0x00 Image Overview
Many users have reported that the previously released Raspberry Pi ROS image based on Raspbian cannot use apt to install ROS packages, which is very inconvenient. All packages need to be compiled from source, and many users are not familiar with compiling ROS packages from source, so it is strongly recommended to release Raspberry Pi images using Ubuntu.
Therefore, this time I created a Raspberry Pi ROS image based on the latest version of Ubuntu Mate 18.04. Initially, I used the 32-bit Ubuntu Mate 18.04 system to create the image but found that the system was very slow and laggy. Later, I switched to the 64-bit Ubuntu Mate 18.04 system and found that the system was much smoother.
I have been adapting Ubuntu Mate 18.04 to the newly released Raspberry Pi 4, but there are too many modifications needed, and I have not yet successfully adapted it. Therefore, the image here can only run on Raspberry Pi boards below version 4, such as Raspberry Pi 3B+, Raspberry Pi 3, etc.
However, there is no need to worry about running on Raspberry Pi 3B+/3 being laggy because this is a 64-bit system, and I feel that running ROS is still very smooth. Basically, the performance is the same as running on Raspberry Pi 4, and it may even feel better (the 32-bit system runs on Raspberry Pi 4).
0x01 Image Download
Since compiling and testing the system consumes a lot of time and energy, in order to support me in continuously maintaining and releasing the Raspberry Pi ROS image, the download of the image requires a fee. Of course, if you are a VIP user of our website, the download is free.
You can download it from the official ROS Classroom website:
https://www.corvin.cn/1760.html
As usual, the first thing to do after downloading the image is to verify the integrity of the file. Here we use md5sum for verification, and the correct checksum is: b25348dc938298a940c999a9a1ab431a. It is also very simple to get the checksum; just execute the following command in the directory where the downloaded image is stored:
If the checksum is different, it may be a network issue causing the downloaded file to be incomplete, and you need to download it again. When the obtained checksum matches the one above, it indicates that the image is complete. Next, you can decompress it, and the complete decompression command is as follows:
After decompression, we will get an image file ending with .img. Finally, we can use the Etcher software to write the image to the SD card. If you don’t know how to operate, you can refer to the articles published earlier to learn how to use this software to write the image; it is very simple to use.
0x02 Boot the System
Once we have used the Etcher software to write the img image to the microSD card, we can insert it into the Raspberry Pi and power it on to boot the system. If you do not have a Raspberry Pi screen, that’s fine because I have already configured ssh and vnc-server in the Raspberry Pi system. This way, we can easily perform remote connections. You will need an Ethernet cable to connect your computer to the Raspberry Pi’s network port. Note that you need to configure your computer’s network port in advance to share the IP with other computers.
Next, we can use the nmap (Network Mapper) tool to scan the network. It can scan all active hosts and their open ports connected to the current computer network. Here, we only need to use the following command to scan the connected Raspberry Pi’s IP address and port:
Next, you can use VNC-Viewer for remote desktop connection. After starting, it may prompt that there is insufficient disk space. This is quite simple; we can use the raspi-config tool to expand it. Below we can take a look at the video operation, so we understand the entire process:
After we connect remotely to the system, we can proceed to testing. Let’s see how the ROS system performs and experience running a 64-bit system on Raspberry Pi 3B+:
0x03 Notes
0x04 References
0x05 Feedback
If you have any questions while following the tutorial, you can leave a message at the end of the article or follow the official WeChat account of ROS Classroom and send me a message to provide feedback. I basically handle messages in the WeChat account every day! Of course, if you would like to give a tip to ROS Classroom, I would be very grateful. A tip of 30 yuan will also invite you to join the ROS Classroom WeChat group to learn and communicate with more like-minded partners!