Raspberry Pi OS based
Raspberry Pi Imager is the quick and easy way to install MainsailOS to a microSD card, ready to use with your Raspberry Pi.
We strongly recommend using a high-quality SD card of class "A1" (or better) from a reputable manufacturer such as Sandisk, Kingston, or Samsung. Low-end cards might fail pretty quickly in this kind of application.
FLASHING WILL DESTROY ALL DATA ON YOUR SD CARD AND CAN NOT BE REVERSED
Preparation
Of course, you need an SDCard reader of some kind and a Raspberry Pi Imager.
Download and install the latest Raspberry Pi Imager. There are versions available for Windows, Linux, and MacOS.
Insert the SD card into your card reader.
Flashing MainsailOS
Please launch your freshly installed Raspberry Pi Imager. You will be presented with the main screen.
Choose OS
Select "CHOOSE OS" and click through the dialog until you reach MainsailOS.
Choose Storage
After that, click “CHOOSE STORAGE” on the main screen and select your desired SD card. Be sure to choose the right one, as the data will be completely erased later.
Select Settings
Attention! In this section, there are important steps to take!
The gear wheel in the lower right corner allows you to adjust various settings.
Ensure to set your Wifi credentials Also set your region code to ensure your wifi uses the right settings for your country's regulations
Ensure to enable SSH SSH is required if you need to log in to the device at some point without a keyboard and display connected. This should be set by default, but we can't respond quickly to changes due Raspberry Foundation.
If you change your Username the "First Boot" will take longer!
Everything that's preinstalled as user pi, the default user, must be converted to your new username.
Please note that your device is later reachable under the hostname you set here.
Default is http://mainsailos(.local)
When you are ready to continue, click on "SAVE".
Write Image to SD Card
On the main screen press "WRITE". You'll need to confirm that you want to continue, as all data on the selected card will finally be erased.
The whole process will take some time. When the writing has finished successfully, a corresponding message will be displayed that you need to confirm.
Finished 🎉
Remove safely the SD card from your card reader and continue with First Boot.
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