It was perhaps the most notable news of last week. Although management said it was unlikely to arrive so soon, this october we can acquire and start enjoying a Raspberry Pi 5 much more powerful that at the same time will be more efficient and will not heat up as much as its predecessor. As with 2019, it will arrive with an updated version of Raspberry Pi OS, but that will not be the only operating system that we can use from the beginning.
Canonical was one of the few that knew for sure that the Raspberry Pi 5 was on the way, to the point that they had access to it before its launch. So they have had more than enough time to prepare their image, and Ubuntu 23.10 will support the RPi5 from day one. Whether it is worth it or not is what we are going to try to explain right now.
Is Ubuntu on the Raspberry Pi 5 worth it?
In past testing of desktop operating systems for RPi4, first impressions were poor. It seemed like everything was going very slow, not being the best option if you wanted to use the small board as a desktop computer. Later I found out that it was my fault, or the microSD cards I used to use.
Some time later, because I bought a USB 3.2 that performed much better, I tried Ubuntu installed on it and everything changed. Yes, it can be used, and Ubuntu and any other distribution with a version adapted for the Raspberry Pi performs well. And I'm talking to you about 4B; The Raspberry Pi 5 is much more powerful, and with this we already have part of the answer clear.
There is only one other point to take into account when deciding whether it is worth it or not, and that is architecture. On a desktop computer (x86_64), we can go to any page whose software is in AppImage and it will work, since these are designed primarily to work on that architecture. The same with most DEB packages, RPM and even many, if not almost all/all, flatpaks and snaps.
We may encounter problems if we want to use software like Widevine to view or listen to protected content, although there is always the possibility of using the package for Chromium. For other things, we simply won't be able to unless we modify it on our own or find something that any developer wanted to prepare for the famous raspberry boards.
Raspberry Pi OS, the official alternative
Although it has nothing to do with what motivates this article, we cannot stop talking about Raspberry PiOS as one of the suits that best fit the Raspberry Pi. TO They will release the version based on Debian 12 in mid-October, and it is in the official operating system where we have seen the first patches to solve compatibility problems. For example, support for Widevine came in the form of a "direct" patch in Raspberry Pi OS, which made it possible to stop doing the Chromium trick.
There are other things, and I am biting my tongue not to say what because it is not legal, that simply work on "Raspberry Pi", and they do so in the main version, which is the 32-bit one.
But for everything else, Ubuntu Yes, it can be used as a desktop computer. on the Raspberry Pi 5. It will work reliably, you can install Visual Studio Code, Kodi, play protected content in one way or another, and enjoy all the latest news than those used by a Raspberry Pi OS that is based on Debian and his conservative philosophy.
Available October 12…
…or a few days later. Ubuntu 23.10 Mantic Minotaur will officially arrive next Thursday October 12, and along with it the rest of the official flavors will follow. Those who offer a version for Raspberry Pi should launch it the same day, although nothing would happen if the one for the Pi 5 was delayed a few days because it will go on sale at the end of this month (already appears as out of stock in some stores).