32 bits or 64 bits - ?

An attempt to address some confusion. It starts with the OS..

The short answer is to install Bookworm 64 bit on your Pi 4 or Pi 5 and run the H2R Graphics 64 bits. Check and update your Pi OS regularly for performance improvements.

Bullseye or Bookworm?

The introduction of the Raspberry Pi 5 in late 2023 brough a number of changes to the implementation of Raspian OS that impacts the installation and running of H2R Graphics.

The Pi 5 requires the latest release for Raspian OS Bookworm which is based on Debian 12 and wont run previous OS such as Bullseye (or Buster if you're still in 2020).

The Pi 4 support all recent modern OS including Buster, Bullseye and Bookworm.

Common sense would say to always run on the latest OS and early testing indicate that both Pi 4 and Pi 5 running H2R Graphics can run on top of Bookworm.

X11 or Wayland

There is a caveat running Bookworm which introduces a newer windows manager called Wayland which replaces the long running X11. While my understanding is limited, I have observed that the implementation is still on-going as of early 2024 so I expect that updates might address all the issues introduced by Wayland:

• Wayland does not support RealVNC so if you remote connect to your Pi, you need to migrate to a different VNC client

• Autostart scripts are different on Wayland than on X11

• Unclutter utility to hide the mouse cursor does not work on Wayland

• Despite my efforts I cannot get two instances of Chromium to open full screen on each of the HDMI output for fully automated H2R Graphics autostart. Window position and/or output does not appear to work

There is a system-option to use X11 instead of Wayland for legacy support that can be access using the raspi-config utility (under advanced)

32 bit or 64 bit?

Bullseye and Bookworm offer a 32 bit or 64 bit download. The Pi 4 and the Pi 5 will run the 64 bit variant and is usually the default choice. Common sense would dictate to run 64 bit where you can and early tests shows that H2R-Graphics 64 bit version will run on Pi 4 and Pi 5 (when running a 64 bit OS). The opposite is also true. The H2R-Graphics 32 bit version runs on Pi 4 and Pi 5 if running a 32 bit OS.

So then why run the 32 bit?

As of early 2024, there are different issues with Bookworm and Wayland depending if you are running 32 or 64 bit. Graphics hardware acceleration and better chromium response varies.

I suspect most of the issues to be addressed over the coming months.