Create OS Image SD Card

Write the Image to the Card= It is easiest to simply create the necessary SD card, or cards, using the Raspberry Pi Imager. The imager can be run from a PC, Mac or another Raspberry Pi system. In each case, the SD card needs to be attached to the system. This is usually done with a USB adapter.

One started, there are options to install from a number of different general-purpose specific Raspberry or more general Linux OS images. There are also options to erase the SD or load from a local image. It shouldn't need to be mentioned, but any of these operations will erase the target SD card.

Raspberry Pi images include Available Official Images. For the ADSB.im installation, there is the ADSB.im image for all versions of the Raspberry Pi that are powerful enough to run it; basically version 2 and up. Check the Download page for more options as well as an up-to-date link.

In my experience, this is best completed on a Raspberry system. Installations that I created using the Windows version of the RPI Imager failed on the verify step and the resulting cards were unbootable. I had no problem doing this on a Raspberry. There are detailed instructions on how to do this on the How To page. Scroll down about midway on the page to find it.

Per the instructions, insert the SD Card and attach a monitor so that you can keep track of things.

Attach the Raspberry Pi to a power supply or PoE and boot the system up.

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Modifications

Out of the box, the configuration may need to be modified.

Increase the Swap Area

For most of the applications the existing swap area will be too small and limiting. For systems using just an SD card, avoid making the swap area too large. The extra write cycles will prematurely age the card.

The following steps increase the size of the swap area.

1. Disable Current Swap
Before creating or modifying a swap file, disable the active swap:

sudo dphys-swapfile swapoff

2. Edit Swap Configuration
Open the swap configuration file to define the desired swap size:

sudo vi /etc/dphys-swapfile

Locate the line starting with CONF_SWAPSIZE.
Set the desired size in megabytes (e.g., CONF_SWAPSIZE=1024 for 1GB).
Save and exit

3. Apply Changes
Recreate the swap file with the updated size:

sudo dphys-swapfile setup

4. Enable Swap
Turn the swap back on:

sudo dphys-swapfile swapon

5. Verify Swap
Check if the new swap size is active:

free -h

This will display memory and swap usage.

Optional: Restart for Full Effect

To ensure all applications recognize the new memory pool, reboot your Raspberry Pi:

sudo reboot

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