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Creating apps for Raspberry Pi - Part 1

#desktopapp #raspberrypi #linux #appdevelopment

What is Raspberry Pi?

Raspberry Pi is a Linux-based, low-cost, credit card-sized computer designed for learning, prototyping, and embedded applications. It offers GPIO pins, USB, HDMI, and networking capabilities, making it perfect for DIY electronics and lightweight computing tasks. Developing apps for Raspberry Pi is a fun project. Flutter is a good choice for developing cross-platform applications and is actually a solid option—even for Linux.

What is Flutter?

Flutter is an open-source UI toolkit created by Google. It allows developers to build beautiful, natively compiled applications for mobile, web, desktop, and embedded devices from a single codebase, using the Dart programming language.

Why Use Flutter for Linux Apps?

Flutter’s Linux support is built on GTK (GNOME’s UI toolkit), which gives it access to native features and performance on Linux systems. Here’s why it can be a good choice:

Pros:

  • Unified UI across platforms
  • High-performance native binaries
  • Strong community and plugin ecosystem
  • Easy to learn and quick to build with
  • Works well with touchscreens and embedded devices (like Raspberry Pi)

What You’ll Need:

  1. A Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 (with at least 2GB RAM — 4GB+ recommended)

  2. 64-bit OS installed (like Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit or Ubuntu 22.04 ARM64)

  3. Internet connection and a bit of terminal knowledge

  4. Visual Studio code IDE

1. Set Up Your Raspberry Pi

Install a 64-bit OS on Raspberry Pi. Use Raspberry Pi Imager to install:

Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit (Debian-based) or
Ubuntu Server/Desktop 22.04 ARM64

⚠️ Check 64-bit support:

bash

uname -m
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Output should be: aarch64

2. Install Flutter SDK on the Pi

Install dependencies:

bash

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y clang cmake ninja-build pkg-config libgtk-3-dev liblzma-dev curl git unzip
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Get Flutter SDK and add path variables as below:

bash

git clone https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git -b stable
echo 'export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/flutter/bin"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc
flutter doctor
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3. Enable Linux Desktop Support 

bash

flutter config --enable-linux-desktop
flutter doctor
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Make sure [✓] Linux toolchain is checked.

4. Create a New Flutter App 

bash

flutter create my_rpi_app
cd my_rpi_app
flutter run -d linux
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If everything is good, you should see a GUI app pop up on your Pi desktop!

5. Build for Release (Optional) 

bash

flutter build linux --release
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This will generate the release build in the following path: build/linux/arm64/release/bundle/

Run it with:

bash

./build/linux/arm64/release/bundle/my_rpi_app
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In the next post we will cover how to package(using cargo-deb, dpkg, or fpm) your app for distribution.

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