Review: raspberry pi 3 b by new non-linux user after 4 days tweaking and learning

Amazon didnt like my review and they can go bleep thembleeps. Heres my full review after 4 days of successes and mistakes.

Never did linux. Bought 1. In love. Bought 3 more from loverpi. This is not a desktop computer. You can do things but this is a development platform and you can expect to be editing config files and learning linux console commands. I would say i am 'skilled' in computers, dos, can program a bit of lua and javasvript.

I have adhd and refused to read documentation until im in the middle. Dont do that. Read as much as you can and try and figure out afew good apps. Wicd wireless gui util saved me after 4 days of berryboot vs raspbian fighting over my internet connection. Again if i had read docs i wouldnt have wasted that time. In about 30 seconds i had berryboot with raspbian running with wifi and ethernet and it has gui controls.

But holy cow i could configure this thing with my eyes closed for Internet. I know how it works well, now!

Tip: do not repeatedly unplug your cord from the pi, this wears out micro usb port on it which is delicate

Use blueman to configure your bluetooth.

Ok - hey, youre up and running, got your wifi and ethernet and maybe vnc set up. Now stop and backup your operating system. If you snafu your customized os with an advanced operation, youll have a backup with your work intact. Good news is, firmware is on the sd card and not in the chips or whatever.

Youll want to read a starter guide. Be careful to add '2017' to your google search questions because people have been trying to configure these things since like 2010 and youll hit old articles you dont want ti follow. Youll find a lot of forum kiddos advising each other. When you can, go to official sources for help (rasbpian, berryboot, linux) websites. Also youll find the occasional high quality tutorial for college level students.

And lots of very good other tutorials, easy to find. Lots of possibilities! So i bought 3 more.. So far.

Anyway, some more tips

A) when you glue on your heat sinks, peel the tape and then remove the glue with acetone. Use a real heat-exchanging paste for real cpus, youll thank me. Some people said their RPIs ran 10 degrees celsuis cooler without the heat sink at all. Remember if you live in the north, the heat sink works better (maine: summer day 60-80 degrees, nights 50-65 degrees).

I suspect in warm climates they dont do as good a job. Even 5 - 10 degrees F of room temperature can improve function of any computer.

The programming languages have a built in interface that will run several kinds of code. Since i know lua im looking forward to all kinds of coding projects. You can really customize your os with code.

Do not think you are getting a 'cool customizable os'. It is that. But its really not going to be as pretty to look at or have the fancy menus of windows.

What it is is simple menus - powerful menus. At first glance youre like 'oh its just a shitty computer'. But after afew minutes of poking around i knew i preferred linux over windows. Its simple, but its also complex and powerful.

So,you can buy this. You can set up wifi super easy if your not using berryboot but instead using Raspbian by itself. You can download abiword and write documents, you can write and test code super easily. You can browse the web, get email. Only 1 gig of memory so, try not to have more than 3-4 windows open if theyre browsers.

But heck thats a lot of functionality for a 40$ computer the size of a deck of cards.

I love it. Im setting up media centers for my family soon. (google: kodi) and also a retro gaming system (retropie).

With berryboot you can install several OS without having to d/l files and write disk images.

Got a 12 yr old kid who loves computers? Get her this. She will impress you.

Are you skilled with computers but not sure what to think of rpi? Get it. Get 2.

Do you just need a barebones pc for reading the news or writing drafts? Get it.

Some things you have to improve yourself:

Case comes with gaps for machinery,but is tight around usb fixtures (its a good case.) I epoxied metal screens over these gaps to protect from animal hair (i have cats). See photos.

Audio output from the headphone jack is staticy. There are probably some things you can do to get proper sound. I bought a usb sound card for 7$ that will supposedly work better from what ive googled. Im dont know anything about circuits - actually was hoping to learn and it looks like i will get the opportunity.

Thank you liveRPI, about to make 3rd purchase. Watch out - i ordered 10 lbs of coffee and the amaxon packers threw my pis and sd cards loose under 10 lbs of instant coffee containers. My first purchase from loverpi was fine because i did not order food. Fair warning.

But luckily the pis are well packaged, inside a boxboard box and inside a waxpaper-like bag. At first I was like, a bag? I love it. Anyway everything survived, thank you loverpi.

Just don't click "group my shipments together" i guess when buying electronics. Have not tested the crushed sd and usb cards.

Ive replaced the scotch tape with epoxied screen.

Incidentally if you want heat sinks, get the aluminum ones that flare outwards. I was comparing temperature reduction reports and the flared out (looks like hedgehog, only 1 on amazon) and the flared ones perform 20 degrees celsuis more cooling than the ones sold by loverpi on amazon. 

Buy it. Have fun! Then buy 5 more. 

New fiction the Zone

 i am currently working on a sci fi horror survival fiction piece with low gore,  here's the link.  Inspired by roadside picnic.

http://zone-ra.blogspot.com/?m=1

Now on Google Books

The Song of the Fox is now available on google books, if you like animal poetry:

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Russell_Ackerman_The_Song_of_the_Fox?id=exYOBAAAQBAJ

if you like the apocalypse and the wasteland, check out my fiction on google books.
the title is "The Walker in the Dust". Book 1 is free, so enjoy! (not super-hero or zombie apocalypse).

Can you keep your humanity in the wasteland?

http://play.google.com/store/books/details/Russell_Ackerman_Broken?id=k68NBAAAQBAJ

(PS> you  can get the PDF version here too)

The origin of water

When the sky becomes a fountain,

I am a droplet I believe,

falling sky onto a mountain

I rest upon a tree’s green leaves.

I am a mote of nature’s wrath,

long before I reach the stream,

seeking but a single path,

I own myself a single dream,

I fall unto the forest floor

and ever journey down and down,

towards the ocean evermore

leaving the mountain’s rocky crown

Now I am a forest brook

coursing always down the slope,

changing from the form I took,

to be the drop again, I hope

But now I am a river, raging

and becoming ever larger,

a downhill warpath I am waging

as the rain falls ever harder.

I travel far throughout the wood,

growing always ever wider,

I am the flowing river god,

I am the splashing mountain rider.

I etch the hills with winding scrawl

eating ‘way at rock and bone,

I am now a waterfall,

falling, flying, stretching down.

And when I, the river, reach the sea,

we combine and I am gone,

full of salt but finally free,

forgetting I was a drop of rain.

But when the waves stir up my soul,

I leap and rise above it all,

in my travels I see the whole,

I become again the droplet small.

Now I am the ocean spray,

rising on the breeze to height,

evaporating on the way,

I am mist in sailor’s sight.

Up and over the dark blue bay,

as a fog I rise above,

reaching for the Milky Way,

completing the cycle that I love.

I travel far from ocean chop,

and when the clouds begin to pour,

I am again a tiny drop,

fated to be the river once more.

The Point of No Return

Title:“The point of no return” by yours truly.

 

I asked a question long ago,

the answer satisfied me not.

I ask so many questions now,

the answers tie me up in knots.

 

I'm surrounded now by many questions,

at this point I've come to rest.

To go further is the only lesson,

this point of no return, a test.

 

I must seek within myself

knowing not what I shall find,

I shall seek within myself,

to break the many answers that bind!

 

Deep within my heart I've found

a sacred gate that I must pass.

Flames of sorrow leap from the ground,

burning, and a mirror of fine glass.

 

Wreathed in flame I go, melting ‘way the past.

Warily I go, but I am cleansed at last.

Finally the mirror, and what is it I see?

I see the truth at last, the self that I must be.

The Tangled Web

Title: The Tangled Web, by yours truly.

 

I saw a spider on webbing tangled,

I saw within - my own heart, mangled,

is the spider my own fear,

a weight upon my heart to bear?

 

Am I just a passing fly?

Devoured again, by and by,

or perhaps am I the tangled web,

what am I to think instead?

 

Yet I know I am the spider,

the master of the tangled web.

then my heart grew ever lighter,

and clarity came unto my head.

 

I am the spider, web, and flies,

my heart; a dark and secret space,

tomorrow I go beneath blue skies,

and build another web in grace.

Lord Spider

I dedicate this poem to jumping mouse:

http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/TheStoryofJumpingMouse-Unknown.html

--

Title: Lord Spider

--

Once I thought I was a fly,

tangled in the spider’s web.

Tangled so, I could not go,

I knew that I would soon be dead.

 

Struggle as I might that day,

a greater force indeed held sway.

The spider’s silk it held me fast,

With strength, I fought unto the last,

 

The spider feasted and was full,

I did not feel the darkened pull

of nether, instead I found myself,

no longer trapped in spider’s wool

 

Now I am the spider, lurking,

gazing up at eagle, circling,

wondering what I next shall be,

I spin white thread and I am free.

 

The tangled web of silk is mine,

I am the spider looking out,

with sixteen eyes I am divine

I am the spider in the spout.

 

When rushing water breaks my web,

I wash away, drowned and dead,

my soul shall take another house,

I shall become lord jumping mouse.