Raspberry Pi- Common Configuration Issues

The following issues in this post are common challenges experienced by Raspberry Pi, (RPI) owners and I’m consistently frustrated with the ridiculous answers out on the internet for them!  No fear, trusty Raspains!  I’m here to offer you the correct and [pretty easy] answers that will actually fix the problems and won’t lead you to searching for hours on the internet.

We techies know that no matter what, going back to the configuration at the OS, (operating system) level is just the best way to fix problems.  Raspberry Pi issues are no different, so read on…

Keyboard Set To A Different Language

If you haven’t figured out by now, your RPI, although globally distributed, was built in the UK, which means that the keyboard is set to “gb” for Great Britain.  With that comes the pound sign when the shift is depressed and you then press the number 3, among other key reassignments.  Yes, there is a configuration option in the user interface and yes, it will fail to correct the issue, even after you’ve rebooted.

There is a simple configuration file update, so let’s just fix this the proper way.  Using Vi, Vim, Nano or another command line editor, edit the following file, (I’m a DBA, so Vi is my trusty editor choice):

sudo vi /etc/default/keyboard

# KEYBOARD CONFIGURATION FILE

# Consult the keyboard(5) manual page.

XKBMODEL="pc105"
XKBLAYOUT="gb"
XKBVARIANT=""
XKBOPTIONS=""

BACKSPACE="guess"

Update the XKBLAYOUT to “us” from “gb”, (or to the keyboard layout language you need it set to.)

Save the changes and cycle the RPI.  There, all fixed.

Display Upside Down In TouchScreen Display

The 7 and 10 inch touchscreen displays allow the user to have a more portable RPI, (non-dependent upon an HDMI monitor or TV) or mouse.  I also prefer it, as the low-powered option allows me the opportunity to power my RPI, monitor, et. all on an 20800MAH mobile charger battery, walking away from a standard power source completely.

The challenge is that when you position the RPI into the case that makes this all so easy to work with, the display is upside down.  No, there’s nothing wrong with your screen or your installation, the problem is the configuration for the RPI.  This can be easily fixed, again, with a simple update to a configuration file and power cycle of the RPI.

This time, edit the following:

sudo vi /boot/config.txt

add the following line to the bottom of the file:

lcd_rotate=2

The file should now look something similar to this:

# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)

dtparam=audio=on

# Correct display orientation

lcd_rotate=2

Save the changes and cycle the RPI.  Again, all fixed…. 🙂

Inconsistent Wifi Connectivity, (Seen In Wheezy, Not Jessie OS)

If you have challenges with this, check out my blog post that goes into causes and fixes here.

Hopefully people won’t be looking all over the internet for these fixes and just find this post instead….  As I think of other fixes, I’ll continue to update this blog post, so check back!