Cheatsheet for Setting up Pi Devices

(updated 2026/07/26) Device Setup Cheatsheets
Development Linux Edge Device
Table of Contents

This cheatsheet is tailored to my development needs and works best for boards such as Orange Pi and Raspberry Pi.

Hardware

Network connection

Wired or wireless

Keyboard, mouse, and display

For first-boot setup and local debugging

TF (MicroSD) card with OS flashed

  • The latest Ubuntu LTS is recommended for general development
    • I prefer a server OS because it is more lightweight than a desktop image
    • It also prevents the GUI from affecting performance measurements
  • If the budget allows, use a larger card (≥256 GB in my case)
    • The default 32/64GB is insufficient for many tasks
  • Imaging tools: BalenaEtcher (general) and Raspberry Pi Imager (Raspberry Pi)
    • Raspberry Pi Imager supports headless setup through custom configuration

System

Set/change the username and password if required

  • Recommended format: device (raspi, orangepi) [+ user info if the device is not shared]

Connect to the (wireless) network

  • On Raspberry Pi, a headless setup can connect to the network automatically
    • The network is managed by cloud-init, netplan, and networkd by default.
    • I switched to NetworkManager as it’s more familiar.
  • On other boards running Ubuntu, use NetworkManager
    • Detect available networks: nmcli dev wifi
    • Connect by SSID: nmcli dev wifi connect <ssid> password <passwd>

Configure the network if required

Install/update necessary packages

  • Switch sources when needed
  • Update and upgrade first: sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Setup SSH server for remote access

  • sshd to launch the SSH server
  • ifconfig to view the device IP
  • ssh -p <port> user@ip to test login
  • ssh-copy-id for key auth

Others

(Optional) use vendor-provided tools like raspi-config (for Raspberry Pi) and orangepi-config (for Orange Pi) for more interactive configuration.

Environment

Basic tools and packages

  • tmux: sudo apt install tmux
  • git: sudo apt install git
    • Copy SSH public key to GitHub to clone with SSH
    • Configure a username and email before committing
  • code-server (if the platform does not support VS Code Remote)

Build tools and compilers

  • CMake (>=3.22 for most projects)
  • GCC
    • Install via apt: sudo apt install build-essential
  • LLVM + Clang
    • Install from official website: download page
    • One-liner to install latest: bash -c "$(wget -O - https://apt.llvm.org/llvm.sh)"
  • Note: when multiple compilers (GCC, Clang, or different versions) are installed, make sure the $CC and $CXX environment variables are set correctly. Otherwise, build tools such as CMake may select the wrong compiler.

Python environments

  • Miniconda
    • Preferred for most cases
    • One-liner installation (mind the OS and arch)
      • curl -O https://repo.anaconda.com/miniconda/Miniconda3-latest-Linux-aarch64.sh
      • bash ~/Miniconda3-latest-Linux-aarch64.sh
        • Do not use sudo, or Miniconda will be installed to a different location
      • Press Enter and type yes after reading the agreement
  • Virtualenv
    • Use it when required by the project
    • Install via apt: sudo apt install python3-venv
  • Note: when both conda and virtualenv are installed, make sure the correct environment is activated (they seem the same from the terminal)

Quick Fix

CMake update

Install the latest CMake on Ubuntu (generated by Claude):

sudo apt remove --purge cmake
sudo apt purge cmake
sudo apt autoremove

wget -O - https://apt.kitware.com/keys/kitware-archive-latest.asc 2>/dev/null | gpg --dearmor - | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/kitware.gpg >/dev/null

sudo add-apt-repository "deb https://apt.kitware.com/ubuntu/ $(lsb_release -cs) main"
sudo apt update
sudo apt install cmake

Compiler

Install latest standard library: sudo apt install libstdc++-12-dev

Git Clone

One-liner to use SSH URLs: sed -i 's/https:\/\/github.com\//git@github.com:/' .gitmodules

Recursive script:

# Function to update .gitmodules and sync
update_modules() {
    sed -i 's/https:\/\/github.com\//git@github.com:/' .gitmodules
    git submodule sync
    git submodule update --init
}

# Function to process each level
process_level() {
    # 1. Update current .gitmodules
    update_modules

    # 2. For each currently cloned submodule
    git submodule foreach '
        # 3. Update their .gitmodules if exists
        if [ -f ".gitmodules" ]; then
            sed -i "s/https:\/\/github.com\//git@github.com:/" .gitmodules
            # 4. Update their immediate submodules
            git submodule sync
            git submodule update --init
        fi
    '
}

# 5. Repeat multiple times to ensure all nested levels are processed
for i in {1..5}; do
    echo "Processing level $i"
    process_level
done

Hugging Face

HF mirror: export HF_ENDPOINT=https://hf-mirror.com

ModelScope: modelscope.cn