Update: PiMix has been discontinued since October 2021 due to very few downloads, and the release of Ubuntu 22.04. The Ubuntu Gnome desktop on 22.04 runs well on Pi 4 without any lag, and it is no longer necessary to use a lightweight desktop like Xfce.
Please try the official Ubuntu desktop if you need an alternative.
PiMix 21.10 is now available based on Ubuntu 21.10 (Impish Indri).
PiMix is a remixed version of 64-bit Ubuntu for the Raspberry Pi 4 that is optimized for desktop use.
Highlights
- Based on Ubuntu 21.10 (64-bit) with Xfce desktop
- BTRFS file system with ZStd compression
- DEB version of Chromium from Debian 11 Bullseye repositories
- PiMix Config tool – Create and restore system snapshots
- PiMix Config tool – Save and restore desktop layouts for Xfce
Known Issues
Software
There’s a bug with the 5.13.x kernels on Ubuntu 21.10 that causes the system to freeze randomly if the KMS (kernel) driver is being used. It only happens with some monitors. This also affects the official Ubuntu 21.10 desktop images.
PiMix uses the FKMS (firmware) driver in config.txt to avoid this issue. You won’t run into this bug as long as you don’t change the KMS line in config.txt.
If you are upgrading from Ubuntu 21.04, change the config.txt file to use the FKMS driver (after the upgrade is complete):
dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3dHardware
Raspberry Pi 4 has problems connecting to 2.4 GHz WiFi networks due to RF interference from USB 3 devices and poor shielding of the WiFi modem. To avoid this issue either connect to a 5 GHz WiFi network or Ethernet cable; or keep it away from USB 3 devices.
Download
This release of PiMix is available for download for $6. This fee pays for the servers where downloads are hosted. It does not include technical support.