Oh - I was referring to the line in the video, @4:54:sdm of course handles the localization for you. Without knowing what exact keyboard configuration issue you're having it'll be a bit difficult to ELI5 it. I've never had an issue with either sdm (of course!) or rpi-imager. Maybe I've just been lucky with imager?
it will perform some last-minute configuration, including some settings that must be completed on the actual running system, such as setting the keyboard configuration and unblocking WiFi
The ELI5 part I'd love to hear is, why that has to be done on the actual running system.
There is no firmware on the Pi - we're just talking about modifying files on the SD card here - so it baffles me that this task cannot possible be done either inside the image before we burn it, or on the filesystem while it's still plugged into another device (i.e. not the runtime system).
Especially since I"m not picking anything exotic here. Standard US keyboard layout (101 key). Standard US English.
But I'm just an old man shouting at the sky here. It's not a problem I expect anyone to actually solve.
If I'm going to open a ticket anywhere, it would going to be for the official Pi Imager tool:
- If you pre-configure a WiFi SSID that begins with dashes, it appears to fail.
- It does not give you the option of pre-configuring static network parameters.
- Not all of the localization choices in the tool are actually applied.
Statistics: Posted by wildbillnj1975 — Fri Jun 05, 2026 6:48 pm
