Monday 4 February 2013

Updating Your System

Now that your Raspberry Pi is connected to the internet the first thing to do is to download the most recent updates for your Raspbian "Wheezy" operating system. To do this type "sudo apt-get dist-upgrade" at the command line prompt and press Enter:

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade_

Your Raspberry Pi will now download and install the latest updates for your operating system. This may take a while. As it is progressing you will see a lot of text scrolling up your display screen.

The Raspbian "Wheezy" operating system on your Raspberry Pi also gives you access to a huge library of (mostly free) software called the repository.  The "apt" part of the command you just entered stands for "Advanced Packaging Tool" and this is the management tool for the software repository. The operating system maintains a database file of all the software in the repository and you can download the latest version of this database by typing "sudo apt-get update" at the command line prompt and pressing Enter:

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo apt-get update_

Your Raspberry Pi will now download and install the latest repository database files and will report it's progress by displaying various lines of text on your screen. When completed type "sudo apt-get upgrade" at the command line prompt and press Enter:

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo apt-get upgrade_

This will instruct your Raspberry Pi to download and install the latest updates for all the software installed on your system. This may be a large download and may take a while. Once again as it is progressing you will see a lot of text scrolling up your display screen.

The Raspberry "Wheezy" operating system and all the software installed on your Rasperry Pi should now be up to date. It is a good idea to run all three of the above commands regularly to ensure that your system has all the latest updates.

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