AC

Albert Casals

Embedded Linux Engineer · Open Source Contributor · DevOps Specialist

Creator of pipaOS, architect of Kano OS, and lifelong builder of tools that make embedded systems accessible, fast, and fun. Over a decade of contributions to the RaspberryPi ecosystem, Debian packaging, CI/CD automation, and cloud infrastructure.

GitHub ↗GitLab ↗LinkedIn ↗
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10+
Years in Open Source
5
Linux Distributions Built
20+
Public Projects
3
Major Companies

01 About

A career built on curiosity, embedded systems, and the belief that good tools empower everyone.

Albert Casals is an embedded Linux engineer and open source contributor with a career spanning over a decade. He is best known for creating pipaOS, a lightweight Raspbian-based distribution for the RaspberryPi that powered hobbyists, educators, and commercial products alike. As OS Design Lead at Kano Computing, he built the CI/CD infrastructure that delivered Kano OS to hundreds of thousands of devices worldwide. Currently working as a QA SDET Developer at IBM, he focuses on automation, cloud infrastructure (AWS, IBM Cloud, Azure), and container orchestration with Docker and Kubernetes.

His work has been featured in ArchLinux, contributed to the SDL2 project, supported by the Wikimedia Foundation, and adopted as the official Kivy distribution for the RaspberryPi. He believes in building tools that are fast, minimal, and get out of your way.

02 Current Work 2020—2024

What's keeping the keyboard warm right now.

🏢 IBM — QA SDET Developer
Developing automation frameworks and testing infrastructure at IBM. Working with Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, and Ansible across AWS, IBM Cloud, and Azure. Focused on CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code, and automated quality assurance at scale.
Active
🍓 RPI Tiny
A Busybox image build automation for the RaspberryPi — minimal images, fast boots, maximum utility.
Open Source
🐧 Linux Kernel Framework
Designed a Linux Kernel development framework for personal R&D — streamlined builds, testing, and kernel module development.
Open Source
🌡️ PiHeat
A RaspberryPi temperature monitor and alert manager for on-premise homebrew server workloads, originally built for Volta Networks.
Open Source

03 The pipaOS Ecosystem 2012—2020

Five Linux distributions, one build system, thousands of downloads.

📦
Legacy Project — Discontinued. Some download links may be broken. The documentation pages below are preserved for historical reference and the many community members who still reference them.
🐧 pipaOS
The flagship: a compact, fast, Raspbian-based distro for the RaspberryPi. 200MB download, 2GB image, minimal packages, wireless config from a laptop, hostapd preinstalled, QT5 and Kivy available via APT. Automated daily builds. Used by hobbyists and commercial projects worldwide.
→ View Documentation
2012—2020
🎨 KivyPie
The official and fastest Kivy distribution for the RaspberryPi. Bundled Kivy framework, Python, and touch support. Multiple versions released with community-tested compatibility.
→ View Documentation
2012—2020
💅 PiCute
A pipaOS variant integrating QT5 with QML and WebEngine support. This work became the core heartbeat UI for Kano Computing's major apps and games for kids, later making it into the official Kano OS.
→ View Documentation
2012—2020
🎮 PiLove
A fast, compact distro bundling Löve2D for the RaspberryPi — no X server, direct SDL2 + OpenGLES, boots in seconds. Became quite popular in the indie game dev community. GPIO access via Lua for hardware + games combos.
→ View Documentation
2012—2020
🕹️ KanoOS on Ubuntu
Experimental work on running KanoOS games on the RaspberryPi on top of the official Ubuntu for the RaspberryPi. Pushing the boundaries of what the hardware could do.
→ View Documentation
Experimental
📖 Marula
A project initiative to spread Wikipedia through solar-powered embedded boards, with the support of the Wikimedia Foundation. Bringing knowledge to places without internet access.
→ View Project Page
Wikimedia

04 Kano Computing

OS Design Lead — building the operating system that taught a generation to code.

🏆 OS Design Leader
As OS Design Lead at Kano Computing, Albert built and managed the entire CI/CD system that produced Kano OS — a Debian-based operating system designed to teach children coding through games and creative tools on the RaspberryPi.

Key achievements:
  • Designed and implemented kdesk — a lightweight X11 desktop environment focused on running games for kids
  • Built automated CI/CD system for 24/7 OS image builds, testing, and releases
  • Debian packaging and self-hosted APT repository management
  • Over-the-air upgrades and image release pipeline
  • Cross-compilation and packaging framework for QT5 with QML and WebEngine — the core UI engine for Kano's apps
  • Migrated the Matrix screensaver animation to QT5 QML for the RaspberryPi

05 Development Tools & Contributions

Swiss-army knives, build systems, and patches that made life easier for everyone.

🔧 XSysroot
The swiss-army knife designed to build and automate all the pipaOS distributions. Cross-compilation, image building, chroot management, QEMU integration. Made it into ArchLinux.
GitHub ↗ · Docs →
🖥️ QT5 Cross-Compile Framework
Cross-compile and Debian packaging framework for QT5 with QML and WebEngine support. The core heartbeat UI for Kano Computing's major apps and games for kids.
GitHub ↗
🎮 SDL2 for RaspberryPi
Automated cross-compiled build and Debian packaging of the SDL2 graphics library for the RaspberryPi. Contributed upstream to the SDL2 project.
GitHub ↗
📦 kdesk
A lightweight X11 desktop environment designed and implemented for Kano OS, focused on running games for kids on the RaspberryPi. Minimal resource usage, maximum fun.
GitHub ↗
⏻ RPI Poweroff
Hardware design to implement a safe power-off button on the RaspberryPi using Linux Device Tree Overlays and a microcontroller. Hardware + software, working together.
GitHub ↗
🪞 Magic Mirror Support
Contributed RaspberryPi support to the Magic Mirror open source project — the popular smart mirror platform.
Docs →
📋 Aptly Debian Repository
Maintained a fully automated, public Debian repository using Aptly, with a decoupled simulator to reproduce edge cases and ensure reproducibility.
GitLab ↗
💾 VirtualBox Debian
On-demand automation of Debian image builds for VirtualBox, using XSysroot. Cloud-ready images from the same build system.
GitHub ↗

06 Career Timeline

From RaspberryPi tinkering to cloud infrastructure — a decade of building.

2020 — Present
IBM — QA SDET Developer
Automation frameworks, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, Ansible across AWS, IBM Cloud, and Azure.
2018 — 2020
Volta Networks — Cloud Infrastructure
Terraform automation and on-premise server management. Built PiHeat for monitoring.
2014 — 2018
Kano Computing — OS Design Lead
Built Kano OS CI/CD, kdesk desktop, QT5 framework, Debian packaging, and image release pipeline. Taught a generation to code.
2012 — 2020
pipaOS — Creator & Maintainer
Created and maintained pipaOS, KivyPie, PiCute, PiLove, and the XSysroot build system. Daily automated builds, public Debian repository, community support.
2012 — 2018
Open Source Contributions
Contributed to SDL2, Magic Mirror, ArchLinux (XSysroot). Marula project with Wikimedia Foundation. RPI Poweroff hardware design.

07 Archive & Legacy Pages

Historical documentation preserved for the community.

📜
These pages are preserved as-is for historical reference. They contain the original documentation, download links (some may be broken), and screenshots from the pipaOS era. The styling is intentionally untouched — a window into the past.

08 Also on This Server

Other projects hosted here.

🌡️ Weather Dashboard
Real-time weather for Barcelona with hourly forecasts and air quality data.
→ View Weather
🔧 ESP32 Tor Gateway Analysis
Technical feasibility analysis of implementing a Tor network gateway on the ESP32 microcontroller.
→ Read Analysis