There are already a couple of guides on installing a Raspberry Pi headless on OS X but non of them worked 100% for me, so here is what I found out and how I did it.
How to install Raspberry Pi headless on OS X
What you need:
- Raspberry Pi (I have the Pi 3 Model B) with Ethernet and power cables
- A micro SD card (I believe 8GB is the minimum suggested size)
- A micro SD to SD adapter or micro SD to USB adapter
- A computer running OS X
Step by Step
Getting Raspbian on your micro SD card
- Download Raspbian (http://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspbian_latest)
- Download Pi Filler (http://ivanx.com/raspberrypi/)
- Unzip Raspbian
- Launch Pi Filler and follow the instructions (make sure you select the right SD card for installation!)
Connecting and starting your Raspberry
- Insert the micro SD card into your Raspberry
- Connect the Ethernet cable to your router and Raspberry
- Connect the power cable and plug it in
- Download Pi Finder (http://ivanx.com/raspberrypi/)
- Launch Pi Finder and wait for it to give you the Raspberry’s IP address (let’s assume for the rest of this post that it’s 192.168.1.100)
- Open Terminal on OS X and execute
-
$ ssh pi@192.168.1.100 pi@192.168.1.100's password: raspberry
Installing and updating
- Still while connected to the Raspberry
-
$ sudo raspi-config
- You will get a couple of options. Select the first one “expand Filesystem” so that the Raspberry can have access to the whole space on the micro SD card. Select “Finish” and reboot the Raspberry.
- Reconnect with ssh (if it doesn’t work the IP address of the Raspberry might have changed so just relaunch Pi Finder)
- Update the Raspberry’s software
-
$ sudo apt-get update
- Let it finish, then do
-
$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Installing VNC
- While still connect to the Raspberry execute
-
$ sudo apt-get install tightvncserver
- Once it’s install launch it and create a new session
-
$ tightvncserver
- This will ask you to input a (8 character maximum) password and an option view-only password
-
$ vncserver :1 -geometry 1920x1080 -depth 24
- I have found that creating a VNC session in OS X from the “connect to server” menu doesn’t work on OS X El Capitan.
- Download RealVNC (http://www.realvnc.com/download/vnc/latest/)
- Install the VNC Viewer from RealVNC (you don’t need the VNC Server)
- Open VNC Viewer and input 192.168.1.100:1 (the IP and port :1 of the Raspberry)
- You should get the Raspberry’s GUI on your Mac. Have fun!
If you have any difficulties or comments on the steps above don’t hesitate to leave a comment and I’ll try to help you out.