How to setup Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ only using USB Drive and Android Phone Charger.

Raspberry Pi has been around for sometime and I was interested in Setting up MagicMirror using it, so went to Sim Lim Square and got one for S$ 70. Luckily the shop owner just had one model — Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ without which, setting up this thing would have required buying an SD Card , Keyboard, etc. This is not new information — rather gathered from several sources. I am just shouting out loud that — if you are able to locate a Pen Drive/USB drive and an Android phone charger (micro USB). “Yes — you don’t have buy any additional stuff ” What do we need Hardware Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ (yes, we need this specific model) Micro USB Charger (Android Phone charger are usually this) USB Drive (thumb/pen drive/stick) — 8 GB at least Mac or PC (though we will be using Mac for detailed steps in this article) Home or Office Wifi Network (for which you know the password and Network name) Software (Raspbian Stretch with desktop) Raspbian Operating System (use to burn USB Drive with OS Image) Etcher (choose Operating System Windows or Mac or Linux) — Raspbian comes preloaded with VNC Server VNC Viewer Special Unzip utilities, Standard OS ones don’t handle these file types [ (Windows) or (Mac) or (Linux) ] 7-Zip The Unarchiver Unzip Lets get to work Step 1: Preparing USB Drive by loading Operating System Install Etcher Plug in the USB Drive to Computer (warning — all data in USB Drive will be erased) Launch Etcher and Select the Raspian file. .img Select Raspian Image, USB Drive and Flash Select USB Drive that we just plugged in and Flash Eject and Plugin the USB Drive again, we will have to edit some files so that Raspberry automatically connects to Wifi network — this will help us to open a terminal to Raspberry when it boots. Step 2: Enable SSH and Wifi Connection Open Terminal on Computer and cd to USB Drive (in mac cd /Volumes/ (i called my drive boot) cd /Volumes/boot Enable SSH by creating a empty file touch ssh Let move to setup Wifi Connection details so that Raspberry connects to your Wifi network and becomes available for us to Connect from Command Line Under the same root folder of USB, create file called wpa_supplicant.conf (vi is my preferred file editor, you can use TextEdit or Notepad too) Type in the below details or copy paste from below (press i key for insert mode, paste contents and to save — Esc :wq ) ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdevnetwork={ssid=""psk=""key_mgmt=WPA-PSK} Save the file and eject USB drive, we are all set for creating USB Bootable drive Step 3: Selecting the micro USB Charger There are several articles that go into detail of (important) is required than voltage. Since most USB charges produce 5V output. how much current The suggested output required is 5V and 2.5 A if you have to run several peripherals (monitor, keyboard, Wifi, etc). In our case, we just need one peripheral — Wifi . So anything more than 1.5 A should be good to start with. I was able to find a USB charger that produced 2.4A output. Find the thickest USB cable that you can find, thicker the cable — higher the current it can carry (discounting insulation thickness). Step 4: Startup and Terminal Access Once Raspberry is powered on, Red light glows to confirm that it got power and ready to wow you. Then Green light next to Red LED starts to flicker, this is when Wifi Connection is being established. Wait for about 20 seconds and then try to SSH (login) into Raspberry Pi By default hostname is assigned and this can be used to connect from terminal. Open a terminal and connect raspberrypi.local ssh pi@raspberrypi.local here is the Username and is the hostname. Default password for account is pi raspberrypi.local pi raspberry Step 5: View Desktop using VNC Viewer Launch to enable VNC Server raspi-config sudo raspi-config This launches a nice CUI to select and enable VNC. Choose > > Interfacing Options VNC Yes Launch VNC Server on your Computer and add a New Connection. New VNC Connection Then Double Click on the Connection to launch VNC Connection, this will prompt for username and password. Invincible References _The Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ is the latest product in the Raspberry Pi 3 range._www.raspberrypi.org Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ - Raspberry Pi _This section contains documentation with technical information about the Raspberry Pi hardware, including official…_www.raspberrypi.org How to boot from a USB mass storage device on a Raspberry Pi - Raspberry Pi Documentation _This section includes some simple guides to setting up the software on your Raspberry Pi. We recommend that beginners…_www.raspberrypi.org Installing operating system images - Raspberry Pi Documentation _Raspbian is the Foundation's official supported operating system. You can install it with NOOBS or download the image…_www.raspberrypi.org Download Raspbian for Raspberry Pi _Need to access a Raspberry Pi, but don't have a monitor spare? This section provides basic instructions for setting up…_www.raspberrypi.org VNC (Virtual Network Computing) - Raspberry Pi Documentation _I'm one of the rare software developers that doesn't have an extra HDMI monitor, keyboard, and ethernet connection…_howchoo.com How to set up WiFi on your Raspberry Pi without a keyboard or monitor (or ethernet)