"Hello World" with Raspberry Pi 3

Updated 22 April 2022

Today we’re going to take a look at how to get started and setup that fancy Raspberry Pi you’ve just bought. If you’re still not sure exactly how the Raspberry Pi works, or what it can do, check out ‘What is a Raspberry Pi?’.

The Raspberry Pi 3 Starter kit is our most popular kit as makers usually have a spare keyboard, mouse, and screen lying around. The Starter Kit contains all the essentials you’ll need to get up and running:

To replicate this tutorial, you will also need these parts:

  • Keyboard and mouse
  • Screen (computer monitor or TV is perfect) with HDMI input (or an adapter)

Alternatively, we have other kits which contain those accessories.

You can use another Micro-USB power supply if you wish. However check out the Raspberry Pi FAQ page first to ensure that it adheres to the Raspberry Pi power requirements. An under-rated or low quality power supply can cause strange behavior on your Raspberry Pi, or potentially damage it.

Here’s a quick overview of the ports and features on the Raspberry Pi 3:

Raspberry Pi 3 Layout

To get our Raspberry Pi running quickly and easily, we’re going to use the NOOBS (New-Out-Of-Box-Software) OS manager to install Raspbian.

The Starter Kit comes with a NOOBS Micro SD card which has NOOBS preinstalled on it. If you purchased your Raspberry Pi individually, or want to use another Micro SD card, check out our tutorial for Creating a NOOBS SD Card.

  1. Plug in your USB keyboard and mouse into any of the Raspberry Pi’s 4 USB ports (wireless devices will also work).
  2. Insert your MicroSD card with NOOBS into the slot on the underside of your Raspberry Pi (contacts against the board).
  3. Connect one end of the HDMI cable to the HDMI port on your Raspberry, and the other end to your screen. Ensure the screen is turned on, and the correct input is selected (HDMI 1, DVI, VGA etc…) If you’re connecting to a screen using a DVI, VGA, or other connection type, be sure to use the appropriate adapter.
  4. OPTIONAL To use NOOBS to download additional Operating Systems (Raspbian already comes on the card), or to use internet functions on your Raspberry Pi, connect an Ethernet cable from the Ethernet port on your Raspberry Pi, to your access point (modem/router).
  5. The last step is to plug your Micro-USB power supply into the wall, and connect to the Micro-USB connector on your Raspberry Pi. This will power up and boot your Raspberry Pi. (To shut down your Raspberry Pi, simply disconnect the Micro-USB connector from the board).

Congratulations! Your Raspberry Pi is now on, and you should see it boot up for the first time.

If you used one of our pre-packaged NOOBS cards, Raspbian should already be installed on it. If so, on startup, you will go straight to the Raspbian desktop.

Raspbian desktop

Otherwise you should see the NOOBS setup screen appear. 

NOOBS installation manager

If not, power down your Raspberry Pi, go through and double check your connections, and then try powering it up again.
If you’re still having issues, or having trouble with any of the steps in this tutorial, feel free to contact us via email, or the online chat module and we can get you back on track.

What now?

To get Raspbian or other Operating Systems up and running using NOOBS, check out our Raspberry Pi NOOBS Setup Tutorial.

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