ARM 64-Bit Ubuntu 21.10 in a Raspberry Pi 4 8GB. A review based on regular usage

In this article, let us look into some of the advantages and disadvantages of running an ARM 64-bit Ubuntu 21.10 OS on a Raspberry Pi4 device.

Although I have a dedicated Synology NAS for all my storage needs, I have been using Raspberry Pi as my Printer Server and Media Server ( Plex) for quite some time. The below is my current setup.

My Raspberry Pi Media Server Setup

Raspberry Pi 4 – 8GB
32 GB – Sandisk Pen Drive ( For OS)
3 HDD – 500 GB Each
1 SSD – 500 GB
External Powered USB Hub for Harddisks.
Externally powered Fan (5V)
USB connected HP-MFP Printer
Aluminium Armor case with dual Fan
Mobile stand as a Hardisk rack 🙂

Except for the Pi and the SD Card/Pen-Drive, most of the other things remains the same on every upgrade of Pi. I have been using Raspibian OS 32 bit ( Buster) in my Pi4 from the start and recently thought of trying out Ubuntu 21.10 ( 64 bit).

Since I have enabled the USB boot option in my Pi4, I created a new bootable Pendrive with Ubuntu and swapped it with the existing one.

ARM 64-Bit Ubuntu Pros & Cons

This blog post is not a detailed analysis of Ubuntu vs Raspian OS. These views are based on using a Pi as a Print Server and Media Server for Home usage. The below are my finding based on the Ubuntu ARM 64-bit build available as of mid of Dec 2021.

Pros

1. OS installation and initial configuration are very smooth.
2. It is not required to install additional drivers for legacy printers. It would be automatically taken care of on the initial connection of the printer.
3. The CPU temperature was always above 40 degrees in Raspian OS. But in Ubuntu, for most of the time, it was below 40.

Cons

1. UI freezes a lot even after changing “dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d” to “dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d” in the config.txt file.
2. The Terminal takes a long time to load and respond.
3. Resource usage is less when compared to Raspian OS, but the UI doesn’t behave that way.

Since this OS is not developed exclusively for Raspberry Pi, it still has compatibility issues, and it also restarts randomly. For now, It may not be a good idea to switch to ARM 64-bit Ubuntu for Raspberry Pi.