NVIDIA Jetson Nano Setup Guide
The Jetson Nano from NVIDIA is a small computer that is built for embedded applications and is capable of supporting modern AI workloads.
Follow this guide to set up the Jetson Nano Developer Kit to prepare your NVIDIA Jetson Nano for viam-server
installation.

Note
This board is experimental. Stability is not guaranteed. This guide assumes that you have a Jetson Nano Developer Kit with a Jetson module and reference carrier board, but you may want to use a different carrier board to incorporate your Nano into your robot. If so, the type of carrier board you use will affect your hardware requirements.
Hardware Requirements
You need the following hardware, tools, and software to install viam-server
on a Jetson Nano:
Initial Setup with Display Attached:
- A Jetson Nano Developer Kit
- A microSD card (32GB UHS-1 minimum recommended)
- A computer display (HDMI or DP) with USB keyboard and mouse
- A way to connect the microSD card to the computer (like a microSD slot or microSD reader)
- Ethernet cable and/or Wifi dongle, to establish network connection on the Nano
- 5V-2A DC with barrel jack connector and/or Micro-USB power supply, to power the Nano
Initial Setup in Headless Mode:
- A Jetson Nano Developer Kit
- A microSD card (32GB UHS-1 minimum recommended)
- An internet-connected computer
- A way to connect the computer to the Nano (like a USB 2.0 A-Male to Micro B Cable)
- A way to connect the microSD card to the computer (like a microSD slot or microSD reader)
- Ethernet cable and/or Wifi dongle, to establish network connection on the Nano
- 5V-2A DC with barrel jack connector power supply, to power the Nano (Micro-USB port will be taken by the cable connection to computer)
Jetson Nano Setup Guide
- Follow the instructions in Getting Started with Jetson Nano Developer Kit. Once you have reached Next Steps, return to the Viam docs.
- Your Jetson Nano now has a Viam-compatible operating system installed. Continue to install viam-server. Note that the Jetson Nano has aarch64 CPU architecture.
Tip: viam-server
installation with curl
If curl
is not installed on your Orin, run sudo apt install curl
before downloading the viam-server
binary.
If this command fails, try using wget http://packages.viam.com/apps/viam-server/viam-server-latest-aarch64.AppImage
to download the viam-server
binary.
Troubleshooting
You can find additional assistance in the Troubleshooting section.
You can also ask questions in the Community Discord and we will be happy to help.