Here are some Raspberry Pi 5 8MB setup hints that you may find useful. Note that these apply to Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm. This was the default version of Raspberry Pi OS (formerly Raspbian) for the Raspberry Pi 5 at time of writing. They were specific to my requirements but are provided in case they are of use to anyone else.
What you will need
- Raspberry Pi 5
- Raspberry Pi 5 cooling fan (recommended for the Pi 5)
- Raspberry Pi 5 case (needs a specific case, many Pi 4 cases are unsuitable)
- USB-C Power Supply
- microSD card
- microHDMI-HDMI cable
- keyboard and mouse
Getting a Raspberry Pi image
In order to boot a Raspberry Pi you need a copy of the Raspberry Pi OS. You can get a copy here: https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/. For more information on how to write a Raspberry Pi image onto a microSD card follow these instructions: https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/raspberry-pi-setting-up/2
Installing desired programs
Raspberry Pi OS is a flavour of Debian Linux which is good because it means that its command prompt behaves like other Linux distributions. I wanted to ensure I had all packages up to date which I achieved with:
sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade
It comes with a few packages by default like Firefox and VLC, but and I also wanted to install a few key packages which is easily done with:
sudo apt install gimp sudo apt install keepass2 sudo apt install vim sudo apt install libreoffice
Most of these get added to the Start menu automatically. For Libre Office, you will need to add the ‘office’ submenu to the start menu using start>preferences>main menu editor.
Installing VSCode is a little different. You can find a command line method at https://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-install-vs-code-on-ubuntu/ but it is easier to install VSCode via the software start>preferences>recommended software menu
Python
The Pi comes with Python installed. you can check version from the command line with
python --version
If you need a more recent version you will need to install it. See https://raspberrytips.com/install-latest-python-raspberry-pi/
To install libraries you now need to use virtual environments. For more information see
https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/os.html#about-python-virtual-environments
I prefer to create a virtual environment for each project so the the key commands are:
# make root directory folder for project mkdir <new-directory> # move to directory cd <new-directory> # create environment in the project root python -m venv <environment-name> # activate the environment from the root directory folder source <environment-name>/bin/activate # deactivate the environment deactivate
This creates a virtual environment in the current folder (most likely the root folder of a python project). It results in the creation of a folder named <environment-name> inside the current folder. Remember to add the virtual environment folder to the .gitignore file if working with git to avoid uploading standard libraries to your repo.
Once the virtual environment is active you can pip install libraries and run scripts as usual, but this will be done under the virtual environment
IP Addresses and SSH
You can get the IP address of your Pi on your local network in a variety of ways
# from the pi hostname -I # from a windows machine on the same network (IPv6) ping raspberrypi.local # from a windows machine on the same network (IPv4) ping -4 rapsberypi.local
I you need a static IP address there are instructions here: https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/static-ip-raspberry-pi
SSH is enabled by default on Raspberry Pi. To SSH in from a Windows machine just open a command prompt and type
ssh <username>@<IP-address>
By default you can SSH login to the Pi using your password. More detail on remote access can be found here: https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/remote-access.html
If you want to set up SSH keys for more secure authentication, then the following link may be useful: https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-ssh-keys/
Connecting to a television
I had little difficulty connecting the Raspberry Pi 5 to a monitor via HDMI it was plug and play out of the box. However I did encounter some difficulty getting a large screen Samsung TV to recognise the Pi over HDMI. The solution to this appears to be to ensure that the relevant Pi output is “hot” by adding the following to its cmdline.txt file
video=HDMI-A-1:1024x768@60D
Note that this needs to be added on the same line as all the other startup commands for the Pi by appending it to the end of the line separated by a space but without line breaks. More information can be found here: https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=325011. Note that this solution only looks to work on more recent versions of Raspberry Pi OS since the introduction of KMS (Kernel Mode Settings). More information on KMS can be found here: https://pip.raspberrypi.com/categories/685-whitepapers-app-notes/documents/RP-004341-WP/Troubleshooting-KMS-HDMI-output.pdf
The solution for earlier versions of Raspberry Pi OS before the move to KMS to appears to be different. Adding add the following lines at the end of config.txt may prove useful. I have not tested them, since they do not work on my more recent edition of the OS.
# ensures the hdmi signal remains active hdmi_force_hotplug=1 # force a specific HDMI mode (this will force VGA) hdmi_group=1 hdmi_mode=16
Additional hints and tips
Ejecting removable media can be done by choosing the green eject symbol on the right hand side of the main toolbar
You cannot drag items from the start menu to the taskbar on toolbar in the latest version of the OS. However you can right click on a program in the start menu and select the option to add it to the taskbar. Other ways to add things to the start menu and the toolbar for different versions of the OS can be found here: https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/60577/how-can-i-add-custom-application-launchers-to-the-panel
