Minister of State for Universities and Science, David Willetts, holds a 'raspberry pi' computer as he delivers his speech in the main hall on the second day of the Conservative Party Conference on September 30, 2013 in Manchester, England. (Photo : Getty Images/ Oli Scarff)
The Raspberry Pi Foundation has just released an early prototype of the Raspberry Pi Pixel operating system for both Mac and Windows PC. This means users can now run the OS natively on a laptop or desktop without having to own the Raspberry Pi hardware.
"If we like Pixel so much, why ask people to buy Raspberry Pi hardware in order to run it?" Raspberry Pi founder Eben Upton explained on the official blog site. "There is a massive installed base of PC and Mac hardware out there, which can run x86 Debian just fine."
Pixel stands for Pi Improved Xwindows Environment, Lightweight and is a Linux desktop experience based primarily on the Debian Linux system. The OS first became available back in September when it launched for Raspberry Pi devices such as the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B.
According to Windows Report, the downloadable OS features several free features such as its own browser, office suite and programming tools but it does not come with "Minecraft" and "Wolfram Mathematica." The two programs are only licensed to be packaged with the Pi hardware.
The main benefit of the Pi Pixel desktop operating system is that it can run on older hardware with low specs. The minimum requirements include 512 MB RAM and the computer's BIOS should be reconfigured to boot from a chosen source such as a USB flash drive or DVD.
It is noted that newer Macs may experience issues in booting the operating system. The Foundation is reportedly working to fix the bug. The OS can also be run in "persistent mode" in which all work accomplished between sessions will be saved. This allows users to seamlessly switch between the Pixel OS and a primary OS like Windows 10 or OS X.
The version of Pi Pixel currently available is still an early prototype, indicating issues and bugs are expected to arise during use. The Raspberry Pi Foundation has not yet announced when a final version of the desktop OS will become available.
An overview of the Pi Pixel desktop experience can be viewed below:
