Ubuntu Desktop on a Raspberry Pi 4

@electronic-1957

If you are running Ubuntu desktop on our RP4, I see no reason you couldn't install it. I would just go for it and see. Backup everything just in case. There is a small chance that some things won't work properly because of the CPU but the best way to find out is to try it and see. I doubt it would have any problems though.

How are you controlling the RP4 from your MacBook? Screen mirroring app? I'm assuming that by headless you are not referring to SSH command line.

Thank you MadMisha, I will definitely give it a try! Yes, I use SHH and the VNCViewer on the Mac. I have followed those instruction: https://desertbot.io/blog/headless-raspberry-pi-4-ssh-wifi-setup  

The RP4 is wirelessly connected to my home network (without a monitor, KB or mouse).

It works great! In the past I had a bad luck of burning one of my Mac USB port that was connected to an Arduino. I wasn't able to know for sure, but it made me a bit nervous. So I decided to go the Headless. That way if something goes wrong and I blow a RP4 it's gone a be less painful on the wallet 🙂 Also I wanted to learn some LINUX and stuff... So, with the opportunity here to learn Ubuntu and some of the software that Bill is recommending, that will be cool!

I'm running PIO on VSC with Raspbian OS on my RPI4. Just getting started, but there is even a way to synchronize your configuration across all your devices. This is of interest since I also have a Win10 machine connected to the Arduino controlling a robot arm. 

Hi There, looks like these are the requirements for VS Code, compare them to your rPi specs and you should know what to expect ?

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/supporting/requirements

As @MadMisha said, it's always just best to go for it and see what happens. Unlikely to be anything but just a little slower.

https://magpi.raspberrypi.org/articles/raspberry-pi-4-specs-benchmarks

For remote access to Xubuntu, I ended up setting up rdp so I could just use a basic windows remote desktop session. Works brilliantly except I need to log in twice sometimes as one is the session and one is the window manager. Haven't bothered to figure that out further as the hassle hasn't been worth the research 🙂

I should also note that you would need to install the ARM version(64 if you are 64 bit). That should solve the potential CPU problems I mentioned and PlatformIO should also have ARM support built in.

Also, I hope that you are not migrating to Ubuntu in order to run VSC and PlatformIO. I believe that both can run on Raspbian. Raspbian would be faster and less buggy.

Thanks for all of your hints and recommendations! I will pull this together and do some experiment!