Cheapest Way to Setup Raspberry Pi (Headless, Like Server)

Abhishek Ghosh

By Abhishek Ghosh October 8, 2017 1:35 pm Updated on October 8, 2017

Cheapest Way to Setup Raspberry Pi (Headless, Like Server)

Raspberry Pi with all needed things for GUI is no way cheap, indeed it is quite costly including all actually needed hardwares for general purpose use and increasing longevity of it. Case of Arduino is different as it is just a developmental board based on microcontroller. Raspberry Pi is a single board computer. Here is cheapest way to setup Raspberry Pi as headless like server to SSH & work. This way is good if you are used with both SSH and some electronics DIY works. Still you need these things with latest Raspberry Pi (which has WiFi) :

Raspberry Pi board : $36
A Micro SD card for that Raspberry Pi (minimum 16 GB is practical) : $5 to $10
A Micro SD card reader or someway to connect as storage device with your computer’s card reader. There is Micro SD card adapter for Mac : $10

Total about $50 is not cheap but cheapest as we are not including the power. Raspberry Pi board needed 5V supply via micro USB, we have breadboard power supply from old desktop computer’s PSU and method to cut USB cable. You either a dedicated power supply or build in DIY way with a Micro USB cable. Usually many tablets have Micro USB power supply which can support Raspberry Pi. There is Micro SD card which are preloaded with Raspberry Pi operating system. Perform market research before buying. That card has to do with performance.

Cheapest Way to Setup Raspberry Pi Like Server

After you have arranged the hardwares, if you’re using MacBook, you will put that Micro SD card in MacBook’s card slot. May be that slot is virgin, at least my one MacBook was. Such unused slot in few years old MacBook needs a bout of cleaning the dust inside. That can be an episode which is not funny – card can fail to read. Open Disk Utility. To open Disk Utility you can navigate to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. You’ll need to click on the “Apple SDXC Reader” in the left column of Disk Utility. Then format the SD card to MS-DOS (FAT). Give a name to that card. Run df -h to get the mounting point which will be like /dev/disk2. You’ll get this kind of output :

Filesystem      Size   Used  Avail Capacity  iused    ifree %iused  Mounted on
/dev/disk0s2   465Gi  199Gi  265Gi    43% 52299389 69587353   43%   /
devfs          192Ki  192Ki    0Bi   100%      664        0  100%   /dev
map -hosts       0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%        0        0  100%   /net
map auto_home    0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%        0        0  100%   /home
/dev/disk1s2   303Mi  280Mi   23Mi    93%    71633     5944   92%   /Volumes/NI-DAQmx_Base_3.3.0
/dev/disk2s1    56Mi   19Mi   37Mi    34%      512        0  100%   /Volumes/NONAME

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Filesystem Size Used Avail Capacity iused ifree %iused Mounted on

/dev/disk0s2 465Gi 199Gi 265Gi 43% 52299389 69587353 43% /

devfs 192Ki 192Ki 0Bi 100% 664 0 100% /dev

map -hosts 0Bi 0Bi 0Bi 100% 0 0 100% /net

map auto_home 0Bi 0Bi 0Bi 100% 0 0 100% /home

/dev/disk1s2 303Mi 280Mi 23Mi 93% 71633 5944 92% /Volumes/NI-DAQmx_Base_3.3.0

/dev/disk2s1 56Mi 19Mi 37Mi 34% 512 0 100% /Volumes/NONAME

If you visit this link you’ll get Raspbian as download zip file :

http://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspbian_latest

1	http://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspbian_latest

You’ll find all possible downloads here :

http://downloads.raspberrypi.org

1	http://downloads.raspberrypi.org

If the download’s unzipped file’s name is 2017-07-07-wheezy-raspbian.img and X is number of /dev/rdiskX then run :

sudo diskutil unmount /dev/diskXs1
sudo dd bs=1m if=./2017-07-07-wheezy-raspbian.img of=/dev/rdiskX  
sudo diskutil eject /dev/rdiskX 
arp -a

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sudo diskutil unmount /dev/diskXs1

sudo dd bs=1m if=./2017-07-07-wheezy-raspbian.img of=/dev/rdiskX

sudo diskutil eject /dev/rdiskX

arp -a

Last command will find IP address. If IP is 192.168.1.8, then with WiFi connection, try SSH once :

ssh pi@192.168.1.8

1	ssh pi@192.168.1.8

You probably need few steps for WiFi. First cd to /Volumes/boot and run touch ssh to create an empty file.

Create wpa_supplicant.conf :

nano wpa_supplicant.conf

1	nano wpa_supplicant.conf

Copy paste the below content after your judgement.

For Raspbian Jessie:

network={
    ssid="YOUR_NETWORK_NAME"
    psk="YOUR_PASSWORD"
    key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}

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network={

ssid="YOUR_NETWORK_NAME"

psk="YOUR_PASSWORD"

key_mgmt=WPA-PSK

}

For Raspbian Stretch:

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
network={
    ssid="YOUR_NETWORK_NAME"
    psk="YOUR_PASSWORD"
    key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}

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ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev

network={

ssid="YOUR_NETWORK_NAME"

psk="YOUR_PASSWORD"

key_mgmt=WPA-PSK

}

Now safely eject that card, insert inside Raspberry Pi, power it and SSH. If you face trouble, visit this Github’s page :

https://github.com/raspberrypi/documentation/blob/master/configuration/wireless/wireless-cli.md

1	https://github.com/raspberrypi/documentation/blob/master/configuration/wireless/wireless-cli.md

First time you’ll log in, the Raspberry Pi will run raspi-config so you can set configuration parameters.

Cheapest Way to Setup Raspberry Pi Headless, Like Server

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Cheapest Way to Setup Raspberry Pi (Headless, Like Server)

Cheapest Way to Setup Raspberry Pi Like Server

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