How to run Superbacked OS on Raspberry Pi

Requirements

• Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 (2GB min, 4GB or more recommended)
• Raspberry Pi 15W USB-C Power Supply
• Raspberry Pi keyboard and mouse (or equivalent)
• Raspberry Pi Micro HDMI to Standard HDMI (A/M) Cable (or equivalent)
• microSD card or USB flash drive (used to run Superbacked OS, 16GB min, faster is better)
• Plug and play webcam with USB-A connector (1080p min)
• HDMI display (1080p min)

Recommendations (optional)

Running Superbacked OS on flash drive with signed firmware and write protection enabled such as Kanguru FlashTrust™ Secure Firmware USB 3.0 Flash Drive (WP-KFT3-16G) is recommended.

Superbacked OS microSD or USB flash drive guide

Step 1: install Raspberry Pi Imager

macOS

Go to https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/, download and install Raspberry Pi Imager.

Ubuntu (or other Debian-based OS)

Heads-up: depends on Qt.

$ sudo add-apt-repository -y universe

$ sudo apt install -y rpi-imager

Step 2 (optional): disable Raspberry Pi Imager telemetry

macOS

$ defaults write org.raspberrypi.Imager.plist telemetry -bool NO

Ubuntu (or other Debian-based OS)

$ mkdir -p ~/.config/Raspberry\ Pi

$ cat << "EOF" > ~/.config/Raspberry\ Pi/Imager.conf
[General]
telemetry=false
EOF

Step 3: download Superbacked OS

Heads-up: for additional security, verify Superbacked OS release.

$ cd ~/Downloads

$ for number in $(seq 1 2); do curl --fail --location "https://github.com/superbacked/superbacked/releases/download/v1.6.1/superbacked-os-arm64-raspi-1.6.1.img.xz.part$number" || break; done | cat > superbacked-os-arm64-raspi-1.6.1.img.xz

Step 4: copy Superbacked OS to USB flash drive

Open “Raspberry Pi Imager”, click “CHOOSE OS”, then “Use custom”, select superbacked-os-arm64-raspi-1.6.1.img.xz, click “CHOOSE STORAGE”, select USB flash drive, click “NEXT”, then “NO” and, finally, click “YES”.

Raspberry Pi Imager, release semver may differ

Step 5 (optional): enable write protection

If using Kanguru FlashTrust™ Secure Firmware USB 3.0 Flash Drive or equivalent, enable write protection.

Usage guide

Step 1 (if applicable): unplug Ethernet cable

Step 2: boot Superbacked OS

Heads-up: password is “superbacked”.

If scanning blocks does not work, please try using a higher quality 1080p webcam such as the Razer Kiyo X.