back to article Raspberry Pi OS goes goth

As many users wait for their Raspberry Pi 5 units to arrive, a fresh version of the Raspberry Pi OS has just landed, complete with fixes and that most essential of operating system add-ons – dark mode. Dark mode is one of those features that seems to be the first thing many users ask for. While some might regard it as somewhat …

  1. PiltdownMan

    My Pi5 arrived today. One happy bunny

    THIS ^^^^^^^

    1. Old Used Programmer

      Re: My Pi5 arrived today. One happy bunny

      I got one today, as well. Actually, it's the second one I ordered, but the first to arrive. The first--pre-ordered--is waiting on the reseller getting in some black/grey cases.

    2. scaley

      Re: My Pi5 arrived today. One happy bunny

      I feel bad as mine was one of the first batch from PiHut but was then wrapped for crimbo... can't wait

  2. Tom Chiverton 1 Silver badge

    You might be able to *order* one before Xmas, but it isn't going to arrive...

  3. Khaptain Silver badge

    Why dark mode

    RPi isn't really well known for it's amazing interface so why would Dark Mode be so demanded ?

    For me, personally, the UI interface is kind of secondary, I use PIs because of their physical interfaces, digital or analogical. I would have presumed that most users would be the same.

    Are there really that many users running the UI full time ? Obviously usage varies ...

    1. Old Used Programmer

      Re: Why dark mode

      You might be surprised. There are people that have been using them as "primary" desktop systems. Some have been doing that as far back as the Pi3B, and it became more common with the Pi4B. That trend will most likely accelerate with the Pi5, as the specs aren't that far off an entry level x86 PC.

    2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: Why dark mode

      Agreed re Dark Mode. Of course it seems to be in demand because no one ever put in a feature quest to NOT have a dark mode. Choice is nice, but personally I don't see the need for dark mode so I wasn't one of those who "demanded" it :-)

      And, as per the article, It worked well, at least for those applications that paid attention to it." That's the problem with so many themes and pretty decorations. They rarely are of any real benefit and often don't work well with all apps, if at all. Worse, with Linux, you've got various apps coming from different primary desktop backgrounds that often pay no attention at all to any theme set by whatever the current desktop is, eg running a Gnome app on KDE or vice versa. Most of the time, I just leave the defaults, maybe a few minor tweaks to font size and type, but then GTK apps don't always honour even those changes in my chosen desktop settings menu.

      As for reviews of new OS releases, almost without fail, the first comments are about what it looks like, despite the fact that one of the main "selling" points of *nix "distros" is how you can customise the look and feel to be what you want anyway even down to selecting an entirely different desktop, not just theme. I find that quite amusing, if a bit stale considering how often people bemoan the ever diminishing amount of desktop customisation one can do with Windows these days :-)

      1. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

        Re: Why dark mode

        Some dyslexics find bright text on a dark background easier to read. It was pretty much the standard on terminals because a white background flickered atrociously until monitors could handle a decent refresh rate. LCDs have better persistence so refresh rate is less an an issue. Some people suffer from flickering monitors more than others. I needed at least 85Hz and even then preferred a dark background on large monitors. (Flicker is most annoying in peripheral vision.)

        I still find bright text on a dark background easier to read probably because I did a lot of reading that way while young.

        1. An_Old_Dog Silver badge

          Re: Why dark mode

          I freakin' hate dark mode! It so often is implemented with gray text on a black background, or some similar low-contrast color choices.

          1. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

            Re: Dark grey on black

            I have come across that occasionally. It gets replaced or repaired almost as fast as my pet peeve: translucent windows, tools tips and menus. That stuff may look pretty on a TV show but it is about as functional as a glossy screen in a room with lights in the ceiling.

          2. druck Silver badge

            Re: Why dark mode

            I go for not just dark mode, but darker mode with proper black backgrounds. I also use the DarkReader plug-in for both Firefox and Chrome/Chromium, whilst by default that will give a mushy grey on grey you can set it to use a brightness of -20 and a contrast of +20 to give nice crisp white on black pages, particularly with The Register.

        2. Arthur the cat Silver badge

          Re: Why dark mode

          It was pretty much the standard on terminals

          <old-man-shouts-at-cloud>Not on ASR 33s, it wasn't!</old-man-shouts-at-cloud>

  4. GlenP Silver badge

    I Suppose...

    <SmugMode>I'd better update my Pi 5 over the weekend</SmugMode>

    OK, I was very fortunate to hit the first batch of pre-orders from PiHut by about 20 minutes. It's now set up principally as part of a dev station for Pi Picos that I'm using for simple model railway automation.

    1. John H Woods

      Re: I Suppose...

      I hope, given today's news, you will use high precision geolocation to ensure your model trains breakdown unpredictably after exiting the servicing shed?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Dark mode

    I would prefer to see resources put in to fixing bugs and what is lacking in Wayland than farting about and pandering to cosmetics.

    You can polish a turd, even sprinkle glitter on it, but it will still be a turd.

    1. AlexS

      Re: Dark mode

      Perhaps read the release notes next time.

  6. Baudwalk

    Dark mode has been default...

    ...for years on my Pies.

    As I mostly have them boot to the console. I can always start X11 later, if I want to run GUI app.

    Just like we did in the 80s and 90s. :old-man-yells-at-cloud:

  7. Zebo-the-Fat

    I don't read books printed on black paper with white ink, and don't want to that on a screen!

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