Base Headless Pi Setup

This page describes how to get a Pi to a base level headless configuration (ie, SSH & networking enabled, all packages up to date)

• Minimum sd card size is 4GB

You can't just dd the sd card image any more

Used to be that you could just write the image to a card, add the ssh file in the /boot partition, and ssh into the pi, but the normal pi/raspberry user/password combo was removed. Instead, the Pi imager must be used.

Install the imaging software and write the SD card

install the imaging software. On arch:

`yay -S rpi-imager`

On other OS's, the package manager is different, but the package name should be roughly the same.

1. Plug in the SD card that will go into the pi
2. Open the "Raspberry Pi Imager" software and choose an image ("Choose OS" button --> Raspberry Pi OS (other) --> OS Lite)
3. Hit the gear icon to change these settings:
   • hostname
   • enable ssh
   • username/password
   • wifi (if the pi has wifi)
   • Locale (time zone/keyboard layout)
4. Choose the SD card as the Storage device
5. Click the "Write" button

Boot the Pi and login

1. Insert the SD card into the Pi
2. plug in ethernet to Pi if not using wifi (most USB ethernet adapters are supported)
3. Apply power to the Pi
4. wait for it to come online and log in via SSH (check DHCP server logs for Pi's IP)

Post-install steps (after logging in):

1. run sudo raspi-config to finish SD card setup:
   • 6 Advanced Options --> A1 Expand File System
2. reboot the Pi
3. update packages with sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

The Pi can now be used for it's intended project.