The Raspberry Pi foundation has created NOOBS (New Out Of the Box Software) which is easy to use and get you started. When it comes to crating an image on an SD card for your Pi Zero W, there are two options.

The camera connector will allow you to connect the Raspberry Pi camera although it is worth noting that the connector is a 22pin 0.5mm and different than the standard Pi and will need a different cable to connect the camera to the Pi. You can solder wires, headers or Pi Hats to this connector to access the GPIO pins or even power. The Pi Zero has a 40 pin GPIO connector on the board that matches the pinout of the standard Pi 3. There are a few other connectors to point out but we won't be using. Power your Pi Zero via the microUSB power input.

Insert the microSD card into the microSd slot. Make sure that you have a valid Raspberry Pi image on your microSD card (more on this later). If you have a separate mouse and keyboard, you will need a USB hub to attach both tto the USB OTG cable. If you have a keyboard/mouse combe, attach your dongle to the standard female USB end.

Connect the other end to the HDMI port on your monitor or television.Ĭonnect the USB OTG cable to the Pi Zero via the microUSB connector. To attach the Pi Zero to a Monitor or TV that has an HDMI input, attach a miniHDMI to HDMI cable or adapter to the miniHDMI connector on the Pi Zero. Depending on your use case, setup for the Pi Zero can be minimal, or it can be cumbersome due to smaller connectors on the Zero and the adapters needed to connect standard devices such as mice, keyboards, and monitors.

Pi zero w camera setup