When we buy a Raspberry Pi, that is, a mini PC to experiment or work with, the first thing we do is choose the operating system to install. There are several proposals that we can use here, although perhaps the most popular is Raspbian, a software based on the popular Debian distribution.
Therefore, here we find a powerful operating system adapted for these devices, but based on Debian. When we talk about this specific distro, we are referring to one of the most popular and veteran ones that have been used for years. But apart from the aforementioned Raspbian option, we can also use other alternative Linux systems. Everything will depend largely on the type of use we want to make of the Raspberry Pi.
For example, our goal may be to download torrent files , for the board to act as a storage server, or even as a retro game console . Each of these types of use has a specific operating system, or several, so that we can choose. However, at this point many may wonder if we have the possibility of installing a pure Debian on the Raspberry Pi. Well, for those who have wondered this on occasion, we will tell you that it is possible to carry out this installation. At least in the most recent versions of the board, that is to say in Raspberry Pi 3 and 4.
Of course, we must bear in mind that from the outset installing Debian on a computer is usually somewhat more complicated than the rest of the distributions. Therefore, this is something that is extended to install the distro on the aforementioned device or mini PC .
Install Debian on Raspberry Pi
For many this is a process that could be considered a challenge, so it is necessary to have some advanced knowledge of Linux. With everything and with this it is worth mentioning that it is possible to do it, despite its difficulties. Obviously, for all this that we tell you, we are going to necessarily need both the operating system as such , as well as the aforementioned board. Likewise, it is interesting that we have a memory card with a capacity of at least 16 gigabytes to avoid problems.
And is that once we have the Debian system image, we will have to flash it on the aforementioned memory card, for example, with the Raspberry Pi Imager software. As you can imagine, before flashing it, we should make a backup copy of all the data stored before the card, since we will lose them. Once we introduce it in the corresponding reader of the Raspberry Pi, we select the operating system to start the process. Perhaps one of the biggest drawbacks that we are going to find here, more than the installation itself, is the operating system configuration . Hence, as we mentioned before, it is preferable that we have some prior knowledge of Linux.
At this point, it is worth mentioning that, if we choose to install this pure Debian on a Raspberry Pi 3 , the process will be very similar. Therefore, those of you who had doubts about this installation, say that you can carry it out without any problem.
