Notes

Raspberry Pi Releases an OS to Give new Life to Old PCs

The Raspberry Pi Foundation released an experimental version its Linux-based Pixel OS for Windows PCs and Mac PCs. The OS was originally designed to run on Raspberry Pi hobby boards. It includes 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? founder Eben Upton wrote in a blog post.



The OS is built on the top of Debian and is able to be run on all older machines provided you have at minimum 512MB of RAM. "Because we're using the venerable i386 architecture, it will run even on vintage devices like my ThinkPad X40 (above)," Upton said.



It's simple to test, but Upton suggests backing up machines that may contain valuable data. After downloading the image, burn it either to a DVD or USB stick, then allow booting of these devices. This can be done by changing the BIOS of your computer or by pressing the "C" key when you start a Mac.



After that, it will start the OS without having to install anything. You can boot using an USB stick to have the option of running "with persistence." This means that any changes or changes to files will be saved for the next session. Minecraft Servers You can choose to run the program without persistence or to reset it. As you can see, you'll have a complete set of apps and a browser, but unlike the Pi version there's no Minecraft or Wolfram Mathematica because of licensing issues.



There are many lightweight Linux distros that work with older computers (including Debian), or you can try Neverware which turns your old laptop into an Android tablet. The Pi Foundation provides a number of useful Linux applications with Pixel, and is aiming to make it as simple as it is. By porting it to desktops, Upton also feels "we can more easily see the areas where the operating system's weak points are and then work to address them [on the Pi]."



It could be used to teach programming and other apps in schools, where the Raspberry Pi is already well-established. The idea is that they could learn in school and then, using the option of persistent boot and work at home with exactly the same setup.



As previously mentioned previously, the Pixel OS is still in the early stages of development, and doesn't run on all computers. Upton admitted that his modern Mac was unable to recognize the image as bootable on his system. They'll release new updates over time and If you're interested in giving it a go you can click the announce post to locate it.


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