Raspberry Pi OS • Can I reproduce the full Raspberry Pi desktop on Arch Linux ARM (aarch64) on a Raspberry Pi 3 B+?

Hi everyone,

I’m currently running Arch Linux ARM (aarch64) on a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ and I’m wondering whether it’s realistically possible to reproduce the full Raspberry Pi desktop experience outside of Raspberry Pi OS.

I know Raspberry Pi desktop is more than just a GTK theme — it seems to include multiple components like raspberrypi-ui-mods, pixflat-icons, artwork, panel/session configuration, etc. I’ve already looked inside the Debian packages to see how things are structured.

My question is mainly:

Is it technically possible to reproduce the complete Raspberry Pi desktop (look and behavior) on Arch Linux ARM, or is it tightly coupled to Raspberry Pi OS and its Debian base?

More specifically:

Are there Raspberry Pi–specific patches to LXPanel, LXSession, or Openbox?

Does Raspberry Pi desktop rely on Debian-specific mechanisms like update-alternatives?

Or is it mostly themes + configuration that can be ported cleanly?

I’m not planning to mix package managers or install Debian binaries — I just want to understand whether this is realistically doable or if Raspberry Pi desktop is designed to work only within Raspberry Pi OS.

English isn’t my first language, so I hope this makes sense.

Thanks!

Statistics: Posted by rpibug — Tue Feb 24, 2026 1:34 pm

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