raspconfig

Since a Raspberry Pi allows you to hotswap your OS using a SD card, I wanted a more automated method for configuring it to my specifications.

I learned about Chef IO, which is a distribution tool that allows you to configure environments based off a cookbook. Using chef, you can specify what options you want configured on your Pi.

While Chef Cookbooks are typically platform independent, this is primarily designed for the Raspberry Pi.

Tested devices: Hardware Raspberry Pi 3 Raspbian GNU/Linux 8 (jessie)

What's included

Currently, piconfig will setup these based on what you set in the attributes:

• Setup for new users.
• Kodi (Entertainment system)
• NodeJS (Seems like it adds an old version)
• vim (Command line file editor)
• htop (Real time performance monitoring in command line)
• Command line shortcuts
  • l (List all files and directories in current location)
  • ll (Same as l, but with more details)
  • la (Same as ll, but with hidden files)
  • myip (Displays your IP address)
  • emu (Shorthand for emulation station used in RetroPie start)
• tree command fix
• .bashrc enhancements
• RetroPie
  • You can install all available emulators for RetroPie.
  • For complete list of available emulators, check out my RetroPie github (TODO).
• conky
• User language (locale) fix for US.

Requirements

Platforms

Raspbian GNU/Linux 8 (jessie) I will try my best to support any ARM based OS. Feel free to create an issue if necessary.

Cookbooks

• conky (under development)
• locale
• RetroPie (under development)

Attributes

Setup options

node['piconfig']['setup']['users'] = false -- Set to true if you want to create new users. See User options.
node['piconfig']['setup']['RetroPie'] = false -- Set to true if you want to install RetroPie.
node['piconfig']['setup']['locale'] = false -- Set to true if you want to set the default locale to en_US.
node['piconfig']['setup']['default'] = true -- Set to true if you want to install some default packages. (Recommended)
node['piconfig']['setup']['conky'] = false -- Set to true if you want to install conky.

User options

default['piconfig']['users'] = ['isaac','gene','john'] -- The list of users you want to create on your PI.

For each user create these properties

default['piconfig']['user']['<username>']['comment'] = 'JRR Tolkien'
default['piconfig']['user']['<username>']['password'] = '$1$FhNcGRiJ$OuOYI2NYa.a6ShGF6nZlw0'

For password encryption see Password Shadow Hash. Keep in mind hashes are distinct for each pi, so you will need to run 'openssl passwd -1 "theplaintextpassword"' on your pi to have the proper configuration.

RetroPie options

See my RetroPie Github project for more info.