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Quickstart

Below you find a description of the fastest way to get your own application up and running on the target hardware.

Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm and newer

Starting with Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm the config files have moved from /boot/ to /boot/firmware/. Adjust the paths shown on this page according to your Raspberry Pi OS version.

Prerequisites for the development computer:

  • 8 GB or more of free disk space for the Raspberry Pi OS image
  • Tool to write an image on the SD card or the onboard eMMC, the Raspberry Pi Imager is recommended
  • Terminal application (e.g. TeraTerm or Putty on the Windows host, or screen on Linux), baud rate: 115200 baud

Used Hardware:

  • min. 8 GB micro-SD card or min. 8 GB onboard eMMC memory
  • mini-USB-B to USB-A cable (REV002 and higher)
  • USB-Serial adapter
  • Power supply between 12V and 36V at least 400mA (in scope of delivery)
  • Network infrastructure with dhcp server and network cable to establish a connection between Pi-Tron, internet and host

Alternate Hardware:

  • micro-HDMI-Adapter to HDMI cable
  • HDMI Monitor
  • USB Keyboard and Mouse

Onboard eMMC memory: The Pi-Tron can be obtained with two different types of Compute Module. One without eMMC memory, the "Lite" version, and the "eMMC" version. The notable difference between the Lite and the eMMC Compute Module is, that the "Lite" version can only boot and use the SD card and the "eMMC" version can only boot and use the eMMC memory, but not the SD card.

For more information on this topic and on how to write the Raspberry Pi OS image to the internal eMMC memory of the Pi-Tron with eMMC storage, see section Write Image to onboard eMMC.

Writing an image to the SD card

Configure the Image

  • It is highly recommended to pre-configure the SD card in the Raspberry Pi Imager with username, password and to enable the SSH server. It is also possible to set timezone and keyboard information. The program will ask for customisation after chosing a Raspberry Pi device, the OS version and selecting an SD card.

Connect to the Board

- via Debug-UART

- via Ethernet

  • Put the micro SD card into the Pi-Tron
  • Connect the ethernet port to your local network
    Depending on your infrastructure you can connect to the board via LAN or you plug the ethernet cable directly into the host computer (e.g. via USB Ethernet adapter), don't forget the DHCP-Server.
  • Connect the power supply and turn it on
    In general, when power is supplied, the device will boot from SD card. Look at your DHCP server's (your router's) dhcp IP address lease table to find out the IP address of the Pi-Tron.
  • Open TeraTerm or Putty on the Windows host, or screen on Linux and connect to the Pi-Tron using it's IP address. You should now see the login prompt.

- via Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse

  • Put the micro SD card into the Pi-Tron
  • Connect the Monitor via HDMI to the Pi-Tron
  • Connect Keyboard/Mouse via USB
  • Connect the power supply

In general, when power is supplied, the device will boot from SD card. Watch the boot log on the Monitor until finally you will see the Raspbian Desktop

  • Optional
    • Connect the Ethernet port to your local network
      Depending on your infrastructure you can connect to the board via LAN or you plug the ethernet cable directly into the host computer (e.g. via USB Ethernet adapter), don't forget the DHCP-Server.
    • Connecting the Pi-Tron to a network with internet access, allows you to install additional software and updates.

Configuring the Board

  • Login as user you have chosen when pre-configuring the SD card in the Raspberry Pi Imager.
  • Set network settings temporarily with ifconfig or permanently by editing /etc/dhcpcd.conf.
    • Starting with Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm, the network settings have to be changed using the Network Manager. Try sudo nmtui.
  • Use the program raspi-config or edit the /boot/config.txt file to configure and enable additional components of the Pi-Tron as needed. Also see section RPI-config.txt for more information or click on an individual topic in the navigation.