Linux in The News Oct 2, 2023

Last Updated on October 2, 2023 by KC7NYR

Raspberry Pi 5 Announced for End of October, Here Are the Specs

Raspberry Pi 5 is priced at $60 for the 4GB variant and $80 for the 8GB model.
Raspberry Pi 5

The Raspberry Pi Foundation announced today the launch of the highly anticipated Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer, which will be available for purchase at the end of October 2023.

Raspberry Pi 5 is powered by a Broadcom BCM2712 2.4GHz Quad-Core 64-bit ARM Cortex-A76 CPU with 512KB per-core L2 caches and a 2MB shared L3 cache, and a VideoCore VII GPU capable of supporting OpenGL ES 3.1 and Vulkan 1.2 graphics technologies. The device also comes with dual 4Kp60 HDMI display output and a 4Kp60 HEVC decoder.

Connectivity-wise, Raspberry Pi 5 comes with dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0 LE, two USB 3.0 ports supporting simultaneous 5Gbps operation, two USB 2.0 ports, as well as a Gigabit Ethernet port with PoE+ support, which requires a separate PoE+ HAT that will be available shortly after the SBC’s release.

In addition, the single-board computer features a high-speed microSD card interface with SDR104 mode support, two 4-lane MIPI camera/display transceivers, a PCIe 2.0 x1 interface for fast peripherals, a Raspberry Pi-standard 40-pin GPIO header, real-time clock, and a power button.

“Virtually every aspect of the platform has been upgraded, delivering a no-compromises user experience,” said Eben Upton, Raspberry Pi Foundation CEO. “Raspberry Pi 5 comes with new features, it’s over twice as fast as its predecessor, and it’s the first Raspberry Pi computer to feature silicon designed in‑house here in Cambridge, UK.”

Regarding RAM, Raspberry Pi 5 will be available in two variants only with 4GB and 8GB respectively. While the 4GB model is priced at $60 USD, the 8GB variant will cost $80 USD. The SBC is available for pre-order starting today from approved reseller partners and it’s expected to ship at the end of October.

For more technical details about the new Raspberry Pi board, check out the announcement page and watch the video below to see it in action. Rest assured that we will get a Raspberry Pi 5 SBC as soon as it will be available for purchase and make a proper review.

With the launch of Raspberry Pi at the end of October, I also hope to see a new major Raspberry Pi OS release based on the latest Debian GNU/Linux 12 “Bookworm” operating system series.

LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) 6 “Faye” Is Now Available for Download

This release is based on the Debian GNU/Linux 12 “Bookworm” operating system series.
LMDE 6

The wait is over! LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition) 6 is now available for download for those who take their Linux Mint flavor with a Debian base instead of Ubuntu.

Dubbed “Faye”, LMDE 6 is based on the Debian GNU/Linux 12 “Bookworm” operating system series and it’s powered by the long-term supported Linux 6.1 LTS kernel series. It comes in only one flavor with the latest and greatest Cinnamon 5.8 desktop environment.

Apart from the Debian base and the newer kernel, Linux Mint Debian Edition 6 comes with all the changes of the Linux Mint 21.2 “Victoria” release, including improved support for Flatpak apps, a global Dark Mode setting to support GTK4/libadwaita apps, and updated in-house software like Xreader, Pix, and Software Manager with various new features.

Other new features of the Cinnamon flavor include new folder icons with support for different color variants, improved consistency of tooltips to look the same across different apps and desktops, support for symbolic icons that adapt to their background, as well as full support for HEIF and AVIF images.

Some noteworthy changes in LMDE 6 compared to the Ubuntu-based Linux Mint 21.2 variant include PipeWire as the default audio backend, PAE support in the 32-bit ISO image to guarantee compatibility with non-PAE processors, and root account locked by default.

The in-house built Xreader document viewer app received proper support for Adobe Illustrator documents, the Pix image viewer app now uses the gThumb 3.12.2 image viewer as its base, and the Software Manager app comes with a refreshed UI, better scoring/sorting algorithms, and a tuned package list.

Linux Mint Debian Edition 6 is available for download right now from various of the official Linux Mint mirrors around the world. However, it hasn’t been officially announced yet so all the mirrors get synced with the main server, which usually happens in the next 24 to 48 hours.