# Beginning with a Headless Raspberry Pi Zero

**URL:** <https://discourse.processing.org/t/beginning-with-a-headless-raspberry-pi-zero/32205>\
**Category:** Processing for Pi\
**Created:** [September 11, 2021, 9:03pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/beginning-with-a-headless-raspberry-pi-zero/32205 "2021-09-11T21:03:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bcabc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@bcabc](https://discourse.processing.org/u/bcabc)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2021, 9:03pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/beginning-with-a-headless-raspberry-pi-zero/32205/1 "2021-09-11T21:03:06Z")

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Hi -

I’m new to the Raspberry Pi - I got one recently because someone was giving away a “Zero” model.  
I found the tutorial for running Processing for the Pi Zero (here: [https://pi.processing.org/](https://pi.processing.org/))  
What I’m curious about, though, is if there’s any way to load Processing and sketches onto a “lite” version of the OS, one that ideally runs “headless”.  
My thinking is that will allow me to get a little bit more power for Processing, since the Pi won’t have to deal with all of the visual drag of the Raspbian OS. If I’m wrong in this assumption - or if the difference is pretty insignificant - I’d be curious to hear what people thought.  
On the other hand, if this approach would allow me to run slightly more complex sketches - I’m wondering if someone could point me in the direction of a tutorial to do headless Processing in Pi Zero.

Thanks!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![micuat](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.processing.org/micuat/32/19407_2.png) [@micuat](https://discourse.processing.org/u/micuat)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 10:59am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/beginning-with-a-headless-raspberry-pi-zero/32205/2 "2021-09-12T10:59:34Z")

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hi! I need more information on what you want to achieve and what you mean by headless. I can imagine two scenarios. One is to go with completely no graphics. I don’t know if that is possible because anyways processing seems to require GUI components. In this thread there is a solution for hiding a window but that indeed requires a window  
[https://forum.processing.org/two/discussion/10502/no-display-window-nosize](https://forum.processing.org/two/discussion/10502/no-display-window-nosize)

If you want to go without a screen, I would perhaps use node.js or python.

Another scenario I come up with is to use graphics but make the pi plug and play - basically you connect a display, turn it on and loads a sketch in full screen without keyboard/mouse, like a media player. I did it before to load freeliner to make a standalone video mapper, but basically this was loading the full desktop and autostart a processing sketch. I used RPi 3 and not sure if Zero can handle it.

There is a project called [openframe](https://openframe.io/) (not to be confused with openframeworks) that can run processing sketches on a RPi as a frame. They say it supports Zero W too (not sure about the original zero as it does not have a wireless interface).