If you just want to experiment with the Pi or use it to control physical objects like lights, motors and sensors, you don't need to give it its own screen and keyboard. It almost goes without saying, but you'll need some kind of card reader to write the OS to it from your PC. Be sure to get a card that's at least 8GB, preferably 32GB or higher, and has class 10 speed (see our list of best Raspberry Pi microSD cards). The Raspberry Pi has no internal storage, but instead boots off of a a microSD memory card that you provide. However, Raspberry Pi OS, a special version of Debian Linux that's optimized for the Pi, is the best platform for most use cases so that's the one we'll be explaining how to set up.

There are more than a dozen different OSes for Raspberry Pi, and there's even a way to run full Windows 11 on the Pi 4. However, to avoid data loss, you'll want to use the shutdown feature in your operating system (OS) before unplugging or switching it off. You can also find power supplies with built-in on / off switches. The Pi doesn't have a built-in power switch, so the default way to turn it on is to plug it in.

There are a number of power supplies that are made specifically for Raspberry Pis, including the official Raspberry Pi 4 power supply (opens in new tab) and the CanaKit 5V 2.5A supply (opens in new tab)for other Raspberry Pi models.

Windows 11 raspberry pi 4