Configuring your Raspberry Pi

Start a RPi terminal session from your PC, and then enter the two update commands as described on the Raspberry Pi site.

nb: a terminal session is started by double clicking on icon #3 shown in the following illustration

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1. Discover your PC’s screen resolution.
   • use your PC’s ControlPanel|Appearance&Personalisation|Display|AdjustResolution menu
   • record your your screen’s resolution … it will something like 1280×1050
   • if you can’t find it, try this link, or just use 1280×1050
      
2. Log into the RPi desktop
   • use the TightVNC viewer on your PC, which we configured in a previous step of this tutorial
      

3. Copy a script into the RPi’s clipboard

   • browse to here using the RPi’s browser, and then open the following link, and copy the script file into the clipboard, everything starting from “#! /bin/sh” and ending with “exit 0”

    #! /bin/sh
    # /etc/init.d/vncboot
    ### BEGIN INIT INFO
    # Provides: vncboot
    # Required-Start: $remote_fs $syslog
    # Required-Stop: $remote_fs $syslog
    # Default-Start: 2 3 4 5
    # Default-Stop: 0 1 6
    # Short-Description: Start VNC Server at boot time
    # Description: Start VNC Server at boot time.
    ### END INIT INFO
    USER=pi
    HOME=/home/pi       
    export USER HOME        
    case "$1" in
     start)
      echo "Starting VNC Server"
      #Insert your favoured settings for a VNC session
      su - $USER -c "/usr/bin/vncserver :1 -geometry 1280x800 -depth 16 -pixelformat rgb565"
      ;;        
     stop)
      echo "Stopping VNC Server"
      /usr/bin/vncserver -kill :1
      ;;        
     *)
      echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/vncboot {start|stop}"
      exit 1
      ;;
    esac        
    exit 0

• or the script is available here with some further explanation… ie. at https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/remote-access/vnc/README.md
  • scroll down until you find the script which starts with “#! /bin/sh” and ends with “exit 0”
  • drag over the script, right click, and select copy

4: Create a script file on the RPi

• start a terminal session (the black screen icon on the tool bar)

• enter the following Linux commands

  • the first line puts your into a Administrator role
  • the second navigates to a directory; the RPI should respond with root@raspberrypi:/etc/init.d#

  • the last line starts Linux’s sorry excuse for a text editor, opens an empty file which will be named vncboot

    sudo su
    cd /etc/init.d
    nano vncboot
    

• it should open an empty file (saying [ New File ] on the third to last line

• right click at the top in the black area, and select *paste”
• 
• make sure that you copied everything starting from “#! /bin/sh” and ending with “exit 0”
• [optional] look for the line (about 2/3 through the script) containing -geometry -geometry 1280×800 and replace the number with your own screen’s dimensions from step #1
• the nano editor doesn’t support the mouse, so use the arrow keys to move the cursor to the dimensions to be altered
• when complete, press Ctrl X to exit
• respond y to save your changes

5: Make the script file executable

• type the following command into the black terminal window, and press Enter

  chmod 755 vncboot
  

6: Trigger your RPi to run this file whenever it reboots up

• type the following commands into the terminal, press the Enter key after each

  update-rc.d -f lightdm remove
  update-rc.d vncboot default 
  

7: Reboot your RPi

• close the terminal window
• trigger a reboot; press the Menu button (has the Raspberry icon), take option Shutdown with option set to Reboot

8: Check that the RPi’s remote control server auto-started

• Relog onto the RPi desktop using the TightVNC Viewer on your PC

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1. Log into the RPi desktop
   • use the TightVNC viewer on your PC, which we configured in a previous step of this tutorial
2. Press Menu button (with the raspberry icon)
3. Select Preferences, and then Raspberry Pi Configuration
4. Open the Localisation tab
5. Make you changes; a reboot will be required
6. Reboot; Menu button, then Shutdown with Reboot radio option selected

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1. Open a terminal session (icon with black window)

2. Install cross platform clipboard facility
   Type the following two lines, pressing the Enter key at the end of each

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install autocutsel 
   

3. Auto-start the cross platform clipboard facility
   Type the following plus the Enter key to open the editor

   nano /home/pi/.vnc/xstartup
   

   Move the cursor down to the end of the line after xsetroot -solid grey
   Press the Enter key to open up a new line, and type the following

   autocutsel -fork
   

   The file should now read as

   #!/bin/sh
   
   xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
   xsetroot -solid grey
   autocutsel -fork
   #x-terminal-emulator -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title "$VNCDESKTOP Desktop" &
   #x-window-manager &
   # Fix to make GNOME work
   export XKL_XMODMAP_DISABLE=1
   /etc/X11/Xsession
   

   press Ctrl+X to close the editor
   type y to confirm that you want to save you change
   press Enter to overwrite the old file

4. Reboot the RPi
   Menu (button with the raspberry icon), select Shutdown with the option Reboot

5. Test
   Reconnect to the RPi, then try pasting something, eg. Menu|Accessories|TextEditor to open the RPi’s text editor … try to copy and paste something from Windows.

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1. Find your RPi’s unique MAC Address (Media Access Control address)

   • log into your RPi from your PC (using TightVNC Viewer)
   • start a terminal session on the RPi

   • if your RPi is connected by WiFi, type the following

     ifconfig wlan0
     

   • or if you are connected via Ethernet, type the following

     ifconfig eth0
     

   • the MAC Address is listed as HWaddr … it will something like b8:27:eb:12:8c

   • the IP address is listed as inet addr it will be something like 10.0.0.16
   • record both the MAC addr and the current IP Address
      

2. Find your router|modem’s IP address.

   • the default address is often printed on label attached to the botton of the unit. (it will look something like http://10.0.0.1)
   • otherwise open the command prompt on your PC (start button, and search for command)

   • type the following

     ipconfig
     

   • the response will display the IP address, described as the Default Gateway
      

3. Log into your modem|router (eg. http://10.0.0.1)
   • supply login credentials (the defaults will also be on a label attached to your device)
      
4. Locate where your modem|router configures your local area network
   • it should be on a page titled LAN IP or LAN Setup, or something like that
   • there should be somewhere on that page where you can setup a DHCP Reservation Lease, or an Address Reservation, or DHCP Static Lease, or some similar name … sorry every device is different
   • what you are looking for is somewhere where you can supply a MAC Address & IP Address pairing, so that the device with that MAC Address is always given that IP address
      
5. Record the reservation in your modem|router
   • add the MAC Address & IP Address pairing for your RPI
      
6. Reboot your RPi
   • press the Menu button (has the Raspberry icon), take option Shutdown with option set to Reboot
   • recheck your RPi’s IP Address

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a. log into the RPi using the TightVNC Viewer on your PC
b. check whether the SD Card Copier accessory is installed
press Menu (red raspberry icon), Open Acessories, and look for the SD Card Copier

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install piclone        

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