Abstract:
Raspberry Pi launches a new version of Raspberry Pi Desktop for regular PCs and Macs, the first major update to the system in four years. The new version is based on Debian 13 "Trixie", converted to a 64-bit amd64 architecture, and adds a Raspberry Pi Connect client, allowing users to use this service to perform screen sharing or remote terminal operations on computers running this desktop system.
The new version of the desktop brings interface changes such as the control center and application dock recently added to the Raspberry Pi. The goal is to provide a desktop experience similar to the Raspberry Pi on non-Raspberry Pi computers. It is released as a bootable Debian ISO image. Users can write the image to a USB disk and start it directly. They can also choose "persistence" mode to save changes to a USB disk. If you want to install it to a computer hard drive or solid state drive, you can use the system's built-in Calamares installation program.
The last update of this PC and Mac version of the system is still Debian 11 Bullseye released in 2022. The Raspberry Pi team explained that in the past, engineers were busy with other projects, and the company mainly made money by selling Raspberry Pi computers and the operating system itself was free, so it was difficult to continue to invest resources in maintaining the PC version; however, users have been asking about updates, and the team said they still receive two or three related emails every week.
The new version no longer supports 32-bit PC systems, mainly because Debian has stopped providing installation support for 32-bit systems for PCs. Raspberry Pi stated that most PCs launched in the past 15 years and most Intel processor Macs can run 64-bit versions; Macs equipped with Apple's self-developed M series chips are not compatible because Debian's support for Apple Silicon is still in the experimental stage.
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