Using same image on several Pi's

General Discussion
1

Hi.

This might be a dumb question, but can I create a new DietPi installation, install some programs, and then reuse the image I have made on several other Pi’s, without recreating the DietPi?

Currently I am in the process of the first boot of a DietPi on a RP3+, and it takes quite a long time, but as I can understand it actually is because the first boot creates the final DietPi - so far so good, but what happens next time?

The reason for asking is that I saw, during installation that Dropbear generates a public key, so what happens if the image is used on more than one Pi?

I am going to use this for some relative simple video players, and as the are going to be used headless, it is important for me that they boot fast, and that there is no further installation, when I have made my first unit - also it is important for me that it is easy to create new sd cards, with the smallest image size possible.

Hope I made clear, and in advance thanks
Christian

2

Generally this works.

We just need to refresh SSH host keys and machine ID on first boot to not have them identical on all DietPi systems out there. In case of SSH host keys it is also a security measure that you exactly know to which machine you are connecting instead of allowing anyone with the wide-spread host key faking your machine to catch your SSH login credentials. But as long as those keys are identical for your own machines only, not much of an issue.