Today just a month ago it became official the launch of Raspberry PiOS based on Bullseye. At that time, the company eliminated the ability to download the one that was based on Buster, and also began to focus squarely on advancing the newer one, the one that is based on Debian 11. Earlier this month, the company out there behind the most popular single plate ad that he was going to make changes in this regard.
Gordon Hollington did it, and he started by saying that for 9 years have been supporting only one version from Raspberry Pi OS. This can be a problem for those who don't want to go up to the most up-to-date branch, and it may also not be perfect if you upgrade from the old to the newer. This is due to the new versions of libraries and interfaces. So they have decided to take action.
Raspberry Pi OS normal and Legacy
The normal version, that is, the most up-to-date version that is based on Debian 11, will continue as it has been until now: all the news and packages that come out will be updated as they always have. The Legacy will follow this development model:
- Based on Buster, now Debian "oldstable".
- The hardware-accelerated Chromium will be removed and replaced with the more up-to-date browser.
- Linux 5.10. And will only receive security patches.
- The Raspberry Pi firmware will only receive security and hardware patches for existing products.
In short, the company has decided to increase the time they will be supported Raspberry Pi OS versions, which will go from the two-year difference between versions to the four that will be when two newer versions are released. Furthermore, in its download page You can get both, right now those based on Bullseye (normal) and Buster (Legacy).
In my opinion, that this decision has been made now makes a lot of sense, since in the latest version by Raspberry Pi OS many changes have been made and there may be users who are more comfortable on the older version of "Raspbian". In any case, two versions will now be supported, and considering you can afford it, this is good news.