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July 06, 2025

Raspberry Pi Zero initial setup

After the first boot and logging via SSH into the Raspberry Pi Zero W, this video shows the sequence of actions I usually take to install the software.

This video uses the following hardware components:

1x microSD card (see previous steps for preparation, ~€7);

1x Raspberry Pi Zero W board (~€16);

1x micro USB cable with power pins (data pins not required, ~€7).

Total: about €30

Chapters:

00:00 Waiting for the Pi to boot up

00:32 Logging into the Pi via SSH

00:43 Changing the default hostname

01:12 Rebooting

01:36 SSH'ing into the Pi again

02:20 Downloading system updates metadata

03:35 Updating the system

10:40 Rebooting

12:00 Installing new packages (atop, iotop)

13:18 Configuring the new packages (atop)

13:49 Installing new packages (docker, jq)

19:40 Changing the time server

20:15 Disabling the power saving mode

20:43 I forgot to use sudo here

20:56 Rebooting

22:09 Power saving mode is indeed disabled

22:20 Showing off some tools

Scripts are available at https://github.com/GuillaumeRossolini/rpi-home

...more

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