User Guide

17
2 – Introducing Raspbian
2.1 Raspbian and Linux
An operating system (OS) is a unique type of application that you
run on your computer. It is an environment in which many other
applications can run at the same time, with a consistent user
interface and sharing the same resources. Microsoft Windows
and Apple’s Mac OS X are probably the two most well-known
operating systems, but there are others.
Linux is one of a small group of operating systems that are
“free”. It usually doesn’t cost anything to use and people can
modify the OS, repackage it with other software, distribute their
version, and generally do what they want with it. Because of this,
you can find Linux running on most types of computer – from
large servers used by corporations such as Google, to small
devices like the Raspberry Pi. A bundle of the Linux core with
other applications (such as desktop environments, file managers,
and web browsers) is called a “distribution” (or “distro”).
Raspbian is a Linux distribution that is based on Debian, another
popular version of Linux. It is designed for the Raspberry Pi and
is the OS recommended by the Raspberry Pi Foundation.
Although different Linux distributions can often run the same
applications, this book is focused on using Raspbian and it may
be helpful for you to run this OS while you are learning. Once
you are familiar with Raspbian, you will find that you are able to
use other varieties of Linux without much help.
2.2 Installation of Raspbian with NOOBS
New out of Box Software (NOOBS) is a tool that you can run on
your Raspberry Pi, and it will help you install an OS. It stays on
the SD card, even after the OS installed, and you can also use it
to edit the Pi’s main configuration file or replace the installed OS
if problems occur. The SD card supplied with your Pi already
contains NOOBS.