Being a mechanic comes at a price: we routinely replace, break, and rebuild our installations, and it takes time and effort. Some of us even go through several installation and reinstallation cycles every day! This effect is even more pronounced on the Raspberry Pi – this pocket PC practically more than any other device, begs you to mess with it.
Installing the Raspbian operating system on a Raspberry Pi is a taxing affair. Preparing the SD card, flashing a Raspbian OS image on it and doing post-installation configurations such as password change, Wi-Fi setup, software installation is a time-consuming and monotonous cycle. To avoid this, we can use the perfect one. PiOven The tool is available for Windows and macOS.
note: If you want to hardware Raspberry Pi, you should check out our detailed article on getting started with Raspberry Pi.
Simplify Raspberry Pi Installation with PiBakery
Features of PiBakery easy-to-use, block-based interfaceIt will be converted to scripts and written to your SD card, which you can use to drag and drop different tasks you want your Raspberry Pi to do. Unlike the manual method to install and configure Raspbian OS, PiBakery offers a much simpler method to install Raspbian OS.
So, let’s see how to install and configure a Raspbian installation on your SD card with PiBakery. Starting with the basics:
Create SD Card
Firstly, download and install PiBakery. A large download (about 1.3GB) may take some time depending on your network connection as it is bundled in all Raspbian OS with it. After installation, Insert your SD card into your computerand Run PiBakery. You will see a screen like the following:
This is our Working area. On the left you will notice some items like the one below. Start, programs, and Network. Here we can choose which scripts to run and when. Feel free to click on each tab and check the scripts it contains.
Click on it to start creating your initial setup. StartClick and “At First Boot” block to your workspace. As the name suggests, whatever scripts we put under this block will determine what happens the first time we boot our Raspberry Pi.
We’ll set up probably the most common option for most people first – WiFi setup. Click Network Drag the tab and click “WiFi Setupthe block below At First Boot The block we placed earlier. After that, fill in the hotspot name, password and connection type according to your needs.
Another common change most people make is change password for default user pi. Many also like change hostname of the system. Both of these options Settings tab. So drag the appropriate blocks into the workspace and modify accordingly:
That’s it for the first boot. if any Scripts you want to run every time you start your Piclick Start Drag the tab again and this time “On Every Boot” block to your workspace. You can then drag and drop other blocks below this one, just like below. At First Boot block.
You’ll notice that I’ve added a few blocks here. Here’s what they do from top to bottom:
- set up WiFi
- Change the password of user ‘pi’ to:
mypassword - Set the hostname to:
Beebom-Pi - Update
aptstores (as root). - install programs
tmuxandFirefox(as root). - Download a script to my home folder and name it
mybootscript.sh - Make it executable using the script
chmod. - Restart Raspberry Pi (required to change hostname).
Once these are executed, on the next boot and every boot after that, mybootscript.sh as specified in the script On Every Boot block on the right.
If you make a mistake or think you don’t need certain blocks anymore, you can drag and move them to the trash located in the lower right corner:
Once you are satisfied with your configuration, click on it. blue SD card icon subtitle “To write” in the upper right corner. It will ask you to select your SD card drive (be careful here as choosing the wrong drive can result in permanent data loss) and also choose operating system. To choose raspberry fully loaded if you want a GUI here, or raspberry Light if you don’t. After this process “Start Typing” and it will wipe your PiBakery card, install Raspbian and add the scripts of your choice.
Soon a “Installation successful” notification. You can now remove the SD card from your system, insert it into your Raspberry Pi, and boot it. After the familiar Raspbian startup sequence, you will see PiBakery running the scripts you selected:
Be patient as it will take some time to complete depending on the scripts you choose. However, this is a one-time delay as most configuration scripts will only run on first boot.
Editing an SD Card
You can add, remove or change”On Every BootBlocks you add to an SD card using PiBakery. Moreover add more one-time blocks him. For example, you can decide to have your password changed on the next startup and then open Raspbian in text mode. To do this, insert the SD card you want to replace into your system and open PiBakery. It will detect the card and show you a message like:
choose Yes here. Now you will see”On Every Boot” in your workspace (if you have added it). Now, click Start tab on the left. Clever readers, on First Boot, instead of a “On Next BootThe ” block is available here. Drag it to your workspace and add the blocks you like. In the example below, I added blocks to change my password and set my Pi to boot. Console (text-only) mode. I also added restart Blocking requires this since changing the Boot Option.
Now all you have to do is click on Update button in the top right. After that, remove the SD card and boot your Raspberry Pi with it.
Importing and Exporting Configurations
You may find yourself using the same (or similar) configuration for each installation. For example, you probably want to connect to the same WiFi network, install the same set of programs, and set the same password for each installation. To do this, add and modify blocks according to your preference. When you are satisfied, click Export Press the button on the top right and choose a filename and location for it. You can create and save as many different configurations as you want.
To restore your configuration the next time you run PiBakery import Press the button and select the configuration you saved earlier. You can then easily change it or write it to an SD card.
SEE ALSO: How to Run Commands by Email on Raspberry Pi
Easily install and configure Raspbian OS Installation using PiBakery
This is how we use PiBakery to simplify Raspbian installation and configuration on Raspberry Pi. You’ll never need to reconfigure your Pi after messing around with an installation too much. Import the previous configuration working in PiBakery and write it to your board. So don’t be afraid to tinker with and experiment with your Pi as much as you want.
That’s it for the setup side. If you want to change the way your Pi looks, check out 15 great Raspberry Pi cases. If you have questions, doubts or suggestions regarding Raspberry Pi projects, let us know by dropping us a line in the comments section below.
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