In the first part Step by Step Building the Raspberry Pi 2 GPS Geocaching Kit - Part I: Put Hardware Together, I recorded how I put the hardware together step by step. In this part, I will show the basic OS configuration and software installation & update.
After the first time boot-up completes, the Pi 2 will automatically run raspi-config program (you can always run this program again after first time boot-up by typing command sudo raspi-config). In this configuration interface, you can customize the locale settings, password, enable/disable some peripherals, etc.
I think Raspbian has been installed on the MicroSD card came with the kit, so you don't need to expand file system. If you try to do it, it will give you a message like this
The default user name is "pi" and password is "raspberry" (without the quote signs). You can change the default password by typing new password twice as shown in the bottom left corner of the second picture below.
You can choose the OS boot into Desktop or Console interface. I chose Desktop option as shown below.
You can customize your locale, timezone and keyboard layout (entering items 4 in the first picture of this blog).
I did overclock to Pi 2 option.
I also customized a few advanced options. First, enable SSH
Next, I enabled kernel automatically load SPI module
I also enabled automatically load I2C module
The last OS configuration was disable login shell on serial port
After OS configuration, the program will ask for a reboot.
After reboot, the desktop showed up. If you chose boot into console mode, the desktop won't show up. Instead, a login console shows up.
Next, I opened a terminal window and started upgrading the OS by typing the following commands in sequence (some commands may take a long period of time to complete).
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade -y
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -y
sudo rpi-update
sudo reboot
After reboot, I installed python3 and other GPS support software, etc. Then reboot again after the software installation completed.
Next, configure gpsd and reboot again.
Up to this point, all software installation and update is completed. In part III Step by Step Building the Raspberry Pi 2 GPS Geocaching Kit - Part III: Trouble-shooting and Get It Work, I will show how I test, trouble-shoot and get it work.