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Raspberry Pi Releases an OS to Breathe new Life into Old PCs

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has released an untested version of its Linux-based Pixel OS for Windows and Mac PCs. The OS was originally intended to run on Raspberry Pi hobby boards. It comes with the Chromium web browser, a suite of productivity and coding tools, as well as the OS. "We asked ourselves a simple question What is the reason we would want users to purchase Raspberry Pi hardware to run Pixel? Eben Upton, founder, wrote in a blog.



Built on top of Debian, the OS is light enough to run on most old machines, provided that you have at least 512MB of RAM. Upton stated that the OS runs on the old i386 architecture version. It should run on older machines such as my ThinkPad X40 (above).



Although it's easy to use, Upton recommends backing up any valuable data. After downloading the image, you burn it either to a DVD or USB stick, and then you can allow booting of these devices. You can normally do that by tweaking the BIOS of your PC or by holding the "C" key down when you start the Mac.
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It will then start the OS without needing to install anything. You can boot from a USB stick to get the option of running "with persistence." This means that any changes or files will be saved for the next session. You can run the program without persistence or reset it. As mentioned, you receive a full set of apps and a browser, but unlike the Pi version, there's no Minecraft or Wolfram Mathematica because of licensing issues.



There are a variety of lightweight Linux distros that work with older computers (including Debian), or you can install Neverware that turns your laptop into an Android tablet. However the Pi Foundation supplies a lot of useful Linux apps with Pixel, and strives to make it as simple to use as is possible. By porting it to desktop machines, Upton also feels "we can better understand the operating system's weaknesses are and work to fix them [on the Pi]."



The group thinks it could be a perfect for schools (where the Raspberry Pi already has a large foothold) to aid students in learning programming and other applications. They could learn at school and then use the persistent boot option to go back to home using exactly the same setup.



As mentioned previously, the Pixel OS is still in the testing stages and isn't compatible with all computers. Upton admitted that his modern Mac couldn't recognize the image as bootable on his machine. They'll be releasing new updates over time and If you're interested in trying it out then you can check the announcement post to find it.


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