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The Latest Updates to Raspberry Pi Imager

The Latest Updates to Raspberry Pi Imager

The Latest Updates to Raspberry Pi Imager

Raspberry Pi Imager – which was launched just a little over a year ago on March 5, 2020 – is an imaging utility that makes it easier to image microSD cards for Raspbian, the official operating system for the Raspberry Pi.

SD cards can notoriously be tricky to use, but with the Raspberry Pi Imager the process is simplified. Now the latest update, Raspberry Pi Imager v1.6, makes it even easier!

 

How the New Raspberry Pi Imager Works

The challenge with updating the Raspberry Pi imager was to offer advanced functionality while still keeping the process as simple as possible – the fewer clicks needed the better.

How it works is that the Raspberry Pi Imager loads a .JSON file from their web page that contains a list of all currently available download solutions, indicating that you are always downloading the most recent update. Once you've chosen an OS from the drop-down menu, the utility downloads the required file from the web page and copies it to the SD card.

As opposed to the normal method, this significantly accelerates the process!

During this method, the Raspberry Pi Imager saves a local copy of the downloaded operating system image on your device, allowing you to configure additional SD cards against having to import it again.

 

Updates to Raspberry Pi Imager Over This Past Year Vilros

An earlier update was on December 23, 2020:

  • Sub-menu support was added: earlier iterations of Raspberry Pi Imager could only provide one tier of sub-menus. This constraint was lifted, enabling the categorization of images into groups such as overall operating systems, gaming and media devices, and simulators.
  • Improved graphics: the design team also developed several new icons that are simplified and more minimalist.
  • Updated tracking: the menu file that the Imager installed from the Raspberry Pi website was updated to contain an entry specifying the application’s most recent firmware number. This enabled users to get notifications when a revised Imager application would be available in the future.
  • Download telemetry: Raspberry Pi added some simple download telemetry to help them keep track of how popular each operating system is with the Raspberry Pi user community.

The most recent update was on March 19, 2021:

Raspberry Pi decided to add an advanced options menu. If you're feeling creative and want to try with the advanced options, use the magic key combination Ctrl+Shift+X.

Using the advanced options menu requires a few more clicks. It’s very easy and worth checking out if you find yourself needing to make configuration changes periodically after flashing a new SD card. It helps you to set certain choices (for instance, you don’t need a static IP address if you set the hostname correctly). You can store them for future images or use them for one process only.


Download the New Raspberry Pi Imager Today! 

The new software is available to download on Raspberry Pi’s website. Or, you can use sudo apt install rpi-imager to install it on a Raspberry Pi from a terminal window.

Have you tried out the latest version of the Raspberry Pi Imager? We’d love to hear thoughts on how it compares to the initial version from March of last year!

Also, don’t forget to check out more news and updates from both Raspberry Pi and Arduino here on our Vilros blog!