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Configuring A New Raspberry Pi

2020-06-02

A short note about what I've done to set the Pi up.

A new Raspberry Pi

Let’s get started and setup our new Raspberry Pi!

Wi-Fi + SSH

By default, Wi-Fi and SSH cannot be enabled without the monitor/keyboard/mouse combo. To activate them without the GUI, do the following:

(I assume the Raspberry Pi OS is already written into the SD card.)

In boot folder, create a file named wpa_supplicant.conf, with the following content:

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ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
network={
ssid="Your_WiFi_SSID"
psk="Your_WiFi_password"
}

Next, in the same folder, create an empty file named SSH.

That’s it. Insert the SD card into the Raspberry Pi, and power it up. It should automatically connect to the Wi-Fi and you can access it with SSH.

Whatever config

Use sudo raspi-config to configure the basic of the system, including:

This command will be also used in this post.

Default password

raspberry, FYI.

Reliable reference

As a quicker guide, find the bash / zsh history from previously already-setuped Raspberry Pi, including default user and the root.

Guideline

Do the following in order:

Enable SSH

Source: SSH (Secure Shell) - Raspberry Pi Official Documentation.

  1. sudo raspi-config
  2. Interfacing Options
  3. SSH

About root login

Enable root login by changing the /etc/ssh/sshd_config, around line 32, PermitRootLogin yes.

Restart ssh service:.

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sudo service ssh restart

I prefer to allow root login only at the initial setup stage. Otherwise, only switch to root from your normal user. Don’t allow root login through ssh.

Enable xrdp

Read more: How to Install Xrdp Server (Remote Desktop) on Raspberry Pi.

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sudo apt-get install xrdp

How you can access the pi GUI desktop via remote desktop apps.

Change the Username of Default pi

Change the name from pi to whatever else.

Source: How to Change the Default Account Username and Password - PiHut.

Read more: [HowTo!]Change default username pi

First of all we will make sure the user pi do not run any program.

Login via ssh as root, run who to check:

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root@your-hostname:~# who
pi       tty1         2020-06-02 21:34
root     pts/0        2020-06-02 21:34

Stop the services by user pi:

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systemctl list-units --type=service --state=running
systemctl stop getty@tty1.service
who

Make sure there is no pi running services. If there is any, kill them all by.

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pkill -KILL -u pi

Then follow the description in the referance link above.

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usermod -l yournewusername pi
ls /home  # pi folder
usermod -m -d /home/yournewusername yournewusername
ls /home  # changed to 'newusername' folder
groupmod -n yournewusername pi  # change group name

Logout and re-login using the new username.

Change password by passwd.

Change the ssh root login permission to “no” in sshd_config.

Change Hostname

sudo raspi-config -> System Options -> S4 Hostname.

Change Default Boot-to

Read more: Adding PIXEL/GUI to Raspbian Lite.

By default the system will boot to GUI desktop. You can change this to command line to save power and CPU resources.

sudo raspi-config -> System Options -> S5 Boot / Auto Login -> B2 Console Autologin.

Start GUI desktop from command line

Install Xinit (sudo apt install xinit) and run startx. See the “Read more” link above.

Setup Vim

git clone https://github.com/VundleVim/Vundle.vim.git ~/.vim/bundle/Vundle.vim

Copy/link .vimrc to $HOMEDIR.

In vim: :PluginInstall

Or vim +PluginInstall +qall in command line.

Upgrade python

Source: Installing the latest Python 3 on Raspberry Pi. Read more: Python 3 Installation & Setup Guide.

The default python is 3.7.x. You may upgrade it to a higher version.

Follow the link above.

Note: The whole make process takes about 40 minutes to finish on a Raspberry Pi 3B+. (9 minutes on a Raspberry Pi 4B)

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ln -s /usr/local/bin/python3.8 /usr/bin/python3.8
rm python3
ln -s /usr/bin/python3.8 /usr/bin/python3
python3 -V  # Have a check
rm python
ln -s /usr/bin/python3 /usr/bin/python
python -V

lsb_release issue

Installing the python from source may lack of the lsb_release executable.

We can create a symbolic link for it.

Source: No module named ‘lsb_release’ after install Python 3.6.3 from source.

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sudo ln -s /usr/share/pyshared/lsb_release.py /usr/local/lib/python3.9/site-packages/lsb_release.py

Install python packages

Note: Some packages, like numpy, scipy, pillow, should be installed via sudo apt-get install, not python -m pip install. Otherwise building dependencies will fail.

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sudo apt install python-numpy python-scipy python-pil

It can take hours. Be patient.

Fixing “No module named ‘apt_pkg’

Error message:

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Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/apt-listchanges", line 30, in <module>
    import apt_pkg
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'apt_pkg'

Solution:

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sudo fapt-get install python-apt

Tips

Pinout map

If we install a python library gpiozero, we can check the pinout of the Raspberry Pi in the command line by pinout command.

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python -m pip install gpiozero
pinout

Output:

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RAM                : 1024MbRAM
Storage            : MicroSD
USB ports          : 4 (excluding power)
Ethernet ports     : 1
Wi-fi              : True
Bluetooth          : True
Camera ports (CSI) : 1
Display ports (DSI): 1

J8:
   3V3  (1) (2)  5V
 GPIO2  (3) (4)  5V
 GPIO3  (5) (6)  GND
 GPIO4  (7) (8)  GPIO14
   GND  (9) (10) GPIO15
GPIO17 (11) (12) GPIO18
GPIO27 (13) (14) GND
GPIO22 (15) (16) GPIO23
   3V3 (17) (18) GPIO24
GPIO10 (19) (20) GND
 GPIO9 (21) (22) GPIO25
GPIO11 (23) (24) GPIO8
   GND (25) (26) GPIO7
 GPIO0 (27) (28) GPIO1
 GPIO5 (29) (30) GND
 GPIO6 (31) (32) GPIO12
GPIO13 (33) (34) GND
GPIO19 (35) (36) GPIO16
GPIO26 (37) (38) GPIO20
   GND (39) (40) GPIO21

For further information, please refer to https://pinout.xyz/
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