The biggest question for Raspberry PI Foundation boards user comes when choosing the Operating System to use. There are many OSes available for all models, each one fitting the best specific needs. This article lists the main alternative Raspberry PI OS
Usually, all operating systems can be installed easily by getting their image file (.img or zipped) and flashing it on an sd card with free programs like Balena Etcher or Raspberry PI OS Imager. Some distributions (like Raspberry PI OS, Raspbian and Ubuntu) allow to setup wi-fi and SSH connections from SD card flashing, it being useful in headless installations (without monitor and keyboard).
A typical Raspberry PI kit usually includes an SD card with NOOBS (New Out Of the Box Software) pre-installed. This isn’t an operating system. Noobs is a software executed only once in your very first boot which provides an easy way for beginners to install OS between a list of most common ones. Once selected the OS you want to use, Noobs downloads it from the internet and installs it. This isn’t my suggested OS installation procedure, since I experienced some problems trying to migrating to bigger sd card.
In this article, I’ll list a number of Raspberry PI OS you can try, with their installation guide, depending on your needs. Instead, if you want to compare RPI models, you can refer Comparing main features of latest Raspberry PI models.
If you are looking for ideas on how to use your Raspberry PI, you can also refere Best Raspberry PI projects with open source software article.
Raspberry PI, with monitor (connected via hdmi), keyboard and mouse, can be used as a complete and powerful desktop computer. The best OS, working out-of-the-box, for this purpose is Raspberry PI OS with Desktop. It is the common choice for peolple which need gui for their operations.
Like all other linux distros, you can also use a smaller version and install your favourite desktop environments by using package managers (apt for RPI OS). Raspberry PI OS is the default choice for all RPI users, because maintained by Raspberry PI foundation. Its Desktop environment is Pixel.
Below a list of other common Desktop enviroments that I still haven’t tested, but which can be good opportunities. What you need to check, is using their distro images compatible with arm processors (many of these has already dedicated Raspberry PI images).
Raspberry PI can be also a fantastic micro linux server able to support tons of lightweight linux projects. It can run web servers, print servers, proxy servers and so on (browse peppe8o.com pages for tutorials). Many big distros are starting to support Raspberry PI and have recently released their RPI images. The best choise, however, remains to Raspbian in its Lite version (without desktop environment).
Web community has developed a number of services which work out of the box from flashing a pre-comfigured image. What you have to do with these images, is usually reduced to configure your wifi network (if you don’t use an ethernet connection), setup preferences and use it.
Below some OSs in this cathegory, which I still haven’t tested directly:
Makers need a fast OS able to use Raspberry PI GPIOs, so interfacing external devices (like motors, sensors, etc). Also for this purpose, Peppe8o.com is plenty of tutorials.
Once your Operating System choice is gone, it’s time to move on List of Raspberry PI Projects!
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