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ArchLinux ARM Raspi0 W Desktop Setup Guide

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David J. Kordsmeier edited this page Dec 30, 2020 · 8 revisions

Overview

Getting a new respi zero set up can be tricky. It is recommended to have a few things handy to ease the set up. This guide will walk through a rapid set up of an SDCard, boot up, and configuration of wifi.

References

Hardware

  • a 16GB sdcard (minimum ... it's hard to actually find a small card these days)
  • a USB 2 or 3 Hub with power and a micro-usb input
  • a USB Ethernet Network Dongle (for initial setup)
  • a Mini HDMI to HDMI cable (for any debugging of the set up)
  • a USB Keyboard
  • a USB Micro to USB A (female)

Making an SDCard

See the above instructions for a general set of steps to create a new SDCard from scratch. If you have been given an SDCard image already, follow these steps to create an sdcard.

  • Download the SDCard image to a linux system
  • Insert a 16gb (or larger) sdcard into the USB slot
  • Figure out the device mapping to the USB drive: dmesg | grep dev . Your USB device should map to /dev/sda, sdb, or sdc. If you see an error message you may have a problem with your usb/sdcard reader. Note the path, and use it in the next command below
  • sudo dd if=myalarmpi.img of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress
  • The above command will take some time. Let it complete. Incorrect input of the path can result in damage to your system.

Boot up your Raspi-0

  • Put the SDCard into your raspi-0
  • Attach the hub to the raspi-0
  • plugin hardware into the USB Hub: USB Ethernet Network dongle, keyboard, etc
  • Connect the USB hub to the microusb port
  • Plug an additional USB micro to any USB for power
  • Once power is applied, you should note green LEDs lit on the Raspi-0
  • Boot up should take about 1min to 1.5 min. Verify the boot process in one of two ways: watch it on the HDMI monitor, or check your router to find a device called "alarmpi"
  • You should definitely use your network router to find your network address. Write down the IP address

Set up Wifi

Instructions for the wifi set up are on the wiki: https://github.com/RazortoothRTC/raspizero-archlinux-base/wiki/ArchLinux-ARM-Raspi0-W-Wireless-Set-up-Guide#wifi-configuration-and-archlinux-arm-install-on-raspberry-pi

Do to some complexity in wireless network in Linux, this may require "geek squad". Post issues to our issue tracker, or pop your head in on the raspi forums for help. When in doubt, the smartest community is the Arch Linux community, and they likely have already documented the steps.

Troubleshooting Wifi

  • wlan0: Failed to initiate sched scan : You won't be able to proceed if you see this error. This is likely a bad network configuration, and you should try to see if you've made a typo in the network info. It's possible you have an N wireless network that won't work, but the Wifi A/B or G network will work ok.
  • There are probably a few hundred other problems one can encounter. The major problems are almost always user error. Wrong password. Wrong SSID, etc.

Boot to a GUI / Window Manager

  • After getting to a login, type: startx
  • If you need to set up the automatic boot into the GUI, take a look at how in various window manager set up guides on the archlinux.org website. This won't be documented here because there is so much user preference in how to set this up that it isn't worth the time.
  • NOTE: The GUI based Raspibian is almost unusable on the Raspi-0 because of the lack of horses under the hood. It isn't really recommended to use a GUI unless absolutely needed.
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