Category: Raspberry Pi/SBC

Raspbian – Turn off Screen Timeout & Enable RDP to GUI

Posted on | by Bobby

So you have a Raspberry Pi that you are wanting to run the GUI on and not have the display go to sleep (maybe running some displays for a NOC?), well, here’s my setup:

  1. Login as your user that will auto-login to the GUI desktop, and start a Terminal session.
  2. From the Terminal, perform the following to remove the default VNC server:
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    sudo apt remove vnc4server tightvncserver
    sudo apt autoremove
  3. Then, install Vino and xRDP:
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    sudo apt install vino xrdp
  4. Now, perform the following as your user:
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    vi ~/.config/autostart/vino.desktop
    [Desktop Entry]
    Encoding=UTF-8
    Type=Application
    Name=VINO
    Comment=
    Exec=/usr/lib/vino/vino-server
    StartupNotify=false
    Terminal=false
    Hidden=false
     
    vi ~/.xinitrc
    xset s off
    xset -dpms
    xset s noblank
  5. Lastly, as your user, execute the following commands:
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    gsettings set org.gnome.Vino require-encryption false  <== Turns off encryption
    gsettings set org.gnome.Vino prompt-enabled false  <== Turns off prompting for an account
    gsettings set org.gnome.Vino authentication-methods "['vnc']"  <== Sets the default authentication method for Vino to VNC
    gsettings set org.gnome.Vino vnc-password "$(echo -n 'APWnot<8' | base64)"  <== Sets a password to authenticate the session with.  NOTE - password needs to be 8 characters or less.
  6. Now, perform the following to configure xRDP:
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    sudo vi /etc/xrdp/xrdp.ini
    [xrdp1]
    name=Active Local Login
    lib=libvnc.so
    username=
    password=ask
    ip=127.0.0.1
    port=5900
     
    sudo systemctl enable xrdp
    sudo systemctl restart xrdp
  7. Now, perform the following to configure lightDM:
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    sudo vi /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
    xserver-command=X -s 0 -dpms
  8. Now reboot the pi, and test your connectivity.  You should now connect to the active, logged in session that is on the screen.

Raspian Notes – Stabilize CPU Performance and Turn Off Radios

Posted on | by Bobby

Add/set the following in /boot/config.txt:

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# Stops CPU Ramping
force_turbo=1
 
# Helps to avoid SD card corruption from force_turbo
boot_delay=1
 
# Disable Bluetooth & WiFi
dtoverlay=pi3-disable-bt
dtoverlay=pi3-disable-wifi

Add/Set the following in the /boot/cmdline.txt:

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# Turn off dynamic clock ticks
nohz=off
# Changes the I/O scheduler to noop, which is better for SD cards and flash storage devices.
elevator=noop

Change CPU Performance:

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apt install cpufrequtils
vi /etc/default/cpufrequtils:
GOVERNOR="performance"

Reboot & verify the governor setting.