Build a DIY Customized Mini PC using Raspberry Pi 4

Overview
In this project we will build a DIY Customized Mini PC using Raspberry Pi 4 and Sunfounder Pironman Mini PC Kit. The Pironman is a SunFounder’s customized Mini PC for Raspberry Pi. All you need is to connect the screen, mouse, and keyboard, and you can use it for projects, entertainment, and office.
The build DIY Raspberry Pi 4 Mini PC has following features:
Small size of 4.43’’ x 2.69’’ x 4.68’’
Raspberry Pi mini PC
The tower cooler can cool a 100% CPU load Pi to 39°C at 25°C room temperature
0.96” OLED Display showing CPU usage, temperature, disk usage, IP address, RAM usage
Onboard USB to M.2 SATA SSD, TRIM supported
RGB Fan, with GPIO control
16 WS2812 Addressable RGB LEDs
IR Receiver for a multi-media center like Kodi or Volumio
External GPIO extender with pin name label
Power status memory, remembers power status, automatically boots after accident power cut off
Aluminum main body with clear Acrylic side panel
Read about:
A Complete Raspberry Pi System Monitor for PC
Components Required
We need the following components to build this DIY Raspberry Pi 4 Mini PC System:
S.N.
Components
Quantity
Purchase Link

Raspberry Pi 4

Amazon
SunFounder

Pironman Mini PC Kit

Amazon
SunFounder

SD Card 16/32 GB

Amazon
SunFounder

7 inch Display or HDMI Screen

Amazon
SunFounder

5V, 3A DC Adapter for RPi

Amazon
SunFounder

Mouse & Keyboard

Amazon
SunFounder
Apart from all this you may require a Micro HDMI Cable and Sound or Earphone plugins or some additional
7 inch Display
Hardware Assembly
The Pironman Kit has all the necessary hardware and tools to build a DIY Mini PC.
The kit comes with an instruction manual that guides how you can assemble all the parts together to build a complete PC Setup.
Download:
Pironman Assembly Manual
The instruction manual consists of 4 pages. All 4 pages have a diagrammatic view and a well-demonstrated instruction guide that can easily help you to assemble the Pironman Kit.
The front side of the AssembleD kit looks something like this.
From the transparent case, you can view all the internal parts clearly. The HDMI port 1 and 2 can be connected via this end. You can supply the power through the type C USB port here. The 3.5mm audio jack is available for audio functionality and speaker functions.
The backside of the Kit has all the necessary GPIO ports output to connect the sensors modules and other active passive electronic components.
The left side of the kit has OLED Display that can display CPU/RAM/ROM Usage, CPU Temperature, and IP address. Similarly, a button is given to turn ON/OFF the Raspberry Pi 4 Mini PC.
The right side of the kit has all the USB Ports and ethernet ports. An onboard USB to M.2 SATA SSD, TRIM Supported is also available as shown in the image below.
Raspberry Pi OS Installation & Setup
The Raspberry Pi is a low-cost, computer that plugs into a computer monitor or TV, and uses a standard keyboard and mouse. It is also used as a tool to learn Python programming.
Before moving to the project part, we need to set up the
Raspberry Pi Board
. For this, you need a
16/32 GB SD Card
. We need to install OS to the system stored in SD Card.
The OS installation part and setup part can be followed on
Raspberry Pi OS Setup
You can either use the
HDMI Screen
or enable
SSH
and connect the Raspberry Pi to
VNC Viewer
using the local IP Address, username, and password.
In my case, I am using the
HDMI Screen
to connect to my Raspberry Pi. I also connected Mouse and Keyboard to the USB port of the Pironman Kit.
Set up the Pironman
Now let us setup the DIY Mini PC based on Raspberry Pi 4 & Sunfounder Pironman kit. This Pironman is used in the same way as PC and requires the power button to power on/off.
Change the
config.txt
Before you can start using Pironman, you need to configure the power button and the IR receiver.
Open the
/boot/config.txt
file with the following command.

sudo
nano
/
boot
/
config
txt
Add the following text to the end of the file, noting that there should be no spaces on either side of the
=

dtoverlay
=
gpio
poweroff
gpio_pin
=

active_low
=

dtoverlay
=
gpio
ir
gpio_pin
=

Press
Ctrl+X
->
Y
->
Enter
to save and exit editing.
Install
pironman
module
Use the following commands to download and install the
pironman
module.

cd
~
git
clone
https
:
//github.com/sunfounder/pironman.git
cd
~
/
pironman
sudo
python3
install
py
After installation, the program will start automatically. Here are the basic configurations for Pironman.
The OLED screen will display the CPU, RAM and ROM Usage, CPU Temperature and IP Address of the Raspberry Pi.
After 60 seconds, the OLED display goes into sleep mode, and you can wake it up by a short press on the power button.
The fan is turned on at 50 degrees Celsius.
Turn on the WS2812 RGB strip so that it displays in color #0a1aff(blue) and in breath mode (change rate is 50%).
At this point, you can press and hold for 2 seconds to safely shut down or 10 seconds to forcibly shut down.
Modify the Configuration
In the
pironman
module, we have some basic configurations for Pironman, and you can check them with the following command.

pironman
c
The current configurations are shown below.
The fan is turned on at 50 degrees Celsius.
The duration of the OLED display is 60s, after 60s it will start to sleep.
Turn on the WS2812 RGB strip so that it displays in color #0a1aff and in breath mode (change rate is 50%).
You can also modify these configurations to suit your needs.
Use
pironman
or
pironman
-h
or
pironman
--help
to view the instructions, as follows.

Usage
:
pironman
<
OPTION
>
<
input
>
Options
:
start
start
pironman
service
stop
stop
pironman
service
restart
restart
pironman
service
h
--
help
help
show
this
help
c
--
check
show
all
configurations
a
--
auto
[
on
]
enable
auto
start
at
boot
[
off
]
disable
auto
start
at
boot
u
--
unit
[
C
/
F
]
set
the
unit
of
temperature
C
or
F
(
Celsius
/
Fahrenheit
)
f
--
fan
[
temp
]
Temperature
at
which
the
fan
switches
on
in
celsius
(
default

)
in
range
(

~

)
al
--
always
_
on
[
on
/
off
]
whether
the
screen
is
always
on
default
False
s
--
staty
_
time
[
time
]
screen
display
duration
in
second
in
second
default

rw
--
rgb
_
sw
[
on
/
off
]
rgb
strip
switch
rs
--
rgb_style
rgb
strip
display
style
default
:
breath
in
[
breath
/
leap
/
flow
/
raise_up
]
rc
--
rgb
_
color
[
(
HEX
)
color
]
set
the
color
of
rgb
strip
default
:
0a1aff
rb
--
rgb
_
speed
[
speed
]
rgb
blink
speed
(

~

default

)
For example, to turn off the automatic execution of programs at boot.

pironman
a
off
Or reset the color of WS2812 RGB strip.

pironman
rc
ff8a40
Those configurations are stored in
/.config/pironman/config.txt
, and you can also make changes directly in this file.

sudo
nano
~
/
config
/
pironman
/
config
txt
Press
Ctrl+X
->
Y
->
Enter
to save and exit editing.
About Sunfounder Pironman Raspberry Pi Mini PC
Features & Parameters
Dimension: 112.45×68.2×118.92mm
Material
Main body: aluminum alloy
Both sides and front panel: acrylic
Support platform: Raspberry Pi 4B
Power input: USB Type C 5V/3A
Rated power: 5V/800mA
interface (d ~ i is the original Raspberry Pi interface exposed)
Raspberry Pi standard 40-Pin GPIO
micro SD
USB Type C power input
USB 2.0 x 2
USB 3.0
Gigabit LAN port
USB Type C Raspberry Pi power supply (direct power to Raspberry Pi, not recommended)
micro HDMI x 2
3.5mm headphone jack
Power button
OLED screen: 0.96’’ 128×64 resolution
Infrared receiver: 38KHz
Cooling fan: size 40x40x10mm
WS2812 RGB LED: 16xWS2812B-5050
Shutdown Signal Pin
: By pressing the power button, the Raspberry Pi will power off, while setting GPIO26 to a high level, and if the Main Board detects this high level, it will power cut.
Main Boar