Raspberry Pi OS Trixie Released: Solves the Year 2038 Problem and Unveils New Control Centre
The Raspberry Pi Foundation has released a new version of its operating system — Raspberry Pi OS Trixie, based on the latest Debian 13 “Trixie” release. As always, the launch coincides with the debut of a major Debian version, with naming traditions drawn from the Toy Story universe. This time, the system is named after Trixie, the blue plastic triceratops from the third film in the series.
The most significant technical advancement is the transition to 64-bit time representation, effectively resolving the so-called “Year 2038 problem.” Previously, Linux stored the time counter in a 32-bit format, which was set to overflow on January 19, 2038 — a glitch that could have caused widespread malfunctions. Now, the overflow has been postponed to an almost inconceivable 292 billion years into the future.
Visually, users will immediately notice the redesigned interface. The system introduces a refreshed icon set, a new Nunito Sans Light typeface replacing Piboto, and a collection of wallpapers captured by Raspberry Pi Foundation photographer Greg Annandale. By default, the desktop features a serene image of sunrise over the Drakensberg Mountains in Lesotho.
One of the key new features is the Control Centre — a unified application that consolidates previously separate utilities for managing appearance, displays, printers, mouse, and keyboard settings. The interface is built on a modular plugin framework, allowing for the addition of new tabs and even third-party extensions in the future.
The built-in Bookshelf app, used to access Raspberry Pi Press publications, has also been revamped. The latest issues of magazines and books now appear with a lock icon: they become freely available to all users after a few months, while subscribers can access them instantly via the “Contribute” button.
The packaging system has undergone major restructuring as well. Software is now distributed through metapackages, offering greater flexibility for building custom versions of the distribution. For example, installing rpd-wayland-core or rpd-x-core on top of a “Lite” image deploys a full desktop environment, which can then be expanded with themes, the Control Centre, and additional applications. Conversely, this modular approach also simplifies the process of stripping a full installation down to a minimalist build.
Developers caution that in-place upgrades from the previous Bookworm release are not officially supported and may cause unpredictable errors. It is strongly recommended to flash a clean Trixie image using Raspberry Pi Imager or download the ISO from the official website.
Owners of Raspberry Pi 5, 500, and 500+ devices have an additional option: if the device is connected via Ethernet, the system can be reflashed directly from the built-in Imager bootloader by holding the Shift key during startup.
Some packages remain temporarily unavailable — including those for Raspberry Pi AI HAT+, AI Kit, TV HAT, and Wolfram Mathematica. Users relying on these components are advised to remain on the previous Bookworm release until full support is restored.
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