installing a new GCC compiler with “sudo apt install gcc-8-
base”. Once it’s finished installing, type “sudo apt dist-upgrade”
again and the process should complete. Or maybe it won’t, that’s
the joy of early-version open-source software.6
IT WORKED, KINDA
A final restart brings up a new-looking desktop. It has
the same wallpaper and folders, but the trashcan and
Documents folder icons are different, the Raspberry menu icon
is a green arrow and the mouse pointer is invisible. We know it’s
there, as right-clicking brings up the context-sensitive menu on
the screen. We just can’t see it. Connecting via VNC (the settings
weren’t wiped by the upgrade and we jack straight in from our
Windows PC) solves that problem. The pointer is now a little
‘x’, but at least we can see it. A larger problem is that window
headers aren’t drawing, meaning we can’t drag them around
or minimize them, and have to use the File menu to close them.
Once again, new software. Then the menus stop vanishing after
we’ve moved on to the next, leaving a big mess on the screen
[Image C], and we give up and try a fresh installation.7
A FRESH INSTALLATION
Download the OS from https://www.raspberrypi.com/
software/operating-systems/ and the Imager from
https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/. We chose the 3 2-
bit full OS, a 3GB zip that expands into a 9 GB ISO, but smaller
installations are available. We installed it onto a 64 GB micro SD
card [Image D], but you could get away with a 32 GB one.8
IT’S ALIVE!
What we got was something that looked and acted exactly
like the old Buster release of the Raspberry Pi OS. The
new-look trashcan and folders we’d seen when doing the in-
place upgrade didn’t appear, and we had to resort to “cat /etc/os-
release” in the Terminal to check that we were, indeed, running
the Bullseye release.B
C D
9CHECK YOUR CLOCK SPEED
The line “watch - n 1 vcgencmd measure_clock
arm” will give you a readout of the current CPU
speed on your Pi. If you’ve got one of the models with
the BCM271 1 chipset, you can use this to check if you
have the free speed boost by typing it into Terminal then
opening a web browser. By default, the Pi CPU idles at
700MHz but speeds up when needed while remaining
passively cooled.10DOES IT WORK?
Yes, it does—at least some of the time.
However, it would probably be better to class
this release as almost beta software at the moment,
and we’d recommend sticking with the Buster release
wherever it’s project-critical. The ability to keep
different OSes on different SD cards makes this easy. As
it stands, there are some compatibility issues that will
need to be worked out, and the new Chromium (version
92) crashed every time we tried to open YouTube. The
first page it loads on opening is a Raspberry Pi page
encouraging you to buy a Raspberry Pi, which seems
unnecessary, but other sites we visit every day open
without complaint, and we are able to stream video from
other sites. Who needs YouTube anyway?While the 30 0MHz speed boost from the new OS is welcome,
the CPU in the Pi 4 can be pushed even harder if you stick a
fan on it for active cooling. Kits are available online, some
even have RGB! Overclocking is a simple matter of editing
a text file. You’ll need the latest firmware and a bit of luck.
We’ve taken a Raspberry Pi 4 with a heatsink and fan to
2,200MHz, but have heard of others that won’t go past 2 ,000.
Once fully updated, open Terminal and type “sudo nano /
boot/config.txt”. Find the commented line about arm_freq,
uncomment it, and edit it to read “arm_freq=2000”. Then
add three more lines: “gpu_freq=750”; “over_voltage=6”;
“force_turbo=1”. Note that setting force_turbo may void
your warranty. Save and restart. Sometimes a full power
cycle is necessary rather than a software restart.
Use “watch -n 1 vcgencmd measure_clock arm”, and
your CPU should be buzzing away at 2 ,000MHz all the time.
You can nudge the figure upwards, but it generally tops out
at 2 ,200MHz. It’s possible to overclock other Pi models too,
but with less speed and voltage. Tables are available online.