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Starting a new IoT project?
Want to build your own discrete Linux server?
A “Headless” device basically means a device without a display. If you have a project that doesn’t really need an HDMI Display, Keyboard or Mouse – this is a lightweight way to get started with just a bare-bones Raspberry Pi and MicroSD card.
The instructions below will guide you to setup a RaspberryPi 2/3 or ZeroW without any peripherals and with remote access.
Download Raspbian OS
Get the image suitable for your needs. (With or without Desktop)https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/
https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/operating-systems/
While that’s happening lets prep your PC…
Install a good Text Editor
Further on we will need to edit some files. To make sure they are handled properly – use a good text editor like Atom or Notepad++.
Windows 10 – Linux Subsystem
The Raspbian (Linux) OS uses a different file system to Windows, to edit files on the SD Card using your windows machine, you’ll need to install the Linux Subsystem for Windows.
SSH Client
When setup we will connect to the Pi using SSH (Secure SHell), if you installed the Linux Subsystem above, you can use the ‘ssh’ command (e.g. ‘ssh user@raspberrypi.lan’) – otherwise Putty is the standard.
For transferring bulk files, I recommend WinSCP.
Write the Image to SD Card
Use Etcher to put the image on a MicroSD card.
https://www.balena.io/etcher/
When you insert the card in your PC you may be prompted to initialize the SD Card, do not do this.
Setup SSH for remote management
Enabling SSH is pretty easy, just create a file called “ssh” at the root level of the SD Card. This will let Raspbian know to start the SSH service (sshd) at boot.
Configure the WiFi
Create another file on the SD Card called “wpa_supplicant.conf”. Edit it with your wireless details as below – don’t forget, the Pi 2/3/0W only supports 2.4ghz b/g/n wifi.
If you’re going to be using Ethernet then this step isn’t absolutely necessary but it can serve as a backup connection. If you have both – Ethernet will take priority.
country=US
ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
network={
ssid="your_wifi_ssid"
scan_ssid=1
psk="your_wifi_password"
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}
..that should do it! Eject the SD card and insert it in your Pi.
Boot the Pi and connect to it via SSH
Login: pi Password: raspberry
Use the raspi-config tool to change your password and set boot and localisation options. You might like to enable VNC if you’re going to be using the desktop build of Raspbian.
It may be convenient to enable Auto-Login as well.
sudo raspi-config
VNC – Using this method will allow you to remote control the session that is active on the Pi itself. Enable it with the config utility above. To connect to the pi use VNC Viewer client on your PC.
XRDP – RDP presents your xWindows environment in a NEW session. It’s not remote control, its a new session on the device, separate to the physical session.
This can be installed via console or SSH.
sudo apt-get install xrdp
Select which services run at startup
sudo apt-get install rcconf sudo rcconf
Enable root login for SSH.
This is not really recommended, but it can be convenient to be logged in as root (especially when working inside ‘/var/www’ for permissions).
sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config ... PermitRootLogin yes
then restart the SSH Service.
systemctl restart sshd
Use screen and s-tui for monitoring
sudo apt-get install screen sudo apt-get install stress sudo pip install s-tui
…then via SSH start a new screen session and have s-tui output to console.
screen s-tui > /dev/tty1
Now you can close the SSH session window and it will keep running.
To resume the session, SSH back in and…
screen -list screen -r 1234.pts-0.raspberryetc...
(and at Boot – if Auto-login is enabled)
Navigate to your home directory and create your script.
cd ~ touch myloginscript chmod +x myloginscript sudo nano myloginscript
It could be python if that’s your jam, but this example is a shell script…
#!/bin/bash # /home/pi/myloginscript if ping -q -c 1 -W 1 8.8.8.8 > /dev/null; then echo -e "\e[32m\n *** IPv4 is UP ***\n\e[25m" else echo -e "\e[31m\n *** IPv4 is DOWN ***\n\e[25m" fi
Add your script to the bottom of the .bashrc file in your home folder.
sudo nano .bashrc ... /home/pi/myloginscript
…to be continued