This document assumes you have some limited knowledge of the Linux operating system and the tools that are used to access and use the OS. You will also need to have some knowledge of how to use either the vi or nano editing tools.

Download and install Raspian Buster with desktop and recommended software from this site: https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/. The software you want to download is the Raspbian Buster with desktop and recommended software. Unzip the image to a folder on your computer where you can find it.

You will need a micro 16 GB or 32 GB SD card and a USB SD card reader. Either size will work but if you use the 16 GB card it will be over 50% used when all of the software installation is completed. You need to download Win32 Disk Imager and install it on your computer. Plug the USB SD card reader into a USB port on your computer. If a window pops up saying you need to format the disk before you can use it, click the Format disk button. Once the disk is formatted, the pop ups should stop. Start Win32 Disk Imager and it will show the drive label of the SD card in the text box underneath the Device label. Click the folder to the left of the Device text box and browse to the file that was created when you unzipped the image file. Click on that file and it will show in the text box underneath the Image File label. Click on the Write button and the image will be copied to the SD card. It will take 5 to 30 minutes depending on the speed of your computer and the write speed of the SD card.

After the file has been copied to the SD card, unplug the card reader from the USB port. Open Notepad and put type the following lines into it:
country=US
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
network={
	ssid="YourWiFiNetwork"
	psk="YourWiFiPassword (WPA Key)"
	key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
} 

Click File -> Save As and select Save as type: and select (*.*). Save the file with a name of wpa_supplicant.conf. Close Notepad and make sure the file did not get saved as a .txt file. If it did, remove the .txt from the name as it has to have a .conf name extension. Open Notepad again and do not type anything into the window. Use the same Save As… procedure and save the file with a name of ssh, with no extension. Close Notepad and make sure there is no extension on the ssh file. Plug the USB card reader and SD card back into your computer. Copy the  ssh and wpa_supplicant.conf files to the SD card. The card should display as boot in your file explorer window.

You can now plug the SD card into your Raspberry Pi. Power up the system and give it a couple of minutes to boot up. Log into your wireless router and look at the wireless connections. You should see one with a MAC address of  b8:27:eb:xx:xx:xx. The first three octets are for the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The MAC address identifies your Raspberry Pi and the IP showing for that MAC will be the one you need.
 
After you have obtained the IP address of the Pi, you can use a tool such as Putty to ssh into the device. The default username is pi and the default password is raspberry.  Once you are logged in, type passwd and press <Enter>. You will be prompted for the current password which by default is raspberry. You will then be prompted twice to enter the new password. Enter the new password that you want to use. Make a note of it for future use.

The next thing you should do is change the IP address to a static address. That way you will always know the IP address of the Pi. Log into your wireless router and find the DHCP server settings for the router. Those typically only cover a partial range of the LAN network. Assume the DCHP range is set to 100 to 199. You will need to assign a static address outside of this range to the Pi. In this instance, we could use any address from 1-99 or 200-254. This also assumes there are no static IP addresses already assigned. If there are static addresses assigned you cannot use one of those. Assume you are going to assign an address of 192.168.1.200 to the Pi. We also assume the router IP address is 192.168.1.1.

You need to cd to the /etc directory where you will see a file named dhcpcd.conf. Open the file for editing using either nano or vi (sudo nano dhcpcd.conf or sudo vi dhcpcd.conf). Search for a line that says # Example static IP configuration:  There should be 5 lines of information in that paragraph. Insert a line space after the last line and enter the following information:
	interface wlan0
	static ip_address=192.168.1.200
	static routers=192.168.1.1
	static domain_name_servers=192.168.1.1
Close and save the dhcpcd.conf file.

The next thing that needs to be done is to change the time zone and give your Raspberry Pi a unique name. Type sudo raspi-config and press <Enter>. When the configuration screen comes up, select Localisation Options and press <Enter>.  Set your time zone and any other configuration changes that need to be made. Next select Network Options and press <Enter>. Select Hostname and press <Enter>. Read the text about what characters can be used for the name and press <Enter>. Type the name that you want to use and press <Enter> which returns you to the main screen. Use the tab key to scroll to Finish and press <Enter>. Answer Yes to the prompt that asks you to reboot. Give the Pi a couple of minutes to finish rebooting.

Once the Pi has finished rebooting, ssh back in as the pi user. Type hostname and press <Enter> and you should see the hostname that you assigned. Type date and press <Enter> and the Pi should display your current local date and time.

You now need to install the Node-RED program. Type the following command (all on one line) :
bash <(curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/node-red/linux-installers/master/deb/update-nodejs-and-nodered)
and press <Enter>. The command will automatically line wrap when it get to the terminal window right edge.

Answer y to the "Are you really sure you want to do this ?” [y/N] prompt. Also answer y to the
“Would you like to install the Pi specific nodes?” [y/N] prompt.

The installation will take approximately 20 minutes to complete.