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To harness the full potential of a Raspberry Pi, begin with basic components such as an SSD or an SD card for storage. Although a cooling system isn't strictly necessary, it is advisable to include one to prevent overheating. The Pi lacks a pre-installed operating system, so the first step involves using an SD card to load an appropriate Linux distribution, such as the Raspberry Pi OS—a Debian port. Options include a full desktop version for typical computer use or a lightweight server version. Setting the hostname and username is crucial for remote login via SSH.