JMRI on Raspberry Pi (Part 1): Gathering hardware and basic setup

The time has come to attempt the installation of JMRI on a Raspberry Pi. This should be an ideal combination of hardware and software for layout control. This system will be relatively low cost, as only the physical hardware will have to be purchased. The average cost will likely be around $70 for the hardware, depending on what additional components are chosen and where the components are purchased. The system will occupy only a small footprint of space, and be low in power consumption. In  addition, the project nicely merges two interesting hobbies into one system, computers and model railroading. Throughout this series, other websites will be referred to when convenient, as there is a vast repository of knowledge available on the Internet, and why re-invent the wheel.

1. The first step is to gather the hardware. The basic items needed are the following:
1. Raspberry Pi, Model B from Allied Electronics
2. USB Converter 120VAC/5V 1A  (I like the Tabeo unit from Toys R Us 1.5A)
3. USB to mini USB connector for power to the Raspberry Pi
4. SDHC 4Gig (Minimum) card (Get a class 10, it will boot faster)
5. Some type of video display (HDMI or NTSC)
6. Corresponding video cable for the display
7. USB keyboard
8. USB mouse
9. Network cable and Internet connection
10. A case for the Pi. There are a lot of choices, find one that suits you.
2. Assemble the Raspberry Pi computer using the above components. Wait to install the SDHC card.
3. Set up the SDHC card so that the Raspberry Pi can boot from it. This can be done on Windows, Mac or Linux. There are excellent tutorials available, so I am not going to re-invent the wheel. Here is a link to a very nice document stepping through all the aspects of the basic setup of the Raspberry Pi. It gives instructions for each of the platforms.
4. After you install NOOBS (New Out OF Box Software) to the SD card, place the SD card into the Raspberry Pi and plug in the power. If all goes well, you should boot into an application that allows you to download various operating systems for the Pi. This is a very flexible system. 
5. Choose the Raspbian OS by clicking on it with the mouse.
6. Click on 'Install OS' at the bottom of the screen. This will begin the installation of the Raspbian operating system.
7. Once the install starts, it will take anywhere from about 5 minutes to 15 minutes to complete. It will depend on the size of the SD card used. I used a 32GB SD card, and it took about 11 minutes. Please be patient while the system installs.
8. Eventually a window will appear that says 'Restore Complete'. Click 'OK'.
9. The system will then proceed to reboot. The system will then boot into the 'Raspberry Pi configuration tool (raspi-config)' text based menu system.

This is an excellent place to stop. Please see Part 2 of this series for how to use the Raspberry Pi configuration tool.

Further Information:

The website http://www.raspberrypi.org is an excellent place to start learning about the Raspberry Pi. Additionally, there is a free online magazine that you can download from either http://www.themagpi.com/ or the iTunes bookstore. Either way, there is no cost. If a printed copy is preferred, they are available to order directly from the site.

That's it for this installment. Learn something new every day and remember that model railroading is fun!