Accessing the Raspberry Pi

This page covers how to access the Raspberry Pi from your computer. So far, we know of four ways to interact with the Raspberry Pi.

VNC and SSH is the recommended way to interact with the Raspberry Pi. SSH is extremely lightweigt, and quite versatile if you're comfortable with the terminal.

Prerequisites

On Windows, you will need to install PuTTY to use SSH or the Serial Console.

On macOS and Linux, you will need to install minicom to use the Serial Console.

SSH Recommended

SSH stands for Secure Shell. It allows you to securely connect to and access a computer. It is the most common way to access a Raspberry Pi. When you SSH into Raspberry Pi, you get a terminal that allows you to run commands.

If you're using a new flashed SD card, make sure SSH was enabled during the flashing of the SD card.

Ethernet

Plug the Raspberry Pi into your computer using an Ethernet cable.

If you're using PuTTY on Windows, enter raspberrypi.local as the hostname.

If you're using the terminal, run

ssh dhruva@raspberrypi.local

You can add the -Y flag to enable X11 forwarding. This allows you to run graphical applications on the Raspberry Pi and have them displayed on your computer.

ssh -Y dhruva@raspberrypi.local

The default password is dhruva. The format is ssh username@hostname.

Wi-Fi

You will first need to connect the Raspberry Pi to a Wi-Fi network.

You will need to find the IP address of the Raspberry Pi. You can do this by running

ipscan

You will need to install angry ip scanner to use ipscan. Once you have the IP address, you can SSH into the Raspberry Pi by running

If you're using PuTTY on Windows, enter the IP address as the hostname.

If you're using the terminal, run

ssh dhruva@<ip-address>

You can add the -Y flag to enable X11 forwarding. This allows you to run graphical applications on the Raspberry Pi and have them displayed on your computer.

ssh -Y dhruva@<ip-address>

The default password is dhruva.

VNC Recommended

VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing. It allows you to view and interact with the Raspberry Pi's desktop. It is useful when you need to use the Raspberry Pi's graphical interface.

To use VNC, you will need to install a VNC viewer on your computer. RealVNC and TigerVNC are popular choices.

To install TigerVNC on Linux,
Ubuntu - sudo apt install tigervnc-viewer
Fedora - sudo dnf install tigervnc
Arch - sudo pacman -S tigervnc
Gentoo - sudo emerge --ask net-misc/tigervnc

Ethernet

Similar to SSH, plug the Raspberry Pi into your computer using an Ethernet cable. Connect to raspberrypi.local using the VNC viewer.

Wi-Fi

You will first need to connect the Raspberry Pi to a network. Similar to SSH, you will need to find the IP address of the Raspberry Pi, and connect to it using the VNC viewer.

Serial Console Needs testing

The Raspberry Pi has a serial console that allows you to interact with the Raspberry Pi using a serial connection. This is useful when you don't have access to a network. You will need to install minicom on your computer to use the Serial Console. See the pin diagram for the exact pins on the Raspberry Pi.

To begin, plug the Raspberry Pi into your computer using a USB to TTL serial cable.

Serial connection using USB to TTL serial cable

Connect the USB to TTL serial cable to the Raspberry Pi. The connections are as follows:

1. Black wire - GND
2. Green wire - TX
3. White wire - RX

Serial connection using Arduino UNO

You can also use an Arduino UNO to connect to the Raspberry Pi. The connections are as follows:

1. Arduino RESET - Arduino GND
2. Arduino TX - Raspberry Pi TX
3. Arduino RX - Raspberry Pi RX

Plug the Arduino into your computer using a USB cable.

Physical Access

This is not a viable solution as you will need a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. However, it is by far the most straightforward way to interact with the Raspberry Pi. Plug in the monitor (using a mini-HDMI cable), keyboard (USB), and mouse (USB) into the Raspberry Pi. The monitor should display the Raspberry Pi desktop.