GROUP TEST RASPBERRY PI DISTROS RASPBERRY PI DISTROS GROUP TEST Graham Morrison burns a hole in his SD card after installing every raspberry flavoured distro he can get his hands on. On Test Raspberry Pi distros he Raspberry Pi needs no install the media software you need Raspbian introduction. It’s a credit onto a new installation, or use a URL www.raspbian.org Tcard sized Linux computer distro created for a single purpose? VERSION 20/06/2014 that can be used for everything We’ve looked at the six different LICENCE Mostly GPL from brewing beer to playing arcade distributions you can install through Most consider this the official operating games. And it’s usually found the Noobs installer, which means system of the Pi, and the one to beat. running its default Raspbian you can avoid the dd roulette of distribution. But this being Linux, copying a distribution image across Pidora Raspbian isn’t the only fruit for your from your Linux machine and onto URL http://pidora.ca Pi. And because your Pi is the SD card. It’s also important to VERSION 20 supposed to be played with, remember that these distributions LICENCE Open source subverted, coerced and aren’t really competing directly Love the Pi? Love Fedora? See what occasionally broken, you owe it to against one another. Two are they’ve done here with the name? yourself to try something else. designed specifically for media Not only will a different playback, for example, which is why OpenElec distribution give you a different we pit them against one another, perspective on such familiar and while RISC OS is fun to use, URL http://openelec.tv hardware, you may well find a it’s not a realistic replacement for VERSION 4.07 LICENCE GPLv2 different distribution suits your something like Raspbian. An ultra-minimal distro built from the requirements better than the We should give the same caveat kernel up to play your media. default options, or learn something for the table of statistics we present about what you need or don’t need. at the end. A value like free memory Raspbian is a great all-rounder, can be pernicious because the OSMC/Raspbmc for example, but how does it kernel uses memory in strange and URL www.raspbmc.com perform if you require only a dynamic ways, and in the case of VERSION June 2014 minimal installation, or you want the distributions running XBMC, the LICENCE Open Source your Pi to stick to the back of your amount of free memory fluctuated Unlike OpenElec, this is a media distro television and be used purely for from one second to another paired down from Debian. media playback? Is it better to without us performing any actions. RISC OS URL https://www.riscosopen.org “Raspbian is a great all-rounder, but what VERSION RC12a LICENCE Non Open Source if you require only a minimal installation?” An ARM operating system from the 1990s can’t still be any good can it? HARDWARE For our testing, we used an old more than one thing at the same time Arch Linux Raspberry Pi model B with a 4GB class 4 (this has improved with the B+). We left URL http://archlinuxarm.org SD card connected to wired networking the amount of RAM assigned to the GPU rather than using a wireless dongle. As at its default value and didn’t overclock VERSION June 2014 ever, the most important hardware any installation other than with LICENCE Open Source requirement is a decent powered USB OpenELEC and Raspbmc, but this is This is the same Arch you know and hub, as the early models are renowned something you should look into if you’re love, only built for ARM. for their lack of USB power while doing using your Pi as a regular desktop. 56 www.linuxvoice.com RASPBERRY PI DISTROS GROUP TEST Installing distros Don’t take any risks with dd – Noobs packages all the distros in into an easy to use installer. any users will simply copy the valuable data. A better alternative is the booting your Pi with it after safely raw image of their downloaded Noobs installer. This can be either a 20MB unmounting the device. When the Pi boots, Mdistribution using the dd network install download, or 1.5GB file that you’ll see menu pop up inviting you to install command or one of its GUI equivalents. But doesn’t require network access. When either all the distros on test here plus a tool to add this is potentially dangerous, as it requires is downloaded, installation is as simple as a 512MB data partition. Depending on you to enter the device ID of your SD card. copying the contents of the unarchived Zip space, you’ll also be able to install more than Get this wrong, and you may overwrite folder into the root of your SD card and one at the same time! Raspbian Ra Ra Raspbian, the Foundation’s greatest tech machine. his is the distribution to beat. Raspbian is the distro recommended Tby the Raspberry Pi Foundation. It’s the distribution used by nearly all tutorials and much of the official documentation. It’s a distribution that’s funded by the Foundation and it’s the first to take advantage of much of its investment. There are Wayland and Weston patches funded and built specifically for the Raspberry Pi, for example, that came to Raspbian first. It’s also the only distribution that will work perfectly with the Foundation’s expansions and peripherals from day one. And it’s probably got the best name. When combined Raspian’s Debian foundations and its huge software repository, it’s almost The desktop is packed with dozens of points from which you can launch your Pi Adventure. unbeatable. We say almost because there are still four pages to go. packages from the very first boot, and the Both are incredibly powerful, but the former This experience starts with its ease of pre-installed build environment, making this runs its loading off a Sinclair ZX Microdrive, configuration, although we spare a thought a perfect distribution for just getting on with so we’re not quite sure how useful it’s going for those new to Linux. The grey, blue and what you want to do. to be. Far more successful is the Pi edition black of the Curses configuration tool has all The Raspberry Pi’s limited performance of Minecraft, which need to be installed the charm of a 1993 MS-DOS game’s audio and memory does restrict the desktop, manually but runs perfectly and will help the configuration panel, untouched by the making Raspbian’s default LXDE a perfect Pi win teenage kudos whenever it’s installed. touchscreen revolution. But it is functional choice. It’s quick, functional and low on We experienced an update hitch with the and fast. From this simple menu, you can resources. The default configuration looks a 233MB wolfram-engine package stalling at expand the filesystem to use your entire SD little like Windows 98 running with a dark 98%. The only options are to remove the Card, overclock the hardware, enable the theme, but at least it’s a nine-year advance package beforehand or remove it from the camera module and tell Raspbian you want on the MS-DOS configuration panel, and update (aptitude hold wolfram-engine), and the desktop booted by default. LXDE does everything you need. The we wonder why things like Qjackctl are desktop is littered with links to great starting included when there’s no instantly workable startx points, such as a Python games launcher or Jack configuration, but these are both tiny Postponing this choice, rather than booting the Scratch launcher – perfect for classes blemishes on an excellent Linux distribution. to the desktop first, is a particularly good and tutorials, although we missed a more idea, as many Pi users are going to want to obvious link to package installation. There’s VERDICT stick with the command line, and if not, the also some proprietary software in the shape Some weird proprietary choices, but an unrivalled desktop is only an option away. So too is the of Pi versions of Mathematica 10 and its foundation for all other Pi SSH server that’s already running, meaning associated Wolfram language (see our experimentation you can remotely configure and install review of the £195 latest release in LV007). www.linuxvoice.com 57 GROUP TEST RASPBERRY PI DISTROS Pidora The closest you’ll get to a full distro experience on your Pi. edora is the cutting-edge RPM boot to a graphical desktop. This all based distribution that’s a direct means your passwords and accounts Fdescendant to the old Red Hat are unique from the first boot, unlike releases, and it’s brilliant to see a nearly every other Pi distro, which is version that’s been built for the good for the SSH server that’s already Raspberry Pi. Like Debian, its creators running. We also liked the way you’re It’s a great desktop, but it’s slow. The white square in the are fortunate in that the root asked about overscan, as most of us middle of the screen is the frame update lag when we ran distribution is available for many connecting the Pi to a monitor don’t the screenshot utility. different platforms and has been have to worry about this (and Raspbian around long enough that the diminutive defaults to overscan being enabled). well for the all the regular desktop ARM chip of the Pi shouldn’t pose too As a desktop distro, Pidora looks applications that have been installed much of a challenge.