Raspbian OS for Raspberry Pi Adds Multi-Monitor Improvements, More

The Raspberry Pi Foundation released a new version of their Debian-based Raspbian OS for Raspberry Pi computers, adding various improvements and updated components.

The new Raspbian release is here four months after the previous build to add various enhancements to the default file manager, PCManFM, such as a new “Places” pane at the top of the sidebar to display mounted volumes in the simplified view, as well as a “New Folder” icon to the taskbar.

Moreover, the file manager’s expanders have been updated to correctly display the state of subfolders in the directory browser. Also, the folder and file icons got a clean new design to make it clearer for users what file an icon represents.

Raspbian now also supports separate ALSA devices for internal audio outputs via the volume taskbar plugin and raspi-config. The volume taskbar plugin also got new mixer dialogs.

Raspbian now offers better multi-monitor support

The support for multi-monitor configurations has been improved as well. Improvements include better alignment of icons on second desktop and the ability for the Appearance Settings panel to open on the correct tab when it is launched from the context menu.

Other than that, there’s better support for the official Raspberry Pi Touchscreen, the Orca screen reader and Code The Classics Python games are now included in Recommended Software, and a new “Pixel doubling” option and screen blanking control was added to Raspberry Pi Configuration.

Updated components included in the new Raspbian release are Linux kernel 4.19.93 LTS, Thonny 3.2.6, Scratch 3 1.0.6, Adobe Flash Player 32.0.0.314, NodeRED 1.0.3, RealVNC Server 6.6.0, RealVNC Viewer 6.19.923, Chromium 78.0.3904.108, and Mesa 19.3.2 for OpenGL ES 3.1 support.

You can download the latest Raspbian release for all supported Raspberry Pi devices using the link below. However, existing users need only to update their installations to receive the new goodies, by running the commands below in a terminal emulator. Do reboot after installing the new packages as there’s a new kernel version.