Joseph Zikusooka's Jambula OS Takes a Text-Based Approach to Raspberry Pi 5 Server Setup

Systems engineer Joseph Zikusooka has released a lightweight Linux distribution targeting the Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer — offering text-based guided setup over SSH and a variety of configurable services tailored for home automation, multimedia, and more: Jambula OS.

"Jambula OS is a lightweight, free, and open source Linux operating system customized for deployment on embedded single board computers (SBCs), such as the popular Raspberry Pi," Zikusooka explains of the software. "This stable and efficient distribution is the ideal foundation for tech enthusiasts, developers, and the DIY/maker community, especially those in the smart home space. Designed for maximum resilience in internet or power challenged areas, Jambula OS prioritizes a 'local-first' architecture ensuring your projects and data remain reliable, even when the connection goes offline."

Initially targeting the Raspberry Pi 5, the latest in the popular single-board computer family and the company's most powerful yet, Jambula OS differs from desktop distributions like the mainstream version of Raspberry Pi OS by excluding a graphical user interface — offering instead a setup process that takes place in a text-based user interface accessed over SSH.

Upon first boot, the OS presents the user with QR Codes displayed at the terminal — one to connect to an on-device wireless access point, the other to start an SSH connection. Once connected, the setup wizard walks the user through enabling a variety of system services including file, music, video, and security camera servers, file sharing services, and even Home Assistant for home automation.

More information is available on the Jambula OS website, with downloads available on GitHub under the reciprocal GNU General Public License 3; "Familiarity with the Linux Command Line Interface (CLI) [is required]," Zikusooka says, "as Jambula OS is a console-only platform."