The Raspberry Pi Foundation recently unveiled the new "Pi Improved Xwindows Environment, Lightweight" or simply Pixel, a new desktop environment for the Raspbian OS, the Linux Distro, specifically designed for the Raspberry Pi mini-computer.

With the new Pixel interface, the old and cryptic scrolling start-up messages are gone and replaced by a minimalist splash screen showing the Raspberry logo. The Pi-logo on the old interface was also removed, and in its place is a choice of 16 new photographs captured by Foundation co-founder Greg Annandale.

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The old, simple icons are now replaced by a menu which Raspberry itself describes as, "businesslike enough to be appropriate for those people who use the Pi desktop for serious work, but with just a touch of playfulness."

The new Pixel interface also sports a completely overhauled window frame and the login dialog box which now has a sleeker and more modern look.

According to PC World, aside from aesthetics, the new Pixel Raspbian image also includes a handful of new upgrades and features. The latest version of the distro now includes RealVNC server, as well as a desktop version of the Sense HAT emulator.

The new Raspbian OS ditches that old Epiphany browser and replaces it with the Chromium, which is now the operating system's default web browser.

The Chromium web browser comes preloaded with the uBlock Origin ad-blocker, this is to make sure that advertisements will not gobble up precious hardware resources of the Raspberry Pi. Moreover, the new Raspbian Chromium uses the h264ify extension, a feature that forces YouTube to deliver video formats that can be accelerated using the Raspberry Pi's hardware.

TagsPixel, raspberry, raspberry pi, raspbian, raspberry distro, linux