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OS & Screen

Flash OS & Boot​

1.Flash Raspberry Pi OS Trixie​

  1. Connect the SD card to your computer
  2. Download and use Raspberry Pi Imager to flash the latest Raspberry Pi OS (32-bit) - Trixie to the SD card.
OS customization

I highly recommend configuring WiFi and SSH options in the imager under "OS customization -> Edit Settings". This will allow the Pi to connect to your WiFi right after the first boot, and you can SSH in to more easily configure it. You can choose a hostname and username. For the purposes of this guide, we'll assume the hostname is typeframe.local and the username is pi. Leaving the username as pi will make things easier on you later as it's hardcoded in some scripts.

2. Configure Display Support​

  1. After image flashing is completed, open the config.txt file in the root directory of the SD card.

  2. Add the following code at the end of config.txt, save, and safely eject the SD card:

    dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d
    # DSI1 Use (recommended for Pi4B)
    dtoverlay=vc4-kms-dsi-waveshare-panel,7_9_inch
    # DSI0 Use (alternative)
    # dtoverlay=vc4-kms-dsi-waveshare-panel,7_9_inch,dsi0

If you boot before adding this, you can SSH into the Pi and edit the file in /boot/firmware/config.txt. Then reboot.

3. First Boot​

  1. Insert the SD card into the Raspberry Pi.
  2. Plug the USB power cable into the Pi, not the Power Management HAT if you have it installed.
  3. The Raspberry Pi will power on - wait for a few seconds for the display to initialize.
  4. You're booted up - the touch screen should work, but you'll still need to rotate the screen.

SSH into the Raspberry Pi​

If you configured WiFi and SSH in the imager, you can SSH into the Pi from your computer using the hostname you set (e.g., typeframe.local):

ssh pi@typeframe.local

This will allow you to copy and paste commands more easily than working directly on the PX-88.

Screen Rotation Configuration​

The default display orientation is portrait. We want it to be landscape. You'll need to set this in two places: one for the desktop environment and one for the terminal.

1. Desktop Configuration​

  1. Open "Control Centre" → "Screens" from the desktop menu. In older versions of Raspberry Pi OS, this may be under "Preferences" → "Screen Configuration".

  2. Go to "Screens" → "DSI-2" → "Orientation", choose "Right", and finally click "Apply" to complete the display and touch synchronous rotation.

For detailed steps with images, see the Waveshare wiki documentation.

2. Disable the On-Screen Keyboard​

By default, the on-screen keyboard will pop up whenever you select a text field. You'll find the option to disable it under "Control Centre" → "Display" → "On-Screen Keyboard". Select "Disabled".

3. Terminal Configuration​

  1. To rotate the display in the terminal, open the boot command line for editing.

    sudo nano /boot/firmware/cmdline.txt

  2. Add the following command to the beginning of the first line in cmdline.txt, followed by a space before the existing console= parameter:

    video=DSI-1:400x1280e,rotate=270

    For example: If your cmdline.txt currently starts with console=tty1 root=PARTUUID=..., change it to:

    video=DSI-1:400x1280e,rotate=270 console=tty1 root=PARTUUID=...

  3. Save the file and exit (Ctrl+X, Y, Enter).

  4. Restart to apply the rotation.

    sudo reboot