Installing basic software

We now need to update our existing software and install a few more bits of software ready for our projects. To update our existing software, type the following command into your Pi Zero:

sudo apt-get update

You should see multiple lines of information appear across your SSH connection, as your Pi Zero updates its information about what software packages are available to it:

To upgrade your existing software packages, type the following command:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

This command will make your Pi Zero check to see whether there are any updated software packages available for you to install. If there are, it will ask you to confirm. If prompted to, press Y to install your updates and wait for the process to complete.

We are now going to install a couple of new pieces of software, which do not come as standard on the Jessie Lite image, but this we will need for our projects. Type the following code to install the required software:

sudo apt-get install python3 python3-gpiozero python3-pip

Your Pi Zero will then calculate all the other packages it needs to install to get these three pieces of software working. Enter Y and press Enter to begin the installation process. Installing new software and updates on a Pi Zero can take some time, but be patient and it will finish soon enough!

Once this completes, we now have the basic software we need to start on our projects.