🐶 Raspberry Pi 4 Initial Setup

📝 Introduction

When setting up a Raspberry Pi 4 for a FreeNove robot dog, connecting a monitor, keyboard, and mouse can be inconvenient.
In this guide, you will learn how to configure your Raspberry Pi in a headless setup (no external display) and control it remotely from your laptop using VNC.
This setup is simple, beginner-friendly, and ideal for robotics projects.

🔧 Requirements

🔌 Hardware

• Raspberry Pi 4
• microSD card (16GB or more recommended)
• USB‑C power supply (5V / 3A recommended)
• SD card reader (for your laptop)

💻 Software

• Raspberry Pi Imager
  https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/
• RealVNC Viewer
  https://www.realvnc.com/en/connect/download/viewer/

🚀 Setup

① Prepare the SD card (using laptop)

1. Install Raspberry Pi Imager
2. Insert the microSD card into your laptop
3. Select the OS:
   Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit) with Desktop
4. Configure:
   ・Localisation
   ・User
   👉 These credentials will be used to log in via VNC or connect via SSH to access the Raspberry Pi desktop.
   ・Wi‑Fi
   ・SSH (Remote access)
5. Click Write
   

⚠️ Important

At this stage, the Raspberry Pi is NOT powered on yet.
The “Write” step only prepares the SD card.

💡If you run into a microSD card error and your computer can no longer read it, then do the below.

Press Windows+X keys
→ Open Disk Management 
→ Locate the 32GB disk 
→ Right click on "Change Driver Letter and Paths..." 
→ Set as E: drive

This should make the drive visible again.

② Boot the Raspberry Pi

1. Insert the SD card into the Raspberry Pi
2. Connect the USB‑C power supply
   👉 The Raspberry Pi will automatically power on (first boot may take a few minutes)
   The OS will finish initializing in the background.

③ Install RealVNC Viewer (on laptop)

1. Go to the official site:
   https://www.realvnc.com/en/connect/download/viewer/
2. Download the version for your OS:
   Windows / macOS / Linux
3. Install it like a normal application

④ Enable RealVNC Viewer

1. 🔍 Find IP address
   Open Command Prompt and use:
   ping raspberrypi.local
   👉 If successful, it will return an IP address (e.g., 192.168.x.x), which you can use in VNC Viewer.
2. Log into Raspberry Pi to turn on the RealVNC option.
   ssh username@raspberry-pi-ip-address
   To enable VNC from the command line, you only need one command:
   sudo raspi-config
   That opens the Raspberry Pi configuration menu.

Enable VNC inside raspi-config

Once the menu appears:

• Go to Interface Options
• Select VNC
• Select Yes to enable
  
• Press Finish to close menu
• Reboot: sudo reboot

After reboot, the VNC server will be running.

④ Connect from your laptop (VNC)

🔑 Login

Open RealVNC Viewer and the same credentials you set in Raspberry Pi Imager.

✅ After connection

You will see the Raspberry Pi desktop (GUI)

• You can control it with your mouse and keyboard
• Your laptop becomes the Raspberry Pi’s screen
  
  ※How to Safely shut down Raspberry Pi 4

⚡ Key Points

• "Write" only prepares the SD card
• Username/password MUST be set in Imager for remote login
• VNC uses the SAME username/password (no separate VNC account)
• Raspberry Pi turns on when power is connected
• No monitor is required (use VNC)
• Always use a proper power adapter (do NOT use laptop USB power)

🧠 What is “Headless”?

A headless setup means:

• No monitor
• No keyboard
• No mouse

Everything is controlled remotely instead.

✅ Summary

With these steps, you can set up your Raspberry Pi 4 for a FreeNove robot:

OS: Desktop version
Connection: VNC (GUI access)
Setup: Headless (no monitor required, remote control via laptop)

🎯 Next Step

🧩 Installing Python Libraries and Configuring Modules
https://qiita.com/tri-edge/items/029883eeb834eff72fd8