ClonePi Project

Using a Raspberry Pi with an LCD keypad HAT to image new SD-cards for Raspberry Pi projects without the need for a computer. Images are kept on a USB stick and you simply insert an SD-card and select the image in the list and then wait for it to image.

Installation

sudo apt-get update  
sudo apt-get install git python3-pip  

Enable the I2C interface from Raspi-Config

sudo raspi-config  

Select option 3 - Interface options
Then option P5 I2C

sudo pip3 install RPi.GPIO  
sudo pip3 install Adafruit_CharLCD  
git clone https://github.com/kallsbo/clonepi.git

Operation

Don't start the ClonePi with both an SD-card reader/writer and the USB-stick/drive connected. Then it will be hard to know which one is which when mounting. Make sure to mount the USB-stick/drive to /mnt/usbstick or change the imgsrc setting in main.py.

Then run the main script

python3 main.py

This will display the Select image (x) screen on the LCD. Then use the UP and DOWN buttons to select the image you would like to image. Insert an SD-card reader/writer containing the destination card. Press SELECT and confirm the write. Now the image will write to the SD-card.

Room for improvments and conclusions

There are several things that can be improved on this quick and dirty project.

• Error handeling
• Autostart
• Nice case

This was a quick and dirty project to actually use the HAT that was in my scrap bin. What ever you do don't do this on a Raspberry Pi 1, it's really slow.

Before you use this, read this https://hackviking.com/2021/05/06/raspberry-pi-pains-of-the-past/