Raspberry Pi OS 64-Bit Arrives with Improved Performance and App Compatibility
Raspberry Pi users have long relied on the 32-bit version of the Raspberry Pi operating system, formerly known as Raspbian. Now Raspberry Pi, the company behind the low-cost single-board computers, has announced the release of the 64-bit version of Raspberry Pi OS. It brings better app compatibility and performance improvements for Raspberry Pi models.
Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit announced
Raspberry Pi announced the 64-bit version of the Raspberry Pi OS via an official blog post. The company stated that it has been testing the beta version of the operating system for the past year and it is now available to a wider audience.
The move to the 64-bit operating system means that users can now run more applications with compatible Raspberry Pi cards. In addition, applications and services on the device able to access larger amounts of RAM on high-end Raspberry Pi units like the Raspberry Pi 4 that comes with 8GB RAM. In addition, users can see significant performance improvements.
In the official blog post, Gordon Hollingworth, the Director of Software Engineering at Raspberry Pi said: “We have continued to build our Raspberry Pi OS releases on the 32-bit Raspbian platform, with the goal of maximizing. But we’ve come to realize that there are reasons to prefer a 64-bit OS over a 32-bit OS. Compatibility is a major concern: many closed-source applications are only available for arm64, and open-source applications are not fully optimized for the armhf port. compatibility between devices and to avoid customer confusion.“
Furthermore, using 32-bit Raspberry Pi OS has been found to be one more “theoretical care” because it only allowed support for 4 GB of memory. The company uses the ARM Large Physical Address Extension (LPAE) to access 8 GB of memory.
Now it’s worth noting that the 64-bit Chromium, which is installed by default with the new Raspberry Pi platform, does not currently support Widevine DRM. This means that websites or services that require DRM, such as Netflix or Disney+ Hotstar, do not work on the 64-bit version of the operating system.
Moreover, you need a compatible Raspberry Pi board to run the 64-bit Raspberry Pi operating system. While units like the Raspberry Pi Zero 2, Pi 3, and Pi 4 support the 64-bit platform, the Pi 2, Pi 1, and the original Pi Zero with older chipsets do not support the updated OS. In addition, the 64-bit will not be automatic for users who are currently running the 32-bit Raspberry Pi operating system.
So, if you have a compatible Raspberry Pi board and want to try out the new 64-bit platform, head over to the download page to create a bootable USB or SD card. Also, let us know your thoughts on the new 64-bit Raspberry Pi OS in the comments below. Also, while you’re here, check out a few cool raspberry pi projects or learn the basics of setting up a Raspberry Pi using the linked manuals.
