Little, Full, Buster… what version of Raspberry Pi OS do I download?

A growing number of users over time have chosen to try and use a Raspberry Pi. This is a device that can function as a secondary computer for certain tasks, or even as a main PC if we wish.

Actually, we are referring to a small board that acts as a mini PC and that offers us a wide range of possibilities. In fact, users from all over the world and over the years have been experimenting with this device of reduced size and price. Obviously to improve its functionality we must connect different hardware components depending on the use that we are going to give it. Among the most common we can find a Raspberry Pi as a file server, working as a multimedia center, as a device to offer Torrent files , or even as a retro console.

what version of Raspberry Pi OS do I download

As you can imagine, depending on the mode of operation that we opt for, we will have to install one software or another. An extremely important element here is the operating system that we opt for. In this sense, we have many options to choose from, although the most common and popular system in this small team is Raspberry Pi OS .

As its name suggests, here we find a Linux distribution specially designed to work on these devices and based on Debian. Over time it has evolved and the first 64-bit version has recently been released. But we must also keep in mind that we have several versions of this software available for download and installation on the Raspberry Pi. Now we are going to talk about them so that you can choose the most appropriate in each case and make the most of it.

Choose well the version of Raspberry Pi OS that you are going to install

First of all, we must know that we are referring to a free operating system that we can download from its official website . This will allow us to make use of this operating system on our mini PC and get the most out of it through the applications that we install later. But as we mentioned before, there are several versions that we can choose depending on the circumstances of each one or their needs.

On the one hand, we find the Lite version , which, as it is easy to imagine, is the smallest and lightest of all. In fact, it does not come with any pre-installed desktop environment and is best suited for older device models. In the same way we find the so-called Full version of Raspberry Pi OS . Contrary to the one mentioned above, here we find the complete installation of the operating system. It is worth mentioning that it includes the corresponding desktop environment, as well as a wide variety of pre-installed software .

This means that, if we have enough space on the installed storage units and we don’t want to complicate ourselves by choosing programs later, this is the most appropriate solution. Finally, we find the Buster version , specially designed to work on desktop computers . In fact, and for all this, it includes a special boot with support for EEPROM.