Have you just purchased a Raspberry Pi? The editorial staff of Telecharger.com has selected six distributions to show you all that it is possible to do with this nano-computer.
Thinking of buying a Raspberry Pi? The small motherboard the size of a bank card released in 2012 and sold for around thirty euros was, at the time, reserved for hackers. It has since become widely democratized thanks to a growing community of users, but also and above all thanks to the evolution of the tools allowing to configure the nanocomputer, which have become simpler and even allowing the less knowledgeable to create their own project. from a Raspberry Pi. Since the first version of the Raspberry, many changes have been made and the nanocomputer can be used for many projects as diverse as they are varied: desktop computer, multimedia platform for TV, game console retrogaming or even a music broadcasting system.
1. Raspbian
Historically, Raspbian has been the official distribution for the Raspberry Pi and is now officially supported by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Based on Debian GNU / Linux, Raspbian natively integrates many software and uses the PIXEL desktop environment, specially optimized for the nano-computer. You will find in Raspbian everything you need to make your Raspberry a spare desktop computer, usable for low-resource tasks, such as office automation or web browsing.
The distribution includes more than 35,000 packages as a base, optimized for use with nano-computer components and installable from the APT package manager. Natively, Raspbian already includes a text editor, a web browser, a PDF reader, an image viewer, or even tools dedicated to programming. Since its last major update, Raspbian has integrated Chromium in addition to its native Epiphany web browser, allowing it to take full advantage of the hardware acceleration of the Raspberry Pi.
Download Raspbian for Raspberry Pi (Free)
2. OSMC
OSMC (for Open Source Media Center) is a distribution aiming to transform the Raspberry Pi into a media center. Based on the Kodi project, OSMC lets you access all of your multimedia content from your TV within a perfectly polished interface. Once installed and configured, OSMC is able to play music and movies stored on your computers, network hard drives, USB-connected storage devices and even streaming content on the Internet.
The main advantage of such a solution is its ability to evolve: OSMC offers the possibility of installing additional applications to allow you, for example, to set up an IPTV service (eg: TV option on PC with your operator) , to access catch-up TV, podcast and streaming services such as YouTube.
Download OSMC Installer for Windows (Free)
Download OSMC Installer for Mac (Free)
Download OSMC Installer for Linux (Free)
3. Retropie
If you bitterly regret the years of playing Amstrad, NES or Master System, Retropie should help you fill that gap. This distribution for Raspberry Pi, entirely dedicated to retrogaming, allows you to play more than fifty consoles and computers that no longer exist: Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari, Commodore, Game Boy, NES, Super Nintendo, Master System, Mega Drive, Dreamcast, PlayStation 1 or even PlayStation 2 for the most famous.
Retropie is compatible with various controllers (Super Nintendo, Xbox 360, and PS3), but it is quite possible to plug in a third-party controller and manually set the keys. And if, however, you are tired of playing, Retropie will allow you to watch your films and series in peace since the distribution also offers the Kodi media center, a function currently being installed which can be installed from the Retropie experimental menu.
Download RetroPie for Raspberry Pi (Free)
4. Pi MusicBox
Enjoying all your music sources at the same time is a dream come true thanks to your Raspberry Pi and Pi MusicBox. This distribution, entirely dedicated to music broadcasting, is capable of playing audio content from various sources: hard disks, USB keys, network storage devices, computers, smartphones and tablets connected to the same network, and even streaming platforms. Pi MusicBox connects to your Google Music, Spotify or SoundCloud accounts to stream your favorite songs.
Managed from a web interface, Pi MusicBox is compatible with AirPlay / Airtunes and DLNA / OpenHome standards and allows you to stream content from your mobile devices.
Download Pi MusicBox for Raspberry Pi (Free)
5. Flint OS
Those who wish they could try Chrome OS without having to go through the purchase of a Chromebook can turn to Flint OS, a distribution for Raspberry Pi based on the open source Chromium project. Once installed on the microSD card of your device, Flint OS allows you to enjoy a familiar interface since it resumes an operating mode similar to that of the Google Chrome web browser.
Like Chrome OS therefore, Flint OS relies on the cloud to offer a simple and fast OS. Thus, you can connect to your account via your Google profile to find all your data and documents, but also to access all Google applications such as Gmail, YouTube or even Google Docs. Note that the creators of Flint OS are currently working on support for Android applications which should appear in the next updates of the OS.
Download Flint OS for Raspberry Pi (Free)
6. LineageOS for Raspberry Pi
As surprising as it may seem, there is no official Android distribution that can be installed on a Raspberry Pi. However, independent developers have looked into the issue and offer on the web modified versions of Android ROMs that can be installed on a Raspberry. Pi. One of them developed a version of the LineageOS ROM to adapt it to an installation on the Raspberry Pi 3. Based on Android 7.1.2, this distribution which is not official is functional and among the most stable but remains to be used keeping in mind that this is still an experimental version.
Since it was made available a few months ago, its developer has already made several updates aimed at integrating the latest security patches for Android, a newer kernel, but also at improving the stability of the distribution.
Download LineageOS for Raspberry Pi (Free)