In this issue of the original Raspberry Pi series, I will introduce my experience of using the Raspberry Pi as a desktop. Although it has been a long time, one must have a good experience to have some insights.

I currently use the Raspberry Pi as a desktop to complete some basic entertainment learning tasks. As for office work, if it is simple, it can still cope, but for tasks that heavily rely on IE portals and Office suites, it is recommended not to “force it”, after all, in business, efficiency is a priority, and there is no need to hang on the tree of Linux. This refers to all Linux desktops, not just the Raspberry Pi.

1. System Installation

Since the previous series has already introduced system installation, this section will only provide an introduction to system installation for Raspberry Pi desktop use.

For Raspberry Pi desktop use, it is recommended to download Raspberry Pi OS from the official website, and it is Raspberry Pi OS with desktop and recommended software the latest version. The latest version has better system optimization support, such as significant performance improvements in online video playback with Chromium, VLC playback of H.265 encoding, etc.

For the system SD card, it is recommended to start from 32GB, as 16GB may not leave much space after installation, considering daily use, it is better to have a slightly larger size. After all, this version of the image contains many recommended software, which takes up a lot of space.

System Installation

2. Desktop Configuration

After the system installation, it automatically enters the desktop by default. First, configure the system apt update source, I set to use Aliyun source.

deb http://mirrors.aliyun.com/raspbian/raspbian/ buster main contrib non-free rpi
deb-src http://mirrors.aliyun.com/raspbian/raspbian/ buster main contrib non-free rpi
#deb http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/ buster main contrib non-free rpi
# Uncomment line below then 'apt-get update' to enable 'apt-get source'
#deb-src http://raspbian.raspberrypi.org/raspbian/ buster main contrib non-free rpi

Through “Menu > Preferences > Raspberry Pi Configuration”, configure the system settings for the Raspberry Pi, similar to the command line function sudo raspi-config.

System Configuration

Through “Menu > Preferences > Appearance Settings”, configure the appearance of the Raspberry Pi desktop, such as the desktop… (It cannot be denied that even a very simple desktop can look great with a nice wallpaper, enhancing the overall impression).

Appearance Configuration

Personal Raspberry Pi Desktop

3. Software Installation

This section mainly introduces the installation of essential software for the desktop. First, you need a Chinese input method. Otherwise, you are still typing letters…

Chinese Input Method

For Ubuntu and other Linux systems based on i386, x86_x64, amd64 architecture, it is recommended to go to the Sogou official website, refer to the installation tutorial, and directly install the corresponding version of Sogou input method. No need to mess around, it works just as well as on Win platforms, or even better, because there are no ad pop-ups prompting you to install Sogou browser on Linux. (Although Baidu input method also has a corresponding Linux version, but Baidu… you know.)

There are some special circumstances, because although the Raspberry Pi’s Linux system is also based on Debian, it is arm architecture, and the above input methods do not provide corresponding installation packages. Previously, I used those commonly recommended online. This section only lists references, do not rush to install (after all, I have also taken some detours, just to let everyone see).

1) Based on the Fcitx input method framework, Google Pinyin input method can be installed by entering the following command in the command line. Installation command:

sudo apt-get install fcitx fcitx-googlepinyin fcitx-module-cloudpinyin fcitx-sunpinyin

2) SCIM supports multilingual input methods, with default support for English keyboard, intelligent Pinyin, Wubi input, natural code, and Erbi, etc. Installation command:

sudo apt-get install scim-pinyin

3) Ibus input method is a new input method framework developed based on Python, supporting multiple languages. Installation command:

sudo apt-get install ibus ibus-pinyin

The above are the input methods commonly installed for Raspberry Pi. I chose the Google Pinyin input method, which is relatively acceptable, but it is not unusable.

However, in this situation, it feels like returning to the era of smart ABC input method, where every sentence requires word selection, resulting in a very low input experience and efficiency, which seriously affects my writing mood. Is there really no input method that supports arm architecture…?

There is indeed one, although it is quite powerful and has a group of supporters, it is still a bit niche, and that is — Rime Input Method (https://rime.im/).

Rime Input Method

Installing it on Raspberry Pi is also very simple, just need to sudo apt install fcitx-rime. A gentle reminder, the input method defaults to traditional characters, and you can switch the input method scheme (Mingyue Pinyin Simplified Characters) by pressing the F4 key.

This open-source input method (input method engine) can theoretically realize all your ideas about input methods. Although its accuracy in Pinyin input cannot surpass cloud input methods like Sogou, it is already much better than the above-mentioned input methods. Finally, you can immerse yourself in the joy of inputting. If you are interested, you can install the corresponding input method version on Win/Mac platforms — Xiao Langhao, Shuxuguan.

PS. The input method is really a pain point. If there is no suitable Chinese input method, there is no need to talk about further usage.

Music Playback Software

As a desktop user, one cannot be without music playback. Of course, you can choose the web version of various music software like NetEase Cloud Music. However, all my music is in NetEase Cloud Music, and I still look forward to the recommended playlists every day, as the recommendation algorithm is really tailored to my taste.

However, we face a problem similar to the input method. NetEase Cloud Music is quite conscientious, providing an installation version for Linux (only a 64-bit version, 32-bit systems are left crying in the bathroom), but it does not cater to Raspberry Pi as much.

NetEase Cloud Music Linux Version

Here, I provide a solution for NetEase Cloud Music — Command Line NetEase Cloud Music (https://github.com/darknessomi/musicbox).

Refer to the tutorial, it is recommended to install via PyPi:

pip3 install NetEase-MusicBox

Necessary dependencies need to be installed:

sudo apt install mpg123 python-fuzzywuzzy

To update the version, use:

pip3 install -U NetEase-MusicBox

Follow the tutorial to log in to your account, of course, there are some shortcuts to look out for in the command line. But such a command line NetEase Cloud Music also displays lyrics, what more can you ask for…

Command Line NetEase Cloud Music-1

Command Line NetEase Cloud Music-2

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4. Summary

The Raspberry Pi desktop experience is mainly introduced here. Currently, I can use the Raspberry Pi to update public account articles (the recent issues have all been published using the Raspberry Pi), so it seems that the usage is quite good, and it has certain productivity. I will continue to share in the future~~