Difference in RASPBIAN STRETCH WITH DESKTOP and RASPBIAN STRETCH LITE.

[ronakmd]

Hi,
Can anyone tell me the difference between RASPBIAN STRETCH WITH DESKTOP and RASPBIAN STRETCH LITE.

Thank you.

[RaTTuS]

Lite does not have the desktop stuff included

[HawaiianPi]

Lite does not have the desktop stuff included

This ^

Lite is a very basic Linux OS with only a command line interface (CLI). There is no Desktop or GUI of any kind, and it does not include the educational or productivity software included with the Desktop version. To interact with the Lite version you will need to type commands. For new users and people not familiar with Linux the Desktop version is recommended.

[RaTTuS]

you can make lite the same as desktop with a few apt-get installs.

[deepakdeshp]

What is the command for getting the minimum GUI?

[W. H. Heydt]

Hi,
Can anyone tell me the difference between RASPBIAN STRETCH WITH DESKTOP and RASPBIAN STRETCH LITE.

Thank you.

About 4GB.

[deepakdeshp]

Hi,
Can anyone tell me the difference between RASPBIAN STRETCH WITH DESKTOP and RASPBIAN STRETCH LITE.

Thank you.

About 4GB.

Is it difference between the sizes of installed LITE and DESKTOP?

[HawaiianPi]

What is the command for getting the minimum GUI?

Depends on how minimal? You could run just openbox without an actual desktop...

To install the Raspberry Pi Desktop

Code: Select all

sudo apt install raspberrypi-ui-mods

But that won't install the extra educational software and utilities (however, they may still be in the menu).

About 4GB.

Actually, it's closer to 2.9 GB.

Is it difference between the sizes of installed LITE and DESKTOP?

The Lite version can be installed to a 4GB card (technically, it should fit on a 2GB, but it would leave almost no free space).

The Desktop version requires at least an 8GB card (due to the additional software and GUI it's about 4.6GB in size).

[W. H. Heydt]

Is it difference between the sizes of installed LITE and DESKTOP?

The Lite version can be installed to a 4GB card (technically, it should fit on a 2GB, but it would leave almost no free space).

The Desktop version requires at least an 8GB card (due to the additional software and GUI it's about 4.6GB in size).

The last time I did a Lite install, the actual space it took was 1.4GB on a 2GB card. So there is room to work with. Not a huge amount, but it's not like you're going to have instant problems.

The fundamental difference between the two releases is all the stuff the Lite version leaves out that the full version includes. A major reason why the Lite version even exists is that the CM (and now the CM3) modules only have 4GB of on-board flash and it got to the point that the full version wouldn't fit. In the early days of the Pi, I used to install Raspbian on 4GB cards. You can't do that any more for the full version. On the other hand, it's getting harder to get 8GB cards these days, let alone anything smaller. (USB sticks have the same problem. I'd love to be able to get a fistful of 256KB--or even 128KB--USB sticks. They should be cheap, but you really don't see them available at all.)

[gkaiseril]

As noted the desktop full version includes all the scripts to display the desktop, all the utilities needed to configure the desktop, and scripts to interface other programs on and display using the desktop. All of the command line is available to the desktop using the terminal window. If one starts in the command line and then starts the desktop, the shut down allows returning to the command line. If one boots directly to the desktop there is no option to return to the command line.

[qualle]

I hope it's OK to add my question here, I feel it somehow matches the topic, but that part wasn't answered yet.

Is there a performance difference? (in terms of RAM use)

My scenario: I pretty much always use the Pi in CLi mode. But once in a while it's fun to get to the desktop. That would requite of course the desktop version.

But when there is no Desktop/UI required I like to have the full Raspbian performance. So I wonder if even in CLi use, are there any dormant UI parts active in the RAM?

I am fully aware that the space requirement on the SD card is much higher. That is no problem for me.

[W. H. Heydt]

I hope it's OK to add my question here, I feel it somehow matches the topic, but that part wasn't answered yet.

Is there a performance difference? (in terms of RAM use)

My scenario: I pretty much always use the Pi in CLi mode. But once in a while it's fun to get to the desktop. That would requite of course the desktop version.

But when there is no Desktop/UI required I like to have the full Raspbian performance. So I wonder if even in CLi use, are there any dormant UI parts active in the RAM?

I am fully aware that the space requirement on the SD card is much higher. That is no problem for me.

Basically, Lite--as it comes in the download--lack the X windowing system, so that won't be running. You can configure the Full version to boot without running X and the desktop if you want to do a comparison of RAM usage. Depending on what exactly you are doing, you could cut the amount of RAM allocated to the VC4 graphics hardware to the minimum of 16MB in either mode, but you're much more likely to get away with that (without adverse impact) if X isn't running. And, of course, when you are running fewer services, there will be less load on the CPU cores. I'm not sure you'd notice any difference, thugh.

[HawaiianPi]

I hope it's OK to add my question here, I feel it somehow matches the topic, but that part wasn't answered yet.

Is there a performance difference? (in terms of RAM use)

My scenario: I pretty much always use the Pi in CLi mode. But once in a while it's fun to get to the desktop. That would requite of course the desktop version.

You don't need to use the Desktop version of Raspbian, you can install raspberrypi-ui-mods to add the Desktop and required dependencies to Lite (and it will still be lighter, because it won't include loads of extra software pre-installed on the Desktop version of Raspbian).

If you configure Raspbian to boot to the CLI, then the difference in RAM use and performance should be negligible.

Of course when you are actually running the Desktop GUI it will require more RAM and may impact performance, but having it installed and not using it will use SD card space more than anything else.

[DirkS]

raspbberrypi-ui-mods

FTFY

[DougieLawson]

raspbberrypi-ui-mods

FTFY

FYFFY,YW (fixed your fix for you)

[DirkS]

raspbberrypi-ui-mods

FTFY

FYFFY,YW (fixed your fix for you)

Cheers!

[HawaiianPi]

LOL! Sorry for the typo.

Code: Select all

sudo apt update && sudo apt install raspberrypi-ui-mods

Will add the Raspberry Pi Desktop to Raspbian Lite.

[k-pi]

Related questions.

Does LITE come with wifi software installed?

What is the installed size of LITE?

What is the installed size of LITE plus raspberrypi-ui-mods?

And if LITE doesn't come with wifi software, is it included in raspberrypi-ui-mods?

[Heater]

Raspbian Lite comes with eveything you need to get WiFi up and running.

If you need something else it's just an apt-get away.

[jahboater]

Is there a performance difference? (in terms of RAM use)

Last time I looked, there was about half the number of processes running in the Lite version.

[k-pi]

Raspbian Lite comes with eveything you need to get WiFi up and running.

Thanks, Heater, knowing that makes it a much more useful way for me to get just the basics of a GUI installed.

[HawaiianPi]

When I setup a new Raspbian Lite boot device I copy a pre-configured wpa_supplicant.conf file onto the small FAT32 "boot" partition, which Raspbian will move to the correct location and use to connect to my WiFi when I fire up the Pi. Much easier than trying to configure a WiFi connection from the CLI. It works with any model with built-in WiFi, or with a Raspbian compatible USB WiFi dongle.

This is, of course, after writing a Raspbian image to the device (using NOOBS complicates things).

[k-pi]

That will make it much easier, I had just been trying to remember how to set up wifi, so I'll just make a back up copy & copy it over.
Thanks, HawaiianPi.

[k-pi]

So, an update, & answers to my previous questions.

Raspberry-stretch-lite = 1.1GB installed size.

With GUI (raspberrypi-ui-mods) = 1.6GB installed size.

Add in chromium-browser = 1.8GB installed size.

Hope that is of some use to someone else too.

[JetForMe]

Does Raspbian Lite include Avahi, or some other way to find it to ssh into it? Or must I connect a keyboard and monitor?