Skip to content

B. Prerequisites OS install

Jump to bottom
Bogdan Tudorache edited this page Jan 16, 2021 · 20 revisions

A. Insert SD card

  • First and foremost we must insert our SD card in the laptop, dongle or card reader.

  • Next we will format the card*.

!! Formatting erases all data from the card! And if you don't know how to do it, follow the steps from here.

B. Flash OS

The operation of writing the operating system(OS) on a SD(Secure Digital) card is called flashing or burning the image.

The OS is downloaded as an iso(image of operating system), but it's not mandatory to do it so.

People dread about this, the same way people dread the installing of Windows on a PC (personal computer), but we are not regular folks and there is nothing to fear, when having the right tools we will complete this in a jiffy.

I will talk about 2 options although I'm positive there are others. Both are pretty simple to use and on a personal level I would definitely go for the first one.

  • Raspberry Pi Imager
  • Balena Etcher

B.1. Raspberry Pi Imager

  1. Download executable

Depending on the operating system you're using chose one of the 3 from this downloads page: Raspberry Software.

Or simply run(on Mac or Linux):

$ sudo apt install rpi-imager

  1. Open the app and select "Choose OS". Ubuntu -> Ubuntu Server 20.04 64bit for arm64

!! DO NOT INSTALL 20.10 as it is not optimized for Desktopify, nor for the Raspberry Pi 4, laggy and full of errors.

raspberry_pi_imager

ubuntu_server_64_arm

  1. Chose SD card

choose_generic_mass_card

  1. Write -> Yes
                                            **Congrats, you're done!**

B.2. Balena Etcher

  1. Download ios

Navigate to the Ubuntu Download for Raspberry Pis.

We have a Raspberry Pi Model B that has a processor on 64-bit, so naturally we will download that type of .iso, the Ubuntu Server 20.04.1 LTS.

DownloadUbuntuDrive

Naturally we can also close to download the Ubuntu Desktop 20.10 and install it. But that is not what we're trying to achieve and in order to smoothen our desktop experience we will use another program (Desktopify), about which I'll talk about later.

  1. Download executable

Navigate to the Balena Etcher site and choose your installer depending once again on your operating system

RaspberryImagerDrive

  1. Flash the .ios

    a. Open Balena

    b. Flash from file <-- select the Ubuntu image we just downloaded

    c. Select target <-- select the SD we just formatted

    d. Flash

balena

                                            **Congrats, you're done!**

C. Overclocking

C.1. config.txt

This process is extremely simple and can be done during the flashing of the SD card or even after.

What we need to do is edit the config.txt file and set some parameters.

  • But what actually is overclocking?
  • Simple answer: Changing the CPU clock frequency from the default 1.5Ghz to higher values, even to 2.1GHz which is the maximum supported value.

!! Keep in mind that the CPU temperature will increase drastically and that is why we need a fan (see Hardware Specs ) or even a cooling case (although the latter is not very efficient and will decrease the CPU performance *)

It is not recommended to overclock without having the proper means to cool it off.

*[Inner Monologue]

Now you ask yourself one out of two things:

* Will the board simply melt?

* What did he mean by decrease CPU performance?

Well, the answers are very simple and intertwined:

* No.

* And no, it will not melt because the CPU will start throttling and yes, it will start thermal throttling.**

** Thermal throttling means that when temperature of the overclocked CPU is higher than normal, and the CPU will slow down. Please check those parameters in the next chapter - Firmware warning icons.

Enough small talk, let's go down to business!

We will update the config.txt file to set a new upper limit for the clock frequency.

Steps:

  1. Open a Terminal window (CONTROL+T) and type:

    $ sudo nano /boot/config.txt

  2. Uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.

       #arm_freq=700

  3. Change the settings to:

     #uncomment to overclock the arm. 700 MHz is the default.

   over_voltage=6
   arm_freq=2000

To save: CONTROL+X and Yes.

  1. Last step is to restart the pi, this is needed for the changes to take effect:

    $ sudo reboot

  • The maximum is:

    over_voltage=6
arm_freq=2147
gpu_freq=750

                                            **Congrats, you're done!**

C.2. Firmware warning icons

Keeping it plain and simple, we have 3 possibilities, from left to right:

i.   Over temperature (80-85°C) 

ii.  Over temperature ( > 85°C) 

iii. Under voltage
warningicons

i. If the temperature of the SoC is between 80°C and 85°C, this icon is displayed. The ARM cores will be throttled back in an attempt to reduce the core temperature.

ii. If the temperature of the SoC is above 85°C, this icon is displayed. The ARM cores will be throttled back in an attempt to reduce the core temperature.

iii. If the power supply to the Pi drops below 4.63 V (+/-5%), this lightning bolt icon is displayed.

D. Headless

  • What does headless mean?

    In simple terms: accessing the raspberry pi without any peripherals (no monitor, no keyboard, no mouse - but that was a given since we have't installed the Ubuntu Desktop, yet).

  • How do we access the board then?

    Again, extremely simple: through an ethernet cable or even Wifi (as our model has a built in module, both for eth and wifi).

  • When should this configuration take place?

    After burning the image we must Enable ssh and create network details file.

  • Where should we do this?

    The ssh file is created in the boot/ directory. The wpa_supplicant.conf is created and configured in boot/root/

D.1. Enable ssh

The way we enable ssh is by creating an empty file named "ssh" (!with no extension), as previously mentioned in the root/ directory.

During the first boot, when it sees "ssh" the operating system (Ubuntu Server) will allow us to remotely access the command line from our board.

Mac instructions

touch /Volumes/boot/ssh

Windows instructions

  • Open Notepad (or Notepad++ or any text editor you desire)
  • In a new file put in one space and nothing more
  • Click File / Save As … [ Be sure to set Save as type to All Files (so the file is NOT saved with a .txt extension) ]
  • Name the file ssh and save it
  • Close

D.2. Headless Wi-Fi

Setting up the Wi-fi connection on our board is again a simple task, we have to create a file, name it: wpa_supplicant.conf, and as previously stated, place it under the boot/root/ directory.

This can be done through normal text editor or through command line with vim .

wpa_supplicant.conf :

country=NL # your country

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev

update_config=1

network={

   scan_ssid=1

   ssid="your_wifi_ssid" # your network name

   psk="your_wifi_password" # your network password

}

Headless_wifi

D.3. Connecting to board

Easy peasy, nice and easy!

Now that we have ssh enabled we will plug in an Ethernet cable in our laptop/pc and in Raspberry's RJ45 network drive adapter then:

    $ ssh pi@ubuntu

OR

    $ ssh pi@ubuntu

Contact:

🔗🌳 All-in-One

💼 BT LinkedIn

📩 Bogdan Tudorache

Contact:

🔗🌳 All-in-One

💼 BT LinkedIn

📩 Bogdan Tudorache

Clone this wiki locally