Raspberry Pi OS

Raspberry Pi OS (formerly Raspbian) is a Debian-based operating system for Raspberry Pi. Since 2013, it has been officially provided by the Raspberry Pi Foundation as the primary operating system for the Raspberry Pi family of compact single-board computers.[3]

Raspberry Pi OS
Rasberry Pi OS desktop
DeveloperRaspberry Pi Foundation
OS familyLinux (Unix-like)
Working stateCurrent
Source modelOpen source
Latest releaseRaspberry Pi OS (32-bit and 64-bit) / 2022-04-04[1]
Marketing targetRaspberry Pi
Available inEnglish, and other languages.
Update methodAPT
Package managerdpkg
PlatformsARM
Kernel typeMonolithic
UserlandGNU
Default
user interface		PIXEL[2]
LicenseFree and open-source software licenses (mainly GPL)
Official websitewww.raspberrypi.org/software/operating-systems/
Support status
Supported

Raspberry Pi OS was first developed by Mike Thompson and Peter Green as Raspbian, an independent and unofficial port of Debian to the Raspberry Pi.[4] The first build was released on July 15, 2012.[5] As the Raspberry Pi had no officially provided operating system at the time, the Raspberry Pi Foundation decided to build off of the work done by the Raspbian project and began producing and releasing their own version of the software.[6] The Foundation's first release of Raspbian, which now referred both to the community project as well as the official operating system, was announced on September 10th, 2013.[3]

On May 28th, 2020, the Raspberry Pi Foundation announced they were releasing a beta 64-bit version of their official operating system. However, the 64-bit version was not based on Raspbian, instead taking its userland from Debian directly.[7] Since the Foundation did not want to use the name Raspbian to refer to software that was not based on the Raspbian project, the name of the officially provided operating system was changed to Raspberry Pi OS.[7] This change was carried over to the 32-bit version as well, though it continued to be based on Raspbian.[7] The 64-bit version of Raspberry Pi OS was officially released on February 2nd, 2022.[8]

Raspberry Pi OS is highly optimized for the Raspberry Pi line of compact single-board computers with ARM CPUs. It runs on every Raspberry Pi except the Pico microcontroller. Raspberry Pi OS uses a modified LXDE as its desktop environment with the Openbox stacking window manager, along with a unique theme. The default distribution is shipped with a copy of the algebra program Wolfram Mathematica,[9] VLC, and a lightweight version of the Chromium web browser.

Features

User interface

Raspberry Pi OS has a desktop environment, PIXEL, based on LXDE,[10] which looks similar to many common desktops, such as macOS and Microsoft Windows. The desktop has a background image. A menu bar is positioned at the top and contains an application menu and shortcuts to a web browser (Chromium), file manager, and terminal. The other end of the menu bar shows a Bluetooth menu, Wi-Fi menu, volume control, and clock. The desktop can also be changed from its default appearance, such as repositioning the menu bar.[11]

Package management

Packages can be installed via APT, the Recommended Software app, and by using the Add/Remove Software tool, a GUI wrapper for APT.

Components

PCManFM is a file browser allowing quick access to all areas of the computer, and was redesigned in the first Raspberry Pi OS Buster release (2019-06-20).

Raspberry Pi OS originally used Epiphany as the web browser, but switched to Chromium with the launch of its redesigned desktop.[12]

Raspberry Pi OS comes with many beginner IDEs, such as Thonny Python IDE, Mu Editor, and Greenfoot. It also ships with educational software like Scratch and Bookshelf.

Reception

Jesse Smith from DistroWatch reviewed Raspberry Pi OS (then Raspbian) in 2015:[13]

Though I did not intend to run the Raspberry Pi as a desktop computer, the Raspbian operating system does provide users with the LXDE desktop environment. The Pi does not have a great deal of processor speed or memory, but it does have enough resources to run LXDE and a handful of applications. So long as the user does not wish to do a lot at once, the Pi offers a fairly responsive desktop interface. I probably would not run heavier programs such as LibreOffice or Firefox on the Pi, but Raspbian does provide the Epiphany web browser and a few other desktop programs.

Based on download statistics from the Raspberry Pi Imager, Raspberry Pi OS is by far the most used operating system on the Raspberry Pi, accounting for 68.44% of all OS downloads in the past month, as of 24 February 2022.[14]

Microsoft repository controversy

In late January 2021, the Raspberry Pi OS package raspberrypi-sys-mods added a trusted GPG key and sources.list.d entry to APT.[15] This addition made it easier for users running Raspberry Pi OS to install Visual Studio Code, a source code editor developed by Microsoft. However, this change also meant that every time the system checked for updates, it would query Microsoft's package servers.[15] Given Microsoft's once adversarial history with Linux, this form of telemetry upset some users.[16] The GPG key and APT entry would later be removed.[17]

Release history
Release date Debian version Linux kernel GCC apt X Server Pi 1/1+ Pi 2 Pi 3 Pi

Zero W

Pi 3+ Pi 4 Pi

Zero 2 W

2013-09-27 7

(Wheezy)

 3.6 4.7.2 0.9.7 7.7
2013-10-07
2013-12-24 3.10
2014-01-09
2014-06-22 3.12
2014-07-08
2014-09-12
2014-10-08
2014-12-25
2015-02-02 3.18
2015-02-17
2015-02-18
2015-05-07
2015-05-12
2015-09-28 8

(Jessie)

 4.1 4.9 1.0.9.8.1
2015-11-24
2016-02-08
2016-02-09
2016-02-29
2016-03-18
2016-05-13 4.4
2016-05-31
2016-09-28
2016-11-29
2017-02-27 4.9
2017-03-03
2017-04-10
2017-06-23
2017-07-05
2017-08-17 9

(Stretch)

 6.3 1.4.6
2017-09-08
2017-11-29
2018-03-13
2018-04-18 4.14 1.4.8
2018-06-29
2018-10-09
2018-11-13
2019-04-08 1.4.9
2019-06-24 10

(Buster)

 4.19 8.3 1.8.2
2019-07-10
2019-09-30
2020-02-07
2020-02-14
2020-05-27
2020-08-20 5.4.51
2020-12-02 5.4.79 1.8.2.1
2021-01-11 5.4.83 1.8.2.2
2021-03-04 5.10.17
2021-05-07 1.8.2.3
2021-12-03 5.10.63
2021-10-30 11

(Bullseye)

 10.2.1 2.2.4 1.20.11
2022-01-28 5.10.92
2022-04-04 5.15.30
Release date Debian version Linux Kernel GCC APT X Server Pi 1/1+ Pi 2 Pi 3 Pi

Zero W

 Pi 3+ Pi 4 Pi

Zero 2 W

Versions

Raspberry Pi OS has three installation versions:

  • Raspberry Pi OS Lite (32-bit & 64-bit)
  • Raspberry Pi OS with desktop (32-bit & 64-bit)
  • Raspberry Pi OS with desktop and recommended software (32-bit)

Raspberry Pi OS also has two legacy versions:

  • Raspberry Pi OS Lite (Legacy) (32-bit)
  • Raspberry Pi OS (Legacy) with desktop (32-bit)

Raspberry Pi OS Lite is the smallest version and doesn't include a desktop environment. Raspberry Pi OS with desktop includes the Pixel desktop environment. Raspberry Pi OS with desktop and recommended software additionally comes pre-installed with additional productivity software, such as Libre Office.[9]

On December 2nd, 2021, the Raspberry Pi Foundation released Raspberry Pi OS (Legacy), a branch of the operating system that continued to receive security and hardware compatibility updates but was based in the older Buster version of Debian.[18]

All versions are distributed as .img disk image files. These files can then be flashed on to microSD cards where Raspberry Pi OS runs. In March 2020, the Raspberry Pi Foundation also published the Raspberry Pi Imager,[19] a custom disk flasher that allows for the installation of Raspberry Pi OS as well as other operating systems designed for the Raspberry Pi, including RetroPie, Kodi OS, and others.

The Raspberry Pi documentation recommends at least a 4GB microSD card for Raspberry Pi OS Lite, and at least a 8GB microSD card for all other versions.[20]

See also

References
  1. "Release Notes". RaspberryPi.com.
  2. Introducing PIXEL - Raspberry Pi
  3. "Raspbian release notes". Retrieved 24 February 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. "RaspbianAbout - Raspbian". www.raspbian.org. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  5. "Index of /raspbian/images/2012-07-15-wheezy-raspbian". downloads.raspberrypi.com. Retrieved 2021-12-09.
  6. "RaspbianImages - Raspbian". www.raspbian.org. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
  7. Piltch, Avram (2020-05-30). "Raspberry Pi OS: Why It's No Longer Called 'Raspbian'". Tom's Hardware. The official Pi operating system is now called 'Raspberry Pi OS.'{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. "Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit)". Raspberry Pi. 2022-02-02. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
  9. "Download Raspberry Pi OS for Raspberry Pi". RaspberryPi.com. Mathematica and the Wolfram Language are included in this release under license and with permission of Wolfram Research, Inc. and may be used for non-commercial purposes only.
  10. Kabade, Rajat (2016-09-30). "Raspberry Pi gets LXDE-based PIXEL desktop environment". Open Source For You. Retrieved 2021-11-16.
  11. "Customise your Raspberry Pi desktop". Raspberry Pi Foundation. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  12. Long, Simon (2016-09-28). "Introducing PIXEL". Raspberry Pi Blog. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  13. Smith, Jesse (22 June 2015). "DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 615, 22 June 2015". DistroWatch. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  14. "rpi-imager Stats". rpi-imager-stats.raspberrypi.com. Retrieved 2021-02-21.
  15. Salter, Jim (2021-02-08). "Raspberry Pi OS added a Microsoft repo. No, it's not an evil secret". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
  16. "Raspberry Pi | Microsoft Visual Studio Code APT repository automatically added · Issue #4083 · MichaIng/DietPi". GitHub. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
  17. "Remove MS repo · RPi-Distro/raspberrypi-sys-mods@ed96790". GitHub. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  18. ""New" old functionality with Raspberry Pi OS (Legacy)". Raspberry Pi. 2021-12-02. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
  19. Hollingworth, Gordon (2020-03-05). "Introducing Raspberry Pi Imager, our new imaging utility". Raspberry Pi Blog. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
  20. "Raspberry Pi Documentation - Getting Started". www.raspberrypi.com. Retrieved 2022-02-24.
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