Raspberry Pi has made a long-awaited comeback, potentially giving your old laptops a second life.After a wait of almost four years, Raspberry Pi has finally updated its Debian-based operating system for PCs and Macs.According to an official announcement on October 6, 2026, the new release is based on Debian 13 “Trixie,” runs on 64-bit(x86) architecture, includes a Raspberry Pi Connect client, and is available to download now.
Why did it take so long? No financial gains from the product At the start, this was a weekend side project for engineer Simon Long to see if Raspberry Pi’s custom OS could run on his Mac.Surprisingly, it worked, and the first installable version was released in 2017.Close But there was a catch, as Raspberry Pi’s source of revenue is from hardware, not software.
It was difficult to maintain the Debian-based operating system (build updates and releases) because the team had other priorities.The last release was based on Debian Bullseye, and it stayed around even though newer Debian versions were released.According to the team, “people kept on asking for it (new release) – we get two or three emails every week asking when the PC Desktop will be updated, and we haven’t had an answer, because we honestly didn’t know when we might get a chance to do it.” There are some interesting updates New release brings major internal and external changes In the latest version, the company has completely removed 32-bit architecture support and shifted to 64-bit Debian using the amd64 architecture.
The company believes most PCs from the last 15 years are capable of running the new version, along with Intel-based Macs.Related How to turn your Raspberry Pi into an Android TV box Android TVs are great, but have you ever wanted to build your own? Posts By Derrik Diener However, there is a catch: Debian support for Apple Silicon is still in beta, so some of the latest models will not be able to run the OS.Also, people previously using the 32-bit version can’t upgrade and need to replace it completely.
The new OS uses Wayland graphics display protocols instead of "lxpanel", bringing updated dock controls and an integrated control center, along with a Raspberry Pi Connect client for screen sharing and remote terminal access.PCs just need a custom device name during setup.How to install it? Users can also try without installing Download the live .iso file from the official Raspberry Pi website.
Flash it to a USB drive using a tool like Raspberry Pi Imager.Boot your device with the USB and select “Run with persistence” to save the changes (or) To install permanently, launch the Calamares installer from the desktop shortcut or the System Tools menu.There is a mixed reaction from the community, with many users welcoming the long return, while others are still concerned whether this update was another one-off effort, to which Simon said that the intention is to continue to support and release it if people actually download and use it.
Source: Raspberry Pi
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