How to use Raspberry Pi on your Laptop

The Raspberry Pi is a tiny computer which is increasingly used by DIY enthusiasts to start off. From building your own weather monitoring station to making an advanced beast, the humble Pi can do it all. The typical Raspberry Pi contains just the CPU. We would need to however connect it with an external keyboard, a mouse and a display to use it. Another way would be to make use of your existing laptop/PC to virtually access your Pi.

VNC Connect is a simple software which enables you to control any computer on your network. Download VNC Viewer to the device you want to control.

1. Install the Raspberry Pi OS to the SD Card. Preferably using the Raspberry Pi Imager Software for the latest OS. https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/
2. Configure WiFi connection on SD Card. This should be done before inserting the SD card on to the Pi. Create a file wpa_supplicant.con on \boot in the SD Card. Use the following code to add the details of your WiFi connection and Password.

country=IN
update_config=1
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
network={
  ssid=""
  psk=""
  key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}

Alternatively, use the Supplicant Generator to create the wpa_supplicant.conf as it may not run if UNIX style spacing is not adopted. Enter your WiFI connection name and Password within the double quotes.

3. Create a blank text file with the name ssh to enable SSH on the Pi.

4. Put the SD card on the Pi and power on.

5. Find the IP address of the Pi using terminal by typing arp -a or by opening the router page. Connect Pi to laptop/PC through SSH. Type ssh pi@[IP address of Pi] in the terminal. The terminal of the Pi can now be accesed through the terminal of the PC/Laptop. The password is usually raspberry.

6. Install VNC viewer on the Pi.

sudo apt–get update
sudo apt–get install realvnc–vnc–server realvnc–vnc–viewer

7. Navigate to VNC Viewer on the Pi. Type sudo raspi-config on terminal.

Navigate to `Interfacing Options → P3 VNC → Yes`.

8. Install VNC Viewer on Raspberry Pi. Type the IP address of the Pi. If prompted to login, the username is pi and the password is raspberry.

The Raspberry Pi can now be used through laptop/PC.