diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-os-bookworm.yml b/.github/workflows/build-os-bookworm.yml
index b8472a71d..06b725e93 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-os-bookworm.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-os-bookworm.yml
@@ -31,15 +31,6 @@ concurrency:
 jobs:
   build:
     name: build
-    strategy:
-      fail-fast: false
-      matrix:
-        variant:
-          - adafruithat
-          - planktoscopehat
-          - fairscope-latest
-        base_variant_name:
-          - lite
     permissions:
       contents: read
       packages: write
@@ -49,8 +40,7 @@ jobs:
     with:
       name: planktoscope
       base_release_name: bookworm
-      base_image_variant: ${{ matrix.base_variant_name }}
+      base_image_variant: lite
       base_release_date: 2025-05-13
       base_file_release_date: 2025-05-13
       arch: arm64
-      variant: ${{ matrix.variant }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-os.yml b/.github/workflows/build-os.yml
index 982b980d9..a5deb118a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-os.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-os.yml
@@ -26,10 +26,6 @@ on:
         description: 'The CPU architecture of the OS (armhf, arm64)'
         required: true
         type: string
-      variant:
-        description: 'The name of the RPi OS base image variant (none, segmenter-only, adafruithat, planktoscopehat)'
-        required: true
-        type: string
 
 jobs:
   build-os-image:
@@ -153,7 +149,7 @@ jobs:
             ACTUAL_SHA="$(printf "%.7s" "${{ env.ACTUAL_SHA }}")"
             /run/os-setup/os/ci-record-version.sh \
               "github.com/${{ env.REPO }}" "$ACTUAL_SHA" "hash" \
-              "${{ inputs.variant }}" "/run/os-setup"
+              "/run/os-setup"
             echo "installer-config.yml:"
             cat /usr/share/planktoscope/installer-config.yml
             echo "installer-versioning.yml:"
@@ -276,7 +272,7 @@ jobs:
           run: |
             echo "Running setup scripts..."
             export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
-            /run/os-setup/os/setup.sh ${{ inputs.variant }}
+            /run/os-setup/os/setup.sh
             echo "Done!"
 
       - name: Prepare for a headless first boot on bare metal
@@ -330,7 +326,7 @@ jobs:
           else
             version="$(printf "%.7s" "${{ github.sha }}")"
           fi
-          variant="${{ inputs.variant }}"
+          variant=""
           if [[ "${{ inputs.base_release_name }}" != "bookworm" ]]; then
             variant="$variant.${{ inputs.base_release_name }}"
           fi
diff --git a/os/ci-record-version.sh b/os/ci-record-version.sh
index 652a9f891..6f7379866 100755
--- a/os/ci-record-version.sh
+++ b/os/ci-record-version.sh
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 # REPO (the repo used for setup, e.g. github.com/PlanktoScope/PlanktoScope)
 # VERSION_QUERY (the version query, e.g. a commit hash)
 # QUERY_TYPE (eitiher branch, tag, or hash)
-# HARDWARE (either none, adafruithat, or planktoscopehat)
 # VERSION_QUERY_DIR (the filesystem path of the git repo used for getting version info)
 
 # Utilities for user interaction
@@ -99,7 +98,6 @@ main() {
   info "${BOLD}Repo${NO_COLOR}:          ${GREEN}${pretty_repo}${NO_COLOR}"
   info "${BOLD}Version query${NO_COLOR}: ${GREEN}${VERSION_QUERY}${NO_COLOR}"
   info "${BOLD}Query type${NO_COLOR}:    ${GREEN}${QUERY_TYPE}${NO_COLOR}"
-  info "${BOLD}Hardware${NO_COLOR}:      ${GREEN}${HARDWARE}${NO_COLOR}"
   if [ -n "${VERBOSE-}" ]; then
     VERBOSE=v
     info "${BOLD}Tag prefix${NO_COLOR}:    $(with_empty_placeholder "${TAG_PREFIX}")"
@@ -160,7 +158,6 @@ main() {
       "repo" "${pretty_repo}" \
       "version-query" "${VERSION_QUERY}" \
       "query-type" "${QUERY_TYPE}" \
-      "hardware" "${HARDWARE}" \
       "tag-prefix" "${TAG_PREFIX}" \
       "setup-entrypoint" "${SETUP_ENTRYPOINT}" \
       | sudo tee --append "${installer_config_file}" > /dev/null
@@ -183,8 +180,7 @@ main() {
 REPO="$1"
 VERSION_QUERY="$2"
 QUERY_TYPE="$3"
-HARDWARE="$4"
-VERSION_QUERY_DIR="$5"
+VERSION_QUERY_DIR="$4"
 
 # Set default values for the command-line arguments
 if [ -z "${REPO-}" ]; then
@@ -200,11 +196,6 @@ if [ -z "${QUERY_TYPE-}" ]; then
   error "QUERY_TYPE environment variable was not set!"
   exit 1
 fi
-DEFAULT_HARDWARE="planktoscopehat"
-if [ -z "${HARDWARE-}" ]; then
-  error "HARDWARE environment variable was not set!"
-  exit 1
-fi
 DEFAULT_TAG_PREFIX="software/"
 if [ -z "${TAG_PREFIX-}" ]; then
   TAG_PREFIX="${DEFAULT_TAG_PREFIX}"
diff --git a/os/cleanup.sh b/os/cleanup.sh
index 7d44389f9..47bfe35e3 100755
--- a/os/cleanup.sh
+++ b/os/cleanup.sh
@@ -5,10 +5,6 @@
 
 setup_scripts_root=$(dirname $(realpath $BASH_SOURCE))
 
-# Get command-line args
-
-hardware_type="$1" # should be either none, adafruithat, or planktoscopehat
-
 # Set up pretty error printing
 
 red_fg=31
@@ -35,16 +31,12 @@ function panic {
 
 # Run sub-scripts
 
-if [ $hardware_type = "none" ]; then
-  echo "Warning: skipping PlanktoScope-specific setup because hardware type was specified as: $hardware_type"
+description="remove unnecessary artifacts from the PlanktoScope application environment"
+report_starting "$description"
+if $setup_scripts_root/planktoscope-app-env/cleanup.sh ; then
+  report_finished "$description"
 else
-  description="remove unnecessary artifacts from the PlanktoScope application environment"
-  report_starting "$description"
-  if $setup_scripts_root/planktoscope-app-env/cleanup.sh ; then
-    report_finished "$description"
-  else
-    panic "$description"
-  fi
+  panic "$description"
 fi
 
 description="remove unnecessary artifacts from the base operating system"
diff --git a/os/planktoscope-app-env/node-red-frontend/install.sh b/os/planktoscope-app-env/node-red-frontend/install.sh
index 56488084e..94b409c60 100755
--- a/os/planktoscope-app-env/node-red-frontend/install.sh
+++ b/os/planktoscope-app-env/node-red-frontend/install.sh
@@ -4,14 +4,6 @@
 # Determine the base path for copied files
 config_files_root=$(dirname "$(realpath "$BASH_SOURCE")")
 
-# Get command-line args
-hardware_type="$1" # should be either adafruithat, planktoscopehat, or fairscope-latest
-default_config="$hardware_type-latest"
-if [ "$hardware_type" = "fairscope-latest" ]; then
-  hardware_type="planktoscopehat"
-  default_config="fairscope-latest"
-fi
-
 # Install dependencies
 # smbus is needed by some python3 nodes in the Node-RED dashboard for the Adafruit HAT.
 # Since the Node-RED systemd service runs as the pi user by default (and we don't override that
@@ -38,9 +30,6 @@ sudo cp $config_files_root/30-override.conf /etc/systemd/system/nodered.service.
 sudo systemctl enable nodered.service
 rm -rf /home/pi/.node-red
 
-cp "$HOME/PlanktoScope/default-configs/$default_config.config.json" \
-  "$HOME"/PlanktoScope/config.json
-
 # Configure node-red
 npm --prefix "$HOME/PlanktoScope/node-red/nodes" install --omit=dev
 npm --prefix "$HOME/PlanktoScope/node-red" install --omit=dev
diff --git a/os/planktoscope-app-env/python-hardware-controller/install.sh b/os/planktoscope-app-env/python-hardware-controller/install.sh
index 923fd5880..08698e285 100755
--- a/os/planktoscope-app-env/python-hardware-controller/install.sh
+++ b/os/planktoscope-app-env/python-hardware-controller/install.sh
@@ -6,16 +6,6 @@
 config_files_root="$(dirname "$(realpath "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")")"
 distro_setup_files_root="$(dirname "$(dirname "$config_files_root")")"
 
-# Get command-line args
-hardware_type="$1" # should be either adafruithat, planktoscopehat, or fairscope-latest
-default_config="$hardware_type-latest"
-case "$hardware_type" in
-"fairscope-latest")
-  hardware_type="planktoscopehat"
-  default_config="fairscope-latest"
-  ;;
-esac
-
 ## Install basic tooling
 sudo -E apt-get install -y -o Dpkg::Progress-Fancy=0 \
   git python3-pip python3-venv pipx
diff --git a/os/planktoscope-app-env/setup.sh b/os/planktoscope-app-env/setup.sh
index c70f927bb..94ddbeb96 100755
--- a/os/planktoscope-app-env/setup.sh
+++ b/os/planktoscope-app-env/setup.sh
@@ -11,8 +11,6 @@ build_scripts_root=$(dirname "$(realpath "$BASH_SOURCE")")
 
 # Get command-line args
 
-hardware_type="$1" # should be either adafruithat, planktoscopehat, fairscope-latest
-
 # Set up pretty error printing
 
 red_fg=31
@@ -47,7 +45,7 @@ fi
 
 description="set up Node-RED frontend"
 report_starting "$description"
-if "$build_scripts_root/node-red-frontend/install.sh" "$hardware_type"; then
+if "$build_scripts_root/node-red-frontend/install.sh"; then
   report_finished "$description"
 else
   panic "$description"
@@ -55,7 +53,7 @@ fi
 
 description="set up Python hardware controller"
 report_starting "$description"
-if "$build_scripts_root/python-hardware-controller/install.sh" "$hardware_type"; then
+if "$build_scripts_root/python-hardware-controller/install.sh"; then
   report_finished "$description"
 else
   panic "$description"
diff --git a/os/setup.sh b/os/setup.sh
index 7303c4931..a1b0c960f 100755
--- a/os/setup.sh
+++ b/os/setup.sh
@@ -9,10 +9,6 @@
 
 setup_scripts_root=$(dirname "$(realpath "$BASH_SOURCE")")
 
-# Get command-line args
-
-hardware_type="$1" # should be either none, adafruithat, planktoscopehat, or fairscope-latest
-
 # Set up pretty error printing
 
 red_fg=31
@@ -50,17 +46,13 @@ else
   panic "$description"
 fi
 
-if [ "$hardware_type" = "none" ]; then
-  echo "Warning: skipping PlanktoScope-specific setup because hardware type was specified as: $hardware_type"
+description="set up PlanktoScope application environment"
+report_starting "$description"
+if "$setup_scripts_root"/planktoscope-app-env/setup.sh; then
+  report_finished "$description"
+  source "$setup_scripts_root"/planktoscope-app-env/export-env.sh
 else
-  description="set up PlanktoScope application environment"
-  report_starting "$description"
-  if "$setup_scripts_root"/planktoscope-app-env/setup.sh "$hardware_type"; then
-    report_finished "$description"
-    source "$setup_scripts_root"/planktoscope-app-env/export-env.sh
-  else
-    panic "$description"
-  fi
+  panic "$description"
 fi
 
-"$setup_scripts_root"/cleanup.sh "$hardware_type"
+"$setup_scripts_root"/cleanup.sh