Guide

Raspberry Pi tip – installing applications with Pi-Apps

21.2.2024

Translation: Patrik Stainbrook

Pi-Apps is a particularly beginner-friendly app store. Its apps can be installed with a single click. If an app requires a system adjustment, it’ll suggest this and implement it on request.

If you want to install software on your Raspberry Pi, it’s easy as pi(e). If you run Raspberry Pi OS, you can install countless applications from the Raspbian repository under Settings > Add/Remove Software. For example, you can find the free open-source audio editor Audacity, image editing software GIMP or LibreOffice. The latter is a good free alternative for Microsoft Office.

You can install or uninstall a wide range of software in Raspberry Pi OS.
Source: Martin Jud

However, other popular apps, such as the remote desktop software TeamViewer, CPU benchmark Geekbench or iconic game Minecraft aren’t represented. You have to download these yourself and install or extract them using the terminal. Or you can use Pi apps.

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Pi-Apps – a small yet great collection

Pi-Apps is an open-source app store. The low number of applications on offer is unusual for an app store. So far, there are just over 200 apps on it, sorted into categories.

Pi-Apps offers a limited but good range of apps that can be found logically organised in different categories.
Source: Martin Jud

The good thing is that there’s little to no garbage among the apps compared to other stores (Android, iOS, etc.). You get a modest range of usable software suitable for the hobbyist computer.

Here’s the Internet category of the App Store. If you want to install a browser, you’ll find Brave and co. in the corresponding subcategory.
Source: Martin Jud

In addition to apps that aren’t offered under Settings > Add/Remove Software (in the standard repository of the installed operating system Debian/Raspberry Pi OS/Ubuntu), there are also duplicates in the selection. All the apps mentioned at the beginning are available in Pi-Apps. You can find an overview of all categories and apps here.

Installing Pi-Apps isn’t rocket science

To install Pi apps, all you have to do is enter or insert a command in the terminal. You can find the command here on the Pi-Apps website.

Here it is:
wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Botspot/pi-apps/master/install | bash

To install Pi-Apps, open the terminal, enter the command and confirm with Enter.
Source: Martin Jud

The Raspberry Pi will then automatically download and install the app store.

After installation, you can start Pi-Apps either via the new icon or under Accessories > Pi-Apps.

App installation with one click

To download software, simply click Install. I particularly like the fact that an app’s description explains how to start the software. This is particularly helpful for programs that don’t have a graphical user interface and have to be started in the terminal, such as Geekbench 6.

One click is all it takes to install an app. You can find out how to start the app afterwards in the app description.
Source: Martin Jud

After installation, you can, of course, also uninstall and update apps. For some apps, Pi-Apps obtains the installation files directly from the official developer. Other apps are individual Linux ports and located on corresponding GitHub repos. During installation, Pi-Apps then only provides a simple installation script. Pi-Apps should therefore be a safe source of software. This is also supported by the fact that it’s actively used and there have been no negative reports to date.

After clicking on Install, the app is downloaded automatically…
Source: Martin Jud

Unexpected help while installing Minecraft

I’m impressed by the simplicity of this store. I’m especially amazed when I try to install Minecraft (Pi Edition). After clicking on Install, the download doesn’t immediately follow. Instead, there’s a helpful hint.

During Minecraft installation, it’s suggested that I switch to a PageSize of 4K for the Linux kernel.
Source: Martin Jud

Normally, the game doesn’t run on a Raspberry Pi 5 with the Linux kernel, used by default with Raspberry Pi OS. This is because the PageSize is set to 16K instead of 4K. One click on «Yes, …» and a restart later, this is changed and the game runs after another click on the installation button.

Due to the simplicity of Pi-Apps, knowing this extra fact isn’t important, but it doesn’t hurt either: in simple terms, a kernel is the interface between the hardware and the processes running on the device. PageSize is the size of memory packets that the kernel uses to manage working memory.

I already know Minecraft from PlayStation on my 85-inch TV. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to the Pi Edition of the game.
Source: Martin Jud

Happy installing! I hope you like the store as much as I do. I’ll give it three ~~Hip Hip~~ Pi Pi Hoorays!

Header image: Martin Jud

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Martin Jud

Senior Editor

martin.jud@digitecgalaxus.ch

I find my muse in everything. When I don’t, I draw inspiration from daydreaming. After all, if you dream, you don’t sleep through life.

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