Twister UI (Twister OS): From Pi to PC

00:00​ Intro
00:33​ The Basic Building Blocks
03:29​ Getting the Software
04:52​ Preparing the USB Stick
05:34​ Testing Hardware Compatibility
06:40​ Installing the Operating System
09:36​ Updating the Operating System
10:55​ Installing the Twister UI
14:12​ Twister UI Patcher
14:30​ ThemeTwister
15:13​ Twister OS: Pi to PC
15:39​ The Twister UI Desktop
16:21​ The Snap Store
19:53​ Email Clients
20:16​ Office Tasks
20:27​ System Tray
20:49​ Installing RetroPie
23:59​ Creating Web Apps
26:15​ Installing Zoom
27:44​ Bookshelf
30:00​ Streaming Services
30:25​ Workspaces
33:18​ The End
Perhaps you've already installed Twister OS on your Raspberry Pi and would now like to replicate the experience on your Desktop PC or laptop, or maybe you're just looking for an alternative to running Windows? Whatever your interest, Twister OS/UI makes a great day to day operating system, and in this video we'll be setting it up on a regular x86 PC.
From downloading the software and preparing the underlying foundation, to customising the desktop and configuring the applications, we'll go step by step through the process of getting this highly versatile system up and running on your hardware. Then we'll look at replicating the experience between Pi and PC as closely as is reasonably possible.
By the time we're done, you'll be switching from SBC (Single Board Computer) to Big PC (desktop or laptop) with the same great set-up on both of them.
Website links:
Xubuntu
xubuntu.org/
balenaEtcher
www.balena.io/etcher/
Twister UI installation instructions
twisteros.com/twisterui.html
Twister OS
twisteros.com/
Pi PC: Using the Raspbery Pi 5 as a Desktop PC with Twister OS
• Pi PC: Using the Raspb...
Zoom
zoom.us/
Raspberry Pi archive (Bookshelf)
archive.raspberrypi.org/
Additional credits:
Thanks to www.1001fonts.com/ for the following fonts
Nexa Rust Slab Black Shadow 01 Font made by Fontfabric
Ninja Naruto Font made by sk89q
Definition of the word "Detail" with thanks to www.dictionary.com/
Linux Mint logo courtesy of Clement Lefebvre (CC BY 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons)
macOS logo courtesy of Apple Inc.Vectorization (Totie, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Raspberry Pi logo courtesy of the Raspberry Pi Foundation (CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons)
Ubuntu logo courtesy of Canonical Ltd (Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Xubuntu logo courtesy of Canonical (CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons)
Other (original) images sourced from the superb pixabay.com/

[@seanriley8523]

Possibly the best detailed video I've seen. Subscribed 👍👍👍

[@pilabs3206]

Another excellent and detailed tutorial! Thanks for this!

[@bytemypi2918]

My pleasure! Thanks for another complimentary comment!

[@rvqx]

Clear talk, no extra’s, no emotion. That is really great. Even the subtitles are okay. Thank you.

[@bytemypi2918]

You're welcome. Thanks for your feedback.

[@markharrisllb]

What a fantastic tutorial. I've only had my pi a couple of weeks and I’m still trying to decide what OS I have on it. This has been very helpful, thank you.

[@bytemypi2918]

I don't think you can go far wrong with Twister OS. Thanks for your feedback. I'm glad you found the video helpful :)

[@Sherlock385]

You're great at explaining. I also love your subtle humor.

[@bytemypi2918]

Ta very much. Thanks for your feedback :)

[@PeterBreitfuss]

Congratulation to this excellent video for installing Twister OS on a Desktop PC or Notebook!

[@bytemypi2918]

Thank you. I'm glad you liked it :)

[@petereggison]

Thank you very much for posting your video. I have multi-booted Twister onto a SSD and your video clearly explained how to do this. BTW, it took 90 minutes for RetroPie install. Thanks.

[@bytemypi2918]

No problem. You must really like old games! Glad you got it all set up ok :)

[@Frank_2023]

Thank you so much, this helped me out no end on Xbuntu. Subbed and ticked. You're a legend cobber TY.

[@bytemypi2918]

No problem. Thank you for subscribing, much appreciated :)

[@ferfromla]

Outstanding video. I enjoyed it very much and learned a lot as well.

[@bytemypi2918]

Thanks very much for your feedback. I'm glad you found the video helpful.

[@dragonclaw88]

great video...about to do this to my spare laptop...looks fun

[@bytemypi2918]

Thanks for your feedback. Enjoy!

[@neversaynever5157]

great video very helpful thanks!!

[@bytemypi2918]

No problem. Glad it helped :)

[@DenzVideos]

Excellent video and great tutorial. Thank you!

[@bytemypi2918]

No problem. Thanks for your feedback.

[@christopherperry8693]

Anothr well presented tutorial. Thanks.

[@bytemypi2918]

No problem. Thanks for your feedback :)

[@sigkalbar]

good tutorial mate. thanks

[@bytemypi2918]

Glad you liked it :)

[@MotownBatman]

New Sub! Dryden, Michigan, US Excellent Work, I was attempting to Update an RPi4 to 64 Bit!

[@donpeer4477]

Here's a little tip for chaining command in terminal: use the semi-colon (;) instead of double ampersand (&&). The difference being that the commands following the semi-colon will wait for successful completion of the previous command whereas they do not with &&.

[@bunakkaptan]

I really love Xubuntu and I think I am hooked on it .Thank you for excellent video and excellent tutorial.

[@bytemypi2918]

You're welcome. Glad you're enjoying Linux :)

[@xandercode]

Good analogy with the burger :)

[@bytemypi2918]

Thank you. I think I must have been feeling hungry at the time!

[@spy.catcher]

detailed and thorough... would also like to see how best to set up and configure and use tailscale/taildrop on bare metal or virtual devices/VMs/clusters locally and then remotely. Then compare it with zerotier that u previously covered. there seems to be a race here for this presentation of tailscale/taildrop, but I believe yours is going to be even more thorough.

[@bytemypi2918]

I hadn't heard of Taildrop before - will have to investigate. Looks as though it might still be in alpha though. Thanks for your feedback.

[@aleksas011]

Thank you!

[@bytemypi2918]

You're welcome!

[@arnoldovich]

thank you very much

[@bytemypi2918]

You're most welcome :)

[@donpeer4477]

Great video! I followed along and installed TwisterUI on my Intel NUC. But, when I tried to install Bookshelf ( get two dpkg dependency errors. The first one says "package rp-bookshelf is not installed" and the second one says "errors encountered while processing: rp-bookshelf -dbgsym"

[@EnjoySynthSounds]

Is it possible to install over the top of raspberry pi desktop os that's been installed already on a thin client with an ssd drive?

[@pharrohku5922]

Thank you so much for this video it has helped me so much because I am now using Mint 20 with twister UI on my PC along side windows 10 Duel boot but separate drives one for Mint other windows 10. Because this is my first time using this Mint and everything looking good so far I will probability completely DELETE windows all together on this PC and use Linux Mint instead of windows . Lets see how things go . Only have a couple games I use in windows so not loosing much if anything

[@bytemypi2918]

That's great to hear. It's always good news when someone discovers the advantages of open source software. Thanks for your feedback.

[@jeffreyplum5259]

Bookshelf seems great for hosting a reference library on your x86 system which may have more room than your Pi. I am going to use Twister as a standard for my new systems, x86 or Pi. I may leave my main Machine alone, for now. it has Mint XFCE with years of work. I will use it for new systems. Thanks for everything.

[@bytemypi2918]

You're welcome. Sounds like Twister OS is taking over your network :)

[@nevoyu]

So in the end twister UI is just an xfce4 fork you can setup with stock xfce4.

[@Alexandros_Alpha]

Hello, very good video, thank you. One question, is Twister OS compatible with Pinebook (Pro) ?

[@bytemypi2918]

You're welcome. I believe the Pinebook Pro uses a Rockchip RK3399 processor, so you should be able to install the Twister OS version built on top of Armbian: twisteros.com/twisterarmbian.html Hope that helps.

[@derlitewolf4058]

Hello, I'm doing the update for the second time now but unlike the first time it doesn't work at all the second time. I've tried it with Mint and Xubuntu but whenever the Twister UI was installed it always looks like before after booting, no Twister OS desktop. I can change the theme, but every time it just changes the taskbar arrangement. Is there any way to fix this?

[@bytemypi2918]

If updating the underlying OS breaks the Twister UI, I'd download the latest version of Twister UI and run the installer again - it shouldn't take very long - then reboot the computer when it's done. Hope this helps :)

[@Shirani007]

1. Is it safe to install alongside windows 10 2. Will I be able to access files from windows partition just like in ubuntu? thanks a lot for this great video

[@bytemypi2918]

You're welcome :) It's as safe as any other Linux operating system when dual booting with Windows 10. Generally, Linux is a lot more forgiving when it comes to sharing a single drive. If anything, it's usually Windows that will overwrite the Linux boot partition after running an update!

[@Shirani007]

@@bytemypi2918 Thanks a million, again.

[@bytemypi2918]

@@Shirani007 No problem :)

[@robgauthier9249]

Thank you foe the help. i can now get to my network thru wifi. I do have a nothe problem. how do i format a usb drive in twister? i had to goto my linux mint to do a format using usb formatter. but i could not find that program anywhere on twister. i even looked for the disk program and again i could not fine it. can you tell me how to format a usb in twister please. God Bless rob

[@bytemypi2918]

You're welcome. You can format your USB drive in Twister OS using GParted. You should be able to find it in the 'System' section of the Applications menu. Just make sure that your USB drive is selected from the drop down list at the top right before making any changes - you don't want to accidentally overwrite the wrong disk! Hope that helps :)

[@Alex_Wolfenstein97]

Would you mind doing a tutorial for this using manjaro xfce as a base? That's now another place you can install it on, and being its an arch base, commands, steps, and ways to do things are a bit different... . . . . .

[@bytemypi2918]

I haven't used Manjaro in quite a while, and Arch itself for even longer than that. Perhaps it's time I revisted pacman now that Twister is available for Manjaro. Thanks for the suggestion.

[@Alex_Wolfenstein97]

Would make for a good "Trilogy" of videos on Twister on your chanel anyway, as there's now a new Windows 11 theme and probly a few other updates, lookin' forward to the video if things go smooth and you think about making one :) I was gonna try it on a virtualbox, but I'd rather do it on bare metal so I don't mind waiting a while

[@bytemypi2918]

@@Alex_Wolfenstein97 I hadn't thought of it as being a trilogy! Yes, bare metal's best if you're planning to get the most use out of it.

[@robgauthier9249]

Thank you for the help installing Twister on my laptop. I could not of done it without your help. i do have one small problem. when i connect with a network cable i can get to my network hard drives. But if i use wifi i can not see my network hard drives. Can you help me. Again thank you and God Bless You

[@bytemypi2918]

You're welcome. There are a few reasons why you may be able to access your networked hard drives via ethernet but not wifi. The first thing to check is your router. Some routers have a setting known as AP isolation. When enabled, this prevents wifi devices accessing the LAN so, if yours has it, make sure its turned off. If that isn't the issue, and assuming you're not already, try accessing the network drive using its IP address rather than its hostname (e.g. '192.168.1.10' instead of 'netdrive'). If it still doesn't work, open the Terminal and type "ip a" (without the quotes). After pressing enter this should show you information about your computer's network adapters. Check to see if both the ethernet and wifi adapters are getting an IP address on the same network. Both should start with the same three octets, e.g. 192.168.1... Hope that helps :)

[@shivashankaranmudaliar5368]

Thank you for such a detailed explanation. Just needed help: how can I install Minecraft pi on twister UI?

[@bytemypi2918]

No problem. Unfortunately I don't think you'll be able to install the Pi edition of Minecraft as its designed for ARM processors rather than x86. If you're happy to run the standard Minecraft, you can download the Debian-based installer from the following web page: www.minecraft.net/en-us/download Hope that helps :)

[@shivashankaranmudaliar5368]

@@bytemypi2918 I don't think my pc would be able to handle it. It's rocking an intel core 2 duo q6600 with 3 gigs of ram, and even windows 10 runs shitty on it. How about running minecraft pocket edition on it? Would it work on xubuntu?

[@shivashankaranmudaliar5368]

btw, did you check out the windows 11 theme in twister os? It looks so beautiful! I can't wait to install twister UI on my PC

[@bytemypi2918]

@@shivashankaranmudaliar5368 Blimey, the Q6600 - now there's a blast from the past. What a great CPU. I used to have one of those. I believe Minecraft pocket edition is the old name for the mobile version of Minecraft, so again you'd have trouble running it on an x86 computer.

[@bytemypi2918]

@@shivashankaranmudaliar5368 No, I haven't tried the Windows 11 theme yet. I'll have to take a look :)

[@bertvantol9669]

Can you get Hypnotix working on this Linux so we can receive TV channels ??

[@bytemypi2918]

Hi there, I'd not even heard of Hypnotix. Having had a look, it seems fairly straight forward to set up, as follows. Open the Terminal and type the command below to download the software: wget github.com/linuxmint/hypnotix/releases/download/1.1/hypnotix_1.1_all.deb Next make sure your system is up to date by typing: sudo apt update Then install the program: sudo dpkg -i hypnotix_1.1_all.deb Finally, it's most likely missing several required dependencies, so install them with: sudo apt -f install Now that Hypnotix is installed, open it and click on the little TV icon. Apparently Linux Mint uses the IPTV provider Free-TV by default, so assuming you want to do the same, add this by clicking "Add a new provider" and giving it a name, e.g. FreeTV. Then enter the following URL: raw.githubusercontent.com/Free-TV/IPTV/master/playlist.m3u8 With that done, click on OK and you should have lots of TV channels to try - though not all of them appeared to be working (maybe it depends on where in the world the viewer is located). Hope that helps :)

[@jinkangcheng6668]

anyone try it on xfce + debian?

[@NickFellows]

It might have been interesting to see how the wine integration works

[@bytemypi2918]

Should be the same as standard Ubuntu. I tend to use the PlayOnLinux front end for Wine as it usually makes things easier :)

[@idcrafter-cgi]

1:50 sadly does wayland not work on nvidia hardware

[@bytemypi2918]

Apparently Nvidia is working on this with their proprietary driver, so hopefully it won't be much longer.

[@idcrafter-cgi]

@@bytemypi2918 yes since like 2016

[@bytemypi2918]

@@idcrafter-cgi Blimey. Maybe that's why Linus Torvalds doesn't seem keen on Nvidia.

[@Shirani007]

All went just perfect, but Snap Store simply won't launch. Any clue dear sir?

[@bytemypi2918]

Is this the problem you're having? 16:21 The Snap Store

[@Shirani007]

​@@bytemypi2918 Not really sir. Followed all steps, updated system, got snap store in updates, created shortcut, and [new] snap store wont launch actually.

[@bytemypi2918]

@@Shirani007 Try running the following command in the Terminal: sudo snap install snap-store After it's complete, restart the computer, and then try opening the Snap Store again :)

[@Shirani007]

@@bytemypi2918 Message is "sudo snap install snap-store" As I followed all steps and snap was installed flawlessly. But the problem is it wont start, I fort apt command for removing package and reinstalling, can you please help. Thanks a lot

[@bytemypi2918]

@@Shirani007 To remove it the command would be: sudo snap remove snap-store Then reinstall with: sudo snap install snap-store

[@morenoglager]

I was trying WOR for a couple of days and its still buggie. Today i went back to my main ssd with Twister and ......i have a mouse in my screen!!! Xubuntu logo and stare style which i despise!. Can somebody explain this. i had a discord account but forgot my pw. THANKS to anybody that can help

[@bytemypi2918]

Windows on Raspberry - you must be a glutton for punishment! Seeing a mouse on your Twister OS desktop is a little bizarre. Twister uses the Xfce Desktop Environment, but why you'd be seeing the default Xfce wallpaper is odd. Sounds as though something has got messed up in the installation, probably best to start over :(

[@morenoglager]

@@bytemypi2918 I did and its fine now. im trying win10 now but still frustating. Everything runs fine til you update......;(

[@bytemypi2918]

@@morenoglager That sounds like Windows 10 - whatever device you run it on!

[@morenoglager]

I'm using twister os on my pi4 8gb. my problem is: even with ethernet cable is so sloooooow any idea?

[@bytemypi2918]

Are you running the operating system on a microSD card, or an external (USB) SSD drive?

[@morenoglager]

@@bytemypi2918 I'm using nvme with board 863(873?) from geek worm and everything else runs fast and smooth

[@bytemypi2918]

@@morenoglager so it's just the internet that is slow?

[@morenoglager]

@@bytemypi2918 yes sr. It is anoying, just scrolling is slow, but my hps are fine. i wonder if i got a bad one

[@bytemypi2918]

@@morenoglager There are a few things you can try. If you open the Terminal and type: sudo apt install epiphany-browser Then press Enter. This will install a lightweight browser called 'Web'. You'll find it in the internet section of the Applications Menu. See if this works any better. Also, in 'Settings Manager', in the 'System' section, if you click on 'Advanced Network Configuration' and then double click on 'Wired connection 1' (you'll need a network cable plugged in to do this). On the 'IPv4' tab, try entering a different DNS server next to 'Additional DNS servers'. You could use "8.8.8.8" (without the quotes) for Google's. Once you've changed this, click 'Save' and restart the Pi. Lastly, you could try increasing the amount of memory assigned to the Pi's GPU. To do this, open the Terminal and type: sudo raspi-config Now press Enter. From the menu that opens, select '4 Performance Options', then 'P2 GPU Memory' and enter the following value: 1024 Select 'Ok', then 'Finish' and restart. Hopefully one, if not all of these suggestions may help :)

[@k5v1nv]

Is the Twister os able to install onto RPi desktop os? Instead of using Ubuntu.

[@bytemypi2918]

I've never tried, but since they're all based on Debian, it may be possible. Give it a go and let everyone know how you get on :)

[@ironknobair]

Did everything correctly with Twister 2.0.3 in terminal ./TwisterUIv2.0.3Install.run but nothing happens.

[@bytemypi2918]

Did you make the file executable before trying to run it? Try opening the Terminal in the same directory as the TwisterUI download and typing the following: chmod +x TwisterUIv2-0-3Install.run Then run the file again with: ./TwisterUIv2-0-3Install.run Hope that works :)

[@RafaCoringaProducoes]

Hey "byte my pi", how about a challenge: Using Raspberry 0 w as your main PC for a day or three? I'm sugesting this because in 2012, Chris from Explaining Computers used Rpi2 as his PC for a week. Now in 2021, covid made more jobs change to the online model, and here in Brazil the prices of computers got very high. As i'm using my Rpi4 for main computer for a whole year, ive had a really good experience on manjaro with sway etc. Many wonder what can be used or not in Rpi0w, so this test could be great. Some details to make the sugestion working: -SYSTEM: raspberry OS. Maybe you get a better experience with arch, dietPi or even Gentoo idk. -DESKTOP ENVIROMENT: change the LXDE to sway or i3 (novaspirit has a great tutorial on this). Maybe 540p resolution would be better -PROGRAMS: abiword instead of libreoffice, gimp?, firefox with lightweight extensions or some terminal browser (i can sugest more tips on this topic) -HARDWARE RECOMENDATIONS: SSD or HD with external powering instead of the microSD memory, a good microSD or even leepspvideo's PiSafe's eMMC to boot, keyboard with dongle, cable management, and of course a great usb hub or the GPIO shild with more USBs, overclock and a little heatsink -CHALLENGES: try typing some text, light image and audio editing, youtube playback with h264ify or pasting the link in vlc, gaming (even light PS1 games works), benchmarks, light versions of sites like gmail and facebook, video or audio conferences, multitasking in general with htop, wine, DRM, ssh, cmatrix of course, etc

[@bytemypi2918]

Hello. Wow, that's some detailed and extensive feedback! It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure how useful most people would find the Pi Zero in day to day operation. I've got three of them lying around, but unlike the full-size Raspberry Pi, I don't have any of them running daily. I may do some off-screen testing to see what is actually possible. Thanks for the suggestion.

[@RafaCoringaProducoes]

@@bytemypi2918 glad to hear you liked it. I imagine 512 ram would be a problem without swap indeed. Anyway, if you like colaboration, there are another youtubers interessed: leepspvideo, garcia explica and tyler tech

[@bytemypi2918]

@@RafaCoringaProducoes Yes, 1GB of RAM isn't much these days, never mind 512MB!

[@RafaCoringaProducoes]

@@bytemypi2918 me and garcia explica made it in his channel, check out in descriptions for more details soon if ur interested. Ram didnt showed up as a problem

[@bytemypi2918]

@@RafaCoringaProducoes Ah, so you used Puppy Linux. Glad to hear it worked out. I tried DietPi with an LXDE desktop as a test with the Pi Zero, but the performance was terrible.

[@pmacgowan]

Great video, very instructional thanks :-)

[@bytemypi2918]

No problem. Glad you found it helpful :)