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canopic jug [soylentnews.org] writes:

Raspberry Pi OS "Bullseye" is getting some changes to improve its robustness [raspberrypi.com]. Gone are the default user 'pi' with the default password of 'raspberry'. On first-boot, a setup wizard walks through setting a normal user with a regular password, though there are still options for headless installation. Among other improvements, it is now also possible to do the setup with a bluetooth mouse/keyboard exclusively. The old way required at least a wired mouse, if not also a wired keyboard, to connect first.

There are also mechanisms to preconfigure an image without using Imager. To set up a user on first boot and bypass the wizard completely, create a file called userconf or userconf.txt in the boot partition of the SD card; this is the part of the SD card which can be seen when it is mounted in a Windows or MacOS computer. This file should contain a single line of text, consisting of username:encrypted- password – so your desired username, followed immediately by a colon, followed immediately by an encrypted representation of the password you want to use.

Since it is a full general-purpose computer, other distros and even other operating systems are available for the Raspberry Pi. Slackware, LInux Mint, and Devuan all are among the distros which run well. FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and NetBSD also support at least some Raspberry Pi models. However, the official guides and tutorials all point to Raspberry Pi OS, which is a Debian derivative.

Previously:
(2022) Long Interview with Eben Upton About Long Term Plans for RPi [soylentnews.org] (journal entry)
(2022) Can't Get Hold of a Shiny New Raspberry Pi? Blame the Bots [soylentnews.org]
(2022) Raspberry Pi 64-bit Armbian Gets New Release [soylentnews.org]
(2021) Raspberry Pi Launches .com Website, Eyes Retail Expansion in Africa [soylentnews.org]
(2021) The Ongoing Raspberry Pi Fiasco [soylentnews.org]

Original Submission