By default the sshd service is not installed in the debian distrubution used on the Raspberry PI. For most uses this isn’t really necessary but if you are intending to use the pi without a screen then you need some way to get into it over the network.
All you need to do is to install ssh & tell debian to run it on boot:
sudo apt-get install ssh sudo update-rc.d ssh defaults
Now, as long as you know the IP address (or you give it a static one) then you can now ssh into it.
Finally after waiting for months my Raspberry PI finally arrived:
When you open the box & get it out you then realize how tiny the thing is:
Now when I ordered this I also ordered a PSU (normal micro-USB) and a 4Gb SD card. The other required items like HDMI & USB keyboard/mouse I already had, so the next thing was to download Debian & install it on the sd card.
I followed the instructions on elinux.org as I couldn’t get RasPiWrite to run but then it was a simple task. It will take a while to copy to the card.
Once done plug everything in and start it up. At first you’ll see it boot & it’s pretty quick. Once you get the login prompt login and type startx. You’ll then get the desktop.
There’s a simple browser provided which works to a point – some things don’t work but it’s early days.
There’s only one thing that’s not right is that the screen doesn’t fit the monitor – but then I blame the monitor than the PI – it’s a cheap TV/DVD from Asda which I know has an odd resolution (1400×900) & the PI is detecting it with a higher resolution, but other than that, initial use shows it’s working pretty well.
Peter Mount's Blog 