The team behind Raspberry Pi OS has released fresh system images that give its desktop environment a noticeable refresh. The update is aimed at all single-board computer users and brings modern convenience features, while still allowing users to stick with the previous classic look if they prefer.
New Dock and Flexible App Launcher
The Raspberry Pi OS desktop environment was originally based on LXDE, but now utilizes the labwc Wayland compositor in the background. While the underlying technical foundation has been gradually modernized, the graphical interface with its rigid panel visually and functionally recalled bygone desktop eras. Developers are now addressing this with a gentle overhaul, as Heise Online reports.
The centerpiece of the update is a newly introduced icon dock. It can be placed either alongside the existing taskbar or used as a standalone interface element. Clicking the familiar raspberry icon opens a new graphical application launcher that displays installed programs as a clear full-screen or desktop overlay and includes an integrated search feature. Icons can be sorted either alphabetically or by category, and freely rearranged via drag-and-drop. Shortcuts can also be pinned directly to the dock via the context menu.
The control center provides a variety of customization options for the bar. Users can configure colors, dimensions, and screen positioning there. An auto-hide feature, keeping the dock hidden until hovered over with the mouse cursor, can now also be enabled. In addition, the clock display on the dock can be switched to an analog watch face.
Better Performance for Lower-End Hardware
Alongside the visual changes, the developers have optimized resource usage. Previously, the file manager was responsible for rendering the desktop background, running continuously in the background to do so. Disabling the “Active Desktop” option in the system settings delegates desktop background rendering to the lightweight swaybg tool instead. External drive mounting is then handled by a dedicated ejecter plugin.
This switch noticeably cuts RAM usage and is officially recommended by the developers, particularly for Raspberry Pi models with less than 2 GB of memory. Meanwhile, those who do not use their microcomputer as a desktop workstation and instead run dedicated platforms such as Home Assistant OS for the Raspberry Pi are unaffected by the desktop graphics changes.
Another improvement concerns taking screenshots: Pressing the Print Screen key no longer silently dumps image files into the Pictures folder. Instead, it opens a selection prompt allowing users to copy the capture directly to the clipboard or open it in an editor. The Alt + Print Screen shortcut also allows selecting a specific screen area beforehand.
What Users Can Do Now
The redesign is not applied automatically: All interface updates are optional and must be manually enabled by users in the system settings. Those who prefer the familiar look and feel can keep it without taking any action.
For fresh installations, the project has already made updated system images available. On existing setups, the new features can be installed via the terminal using the commands sudo apt update followed by sudo apt full-upgrade.
Quellen: Heise – News
