The default operating system for the Raspberry Pi is the 32-bit version of Raspberry Pi OS [1], formerly known as Raspbian, which was short for Rasp(berry-Pi-De)bian: The distribution is based on Debian GNU/Linux. 2022 saw the official release of a 64-bit version, but the 32-bit edition remains the standard.

Many of the other big Linux distributions have released ARM versions that run on the Rasp Pi, for example Ubuntu, openSUSE, Fedora, Manjaro, Gentoo, Arch Linux, Slackware, and Pop!_OS – some of which will only run on the Rasp Pi 4 and Rasp Pi 400. Kali Linux and Recalbox, which I mention elsewhere in this issue, are also available for the Rasp Pi. Rather than enumerating these Rasp Pi versions of everyday Linux, this article highlights some alternative distros you might not know about.

Finding Distributions

If you want to get an overview of Linux distributions for the Raspberry Pi, you can check the RPi Distributions page in the Embedded Linux Wiki [2]. However, many of the entries on that page are outdated. You can also use your favorite search engine to find distributions, or you can simply download the official Raspberry Pi Imager from the same web page that hosts Raspberry Pi OS [1]: The imager lets you download various distro images and write them to an SD card (Figure 1).

Figure 1: The official Raspberry Pi Imager downloads Raspberry Pi OS and alternative OS images.

You can also use the tool to write other images (that you've found on the web) to an SD card, and alternatively, any other tool that writes image files to SD cards and USB sticks will do fine, for example balenaEtcher [3] – these tools are basically pretty front ends for the dd command.

Most distributions resize the filesystem so that it fills the whole SD card when you run the system for the first time: That way, the images will fit on SD cards of all sizes, and you won't waste any space.

LibreELEC (KODI)

"Just enough OS for KODI" is the claim that's prominently displayed on the LibreELEC [4] homepage. KODI turns any computer into a powerful multimedia player that you can extend with various add-ons so that you can access TV station media libraries (Figure 2), tune in to live Internet radio stations, or watch videos on YouTube, DailyMotion, Twitch, and similar sites. Some of these services require an API key that you need to generate on the website and then import in the add-on.

Figure 2: LibreELEC lets you run the KODI entertainment software.

In Raspberry Pi Imager, you will find LibreELEC under Media player OS | LibreELEC; the image size is 128MB. Initially there are no video or audio sources and no add-ons; take your time to find some interesting content.

An alternative distribution with similar features is XBian [5], which follows the rolling release model, so you can frequently get software updates and don't have to wait for the next distro version.

RetroPie

Recalbox, which I described in an earlier article, lets you play old home computer and arcade games with EmulationStation. Instead of the Rasp Pi version of Recalbox, you can also try RetroPie [6] which – again – uses EmulationStation. In Raspberry Pi Imager, you will find RetroPie under Emulation and game OS | RetroPie; the compressed image size is 860MB. RetroPie lacks ROMs, so you will need to manually install game ROMs.

After booting for the first time, you can connect a joystick or controller and configure its buttons. If you don't want to map a function to a button (because your controller doesn't have it), simply keep an already taken button pressed until the configurator skips this item. (You cannot skip entries with the keyboard's cursor keys.) When you reach the line OK at the end, press whatever button you have assigned to X.

RetroPie starts a Samba server that you can use to copy game roms to the system. Mount the file share, then go to roms and the correct subfolder for your machine, for example amstradcpc for the Amstrad CPC computers.

Note that there is no Commodore C64 emulator – you need to go into the RetroPie settings and run the Update RetroPie-Setup script. Then select Manage packages | Manage optional packages | vice | Install from pre-compiled binary. (It's also possible to compile the package from the sources, but that process can take half an hour.) When the installation is done, exit out of the menu layers by pressing Escape several times.

After adding games, you need to restart EmulationStation from the main menu (Quit | Restart EmulationStation), and then the new games should show up.