Linux is harder to master than Windows. It's geared toward power users, and you will encounter problems if you follow tutorials.
Because of the lack of available software on the apt repositories, most Raspberry Pi owners never use their Pis to their full, desktop PC, potential.
Countless Raspberry Pis remain in disuse for this very reason. Something must be done!
Introducing Pi-Apps, basically a list of pre-made apps you can install with one click.
ETA Prime (a very well known RPi YouTuber) says:
"It's an awesome Raspberry Pi app store and it works really well and there's lots of great stuff in here and it's super easy to install.
I want to give the devs of Pi-Apps a big shout-out."
Compatible operating systems: Raspberry Pi OS and most other Debian-based ARM operating systems like Twister OS, MX Linux, Kali Linux, and Ubuntu.
wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Botspot/pi-apps/master/install | bash
The install script ensures YAD is installed, creates two menu buttons, an auto-started updater, and a file (/usr/local/bin/pi-apps) that allows pi-apps to be run from terminal. Besides those, nothing is modified outside of the Pi-Apps folder.
To install manually if you prefer to see what happens under the hood
To manually install Pi-Apps:git clone https://github.com/Botspot/pi-apps
~/pi-apps/install
To uninstall Pi-Apps
To uninstall Pi-Apps:~/pi-apps/uninstall
Menu -> Accessories -> Pi Apps, or run pi-apps in a terminal. Run Pi-Apps from its directory with ~/pi-apps/gui.
- Send Botspot a donation
- View changelog
- Report an error
- Leepspvideo Pi-Apps walkthrough
- ETA Prime's Pi-Apps & Minecraft Java video
"Awesome. Thanks for doing this." - Novaspirit Tech (large RPi YouTuber) on Discord
Thanks so much to Botspot for creating this; it's a great program." - leepspvideo (large RPi YouTuber)
"I love pi-apps. It's great and installs tons of useful software that people don't know how to install. Great work Botspot!" - RPi Projects and More (RPi YouTuber)
"I gave Pi-Apps a go a while back and have suggested it to others quite a few times. We can't provide all the options people may want, so it helps a lot that there are people like you who can help bridge the gap. Thank you Botspot!" - RPi developer in an email
"Thanks for the great work making it all simple for everybody." - ShiftPlusOne (RPi moderator) on the RPi forums
"Good luck with your projects, Botspot, you're really making waves!" - Sakaki (RPi legend) in an email
"I ❤️ Pi-Apps cuz it is totally awesome! I pranked a lot of people with MacOS theme and Win10 theme!" - LEHAtupointow on Discord
Read the wiki for the full documentation
- This is the main window:
Use the main window to select an app category you want to view. Open a category folder by double-clicking on it. - After selecting a category, you will see a list of apps:
- If you double-click an app, or select and app and click
, you will see the Details window.
- Pi-Apps may display a notification on boot. If you choose to view the updates, the updater window will appear:
- Pi-Apps Settings can be configured by launching Menu -> Preferences -> Pi-Apps Settings.
- Make app creation system. (completed with the
createappscript) - Add Pi-Apps to Twister OS. (completed on 11/2/2020 via the Twister 1.8.5 patch.)
- Support individual 32-bit and 64-bit install scripts.
- Allow multiple apps to be selected from the app list and be installed simultaneously.
- Add a search function to the app list. It's still experimental: to enable it, switch to xlunch in Pi-Apps Settings -> App List Style.
- Break up the long app list with some categories.
- Add a new category containing all apps currently installed.
If your application is on Pi-Apps, please consider adding this pretty badge/hyperlink to your README:
Embed code:
[](https://github.com/Botspot/pi-apps)
- Why did you develop Pi-Apps?
For a long time I have been saddened by how few people are aware of open-source RPi software projects. Many of these projects are extremely useful and beneficial, but there has never been a good way to distribute them.
The repositories don't host them, and they usually aren't advertised very well, so how will people find them?
Most people never find them.
One day I realized: Why not make an app store that specializes in all the community RPi software projects out there? It will help more users find the software, and at the same time it would provide a super simple way to install them.
(Which would you rather do - click a shiny Install button, or copy-n-paste a bunch of commands from a sketchy blog tutorial?)
- How long did it take to program this?
About two weeks of nearly non-stop coding to lay the groundwork. Since then, I've continually optimized performance, fixed bugs, solved problems, added new features, and handled new app submissions.
- Is Pi-Apps still under development?
Sure is! Initial development is done for the most part, and I don't see any more major features being added to Pi-Apps's core functionality. (besides maybe allowing
apt-package apps in the future) But, there's always an app or two that need attention, and dozens of app requests. It's enough work to keep a team of developers busy.
- Is Pi-Apps free?
Absolutely! Pi-Apps is not a product or service: Anyone is welcome to use it; no-one should feel compelled/required to donate.
- How can I help?
- It's always nice to leave a kind word about Pi-Apps on forums and in comments. In addition to helping others find this useful software, you may just get added to the hall of fame!
- You can donate if you'd like. The money goes to me (minus the Paypal fees), and helps support future open-source development. Some of the money goes to placing bounties on apps that I'd like to see completed by someone else who has skills/time that I don't have.
- You can look through the list of app requests and help create the scripts for them.
- If you see someone complaining about a broken app on Youtube, Reddit, or Facebook, please encourage them to join the Pi-Apps Discord or to open an issue to get the problem solved. (I'm not on those sites very often.)
- You could help troubleshoot/diagnose issues others are having.