For a long time, Raspbian has served as the "workhorse" for most Raspberry Pi users. Being based on Debian guarantees its compatibility and stability, but if there is something that has definitely remained in the background, it is its appearance. That detail brings us to PIXEL, a kind of "aesthetic update" in Raspbian, with a more polished interface, the replacement of several programs, and new wallpapers.
Most projects based on the Raspberry Pi share the same starting point: Downloading a Raspbian image. Obviously, the Raspberry Pi is compatible with other operating systems, but Raspbian has managed to provide the comfort, familiarity, and compatibility that many Linux riders expect. The curious thing is that Raspbian does not have the role of an affiliated project of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and on the official Raspbian page they indicate that the foundation distributes "its own image" of the operating system, but to tell the truth they have been doing much more than that. Over the last two years, the foundation worked on a personal version of Raspbian, moving away from its spartan profile and closer to what most users visualize when thinking about an operating system. Let's make room for PIXEL.
I have no idea what Google will think of the name, but PIXEL stands for "Pi Improved Xwindows Environment, Lightweight". The first notable change is that the "wall of text" in Raspbian initialization has been replaced by a "splash screen" that presents the version number. The developers assure that the presence of that screen will not make the boot process slower, and that times will be identical. Then we move on to other aesthetic elements, such as windows, icons, and wallpapers. Slight curves on windows, a new icon design that seeks to balance the scale between productivity and entertainment, and a total of 16 new images to decorate the desktop set the rhythm of the new PIXEL.
Now, on the technical side we also find alterations. The first is the replacement of the Epiphany browser (better known as Web in GNOME environments) by Chromium. It is a build of Chromium specially prepared for Raspberry Pi, and it includes a couple of extensions aimed at improving performance, starting with h264ify. Then comes RealVNC, which should greatly simplify remote administration of the Raspberry Pi, and finally, a Sense HAT emulator. These modifications make the operating system a bit more demanding overall, and it is possible that the original Raspberry Pi models may not have such a good time with Chromium, but I think it's worth trying. If things go wrong, you can always go back to an unmodified Raspbian.
