Raspberry Pi online course

First boot

Flash the card, complete first-boot setup, and get on the network.

Use Raspberry Pi Imager. Pick Raspberry Pi OS, pick your board, and open the gear menu to set hostname, user, Wi-Fi, and SSH before you write the card. That saves a keyboard-and-monitor dance on headless boards.

Power from a supply that meets the board’s spec. Undervoltage looks like random reboots and a lightning bolt overlay, not a clean kernel panic. After boot, run sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade and reboot once.