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Pi Zero Setup

How to flash Raspberry Pi OS, configure headless access, and prepare the Pi Zero for Dilder development.

For the complete setup guide including display wiring and development environment, see the full docs/setup-guide.md in the repo.

What You Need

  • Raspberry Pi Zero WH (or Zero 2 WH)
  • Micro SD card (16GB+, Class 10)
  • A computer with an SD card reader
  • Same Wi-Fi network as your development machine

Step 1 — Flash Raspberry Pi OS

Download Raspberry Pi Imager

raspberrypi.com/software

Available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Choose the Right Image

Open Imager → Raspberry Pi OS (other) → Raspberry Pi OS Lite (32-bit)

Why Lite?

No desktop. Saves ~1GB, boots faster, uses less RAM. You don't need a GUI — everything is done over SSH.

Configure Headless Settings

Before writing, click the gear icon (or press Ctrl+Shift+X) to open the advanced settings:

Setting Value
Set hostname dilder.local
Enable SSH ✅ (Use password authentication initially)
Set username pi (or your preferred name)
Set password Choose something secure
Configure Wi-Fi ✅ Enter your SSID and password
Wi-Fi country Your country code (e.g., DE, GB, US)

Write the Image

Select your SD card → Write. Takes 2–5 minutes.

Step 2 — First Boot and SSH

  1. Insert the SD card into the Pi Zero
  2. Connect power via micro-USB
  3. Wait ~60–90 seconds for first boot

Find the Pi on Your Network

# macOS/Linux
ping dilder.local

# If that fails, check your router's DHCP client list
# Or use nmap to scan your local network
nmap -sn 192.168.1.0/24 | grep -A 2 "Raspberry"

Connect via SSH

ssh pi@dilder.local

Accept the host key fingerprint on first connect.

Passwordless login speeds up your development workflow significantly:

# On your local machine
ssh-copy-id pi@dilder.local

# Verify it works
ssh pi@dilder.local  # should not ask for password

Step 3 — System Configuration

Update the System

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y
sudo apt autoremove -y

This takes 5–10 minutes on a Pi Zero. Do it once after first boot.

Enable SPI

The e-ink display uses SPI. It must be enabled before the display will work.

sudo raspi-config

Navigate to: Interface Options → SPI → Yes → OK

Then reboot:

sudo reboot

Verify SPI Is Active

After reboot, reconnect via SSH and check:

ls /dev/spi*
# Expected output: /dev/spidev0.0  /dev/spidev0.1

If you see those devices, SPI is working.

Set Timezone

sudo raspi-config
# Localisation Options → Timezone → select your region

Step 4 — Install Dependencies

# Python and SPI tools
sudo apt install -y python3-pip python3-venv python3-dev git
sudo apt install -y python3-pil python3-numpy

# SPI library
sudo apt install -y python3-spidev python3-rpi.gpio

Create a Virtual Environment

mkdir ~/dilder && cd ~/dilder
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install --upgrade pip
pip install RPi.GPIO spidev Pillow

Next Steps