∃Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi is a family of single-board computers. They utilize ARM-based processors by Broadcom.

Operating Systems

There is an official Raspberry Pi OS, which is basically Debian, but made for Pi. It works quite well, and now it even offers 64-bit versions. There are three variations: Full, Regular, and Lite. Full has many extra apps, Regular has the basic packages + a desktop environment, Lite is console-only. With Raspberry Pi Imager one can also preset a lot of config options, which is very useful for headless installations.

I have had mixed luck using OSes that aren't Debian-based. Going for a lightweight solution, I have tried both Alpine Linux and Arch Linux. I was dissatisfied with both: everything felt slow and unstable. I guess it has something to do with Pi-specific binary blobs, which AFAIK were compiled for Debian only.

DietPi, while being taylored specifically for the Pi, also wasn't good. I also disliked the console setup process and felt locked-in.

I've given YunoHost a shot and so far it's incredible. It's the fastest OS for Pi that I've ever used. No idea how they manage it.

Models

As of 2022-08-17:

Pi

  • Model B was the first ever Raspberry Pi. It came out in 2013.

  • Model A came after Model B (sic!) and was cheaper.

  • B+ and A+ came out next year. A+ had a nice square body and had 512 RAM, just like B and B+.

  • 2B came out 2015. 2nd generation only had the B form-factor. It had 1 GB RAM for the first time

  • 3B came out in 2016 and only featured a newer CPU.

  • 3B+ and 3A+ followed in 2018. 3B+ featured Gigabit Ethernet

    • sona runs on a Model 3B+

  • 4B came out 2019. For the first time it had multiple RAM versions to choose from: 1, 2, and 4 GB, since 2020 also 8 GB.

Pi Zero

Pi Zero are smaller and less capable boards.

  • Zero came out in 2015 alongside 2B. It had no Internet capabilities and a weaker CPU.

  • Zero W came out in 2017 and featured Wi-Fi connectivity

  • Zero 2W came out in 2021 and featured a new custom Raspberry Pi SiP

Pi Pico

Pi Pico are single-chip boards similar to Arduino.

  • Pico released in 2021 with 264 KB of RAM and 2 MB of flash

  • Pico W came out in 2022 and featured Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity

Clones

TODO: write about Raspberry Pi clones: Orange, Banana, etc.