Raspberry Pi OS

Reader supplied reviews for Raspberry Pi OS Average rating 7.6 from 16 review(s) What are your thoughts on Raspberry Pi OS? Please include a few pros and a few cons, along with your overall impression of the operating system. Our FAQ page has tips on writing a good mini-review. Version: -- 2025-12-042025-05-132023-05-032020-12-022019-04-082018-11-132017-07-052015-02-16 Rating:    -- 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 out of 10 Your review (minimum 250 words): Past reviews - sort by: DateVotes Version: 2025-12-04 Rating: 9 Date: 2025-12-09 Votes: 2 For hardware reference, this evaluation was from use on a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B with 4 GB RAM (OK, actually 3887864 KB), running on Amazon 256 GB SD Cards with no hats or other GPIO header connections, using a case that is its own heat sink (no fan). For further OS relevance, we used the Raspberry PI imager, Raspberry Pi OS (Other), Raspberry PI OS Full (64 bit) [ 1.9 GB versus 1.2 GB for Raspberry PI OS (64-bit) ] Not even withstanding that this operating system (OS) is designed to run on a tiny single-board computer (Raspberry PI 4 and 5), this OS is amazingly snappy, with minor exceptions. The exceptions are not germain specifically to this OS: rather to its Debian underpinnings and to IP transit across the globe. Particularly impressive was the SD Card Copier app which is significantly faster than the standard Linux (dd) disk copy procedure. It apparently duplicates the partitions and then duplicates the files in the partitions, reducing the process from about 4 hours to just several minutes. WE RECOMMEND YOU DO MAKE A BACKUP IMAGE immediately as it's significantly faster to recover from a terminal mistake than re-downloading the OS to fix the problem. Exceptions: (1) Where Debian updates rely on Fastly DNS, the OS tends to require several attempts to access the Debian update server but if you have access to Fastly, it will eventually connect on several retries. This is solely a consequence of Debian: RaspOS's underpinnings. (2) Where the "Recommended Software" app accesses Raspian BluSky servers (across the "Pond"), we experienced it will connect after a couple of attempts. (Maybe that was our DNS or IP transit.) (3) The screen blanker (Preferences - Control Center - Display) went "Out to Lunch" for us...and never came back. We had to reboot. We disabled the screen blanker and everything was fine. (4) Drag-and-Drop from desktop folder to folder didn't work for us at all. This seems minor as we're completely competent to copy files using the Command Line Interface (CLI). It seems relevant to note that, as a result of our testing of this OS, we've adopted this OS (and consequently its native hardware) to standardize around for single-board computers. Discouraging "gotcha's": o- If, in the course of installation, you ask for Chrome and to have Firefox removed, it won't. You have to remove Firefox manually using the "Add-Remove Software" app. That works just fine. o- We have no idea what the root password is for RaspiOS but we'd suggest you make a point of changing it, since everyone else may know the password. o- In the course of installation (Raspberry PI Imager), it's probably best to set the name and location of the server since Chromium is sensitive to changing the server name. It may seem excessive but it's probably a good idea. o- If running RaspiOS on a Raspberry PI on a Raspberry PI 4, without a built-in clock, it's possible to get into trouble if you don't remember to sync the time on every boot (rc.local and timesyncd or something else). Was this review helpful? Yes No Version: 2024-11-19 Rating: 8 Date: 2025-01-16 Votes: 4 I wanted to add this review because I've noticed some strange things with performance. The responsiveness is sometimes the exact opposite of what you'd expect. I had better performance on the PI5 with KDE than other desktop environments (though I think a lot of that has to do with it working much better with Wayland than x11). In terms of the PI4b, the more time goes by, the more releases seem strangely divided on performance. I've gotten better responsiveness from Cinnamon than from XFCE or MATE (especially with video and web browsing). In fact, I'd say that Cinnamon is almost as responsive as an IceWM setup I cobbled together with Thunar and Picom. But, with previous releases, I'd say that XFCE and MATE performed better and desktop environments like Cinnamon were a lot slower and less responsive. I still can't stand the default desktop environment that comes with the desktop install of Raspberry PI OS. It's frustrating to use, ridiculously buggy, has too many options hidden or obscured, and I haven't found one scenario where I'd prefer it over something else. To each their own, but I really wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Also worth noting, there are issues with the installer that need to be fixed. They're ongoing problems which don't seem to have been addressed. For some reason, during installation of the OS, you can select a keyboard, but it doesn't ask you anything else. It just kind of decides to default everything else to UK settings. (I've tried setting up preferences when using the imager to burn the image onto the SD card, but more often than not, they don't seem to stick.) So, you could be in the US or Siberia or Timbuktu and select your keyboard reflecting that, then you boot up and your time zone and language settings are for the UK. So, the clock is hours off and you have a "Wastebasket" instead of a "Trash" icon on your desktop. (Equal parts funny and annoying.) You can change those settings through `raspi-config`, but it feels like it really should be addressed during the installation process instead of having to launch a separate program to deal with it. Overall, I'd still recommend this OS for the PI systems (particularly the 4b and 5), as it's the best I've found for performance, stability, and reliability. I'd just recommend the Lite 64-bit installation (currently Bookworm) and for you to shop around for desktop environments. Having Cinnamon be almost snappy in performance on a PI4b is pretty surprising, given how other desktops have performed. I'd recommend getting an extra SD card and experimenting with different desktop environments to test performance before deciding on one. Was this review helpful? Yes No Version: 2023-12-05 Rating: 7 Date: 2024-01-01 Votes: 4 They released an update to the firmware that helps with how hot the PI5 can get. It doesn't appear to install automatically, though. You have to use `rpi-update` to install it. (Which is why it wasn't the first thing I tried over the last week or two, to help with the PI5 performance issues.) You can check your version of the firmware with `sudo rpi-eeprom-update`. The December 14th release seems to be working well and cut down the heat issues I'd been having by between 2-10C. It's a bit inconsistent with temperature, though. Sometimes, the temperature will shoot up and then go down. Before, the temperature was more consistent, but it was also hotter on average. I'd consider this an improvement and I'm grateful they put it out -- credit where it's due. It was disappointing to have a machine that didn't work well that was brand new when I first got the PI5. Note: If you're worried about messing with the firmware, just record all the info that's spit out in the terminal, that way you can revert the firmware to your previous version if you encounter any issues. The output of `rpi-update` lists both the previous and updated firmware versions. In regards to desktop environments, with the PI5, the best performance I've gotten is out of Wayland-backed KDE Plasma. You'd think a beefy desktop environment like KDE would run more slowly, but there's something about how Wayland and the PI5 interact that allows it to work better. (You can also get reasonably good performance out of GNOME, but I'm not a fan of GNOME -- it lacks a lot of features that are in KDE for customization and the performance doesn't suffer at all. If anything, I found KDE a bit more responsive.) I also don't think the fixes are out yet for X11 in regards to the blinking cursor issue, etc. GDM is slower than Lightdm, but works better at setting Plasma/Wayland as the default when logging in. SDDM is buggy and glitchy with the mouse (on Bookworm, but not Bullseye, though you can't use Bullseye with the PI5 -- not exactly thrilled about being locked in to the much-more-glitchy Bookworm). If you're comfortable installing Lightdm and editing the .conf file, it's faster to start up and you can manually set the default to Plasma/Wayland. It will default to X11 sessions, otherwise, and you'll have to select Plasma/Wayland on login each time. GDM is slower, but I found that it remembered my previous choice without having to edit anything. I'd consider this an improvement for now. But, I still look forward to refinements with X11 performance, some more firmware tweaks, etc. It is moving in the right direction, though. I'd be happy to rate it higher as future fixes/refinements come out. 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