Raspberry Pi Forums

this may need to be posted in Absolute Beginners ... but I am not one (a few years on Xubuntu) .... so here it is.

Powered up my new Pi-B 1'st time yesterday. I expected to enter UID (pi) and P/W (raspberry) and then startx. That never happened. Booted right up to a GUI.

Figured since I ordered with a pre-installed raspian 8GB SD card ... it came configured to behave that way. As I am 'learning' the environment, I come across a few things which ask me for a p/w ... such as "Aptitude Package Manager Text" and depending on what I want to do, such as Become root ... raspberry is rejected. Happens whenever I am challenged for a p/w. Where do I go from there ... what is amiss? Thank you in advance.

Default username should be "pi", and password should be "raspberry", that is true for tools like sudo too! And remember passwords are not echoed in Linux!
First time boots should not ask for passwords yet, but should boot into the "raspy-config" menu, so that you get a chance to expand the filesystem, and set keyboard style.
If not I suggest re-imaging your card with the latest raspbian. That is always a good idea!

A pre-imaged card has its uses, mainly to check if your PI will boot, but as rapsbian evolves fast its much better to use the latest version, it may even be that an old version doesn't boot on a newer PI, due to it using a memory chip the image doesn't support (the image also contains information that would normally be stored in a computers BIOS).

mahjongg wrote:Default username should be "pi", and password should be "raspberry", that is true for tools like sudo too! And remember passwords are not echoed in Linux!

Thank you VERY much for the quick reply. Yes .. I am aware the pi name and the raspberry P/W as well as the no echo of Linux.

First time boots should not ask for passwords yet, but should boot into the "raspy-config" menu, so that you get a chance to expand the filesystem, and set keyboard style.

That is exactly what happened ... and since subsequently restarting, I have yet to be called to enter a UID ... and the p/w raspberry does not get accepted .. anywhere.

If not I suggest re-imaging your card with the latest raspbian. That is always a good idea!

A pre-imaged card has its uses, mainly to check if your PI will boot, but as rapsbian evolves fast its much better to use the latest version, it may even be that an old version doesn't boot on a newer PI, due to it using a memory chip the image doesn't support (the image also contains information that would normally be stored in a computers BIOS).

I will take your advice. Thank you. FWIW ... a tutorial on getting sound to work mentioned doing a huge update in terminal. apt-get-upgrade apt-get update (or some such similar commands) and indeed, a huge update took place. I assume that is not as 'certain' a thing as a brand new image(?).

Will brush up on downloading and flashing a current image .... and start all over .. but want to wait and get your comment on the update/upgrade thing I mentioned. Thank you again.

WacoJohn wrote:this may need to be posted in Absolute Beginners ... but I am not one (a few years on Xubuntu) .... so here it is.

Powered up my new Pi-B 1'st time yesterday. I expected to enter UID (pi) and P/W (raspberry) and then startx. That never happened. Booted right up to a GUI.

Figured since I ordered with a pre-installed raspian 8GB SD card ... it came configured to behave that way. As I am 'learning' the environment, I come across a few things which ask me for a p/w ... such as "Aptitude Package Manager Text" and depending on what I want to do, such as Become root ... raspberry is rejected. Happens whenever I am challenged for a p/w. Where do I go from there ... what is amiss? Thank you in advance.

The Aptitude program does ask you for the actual root password however the root password is not set by default. Instead of starting Aptitude from the menu, start it in a terminal session with:

sudo aptitude

Then all options will work.
-OR-
You could set a root password with this command:

sudo passwd root

You will be asked to enter a password 2 x. Note this not the same password as the login but could be set to the same text.
After doing this you can start Aptitude from the menu and enter the root password when it asks you...... Do you want to become root?

Finally Aptitude is kind of cumbersome to use. I prefer to use Synaptic Package Manager...... You can download and install with:

sudo apt-get install synaptic

Note Synaptic is a GUI program only ...... Aptitude can be run from a console session with or without the GUI loaded.
Edit: Synaptic asks for the pi login user and password not root.

klricks wrote: The Aptitude program does ask you for the actual root password ....

Wow ... GREAT tips. I am familiar w/ Synaptics GUI ... from my Xubuntu experience ... and the Aptitude text version IS cumbersome (first time I had seen it was yesterday). Thank you for that and the other info re: root P/W. I thought pi WAS the root p/w. I am a bit confused about su, sudo, and their password architecture. I think they mean superuser and super user do .... and 'root' comes into play 'somehow' but the integrity of each eludes me ... still.

Right now, .. having trouble ... I flashed my SD card ... TWICE now. It completed the image write successfully with the latest raspian ... but just get a red light w/ pwr on ... no video (HDMI or COMPOSITE). With the preload on the card .... booted fine ... barring the peculiar pi/raspberry/startx anomaly.

Anyway ... soon as I get my pi to boot up ... will come back here and 'go from there'. Thank you again for your information.

su = set user = become someone else (usually root)
You have to prove that you're authorised to become that someone else by supplying their password

sudo = set user and do ... = run a single command as someone else (usually root)
You have to prove that you're authorised to do that by typing your password and being listed in /etc/sudoers

su is a fairly blunt tool with horrible implications for scaling and security.
sudo is the 'new and improved' way to escalate privilege. it allows very fine-grained control over who is allowed to impersonate whom to run what program from which system and creates an audit trail.

If you want to run a root terminal use sudo -i

sprinkmeier wrote:su = set user = become someone else (usually root) .....

Thank you again. Priceless info and well explained.

Back to topic ... I reflashed (wrote) the latest raspian with image writer .... 3 times now ... and the result is a red light on the device at power on. No video. Something seems bricked ... and I am guessing the SD card.

I am flashing the card on an old XP laptop using a Kingston external USB 2.0 card reader through an Express Card USB 3.0 port. The SDcard was purchased preloaded from the Pi retailer and it is a Sandisk SDHC 4 HC 8GB. The 'writes' ended successfully all 3 times.

Imagewriter, by the way, is now hosted at Sourceforge .. not where the QUICK START says it is.

NOT HERE: https://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer/+download

HERE: http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/

Anyway ... could someone please help me proceed? Thank you in advance.

Maybe put your SD card back into your card reader and find the boot partition.
Show us what files you find there.

klricks wrote:Maybe put your SD card back into your card reader and find the boot partition.
Show us what files you find there.

The only way I know how to examine the card is with Windows Explorer. I have no idea what partition I am seeing, but here is a screen shot:
and thank you again.

Those files look to be from a very old image. My boot files are dated 5/14/2013

Note you can only see the boot partition from a Windows PC.

klricks wrote:Those files look to be from a very old image. My boot files are dated 5/14/2013

Note you can only see the boot partition from a Windows PC.

Well, .. that is a good clue as to the problem. Here is info on the image file:

2012-12-16-wheezy-raspbian.img 1,894,400 KB Date Modified 12-16-2012 DUH!!!

I followed some instruction somewhere to d/l the current .. but either screwed up, or followed wrong instruction. I will take another shot at it. I am sure this is the probem ... just hope I can find the latest.

THANK YOU some more.

EDIT: At the top of this page is Download ... and it (now) provides a d/l of 2013-02-09-wheezy-raspbian.zip .... I don't know how 'new' it is supposed to be .. but will get this one and unzip for an image file date.

EDIT: I don't think this is it either.
Friday Feb 8 2013 in case you can't read the screen shot.

Yes,

WacoJohn wrote:2013-02-09-wheezy-raspbian.zip

is the image that you need.

Earlier ones will not work on most new RPis, giving exactly the symptoms you describe (red light only).

That is correct image.
My boot files got updated to newer versions (5/14/13) by doing the update commands:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Thank you Gentlemen. I will give this one a try then. I have no idea how I got that first outdated one ... I recall getting it the same way I got this one. I'm bettin' my problems are over

EDIT: I'm ON .... Raspie style!! Thank you ALL for your prompt and kind assistance. I really apreciate it.