like to do with overscan
<Disable>                      <Enable>

Any changes will take effect after a reboot. If you change a setting and end up losing the left side of the screen you can easily edit /boot/config.txt on a PC to undo the changes.

Televisions do not usually display the whole of the picture, they Overscan and crop off a few percent of the image. This is to hide the data signals such as teletext which use the outer lines of the picture (could be a hangover from analogue TV). Computers, including the Pi, use all the lines for real display so often the image displayed by computers on TV's is cropped.

To avoid losing the critical left column at first boot the clever Pi people have deliberately enabled Overscan and used positive Overscan vlauses to make the displayed image smaller, and to play safe much smaller. This means, depending on your monitor/TV, there may be black borders around the picture. LXDE will show the wrong resolution in its display information as it shows you the size of the framebuffer (display size-overscan), and the display may be a bit fuzzy.

On some displays, particularly monitors, just disabling Overscan will make the picture fill the whole screen and correct the resolution. For other displays it may be necessary to leave overscan enabled and fiddle with Overscan values, more information here R-Pi_Troubleshooting#Big_black_borders_around_small_image_on_HD_monitors.

CONFIGURE-KEYBOARD - Set keyboard layout

Slow to display and, if you select some of the non-default options, there will be a short delay while changes are made. Changes take effect immeadiately except for changes to X-server exit which require a reboot.

This menu for using different attached keyboards. Brands of keyboards are chosen first followed by other choices to set up nationality of keyboards etc.

Default is Generic 105-key (Intl) PC. If you cannot find your keyboard on the list then use one of the generic keyboards but it’s probably not a big deal if you can't find yours on the list, have fun remember you can always, change it later or re-image if you're really stuck.

The next screen regards keyboard layout. If you are not using the first choice of English UK select Other and you will be faced with a long list of other national keyboards. Funnily enough this list includes English UK.

Next screen is quite well documented on the screen you're probably going to run with one of the top two choices. These are:

   The default for the keyboard layout

Or

   No AltGr key

To be honest if this is your first setup and you get this wrong it’s not going to break the bank and as I keep saying if in doubt re-image and start again.

Next screen; well if your using a standard keyboard then you probably don’t have a compose key and if your new to computing as intended you're not likely to need one for a while so I would suggest choosing

    No compose key

The next screen is a useful one and the on screen documentation is actually quite clear provided you know what is meant by “X server” so here’s an outline:

When you have finished your install the last line of the start-up will tell you that you can run startx. Startx is the command to run the windows (like) screen where you use a mouse to select options.

This is the X server and to get back to command line (that’s all the typed stuff) you can use [Ctrl][Alt][Backspace] all pressed at the same time to shut down this X server screen; you can always restart it by typing “startx”. Always handy if you have a flaky mouse or are using a wireless mouse that eats batteries.

Of course this is pointless if you don’t remember the key combination when the time comes!


CHANGE_PASS - Change password for ‘pi’ user

The default user for the Wheezy install is pi and its password is raspberry. Until you're familiar with the setup it’s probably better to leave this password as it is at least till you are happy changing stuff. In addition you can re-run raspi-config to change it at any time.

If you screw this up be prepared to re-image and lose any work you have done and programs installed (you did back up your data didn't you). With Linux and Unix forgotten passwords are a killer the Raspberry Pi is one of the simpler systems. Let's face it till you know what your looking at, the out of the box solution of pi and raspberry are probably all you will need.


CHANGE_LOCALE - Set locale

Slow to start up and there will be a delay while locales are generated.

You can tell this was written by a computer engineer and not a human how about this as an alternative.

change_locale Tell the computer if you need non English characters.

Sheesh! a computer aimed at children and new users and then you expect them to know what locale means (google's your friend?).

This menu option gives you a massive list of choices that look like they were written by one of the infinite monkeys of legend (goggle infinite monkeys Shakespeare if you don’t understand this reference).

The default setting is

   en_GB UTF-8 UTF-8  (ain't it nice to have a UK produced computer!)

English, Great Britain and UTF-8 is a code related to showing all of the characters usually needed to show English letters and other symbols on the screen. If you are working in some other language than English then you will probably need to play around with this.

You can select multiple choices in the list the space bar toggles them on and off (this was the exception I mentioned earlier) and it’s a long list. Basically if you want to work in more than one language then you will need to make other choices from this list based on the languages you intend to use.

If you are working in English only the default choice is probably the only one you will need.


CHANGE_TIMEZONE - Set timezone

Slow to display.

This is where you setup your clock; now it’s no big issue if it’s wrong it just means the date and time assigned to files you create (automatically when you make them) will be out and its not hard to set this up. (What is the effect if you are not connected to the internet and don't have time set with ntp?)

The set up consists of two layers basically to make your selection easier to find.

First option screen think Continent; just to confuse things you have US and America because we all know USA is not part of America. Actually the US option just gives you a shorter list containing the US time zones that are included in the American list; they just made a shorter list under US for all those Good Old Boy American Citizens who don’t know about American places outside of the USA. (flames imminent!).

SystemV relies on you knowing what SystemV is (Think Unix and ignore it for now).

Most people know where they are in the world for time zone; for me it’s Europe then London on the next screen but I’ve always been of the opinion that there should be ropes and lights around the M25 with signs saying “Danger hole in the world Keep Out” but then I’m not from London and the M25 was always the road to hell.


MEMORY_SPLIT - Change memory split

This allows you to choose how much of the RAM memory is set aside for the Broadcom Graphics Processing Unit (Videocore) and how much for the operation of the main ARM processor.

Three choices 32MiB for Videocore, 64MiB for Videocore, 128MiB for Videocore. First time users should leave it at the default 64MiB for the Videocore. There is more information on when to use the different options here RPi_Advanced_Setup. You can change it with raspi-config and it will take effect at the next reboot (check).

Now let’s assume your really fresh to writing code, as in never done this before ever. You're not going to be writing really complex Artificial Intelligence type programs and your also unlikely to be running cutting edge real time first person shooter games not yet anyways. I like the idea of having 128 meg for graphics. As a new programmer your not likely to push graphics unless you want to do something with photos or live streaming (Watching Live TV on your Pi).

SSH - Enable or disable ssh server

NOTE: This is broken in Wheezy Beta. If you enter it by mistake press CTRL-C and type sudo raspi-config to recover.

This change takes effect when???

This option enables or disables the ssh server, a program which sits quietly in the Pi looking for ssh connections from other computers. The default setting is on and there's little reason for a new user to change this unless your home network has hostile users or is open to the Internet.

ssh means 'secure shell'. It is a communication protocol which will allow you to log into the Pi from another computer on your network using a program like Putty to provide a command line interface in a terminal window.

Putty is free and available to download. It’s free Open source and runs on both Windows,Linux. There are other things available for Mac’s (I’m not really familiar enough but I believe there’s an option in Xterm).

This option allows access to the Pi without a monitor attached to the Pi. OK it’s easier if you have one but let’s say you want to do some command line stuff and your partner/brother/sister whatever wants to use the TV for Corrie or suchlike. Its particularly useful for starting a VNC server on the Pi so you can use the Pi's desktop on another computer. More details here [2] this is a link to a Blog page that douments an experience with VNC.

Using Putty or the like is pretty straightforward. You will need to know the IP address of the Pi, either by watching the startup output as it scrolls by, typing ifconfig at the Pi's command line or terminal window, or looking at your router. The IP address is dynamic and can change, particularly if you have not used the Pi for a day or so.

However if you are using everything from the box as is. That is to say you have your HDMI connected to a TV and a Keyboard and Mouse on the Pi and you have the menu running then I suggest you could disable ssh just to be on the safe side security wise(note just a suggestion).

FINISH - Finish config and don’t start raspi-config at boot

If you select <Ok> from this option then on all future startups you won't get the raspi-config menu. If you choose <Exit> then the next time you start you are going to get this menu again automatically.


After Exiting the Menu

OK let's assume you have happily worked your way through this and you selected OK for the final menu option.

You are going to get the text that is displayed each time you login to your Pi:

First information about the Last Login which is useful for finding out if it was you, your son/daughter/grandmother/cat was the last to login and screw up your Pi.

Then you get the standard copyright and NO WARRANTY message the latter just legalese for “your doing this at your own risk” that kind of goes without saying.

Then the key line.

   Type ‘startx’ to launch graphical session

or

   Type 'sudo raspi-config' to relaunch the script

So, if at this point you type startx followed by hitting the Enter key you will be launched headlong into a windows style environment. When you have finished work logout using the red exit button (bottom right) and then type sudo halt at the command line. Wait until 'System Halted' is displayed before pulling the plug. (Exiting the desktop is a bit flakey on Wheezy beta, you may find you end up with a blank screen and will have to pull the plug with a small risk of corrupting the SD card. Enabling and using CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE appears to be much more reliable.)

If on the other hand you want to play in the rarefied atmosphere of the command line environs then type away. You are in the home directory of the pi user; typing ls followed by [enter] will display its files and directories. Directories are in blue so type cd python_games then ls to change folder and display its contents. When you have finished don't forget to type sudo halt and wait until 'System Halted' is displayed before pulling the plug.

Finally you may want to manually reboot just to allow allow the delayed configuration settings to take effect; type sudo reboot at the command line.

If you use just the command "reboot" your RaspberryPi will tell you that you must be super user so type sudo reboot

This should restart your Pi. Scrolling text should appear immediately and there will be a pause if you have chosen to resize your SD card.

NOTE All of this is specific to the 2012-06-18 Beta version of Wheezy and not the New version.

References