Dev Site for PG

Backstory:

I have a Raspberry Pi 5 system with desktop, therefor it automatically manages, suggests, downloads, and has me click to install all updates.  I then restart every so often. Done.

I also have a headless Raspberry Pi 3B+ system running 32-bit OS, for purposes of my new weather station.  I connect to this from the RP 5 system via SSH and run CLI (Command Line Interface).  Haven’t done updates yet, as of 20261031, and need to do that.  Originally installed this around mid-September.

Locators:

There are several references to learn what to do, and this is one of them

https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/os.html#manage-software-and-firmware-updates

Available space left on my 32GB SD card:

df-h

Note: I’ve found that oftentimes, I’m doing multiple clarifying searches to get to the answer I want, but that’s OK, as the knowledge starts building.

What I’m looking for is the details within “root”, but I’m not seeing that listed.

I found that I have to ignore everything and just focus on the lines listed for /dev/xxxx.  That give me two to look at

/dev/mmcblk0p2  29G     2.6G  26G     10%  /

/dev/mmcblk0p2  505M  91M   414M  19%  /boot/firmware

Looks like /dev/mmcblk0p2 is mounted as boot and root is “/”

Therefore, I have 29G usable (of a 32GB SD card) and I’ve used up 2.6GB so far, or 10%.  Based on current usage/state, this makes sense.

Updating Packages using APT:

Raspberry Pi prefers the APT (Advanced Packaging Tool) be used to update software, OS (Kernel), etc.

First thing to do is to update the package list, so it knows what’s available in terms of versions.

sudo apt update

Note: sudo is used so that it returns asking for root password, and then no security issues during process.  I’ve also seen this command bundled (sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade – y), but I like doing things one command at a time

Note: In my case, it fetched 16.8MB in 12 seconds.  31 packages can by upgraded

Run ‘apt list — upgradable’ to see them

Note: Not really sure what I’m looking at, but I seen things raspi-config; SSL; etc.  I had to Ctrl-C to get back to the CLI prompt.

Upgrading all package updates:

sudo apt full-upgrade

Note: You can also do sudo apt upgrade, but Raspberry Pi like full-upgrade as Raspberry Pi OS changes more frequently than Debian, so we want everything in synch – something like that.

Note: Comes back with confirmation that it’s going to upgrade 31 packages.  Download size is 53.8MB and Space needed 26.2 and 26.9GB available.  So far so good. Yes.

This is cool being able to specifically do CLI-level upgrade commands on my own.

Note: After doing that, there was a letter from Samuel at Debian explaining having to bump the package 3.5.0. rather than backporting all patches individually.   I pressed “q” and it continued on.  Unpacking and then running.

Cleaning up disk space:

sudo apt clean

Restarting the system:

sudo reboot

Note: Its returns “Send disconnect: Broken Pipe”

Quit terminal app; opened terminal app; ssh <server name> and entered password; connected back in again

Objective:

On a headless Raspberry Pi 3B+, resolve what the current installed OS version is, including checking if it’s in line with currently available version.  This post is less about how to upgrade OS and more for basic version checks.

Procedure:

SSH into RP3B+ from RP5

-OK.  Still need to resolve how to both shorten the password, as it’s just me internally doing this, and also how to automate the password from the RP5.

cat /etc/os-release

-Took me a while to figure out a couple things about this command.  cat means to concatenate, which means to read an existing file and display on screen.  This presupposes that after you do an install/upgrade, a file is written to /etc directory.  This also means it’s not returning information from a live running process.

-It’s coming back saying that I have versio 13 Trixie.  I’m less enamored about OS names, after dealing the MacOS several years back.  IMHO, because of over identification, people liked to use the OS name more than the version number.  I could not care less what the name is, as I have to resolve the version number in order to make sense of anything.

-The Debian version fill is 13.6.  That’s interesting — does that mean it’s being more specific?

-I definitely have Raspbian GNU/Linux.  OK.

lsb_release -a

-Focus here on output of Distributor: Raspbian; Description: Raspbian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie); Release: 13; Codename trixie

-Basically, the same information with specific variable names

uname -a

-Now we’re getting closer with more detail, as this should return Linux Kernel version.  Remember that I installed the 32-bit headless version.  Comes back with the name of the server (hostname).

-SMP Raspbian 1:6.18.50-1+rpt1 (2026-09-11) armv71 GNU/Linux

-I’m thinking the codebase that’s installed is a version from 9/11/26

-NOTE: I just learned that arm71 means 32-bit.  If it returned aarch64, that would be 64-bit

-Not sure what the reference to: 6.18.50 is, as I thought it was version 13.6

NOTE: On my RP5, which is 64-bit 16GB I ran uname-a

-Version 16.8, and yes – aarch64.  Debian version is 13.7, which makes sense as I’ve been  doing auto-updates on the RP5 lately.

hostnamectl

-Reminds me that the archicture is “arm” – arm71 in my case

https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/operating-systems/

-When I go this site, I can see, based on a different flavors (32-bit, 64-bit), different specifics and downloads.  This is coming from home-based of Raspberry Pi as well, so I’m trusting it

-Here’s the info for 32-bit headless, without desktop

Raspberry Pi OS Lite

A port of Debian Trixie with no desktop environment

Based on the date being 6 October, looks like my version and it’s 32-bit

That explains the 6.18.  The Kernel version is 6.18

The Debian version is 13

I’m still learning the distinction between Debian and Kernel.  Wild to think the whole OK is 543MB in size.

Summary:

-For now, I’ve achieved what I was after.  I now understand the name of the OS (trixie); the Debian version; the Kernel version; confirmed bit level; resolved that what I have is still current as of 10/7/26.

-Now I just work on things like patches and updates

-I just noticed something.  It said release date 6 October, which was yesterday.  I installed over a week ago.  That means that what is on the server is a newer version.  Probably a sub update, as still version 16.8.  So far so good.