Raspberry Pi OS gets an update: Here’s what’s new

The most recent replace to the Raspberry Pi OS brings a bunch of latest desktop enhancements that enhance text-based search, community administration, and entry to the Pi’s digital camera system.      

Raspberry Pi OS additionally features a brand new text-based search field for locating apps like File Supervisor, the OS Imager, and Picture Viewer. It may be accessed by urgent the Raspberry key on the keyboard or the Home windows key on different keyboards. The prevailing menu stays in place. 

There’s additionally now an audio icon for output and one other icon for enter. Additionally, a microphone icon will seem after a USB or Bluetooth audio machine is linked.   

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New shortcuts embrace Ctrl-Alt-B for opening the Bluetooth menu, and Ctrl-Alt-W for opening the Wi-Fi menu. 

This launch contains the NetworkManager software program, common in different Linux distributions for Wi-Fi community administration. Till now, Pi OS used dhcpcd to handle connections to Wi-Fi networks. NetworkManager is another choice that customers have to allow over the default dhcpcd. Nonetheless, it’s going to turn out to be the default in future. Connections don’t routinely carry over between the 2 techniques. Customers additionally have to reconfigure any community customizations.  

“Why swap? Primarily as a result of NetworkManager provides a bunch of additional options which you will discover helpful. It means that you can simply hook up with wi-fi networks with hidden SSIDs. It makes managing VPN connections extra simple. And it means that you can simply configure a Raspberry Pi as a Wi-Fi entry level,” explains Raspberry Pi’s Simon Lengthy. 

The brand new picture is offered for obtain from the Raspberry Pi’s downloads web page and may also be flashed straight to an SD card utilizing Raspberry Pi Imager.

The in-house developed and open-source Python Picamera2 digital camera interface now ships with the OS. The library relies on the present libcamera framework, however is simpler to make use of. It replaces the previous Picamera library that was deprecated within the Debian Bullseye launch of Pi OS.

Raspberry Pi engineer David Plowman explains that the Pi OS platform, on this case, is shifting away from Broadcom’s proprietary and closed digital camera APIs. Raspberry Pi units, which run on Broadcom silicon, ship with a binary blob containing its proprietary code, which has annoyed some open-source followers.

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It is a beta launch of Picamera2 that builders can use with AI frameworks, akin to Tensorflow for picture evaluation and detection. 

Picamera2 is put in with dependencies Qt and OpenGL. Nonetheless these dependencies aren’t put in with Raspberry Pi OS Lite for lower-powered units as they battle with X Home windows-based purposes.

Past video encoding and recording and drawing overlays, key options in accordance with Raspberry Pi embrace: 

• A command-driven paradigm, which implies you possibly can sort Picamera2 instructions straight right into a Python interpreter, or into your Python scripts
• Preview home windows that use OpenGL acceleration for hardware-assisted rendering or DRM/KMS for environment friendly rendering when X Home windows just isn’t working
• Extra assist for embedding ready-made Picamera2 widgets into Qt purposes
• Native use of numpy, “making it very pure to make use of with OpenCV, TensorFlow and different Python libraries”.

All of the supply code is offered on the Picamera2 GitHub web page, or as a part of the libcamera mission.