When using more than 24 cameras, a network architecture speeds up file downloads. Raspberry Pi is the most efficient way to achieve this: no configuration, no Linux commands. Just clone microSD cards.

As of August 22, 2025, it is now possible to run Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 without microSD cards. There are two major advantages of going this route: no more card flashing to update to our latest version, and no more microSD card corruption.

In all steps below, “Flashing a microSD” card refers as installing an OS onto a microSD card. This can be accomplished using Rufus.

A) Cardless setup (pi4 or pi5) NEW, BETA

1. Prepare your cardless Raspberry Pis. By default, the Raspberry Pis are not configured to boot on the network. This is why you’ll need to boot them at least once using the provided pi-image.
   1. On an existing system, download the latest XangleCS version, go the the status/nodes panel and click on UPDATE ALL. You’ll need to do this step twice. Once done, you’ll see a checkmark besides the IP address of the Pi in the status/nodes panel. Once you see the checkmark, you can remove the microSD card and disconnect the power cable
   2. On a new system, you simply need to boot all diskless Pis once using the latest Pi image: https://xanglecs.com/downloads. Once you finish a sucessful boot, you can remove the microSD card and repeat the the next Pi. You only need to do this once (for each Pi)
2. Prepare your Boot server. That’s the only Raspberry Pi in which you’re going to have a microSD card.
   1. Download the latest boot-image from https://xanglecs.com/downloads, and flash it to a fast microSD card (at least 16GB)
   2. Insert the microSD card in your Boot server and power up the Raspberry Pi
3. Prepare your computer: Launch XangleCS, go in Settings / Network and refresh the ip address. Select the 10.42.0.XXX address (local network created by the boot-server)
4. Power up the rest of your Raspberry Pis (diskless).

Notes:

• As we’re creating our own DHCP server, you’ll need to disable that feature from your router, or simply remove it from the loop.
• To use internet on your Windows computer, you’ll need a second network interface (USB or Wifi is ok)
• The Boot Server and its related network switch need to be power up BEFORE you power up your diskless Pis
• From XangleCS, in the Status/Nodes panel, Raspberry Pis are properly identified based on their types (boot-server, local-client, cardless, xangleboard, etc)
• On our test rig, we’re able to boot up 44x diskless Raspberry Pi4 from a single Pi5 boot server within 1:40 seconds (1GB/2.5GB mix)

B) microsd card Setup